With two days left to go I've got one final version for you. I've now played the new version six times and it is I think too strongly weighted in the dragon's favour. I'd been hoping to try these new ideas before posting them (to check they weren't rubbish like an earlier version of the rules!) but I've been unable to get a game in, so these are untested - play at your own risk! This is your last chance to get some PIPs before NaGa DeMon comes to a close at the end of November.
The good news is that there's no card changes since the last version (so if you've already printed those out you're good to go). The rules are pretty similar, there's only one change (to the Discard card and die section, highlighted in blue below) which now reads:
Discard card and die
At the end of the round both players discard the card they played (face up where they are visible to both players) and any die they used with it. If there were already two cards discarded, you may now return one of these two discarded cards to your hand (not the one you just played). Discarded cards and dice are unavailable to the player and cannot be chosen during the Choose a card or Choose a die sections described above.
The Recuperate card allows you to reclaim all discarded dice and cards, returning all the discarded cards to your hand. Once you have reclaimed the dice all your dice are re-rolled.
Please give it a try and let me know what you think.
Friday, November 28
Wednesday, November 26
NaGa DeMon 11: Back for a Final Push
Things are beginning to settle down and I'm back at work now. We've only got four days left in November and my parents are still here visiting, but I'm hoping to try to get one final version done before the end of the month.
Of course to do that, I need to know what changes I need to make, and for that I need data. I'm hoping to be able to play Dragon Dance at least a couple of times during either Thursday or Friday lunchtimes, and my dad (who's really not a gamer) was so intrigued by my description of the game that he'd like to play it too. My copy has been at work for a week or so (I left it with Sam after he volunteered to take it to the extra Newcastle Playtest session that I had to miss due to illness, despite having organised it!). So I've not had a chance to play it, or even think about it much.
So, what I need is to get it played, get some information about the weaknesses (probably too strong dragon?), get some ideas about how to fix it, fix it and make the fix available all within the next four days, all while my parents are here.
Challenging! Any help much appreciated...
Of course to do that, I need to know what changes I need to make, and for that I need data. I'm hoping to be able to play Dragon Dance at least a couple of times during either Thursday or Friday lunchtimes, and my dad (who's really not a gamer) was so intrigued by my description of the game that he'd like to play it too. My copy has been at work for a week or so (I left it with Sam after he volunteered to take it to the extra Newcastle Playtest session that I had to miss due to illness, despite having organised it!). So I've not had a chance to play it, or even think about it much.
So, what I need is to get it played, get some information about the weaknesses (probably too strong dragon?), get some ideas about how to fix it, fix it and make the fix available all within the next four days, all while my parents are here.
Challenging! Any help much appreciated...
Monday, November 24
TGWAG: League Table 4
Sorry to be filling my standard Monday blog post with a TGWAG League Table (usually posted on Sunday) but it's been a odd/tough week. It started off with missing a gaming weekend in the south with my old gaming buddies due to The Daughter's sickness, then The Wife got it and then finally, inevitably, so did I. Just in time to miss the special Newcastle Playtest session I'd arranged because I'd missed the previous one cleaning up after the double glazing. I was still contagious on Thursday so I was working from home (and cancelled Games Night), but then we received some bad news and everything went off track. I've only worked two days this week and not done any gaming since my Tuesday lunchtime session of Dragon Dance with Steve. Which gave me a brief chance to have a look at v2.1 and check that it is at least conceivably possible for The Knight to win this version, though how unbalanced it remains is hard to tell as it was me (15 games and the designer) against Steve in his first few games. This week's going to be another weird one as I'm off on Monday; Tuesday I'm probably going to Manchester for work and then Wednesday is my quarterly hospital visit, so I won't reach the office until 2pm. Plus, my parents have come up a week early to help out. I've gone from playing Dragon Dance 2 or 3 times a day at work to not playing for nearly a week. I'm going to have to rely on you guys for a while (though it sounds like Enrique, Derek and/or Konrad might be able to help me out recently/soon - thanks!).
