Three Kingdoms Mod - Ready to Play!

Printing and cutting is done for my Three Kingdoms themed mod of A Game of Thrones. Once I work out any kinks in the gameplay, I may post a printable version so other folks can play!

AGoT - Three Kingdoms Mod: Parts Done!

Finished designing parts today. New components include:
- newly designed game board based on Three Kingdoms era China
- new House Cards based on personalities from era
- new Influence tokens - Jade Seal, Blue Dragon, Red Hare
- new starting cards for each house
- new "Westeros" cards
- neutral force markers for neutral locations

I didn't change much about the original game, except for different board geometry and a different mix of abilities on the House Cards. I did add one rule - Neutral House Cards. In addition to the starting House Cards, I have added six neutral officers. When a player takes control of the area of the board associated with an officer, the player may add that officer's House Card to his hand, discarding a starting House Card with the same combat strength. As long as the player maintains control of that area, the player may use the neutral officer. Additionally, I have designed the "Westeros" cards to be somewhat customizable. Each deck (I, II, III) has 8 core cards and 4 special cards. Each time you play, you can add variety to the game by choosing different special cards to include in each deck.

All that is left to do now is print and cut!

Pretty Princess Wars - New Units Done

New Cute Things are done, as are new Clothes. Ready for round 3 of playtesting!

Pretty Princess Wars - Unit Types

My first attempt on units ("Cute Things") for Pretty Princess Wars was fairly arbitrary in the way that values and costs were assigned to units. The result was that during play, a player didn't have much reason to choose one unit over another.

In order to make the different types of units stand out more, I'm giving each category of unit (which correspond to the different colors of the Rainbow Realms) a different ability/advantage.

Red (Food) - Extra Income
Little Food units allow you to collect one extra Candy when you collect Allowance.

Orange (Animals) - Extra Cute
Little Animals are worth one more Love than normal.

Yellow (Toys) - Interchangeable Parts
Still deciding between these two ideas:
Either a Toy can be killed to revive any other dead Cute Thing
OR
Any living Cute Thing can be killed to revive a dead Toy.

Green (Bears) - Dangerous
Bears win ties, except against Trump.

Blue (Fairies) - Crafty
Little Fairies offer a discount when purchasing Clothes of a specific type (Hats, Shoes, or Accessories).

Purple (Mythical Creatures) - Mountable
Some Mythical Creatures count as Accessories of a particular type (Fancy, Simple, Spooky, Cheerful) when collecting Handsome Princes.

I hoping this will add some identity to each color, so that they seem a little more distinct from each other.

Pretty Princess Wars - First Playtest

Sarah and I playtested PPW last night. The rules seem pretty solid. We found a few things that need to be tweaked, but overall, I'm pretty happy with how it plays. The costs and grouping of the Cute Things and Clothes is a little disorganized, so I will probably re-do those components before we play again.

Game of Thrones - Three Kingdoms Mod

I'm working on a custom game board for one of my favorite board games, Game of Thrones. The original theme and board design are great, but after a dozen or more plays, we're getting a little bored with the same set-up each time.

The setting I've chosen for my custom board is the Three Kingdoms era of ancient China (popularized by Dynasty Warriors, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and a new John Woo film!). The house metaphor of Game of Thrones translates pretty well to the many warring kingdoms and factions of the Three Kingdoms era, and the units (foot, cavalry, siege engines) matches the style of warfare pretty well too.

I've laid out a new board based on several maps of China that I googled. China, a large landmass with relatively little coastline, is a huge departure from Westeros, which is basically an analog of the British Isles. I'm guessing this may weaken the value of ship units. However, I have made China's two largest rivers -- the Yangtze and Yellow -- navigable board spaces.

I plan to make new House cards based on notable characters from the setting, like Guan Yu, Sun Ce, and Lu Bu. (I have chosen 5 factions to replace the Westeros houses: Wu, Shu, Wei, Dong Zhuo, and Yuan Shao.) Of course, the Yellow Turban Rebellion replaces the Wildlings as an external threat. And I'd like to replace the Iron Throne, Valyrian Steel Blade, and Messenger Raven with suitable analogs: The Emperor's Jade Seal, Blue Dragon (Guan Yu's big halberd thingie), and Red Hare (the "horse of horses").

Pretty Princess Wars - Prototype Done!

After much printing and cutting, my first prototype of Pretty Princess Wars is done! It's...very colorful.

I did a quick playtest by myself (it's not as lame as it sounds -- it's good to work out the major kinks by oneself before asking someone else to learn the rules). Some number tweaks aside, everything worked tolerably well.

I do have one major concern about the relationship between resources and player choices. As I was playing, my decisions of what to buy were often dictated by the resources I had in my hand. Ideally, the relationship should work in the other direction -- the things I want should inform the resources I try to collect. As is, the gameplay is reactive. I would rather have a game that is proactive, i.e. rewards planning. I may have to change the way resources are collected in order to dial in to the playstyle I'm looking for.

Pretty Princess Wars - First Prototype

I'm working on a prototype of Pretty Princess Wars -- a tongue-in-cheek strategy board game about bitchy fantasy princesses. Each player plays a Pretty Princess of the Rainbow Realms. King Daddy, the ruler of the Rainbow Realms, is on death's door, and only one princess can succeed him as Crown Princess. When King Daddy's heart finally gives out, the princess with the most Love -- from Cute Things (the loyal subjects of the Realms), Handsome Princes, and King Daddy himself -- will become the new ruler of the Rainbow Realms.

Each source of Love shapes a major element of gameplay. Cute Things are bribed into friendship with Candy, and can be sent into Battle with rival Cute Things to prove their Love for you. Handsome Princes are shallow and fickle, and must be impressed with Clothes that suit their tastes. King Daddy is bloodthirsty and a little senile, and awards his affections to princesses that win fights and remember to visit him from time to time.

The game board is made up of seven castles - six that correspond to a color in the rainbow and a seventh Cloud Castle that connects to the other castles. During the game, players move their princesses to different castles to enable different actions each turn (similar to the strategy cards in Twilight Imperium) and determine what followers and Clothes a player can buy during the turn. My prototype board is done -- it's made up of seven hex tiles that can be arranged differently each time you play.

I've also completed all the parts for major resources in the game: Candy (the currency of the Realms), Daddy's Love, and the Handsome Princes. For card layout, I'm using hand-designed tables in Word 2007 (which is a nice update from Word 2000, what I formerly used in other projects). I really like the built-in online clipart library -- it has saved me a lot of trips back and forth to Google Image Search for placeholder art.

Only two components remaining: Cute Thing tiles and Princess pawns. I have the fronts for the Cute Things done -- just need to finish up the backs and balance out their Love values. For player pawns, I'd like to find some nice plastic princess figurines, but I may settle for cardboard standees (it is just a prototype, after all!).

Welcome!

I design games. I am the definition of amateur -- I pretty much do it solely for the love of game design. None of my designs have been published by myself or a third-party publisher, but I hope to change that someday. In the meantime, you can follow along with the projects I'm working on here. If you see something you like or you have thoughts on how to make one of my designs better, please leave a comment!