Variant Game Idea Refinement

[scooter]

I've been toying with the idea for awhile now of sponsoring a PB here with very unique settings/map. I've been hampered a bit by my general lack of mapmaking skill, but also by a lack of focus on what would be most interesting to play. This would be a smaller game - a 4-6 player PB, basically. This is not a signup thread yet.


In general, I want to sponsor (and watch) a game that would be significantly different from much of anything we've done. There are 3 concepts I'm kicking around, and I'm creating this thread mostly to solicit feedback on which of my nuttier ideas, if any, are worth me spending real time on to hopefully result in a signup thread in a TBD future month. I'll create this with a poll that allows for multiple voting options. I'm mostly looking for how many - if any - would be interested in actually playing such games.



Pitch 1: Vaguely trolly barbarian-focused mystery box. This would be a "normal game" except on a map that throws some weird twists at you. This would be a map that makes no explicit promises of fairness or realism, but instead leans into the chaotic. Basically this is the infamous "barbarian subs" incident except turned into a real game. Probably without actual barbarian subs, but maybe only just short of that. Serious barbarian and map shenanigans for sure. I'm being vague because I have some specific ideas here.


Pitch 2: King of the Hill. This would be a game with a pre-placed barbarian city in a roughly central-ish location. The first player to capture and hold the city for a set length of time (say, 20-40T) wins the game. No other victory conditions matter at all. The map and some of the settings would be designed around making this reasonably fair.


Pitch 3: Victory Points. This would be a game with a scoring system, similar to some of the Adventures/Epics we've run here in the past. The concept would involve a scoring target as well as a list of objectives worth X points, and the first player to achieve the scoring target wins the game. Scoring system would be designed around an approximately planned game length. Again, no other victory conditions matter.



I've put some thought into each of these and have rough ideas of where to take them, but I'm hoping here to get a gauge on what sounds most interesting to play in order to decide which idea to spend time refining into something real in the future. So please vote for as many options in the poll as fit you, personally. If the actual number of people interested in playing such games is too low, then I just won't bother. More detailed feedback in the form of replies would be great.

[Commodore]

Is Pitch 1 like the Fantasy Map Script?

All seem neat, 1 and 3 are particularly of interest.

[scooter]

Is Pitch 1 like the Fantasy Map Script?

Not quite, that script is mostly just jumbled terrain. I think I mean more in the macro sense. Using water/peaks/barbs/etc in an unnatural way to force decisions/drama. Screwing with resource distribution more than normal. Basically maps tend to sort into 1) very balanced and sort of mirror/same-y and 2) random/natural, but mostly following the rules of the map scripts. This would be an attempt at a third bucket, which is more allowance for some absurdity while still being playable. Pre-placed improvements with some rules against pillaging would be another example of a thing that would likely be present in some form.

[RefSteel]

I won't have time to play, but this sounds cool! And in case mapmaking is still an issue, I'd be happy to create the map for the game, either in close consultation with you or - if you want to actually play one of these after all - in accordance with a clear description of what's expected once the scenario is decided!

[yuris125]

Not really helpful for your planning, but I would gladly play any of these games, assuming sequential turns, and after 76 is done (don't want to play two games at once)

[pindicator]

Is Pitch 1 like the Fantasy Map Script?

All seem neat, 1 and 3 are particularly of interest.

I would love to see a game played on fantasy script just for the sheer novelty of it. 

Of your suggestions I like king of the hill the most, but I hope we see all of them get a game here. They ask sound fun.

[scooter]

Not really helpful for your planning, but I would gladly play any of these games, assuming sequential turns, and after 76 is done (don't want to play two games at once)

Yeah, none of this is Soon, I mostly wanted to get a gauge on whether I'm the only person to find these interesting or not. My general plan is to pick a path at some point and try to refine/test it and have something more detailed ready for the next time players start freeing up.

Of your suggestions I like king of the hill the most, but I hope we see all of them get a game here. They ask sound fun.

The thing I like the most about the King of the Hill idea is that it introduces some comeback potential, and it also takes the least amount of work as many different maps could theoretically support it. Also just the general prisoners dilemma dynamics are really interesting. I generally think out-of-game victory conditions like this are an interesting idea for deciding games in a way that removes the force concession vs late game slog tradeoffs.

[Thoth]

All of them sound like they might be interesting depending on details. I'd definitely watch any of them and probably be interested in playing.

[Magic Science]

I would be thrilled to play in a Mystery Box game. . There are so many fun things that are possible in Worldbuilder but that no natural map script will ever produce. It could be awesome.
If you choose to work on the Mystery Box idea, then you could think about including floodplains with an icy look (PB27) and undeletable black signs visible to everyone (PB32, also one in PB40 for some reason) for aesthetic purposes.
Also "mangrove" forests on water tiles (PB38) could be fun, though that has an actual gameplay effect too.

I might like the Victory Points game too, but it doesn't capture my imagination in the same way.

[scooter]

Thanks for the feedback all, this was helpful. I intend to make a signup thread for one of these - likely the first idea - roughly whenever a game finishes next. So uh, anywhere from later this month to sometime in July/August. More feedback is still welcome of course if you're just seeing this thread for the first time.