In terms of TGWAG there's been steady progress across the board, Sir Konrad's continuing to race out in front, and with Roberto in Saudi Arabia for a week's work, Enrique (Eblasco/@7isprime) has been able to consolidate his third place (the last free copy!). Also, it's nice to see Dave (@thefrugalgamer) back, Dave was one of last year's winners :-) That's 3/5 of last year's winners back in the game!
I've four hours on trains on Wednesday morning for my quarterly hospital visit, so I hope to start making some progress again then.
In terms of TGWAG there's been steady progress across the board, Sir Konrad's continuing to race out in front, and with Roberto in Saudi Arabia for a week's work, Enrique (Eblasco/@7isprime) has been able to consolidate his third place (the last free copy!). Also, it's nice to see Dave (@thefrugalgamer) back, Dave was one of last year's winners :-) That's 3/5 of last year's winners back in the game!
| Name | PIPs | PIAL | Free game? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir Konrad/@pidaysock | 29 | Knight | Yes |
| Derek Hohls/@gamesbook | 14 | Squire | Yes |
| Eblasco/@7isprime | 14 | Squire | Yes |
| Roberto | 8 | Footman | No |
| @MTTJ_Patrick | 5 | Footman | No |
| @kimacus | 4 | Serf | No |
| Mal | 3 | Serf | No |
| @toddderscheid | 2 | Serf | No |
| @thefrugalgamer | 2 | Serf | No |
I've four hours on trains on Wednesday morning for my quarterly hospital visit, so I hope to start making some progress again then.
Friday, November 21
NaGa DeMon 10: Hopefully, Less Rubbish
I wrote this blog post on Monday night, but I've been waiting to post it until I had a chance to test it, to avoid the problems I had with the last version. Then I got sick, missing a couple of days' work and then finally we've had some bad news and I'm off again, so no real chance to test it. Seeing as Derek and Enrique have both requested it in time for the weekend, here it is. Hopefully it's better than the last version, it is at least possible for the knight to win this one!
As I feared the last version was pretty unbalanced. Sam and I played it three times on Monday lunchtime with the dragon winning by 10 points twice and by 15 once! All in under 10 minutes :-(. I'd made the Breathe Fire work at long and short range and added another dragon attack (the Tail Lash) at long range. Despite the better defence cards for the knight he was still hopelessly out-classed. Discussing it afterwards with Sam I was quite happy with his idea that the dragon would win more games than the knight (if only slightly), but as it stood, the knight had no chance.
So, in fairly short order, here's a new version. This version has even more asymmetry added, now the knight has 9 cards and the dragon only 7. The knight's extra card is a short range defence that can be combo-ed with an attack or two, and the dragon has lost the Tail Lash and Breathe Fire is back to long range only.
New rules follow, with new print and play files at the bottom.
Dragon Dance
Fire v. Lance
2 players
10-30 mins
10+?
7 Dragon action cards
1 Knight player aid card
1 Dragon player aid card
9 heart tokens representing the knight's life force
20 gold coins representing the dragon's life force
3 large red dice for the dragon
5 small white dice for the knight
Dragon Dance is a game of bluff, cards and dice between a knight and a dragon in a mortal fight over the King's daughter.
Both players roll all their dice and place them in front of them and place their player aid cards with the 'Long Range' side face up nearby.
Each round consists of four phases:
In the first phase, both players simultaneously choose either one of their remaining dice, or none. High values boost attacks, low values boost defence and medium values boost both attack and defence but to a lesser degree.
During this phase, hide your remaining dice from your opponent and then choose one of them to use this turn (by, for example, placing a finger on it) or choose none (by, for example, placing a finger on the table next to your dice). Then reveal your dice along with your selection. The chosen die will be used to either boost an attack or defence card, or as a bluff to trick your opponent into playing a sub-optimal card.
Choose a card
Once both players have revealed their chosen die (or none), both players simultaneously chose a card to play this turn. The chosen cards are placed face down on the table in front of them and then when both players have chosen the cards are revealed. Chosen cards must be playable at your current range, check your player aid to see which cards you can play at your current range, or check the 'Short range' or 'Long range' icons on the cards in your hand. You begin the game at long range. The only effect of the short and long range icons is to limit the cards available to you during this phase. If one or both players play a card which changes the range, the cards chosen are still valid as long as they were valid choice at the starting range this round.
