Super Villains - New Name, Same Great Taste

We had a very productive round of playtesting of my supervillains game over the weekend. Thanks again to Jeff for his good ideas and enthusiasm for the game. I'm feeling good about the core mechanics of the game. Now its just a matter of balancing all of the variable components, like Headlines, Heroes, and Menace cards.

One major issue we've come across is that the reward for a Destroy action is way better than the reward for a Steal or Ransom. Destroy rewards more Infamy (a lot more), and has become the clear path to victory. It's important that the other choices in the game are also valid paths to victory. I could increase the reward for other types, but more Cash (Ransom) and better abilities (Steal) is never going to trump raw victory points (Infamy from Destroy). To balance the additional Infamy for a Destroy action, Jeff suggested increasing the damage taken from Heroes. I like this idea, and will try it out. In order for it to work, a bunch of other changes will have to cascade to other parts of the game. The Hero deck was working as a time limit for the game. If players draw a variable number of Hero cards for each Plot, I will need to use some other device as a time limit or else the game length will be too random. Headlines are the obvious choice. The size of the Headlines deck (it's 60 cards, way more than one needs for one game) was causing problems due to the randomness of the deck -- a game usually requires a fairly even mix of card types, or else the game can favor one player over the others. Reducing the number of cards used for one game will eliminate the possibility of drawing ten cards of the same type in a row, ensuring a more even mix. I can use a smaller Headline deck as a time limit, and basically kill two design problems with one stone.

Oh yeah, and the name of the game! I'm changing it to MENACE, which I think works better than Villains Wear Spandex. Now I've got to go back and change the labels of all my earlier posts...

Villains Wear Spandex - Ready for Playtesting

Printing and cutting is done! Now to find some victims...I mean, play-testers. Mwa ha.

Villians Wear Spandex - Almost There

All parts are made. Ready for some printing and cutting (over 30 sheets this time!), and hopefully some play-testing. Despite its flaws, Sarah and I got a lot of play out the first prototype, so chances are good that we will do the same this time around.

Villians Wear Spandex - Further Progress

About halfway done with Headlines -- just need to come up with benefits for stealing each target.

Hero cards are complete. When you complete a Fiendish Plot, Ironhawk (a billionaire crime-fighter in a fancy armored suit) and his sidekicks, Kestrel and Redwing, inflict damage to your villainous organization. You choose how to split your losses between Minions, Lair rooms, and Menaces.

I bought some small wooden blocks for cheap ($1.47 a bag) at Hobby Lobby and painted them, so now I have nice wooden pieces for Villain and Minion pawns.

Still need to type up Origin Story cards (which provide a secret goal for scoring extra Infamy), update powers on the Moniker cards, throw together a score track, and of course, printing and cutting.

Should be done this week, I think!

Villians Wear Spandex - Update

Last night, I made a new game board for my super-villains game. Formerly, it was just one board with fixed locations in the city. Each location could be visited to collect a specific resource. My new board is made up of six interlocking sections -- one middle piece and 5 two-sided sections. The side sections have different locations on each side, so you can vary the number of locations and the presence of certain special locations to accommodate different numbers of players and play-styles from game to game. Many of the spaces on the original board required a player to spend one resource to get another resource, which was needlessly complex. I've removed most of those spaces, so now it is much easier to collect Weapons, for instance.

I've also designed new Menace cards (I was calling them "Devices" in my previous post -- they replace the Caper cards from the old game). Each Menace card has one or more limits on when it can be used, such as against specific targets (Personality, Landmark, Artifact, Citizenry) or for specific actions (Steal, Destroy, Kidnap). I'm hoping that will make the Menace cards more engaging thematically, though I'm also concerned that it might be too hard to actually put the Menaces to use. Time (and play-testing) will tell.

I'm currently working on Lair tiles (almost done), Origin Story cards (mostly there), and Headlines/Opportunities (barely started). I hope to have a full prototype done sometime next week, when some out-of-town company will be around to some play-testing. (Thanks in advance, Jeff!)

Villains Wear Spandex - Take Two!

Last spring, I put a lot of work into a strategy game about comicbook super-villains. My initial goal was to make a resource management game in the vein of Caylus, Princes of Florence, and Vegas Showdown with a super-villain theme. After several successive play-tests and redesigns, I had more or less accomplished my goal but the game wasn't very fun to play. As a villain, you sent out minions to steal weapons and cash and abduct scientists and scholars, which you put to work building additions onto your secret lair. With the right elements in your lair, you could then attempt to pull nefarious Capers in different locations of the city, garnering as much Infamy (victory points) as possible. Unfortunately, it was difficult (in a tedious sort of way) to correlate the resources you needed with the Capers you ultimately wanted to accomplish, which resulted in a lot of head-scratching and sifting through piles. The Capers were all pre-written and too specific, which meant that the Capers rarely matched the style of villain being played and the same Capers would appear over and over after a just few plays. After a final playtest over the summer, I vowed to do a major redesign of the whole thing.

Here we are, six months later. After some fresh inspiration from a book I read last month (Soon I Will Be Invincible), I scribbled down a bunch of ideas last night for how to improve just about every aspect of the original game. The main change is a complete redesign of Capers. Instead of spending resources according to a recipe and collecting a specific reward, players instead build Devices (death rays, time vortices, etc.) which they use to threaten different vulnerable Targets throughout the city -- Personalities (think Lois Lane, Perry White, or Commissioner Gordon), Landmarks, Artifacts, or Citizens (the general populace of the city). When a player threatens a target, he chooses one of three Actions: Steal, Destroy, Ransom. Together, Device, Target, and Action form a Fiendish Plot, which the player announces in his best villain voice: "I will Destroy City Hall with my Murder-Blimp!" or "Using my Matter Defragonator, I will Steal the Egg of Mantubi!" Depending on the Device used, the Action chosen, and the Target...targeted, the player gets a different reward (Infamy, extra Cash, a new special ability, etc). I'm hoping this will make building easier for the player, and make the major crimes both the focus of the game and a source of emergent narrative during play.

Most likely, I will start working on new prototype parts soon!

Pretty Princess Wars - Third Playtest

Had another playtest of Pretty Princess Wars (thanks, Donna and Sarah!). We had a little trouble keeping track of whose turn it was, which may have been because a lack of focus as much as lack of clarity in the game pieces. The Clothes and Friends stacks for each color are still a pain to sift through when you are trying to find something you want to buy. Donna suggested that I make a cheat sheet with thumbnails of everything you can buy to make it easier to find what you want. Great idea! I will definitely do that.

We only had one Battle the entire game, which we sort of flubbed our way through. I will need to review the rules for Battles again. As much as I like the theme of battling princesses, I'm beginning to think that the game doesn't really need that element of game play. Or maybe I just need to simplify it to a single round of combat.