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Last Minute Spaghetti

It’s late on a Sunday and I’ve gotten nothing together but it’s important to me that I still get something out.  It’s been a packed time, but that’s not much of an excuse.  So, here’s just some random fucken game design thoughts.  Board appetit.

HADES as cardboard: So I’ve been playing the sexy gay Greek Myth game, and it’s a joy.  It also has some very tabltetop-y elements.  I love the multiple overlapping currencies, and the Boon system is a fantastic multi-use card opportunity, with cardback by Deity.  The next-room selection situation feels like cards as well, and the roguelike enemy generation.  What the game gives you, really, could be expressed almost entirely via tabletop, with legacy elements for the big picture.  The question is, how to tackle the action-rpg gameplay: what is the player input? My impulse is not to go the Gloomhaven route, but rather to abstract it into something more Pixel Tactics, or even more abstract: something like what I did with One Final Mech.

Jade City as cardboard: So Fonda Lee - the author of Jade City, the book I just finished - tweeted this week about how she’s okay with other-medium adaptations of her work.  So! Here’s what I might do as a tabletop game for Jade City:

- Area Control game of Janloon as divided into neighborhoods and territories.  Parallel warfare, physical and economic, with duels and takeovers

- The above but less Euro and more abstract.  Warriors as stacks of green Jade and white Prowess chips, winning both from wins, but Jade can be redistributed to shore up weaknesses.

- A fighting game like Exceed or something, representing Duels but highlighting the dofferent Jade disciplines and the various strengths and weaknesses therein for each character.

Right it’s late and also I’m typing it up on my phone, so that’s enough for this week.  Sorry! Bye til next time!


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