Action the card
Both cards are actioned simultaneously.
Attacks & Defence
If either player chooses an attack card, calculate the damage they deal as follows:
If they have chosen a die, use the table on the card to determine how much damage they are dealing, if no dice is chosen determine damage using the no dice column in the table.
If their opponent has not played a defence card, they lose life force equal to the damage dealt.
If their opponent has played a defence card, use the table on the defence card (along with any die chosen) to determine the defender's protection as for the attack damage. The attacker's damage minus the defender's protection is the amount of damage dealt to the defender.
Example 1:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '5' and the Hack attack card and Derek chooses a '1' and the Flap defence card. With a 5, the Hack deals 3 damage, but the Flap and a 1 prevent 4 damage, so no damage is dealt.
If both players attack, the damages are calculated and dealt simultaneously, possibly killing each other at the same time.
Example 2:
Roberto (the knight) chooses a '6' and the Charge card and Todd chooses a '3' and the Breathe Fire card. With a 6, the Charge deals 5 damage, which is unblocked, so the dragon loses 5 life force. Breathe Fire with a 3 deals 3 damage, so the knight loses 3 life force.
Charge
The knight has the Charge card, which is a very powerful long range attack, combined with a reduce range movement. After dealing damage, if any, resolve the movement as described under 'Movement' below. For example, in Example 1 above, the combatants would now be at short range.
Dodge
The knight has a Dodge card which if played reduces damage dealt to him this round to zero regardless of what attack the dragon performs.
Example 3:
Jack (the knight) chooses a '4' and the Dodge card. Sam chooses a '5' and the Rake card. Sam's attack would have dealt 3 damage to the knight, but the Dodge reduces that to zero, so no life force is lost.
Knight's Block
The knight also has a block card which reduces damage dealt. If the dragon player has played an attack card and a die, the block will reduce the value on the die before calculating the damage dealt. This could reduce the damage dealt to zero. The amount the dragon's die roll is reduced by depends on the die the knight used in conjunction with it: with a 1,2 or a 3 the dragon's die result is reduced by two, with a 4, 5, or a 6 it is reduced by one. If used without a die it has no effect or against a defence or maneouvre card it has no effect.
Example 4:
Enrique (the knight) chooses a '4' and the Block card. Mal chooses a '5' and the Bite card. With a '4' the Block reduces the dragon's attack die by one, so Sam's '4' is changed to a '3'. Sam's attack now deals 2 damage to the knight, instead of the 4 damage it would have dealt with a '4'.
Combo
Knight has two short range attacks Hack and Slash which have the 'Combo' keyword and one short range defence 'Riposte'.
Example 5:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '4' and Hack, while Roberto chooses a '2' and Advance. The Hack deals 2 damage to the dragon, and seeing as it dealt damage, Konrad can use the Combo effect to immediately play the Slash card from his hand (not the discard pile) along with the remaining '1' die to deal a further 1 damage, the second attack cannot be defended against. Roberto's dragon loses a total of 3 life force.
Movement
If either player has played a movement card (Charge, Advance or Retreat) then the range is adjusted:
Note that the knight's Advance and Retreat cards also prevent one damage if played with a die showing a 1, 2 or a 3.
Discard card and die
or
As I feared the last version was pretty unbalanced. Sam and I played it three times on Monday lunchtime with the dragon winning by 10 points twice and by 15 once! All in under 10 minutes :-(. I'd made the Breathe Fire work at long and short range and added another dragon attack (the Tail Lash) at long range. Despite the better defence cards for the knight he was still hopelessly out-classed. Discussing it afterwards with Sam I was quite happy with his idea that the dragon would win more games than the knight (if only slightly), but as it stood, the knight had no chance.
So, in fairly short order, here's a new version. This version has even more asymmetry added, now the knight has 9 cards and the dragon only 7. The knight's extra card is a short range defence that can be combo-ed with an attack or two, and the dragon has lost the Tail Lash and Breathe Fire is back to long range only.
