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Mechanic Monday: Further Faster Higher Outer of Mana

Alright, I’ve gotten way too little sleep, my blue light blocker glasses broke, and my eyes are exhausted.  So let’s get right to it today, shall we?

Piece Height as Rank

GREEM is played on a checkerboard, rotated by 45 degrees.  Each player has a corner opposite the other, and the same setup of one empty square, two stacks of three checkers, three stacks of two checkers, and four single checkers.  All pieces may move four spaces at a time, but stacks of two can change directions once, and stacks of three can change directions twice.  Pieces that move into a space occupied by an opposing piece may capture (remove) the opposing piece, as long as the capturing piece is of the same or greater height.  Pieces of lesser height may not move through or capture pieces of greater height.  The game ends when one player has lost all the pieces of two heights (singles, stacks of two, or stacks of three).

So this, believe it or not, is Flying.  The feeling that the mechanic invokes, of opening up additional dimensions to the playing field, an elevated plane that pieces can play upon, while still being able to swoop down and stomp lesser pieces.  The version above uses all 16 checkers of each colour on a checkerboard, but it’s probably also worth testing with like, four more checkers so that the single corner piece is a stack of four.  I would then also want to test being able to capture pieces one taller than the aggressor, to allow a little punching up, or perhaps some way to allow lesser pieces to remove height from stronger pieces.  If I kept the setup as is, perhaps a shoot-the-moon win is if a player occupies the opposing player’s empty corner space.  I threw this together quickly but it feels like a chewy abstract with some room to fuck around, and enough difference to set it apart.

That’s it! Til next time, which will (eyes permitting) be a TTRPG Tuesday tomorrow.

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