Design Log 4
Design Log 3
Design Log 2
Design Log 1
Design Log 3
Big playtest coming up tomorrow! I’ve been working on combat styles for monsters this week, and I can’t wait to throw some oozes, beasts, giants, and swarms into the game. As they say, get out your umbrellas because there’s going to be blood on the ceiling! In the meantime, let’s take a step back and look at the game through a wider lens.
On the table today: Big picture. One good starting place might be the Power 19 that I posted over on The Forge. You can find it here.
Another good starting point is the question, “What would I see if I walked in on a session of Spellbound Kingdoms?” Here are some answers:
* A regional map. SK’s “main map” is a strategic overland map that charts the campaign’s kingdom or region. Players move miniatures on this map to represent the current location of their characters, henchmen, allies, troops, and so forth. This means that you’ll also see:
* Miniatures. There may or may not be a battlemat, depending on how the group likes to visualize combat. Combat at both the individual and mass scale is tactical, but the tactics don’t originate in positions on a grid. Rather they originate in outguessing your opponent, matching your maneuvers to his at the optimal times, and building up your combat advantage (called your edge) while keeping your opponent off-balance and befuddled. But regardless of whether or not the group uses a battleat for tactical combat, miniatures are on the regional map.
* You’ll also see people switching scale. Spellbound Kingdoms lets players “zoom in” for tactical combat and dialogue and “zoom out” for narrative and strategic play. This allows the game to tell stories that develop both the lives of characters and the sweep of history.
* People talking in character. The dialogue system is going to be the subject of a future design log, but conversations take on lives of their own. It’s a push-and-pull, with each side trying to maneuver the talk as desired. Compliments, innuendo, insults, leading questions, flirtations – all sorts of different remarks affect the conversation and shade the outcome.
* Players are busy. More than most RPGs, Spellbound Kingdoms dispenses with initiatives and resolves actions simultaneously. This helps alleviate the “Eat Cheetos until it’s your turn” syndrome. In scenes when the party is split into groups (after coming back into town from a border patrol or dungeon raid, for instance), the players in one group have plenty to do even while the GM’s attention is on the other group.
* A storyline that moves quickly.
* Laughter and fun, of course!
That’s the big picture. Lots of action, juicy stories, and heroes of all stripes. See you in the forums!