New rules follow, with new print and play files at the bottom.
Dragon Dance
Fire v. Lance
2 players
10-30 mins
10+?
Contents:
9 Knight action cards7 Dragon action cards
1 Knight player aid card
1 Dragon player aid card
9 heart tokens representing the knight's life force
20 gold coins representing the dragon's life force
3 large red dice for the dragon
5 small white dice for the knight
Dragon Dance is a game of bluff, cards and dice between a knight and a dragon in a mortal fight over the King's daughter.
Aim of the Game
The aim of the game is to reduce your opponent to zero life force through cleverly timed attacks without running out of your own life force. Each round you will simultaneously choose a die and then a card to action - either attacking, defending or manoeuvering as you dance around each other looking for an opening to exploit. The dragon is more powerful and has more life force, but it's also less agile and slower, so the knight has to strike fast before his limited life force is extinguished. The game weaves between long and short range as combatants close and retreat to catch each other on the wrong foot.Setup
Decide between yourselves who will play the dragon and the knight. The dragon player takes the dragon player aid, action cards, three red dice and the twenty gold coins to represent its life force. The knight player takes the knight player aid, action cards, five white dice and nine heart tokens representing his life force.Both players roll all their dice and place them in front of them and place their player aid cards with the 'Long Range' side face up nearby.
Play
The game takes place over a number of rounds during which the players act simultaneously. Throughout the game the players' life tokens, remaining dice and played cards are kept open so that both players can see them.Each round consists of four phases:
- Choose a die (or none)
- Choose a card
- Action the card
- Discard card and die
In the first phase, both players simultaneously choose either one of their remaining dice, or none. High values boost attacks, low values boost defence and medium values boost both attack and defence but to a lesser degree.
During this phase, hide your remaining dice from your opponent and then choose one of them to use this turn (by, for example, placing a finger on it) or choose none (by, for example, placing a finger on the table next to your dice). Then reveal your dice along with your selection. The chosen die will be used to either boost an attack or defence card, or as a bluff to trick your opponent into playing a sub-optimal card.
Choose a card
Once both players have revealed their chosen die (or none), both players simultaneously chose a card to play this turn. The chosen cards are placed face down on the table in front of them and then when both players have chosen the cards are revealed. Chosen cards must be playable at your current range, check your player aid to see which cards you can play at your current range, or check the 'Short range' or 'Long range' icons on the cards in your hand. You begin the game at long range. The only effect of the short and long range icons is to limit the cards available to you during this phase. If one or both players play a card which changes the range, the cards chosen are still valid as long as they were valid choice at the starting range this round.
Action the card
Both cards are actioned simultaneously.
Attacks & Defence
If either player chooses an attack card, calculate the damage they deal as follows:
If they have chosen a die, use the table on the card to determine how much damage they are dealing, if no dice is chosen determine damage using the no dice column in the table.
If their opponent has not played a defence card, they lose life force equal to the damage dealt.
If their opponent has played a defence card, use the table on the defence card (along with any die chosen) to determine the defender's protection as for the attack damage. The attacker's damage minus the defender's protection is the amount of damage dealt to the defender.
Example 1:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '5' and the Hack attack card and Derek chooses a '1' and the Flap defence card. With a 5, the Hack deals 3 damage, but the Flap and a 1 prevent 4 damage, so no damage is dealt.
If both players attack, the damages are calculated and dealt simultaneously, possibly killing each other at the same time.
Example 2:
Roberto (the knight) chooses a '6' and the Charge card and Todd chooses a '3' and the Breathe Fire card. With a 6, the Charge deals 5 damage, which is unblocked, so the dragon loses 5 life force. Breathe Fire with a 3 deals 3 damage, so the knight loses 3 life force.
Charge
The knight has the Charge card, which is a very powerful long range attack, combined with a reduce range movement. After dealing damage, if any, resolve the movement as described under 'Movement' below. For example, in Example 1 above, the combatants would now be at short range.
Dodge
The knight has a Dodge card which if played reduces damage dealt to him this round to zero regardless of what attack the dragon performs.
