Hired Swords is coming back!
Oct 23, 2014 10:23:17 GMT -9
emergencyoverride, Parduz, and 4 more like this
Post by Dave on Oct 23, 2014 10:23:17 GMT -9
You might remember this print-and-play card game from some years back. It was designed as a solitaire game in which you control a team of mercenaries through a variety of missions. Well, I've dusted off that old game and started working on a new version.
This time, I'm developing Hired Swords to be a dungeon-crawl miniatures-and-tiles game in the style of Descent, Zombicide and Mice & Mystics. After playing all of those games, what I realized was that they all had some great elements -- the tiles, the miniatures, the simple mechanics -- but what I noticed about all of them was that the heroes seemed to have a pretty obvious "best move" in any given situation. Sometimes, you had no move, which can be pretty frustrating when you're waiting a few minutes for your turn to come around. What these games all lack, to some extent, is a greater variety of tactical options for each hero during play. So I started thinking about how that could be accomplished -- not just more options, but a swift turnover of options during play, so potentially you'd have different options from one turn to the next.
So during a bath (where all good ideas happen) I realized that decks of "opportunity" cards could be used by hero characters during play to give them a variety of interesting tactical options. Each turn, you can draw and hold a certain number of these opportunity cards to use later, or use them right away. Or, you can use one of your other basic actions if none of your opportunities is very useful at the time.
And to keep pushing the "More Variety" button, Hired Swords has always promoted a style of play where you have a different collection of mercenaries on each mission. So not only do you get different characters (although you'll probably want to keep hiring your favorites), you also get a different selection of equipment each mission, and a whole deck of different melee, missile, feint and sorcery actions each turn. And of course, the opposition cards are all randomized. And the contracts. So, every game is likely to be different from the next -- even the same mission is likely to be very different each time you play it.
The version of Hired Swords I'm working on now will still be print-and-play, but you'll be encouraged to use your own 3D miniatures. For now, paper miniatures or tokens will work just fine. I've just written up a set of rules (about 8 pages in all) and I'm starting to build up a collection of different cards. For now, I'm just focused on creating a functional prototype (so no pretty graphics, just black-and-white components).
One thing that I think is pretty cool about this version is that it's designed to be a cooperative game (2 to 6 players), and can be played solitaire or with an "opposition player" who controls all the opposition characters. It's built for campaign play, and eventually there'll be a bunch of different contracts, and advanced missions that are only accessible once your team has amassed enough wealth, infamy or prestige. I'm pretty excited about this, and well on my way to having a playtest version.
Soon I'm going to try this out with my gaming group (the best way to catch mistakes and fix them), but once I've done that I'd like to get some outside playtesters involved. If this sounds like something you'd like to help me with, let me know.
This time, I'm developing Hired Swords to be a dungeon-crawl miniatures-and-tiles game in the style of Descent, Zombicide and Mice & Mystics. After playing all of those games, what I realized was that they all had some great elements -- the tiles, the miniatures, the simple mechanics -- but what I noticed about all of them was that the heroes seemed to have a pretty obvious "best move" in any given situation. Sometimes, you had no move, which can be pretty frustrating when you're waiting a few minutes for your turn to come around. What these games all lack, to some extent, is a greater variety of tactical options for each hero during play. So I started thinking about how that could be accomplished -- not just more options, but a swift turnover of options during play, so potentially you'd have different options from one turn to the next.
So during a bath (where all good ideas happen) I realized that decks of "opportunity" cards could be used by hero characters during play to give them a variety of interesting tactical options. Each turn, you can draw and hold a certain number of these opportunity cards to use later, or use them right away. Or, you can use one of your other basic actions if none of your opportunities is very useful at the time.
And to keep pushing the "More Variety" button, Hired Swords has always promoted a style of play where you have a different collection of mercenaries on each mission. So not only do you get different characters (although you'll probably want to keep hiring your favorites), you also get a different selection of equipment each mission, and a whole deck of different melee, missile, feint and sorcery actions each turn. And of course, the opposition cards are all randomized. And the contracts. So, every game is likely to be different from the next -- even the same mission is likely to be very different each time you play it.
The version of Hired Swords I'm working on now will still be print-and-play, but you'll be encouraged to use your own 3D miniatures. For now, paper miniatures or tokens will work just fine. I've just written up a set of rules (about 8 pages in all) and I'm starting to build up a collection of different cards. For now, I'm just focused on creating a functional prototype (so no pretty graphics, just black-and-white components).
One thing that I think is pretty cool about this version is that it's designed to be a cooperative game (2 to 6 players), and can be played solitaire or with an "opposition player" who controls all the opposition characters. It's built for campaign play, and eventually there'll be a bunch of different contracts, and advanced missions that are only accessible once your team has amassed enough wealth, infamy or prestige. I'm pretty excited about this, and well on my way to having a playtest version.
Soon I'm going to try this out with my gaming group (the best way to catch mistakes and fix them), but once I've done that I'd like to get some outside playtesters involved. If this sounds like something you'd like to help me with, let me know.