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!