Example 3:
Jack (the knight) chooses a '4' and the Dodge card. Sam chooses a '5' and the Rake card. Sam's attack would have dealt 3 damage to the knight, but the Dodge reduces that to zero, so no life force is lost.
Knight's Block
The knight also has a block card which reduces damage dealt. If the dragon player has played an attack card and a die, the block will reduce the value on the die before calculating the damage dealt. This could reduce the damage dealt to zero. The amount the dragon's die roll is reduced by depends on the die the knight used in conjunction with it: with a 1,2 or a 3 the dragon's die result is reduced by two, with a 4, 5, or a 6 it is reduced by one. If used without a die it has no effect or against a defence or maneouvre card it has no effect.
Example 4:
Enrique (the knight) chooses a '4' and the Block card. Mal chooses a '5' and the Bite card. With a '4' the Block reduces the dragon's attack die by one, so Sam's '4' is changed to a '3'. Sam's attack now deals 2 damage to the knight, instead of the 4 damage it would have dealt with a '4'.
Combo
Knight has two short range attacks Hack and Slash which have the 'Combo' keyword and one short range defence 'Riposte'.
- If a Hack or Slash is played and deals damage as described in the 'Attack and Defence' section above, the knight may perform a follow up attack using the other short range attack card.
- If Riposte is played and it successfully reduces damage dealt, the knight may perform follow up attack(s) using one or both of the short range attack cards.
Example 5:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '4' and Hack, while Roberto chooses a '2' and Advance. The Hack deals 2 damage to the dragon, and seeing as it dealt damage, Konrad can use the Combo effect to immediately play the Slash card from his hand (not the discard pile) along with the remaining '1' die to deal a further 1 damage, the second attack cannot be defended against. Roberto's dragon loses a total of 3 life force.
Movement
If either player has played a movement card (Charge, Advance or Retreat) then the range is adjusted:
- If one or both players reduce range you are now at short range
- If the knight plays Retreat you are now at long range
- If the dragon plays Advance and the knight plays Retreat your range remains the same
Note that the knight's Advance and Retreat cards also prevent one damage if played with a die showing a 1, 2 or a 3.
Discard card and die
At the end of the round both players discard the cards they played (face up where they are visible to both players) and any die they used with it. These discarded cards and dice are unavailable to the player until they play the Recuperate card, which allows them to reclaim all discarded dice and cards, returning the cards to their hand. Once they have reclaimed the dice all their dice are re-rolled.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the round in which at least one player has been reduced to zero life force. If the dragon has zero life force, the knight has won regardless of whether or not he has life remaining. Otherwise the dragon wins.Download the cards
There are two versions of the cards: either front and backs as two separate files or alternatively, all the pages as a single file interleaved for easy double-sided printing.or
Wednesday, November 19
NaGa DeMon 9: An Intermission
Just a brief one today. I've finally been brought low by the sickness bug that's been sweeping my office and house, so there's not going to be any progress on anything for a day or two. I've got a new version that hopefully fixes the problems with the last version that I did on Monday night before I came down with it, but I'd rather not post it until I've had more of a chance to test it. Hopefully it'll be up in a few days...
Monday, November 17
NaGa DeMon 8: Redux
It's just gone half-time in November, and finally I've got a second version of Dragon Dance for your delectation. Initially I'd intended to make fairly minor changes (decrease dragon hit points and tie = knight win), but feedback from Konrad's three games and a game I played with Dave late on Thursday night inspired some more sweeping changes which kind of crept up on me while I spent 6 hours on trains on Friday.
The changes have led to the dragon becoming stronger (more damage, another attack card and breathe fire now works at both ranges) but also clumsier (0 damage for low dice on most attacks) and bolder (no retreat). Meanwhile the knight now gets some defence while advancing and retreating, and his block reduces the dragon's attack die roll potentially reducing the damage received to zero! In the last version I think the dragon was too strong, and yet these changes have probably made it stronger still, so the knight needed some bulking up too. I've no idea whether these ideas will improve things, or how broken they are, but hopefully they are at least more interesting!
New rules follow, with new print and play files at the bottom.
Dragon Dance
Fire v. Lance
2 players
10-30 mins
10+?
8 Dragon action cards
1 Knight player aid card
1 Dragon player aid card
9 heart tokens representing the knight's life force
20 gold coins representing the dragon's life force
3 large red dice for the dragon
5 small white dice for the knight
Dragon Dance is a game of bluff, cards and dice between a knight and a dragon in a mortal fight over the King's daughter.
Both players roll all their dice and place them in front of them and place their player aid cards with the 'Long Range' side face up nearby.
Each round consists of four phases:
In the first phase, both players simultaneously choose either one of their remaining dice, or none. High values boost attacks, low values boost defence and medium values boost both attack and defence but to a lesser degree.
During this phase, hide your remaining dice from your opponent and then choose one of them to use this turn (by, for example, placing a finger on it) or choose none (by, for example, placing a finger on the table next to your dice). Then reveal your dice along with your selection. The chosen die will be used to either boost an attack or defence card, or as a bluff to trick your opponent into playing a sub-optimal card.
Choose a card
Once both players have revealed their chosen die (or none), both players simultaneously chose a card to play this turn. The chosen cards are placed face down on the table in front of them and then when both players have chosen the cards are revealed. Chosen cards must be playable at your current range, check your player aid to see which cards you can play at your current range, or check the 'Short range' or 'Long range' icons on the cards in your hand. You begin the game at long range. The only effect of the short and long range icons is to limit the cards available to you during this phase. If one or both players play a card which changes the range, the cards chosen are still valid as long as they were valid choice at the starting range this round.
Action the card
Both cards are actioned simultaneously.
Attacks & Defence
If either player chooses an attack card, calculate the damage they deal as follows:
If they have chosen a die, use the table on the card to determine how much damage they are dealing, if no dice is chosen determine damage using the no dice column in the table.
If their opponent has not played a defence card, they lose life force equal to the damage dealt.
If their opponent has played a defence card, use the table on the defence card (along with any die chosen) to determine the defender's protection as for the attack damage. The attacker's damage minus the defender's protection is the amount of damage dealt to the defender.
Example 1:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '5' and the Hack attack card and Derek chooses a '1' and the Flap defence card. With a 5, the Hack deals 3 damage, but the Flap and a 1 prevent 4 damage, so no damage is dealt.
If both players attack, the damages are calculated and dealt simultaneously, possibly killing each other at the same time.
Example 2:
Roberto (the knight) chooses a '6' and the Charge card and Todd chooses a '3' and the Breathe Fire card. With a 6, the Charge deals 5 damage, which is unblocked, so the dragon loses 5 life force. Breathe Fire with a 3 deals 3 damage, so the knight loses 3 life force.
Charge
The knight has the Charge card, which is a very powerful long range attack, combined with a reduce range movement. After dealing damage, if any, resolve the movement as described under 'Movement' below. For example, in Example 1 above, the combatants would now be at short range.
Dodge
The knight has a Dodge card which if played reduces damage dealt to him this round to zero regardless of what attack the dragon performs.
Example 3:
Jack (the knight) chooses a '4' and the Dodge card. Sam chooses a '5' and the Rake card. Sam's attack would have dealt 3 damage to the knight, but the Dodge reduces that to zero, so no life force is lost.
Knight's Block
The knight also has a block card which reduces damage dealt. If the dragon player has played an attack card and a die, the block will reduce the value on the die before calculating the damage dealt. This could reduce the damage dealt to zero. The amount the dragon's die roll is reduced by depends on the die the knight used in conjunction with it: with a 1,2 or a 3 the dragon's die result is reduced by two, with a 4, 5, or a 6 it is reduced by one. If used without a die it has no effect or against a defence or maneouvre card it has no effect.
Example 4:
Enrique (the knight) chooses a '4' and the Block card. Mal chooses a '5' and the Bite card. With a '4' the Block reduces the dragon's attack die by one, so Sam's '4' is changed to a '3'. Sam's attack now deals 2 damage to the knight, instead of the 4 damage it would have dealt with a '4'.
Combo
Knight has two short range attacks Hack and Slash which have the 'Combo' keyword. If a Hack or Slash is played and deals damage as described in the 'Attack and Defence' section above, the knight may perform a follow up attack. Providing the combatants remain and short range and the knight has his other short range attack card in his hand he may immediately play it (assigning a remaining die if any) as an undefended attack which deals a second round of damage this turn.
Example 5:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '4' and Hack, while Roberto chooses a '2' and Advance. The Hack deals 2 damage to the dragon, and seeing as it dealt damage, Konrad can use the Combo effect to immediately play the Slash card from his hand (not the discard pile) along with the remaining '1' die to deal a further 1 damage, the second attack cannot be defended against. Roberto's dragon loses a total of 3 life force.
Movement
If either player has played a movement card (Charge, Advance or Retreat) then the range is adjusted:
Note that the knight's advance and retreat cards also prevent one damage if played with a die showing a 1, 2 or a 3.
Discard card and die
or
The changes have led to the dragon becoming stronger (more damage, another attack card and breathe fire now works at both ranges) but also clumsier (0 damage for low dice on most attacks) and bolder (no retreat). Meanwhile the knight now gets some defence while advancing and retreating, and his block reduces the dragon's attack die roll potentially reducing the damage received to zero! In the last version I think the dragon was too strong, and yet these changes have probably made it stronger still, so the knight needed some bulking up too. I've no idea whether these ideas will improve things, or how broken they are, but hopefully they are at least more interesting!
New rules follow, with new print and play files at the bottom.
Dragon Dance
Fire v. Lance
2 players
10-30 mins
10+?
Contents:
8 Knight action cards8 Dragon action cards
1 Knight player aid card
1 Dragon player aid card
9 heart tokens representing the knight's life force
20 gold coins representing the dragon's life force
3 large red dice for the dragon
5 small white dice for the knight
Dragon Dance is a game of bluff, cards and dice between a knight and a dragon in a mortal fight over the King's daughter.
Aim of the Game
The aim of the game is to reduce your opponent to zero life force through cleverly timed attacks without running out of your own life force. Each round you will simultaneously choose a die and then a card to action - either attacking, defending or manoeuvering as you dance around each other looking for an opening to exploit. The dragon is more powerful and has more life force, but it's also less agile and slower, so the knight has to strike fast before his limited life force is extinguished. The game weaves between long and short range as combatants close and retreat to catch each other on the wrong foot.Setup
Decide between yourselves who will play the dragon and the knight. The dragon player takes the dragon player aid, action cards, three red dice and the twenty gold coins to represent its life force. The knight player takes the knight player aid, action cards, five white dice and nine heart tokens representing his life force.Both players roll all their dice and place them in front of them and place their player aid cards with the 'Long Range' side face up nearby.
Play
The game takes place over a number of rounds during which the players act simultaneously. Throughout the game the players' life tokens, remaining dice and played cards are kept open so that both players can see them.Each round consists of four phases:
- Choose a die (or none)
- Choose a card
- Action the card
- Discard card and die
In the first phase, both players simultaneously choose either one of their remaining dice, or none. High values boost attacks, low values boost defence and medium values boost both attack and defence but to a lesser degree.
During this phase, hide your remaining dice from your opponent and then choose one of them to use this turn (by, for example, placing a finger on it) or choose none (by, for example, placing a finger on the table next to your dice). Then reveal your dice along with your selection. The chosen die will be used to either boost an attack or defence card, or as a bluff to trick your opponent into playing a sub-optimal card.
Choose a card
Once both players have revealed their chosen die (or none), both players simultaneously chose a card to play this turn. The chosen cards are placed face down on the table in front of them and then when both players have chosen the cards are revealed. Chosen cards must be playable at your current range, check your player aid to see which cards you can play at your current range, or check the 'Short range' or 'Long range' icons on the cards in your hand. You begin the game at long range. The only effect of the short and long range icons is to limit the cards available to you during this phase. If one or both players play a card which changes the range, the cards chosen are still valid as long as they were valid choice at the starting range this round.
Action the card
Both cards are actioned simultaneously.
Attacks & Defence
If either player chooses an attack card, calculate the damage they deal as follows:
If they have chosen a die, use the table on the card to determine how much damage they are dealing, if no dice is chosen determine damage using the no dice column in the table.
If their opponent has not played a defence card, they lose life force equal to the damage dealt.
If their opponent has played a defence card, use the table on the defence card (along with any die chosen) to determine the defender's protection as for the attack damage. The attacker's damage minus the defender's protection is the amount of damage dealt to the defender.
Example 1:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '5' and the Hack attack card and Derek chooses a '1' and the Flap defence card. With a 5, the Hack deals 3 damage, but the Flap and a 1 prevent 4 damage, so no damage is dealt.
If both players attack, the damages are calculated and dealt simultaneously, possibly killing each other at the same time.
Example 2:
Roberto (the knight) chooses a '6' and the Charge card and Todd chooses a '3' and the Breathe Fire card. With a 6, the Charge deals 5 damage, which is unblocked, so the dragon loses 5 life force. Breathe Fire with a 3 deals 3 damage, so the knight loses 3 life force.
Charge
The knight has the Charge card, which is a very powerful long range attack, combined with a reduce range movement. After dealing damage, if any, resolve the movement as described under 'Movement' below. For example, in Example 1 above, the combatants would now be at short range.
Dodge
The knight has a Dodge card which if played reduces damage dealt to him this round to zero regardless of what attack the dragon performs.
Example 3:
Jack (the knight) chooses a '4' and the Dodge card. Sam chooses a '5' and the Rake card. Sam's attack would have dealt 3 damage to the knight, but the Dodge reduces that to zero, so no life force is lost.
Knight's Block
The knight also has a block card which reduces damage dealt. If the dragon player has played an attack card and a die, the block will reduce the value on the die before calculating the damage dealt. This could reduce the damage dealt to zero. The amount the dragon's die roll is reduced by depends on the die the knight used in conjunction with it: with a 1,2 or a 3 the dragon's die result is reduced by two, with a 4, 5, or a 6 it is reduced by one. If used without a die it has no effect or against a defence or maneouvre card it has no effect.
Example 4:
Enrique (the knight) chooses a '4' and the Block card. Mal chooses a '5' and the Bite card. With a '4' the Block reduces the dragon's attack die by one, so Sam's '4' is changed to a '3'. Sam's attack now deals 2 damage to the knight, instead of the 4 damage it would have dealt with a '4'.
Combo
Knight has two short range attacks Hack and Slash which have the 'Combo' keyword. If a Hack or Slash is played and deals damage as described in the 'Attack and Defence' section above, the knight may perform a follow up attack. Providing the combatants remain and short range and the knight has his other short range attack card in his hand he may immediately play it (assigning a remaining die if any) as an undefended attack which deals a second round of damage this turn.
Example 5:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '4' and Hack, while Roberto chooses a '2' and Advance. The Hack deals 2 damage to the dragon, and seeing as it dealt damage, Konrad can use the Combo effect to immediately play the Slash card from his hand (not the discard pile) along with the remaining '1' die to deal a further 1 damage, the second attack cannot be defended against. Roberto's dragon loses a total of 3 life force.
Movement
If either player has played a movement card (Charge, Advance or Retreat) then the range is adjusted:
- If one or both players 'reduce range' you are now at short range
- If one or both players 'increase range' you are now at long range
- If one player 'reduces range' and the other 'increases range' your range remains the same
Note that the knight's advance and retreat cards also prevent one damage if played with a die showing a 1, 2 or a 3.
Discard card and die
At the end of the round both players discard the cards they played (face up where they are visible to both players) and any die they used with it. These discarded cards and dice are unavailable to the player until they play the Recuperate card, which allows them to reclaim all discarded dice and cards, returning the cards to their hand. Once they have reclaimed the dice all their dice are re-rolled.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the round in which at least one player has been reduced to zero life force. If the dragon has zero life force, the knight has won regardless of whether or not he has life remaining. Otherwise the dragon wins.Download the cards
To keep everyone happy there's now two versions of the cards: either front and backs as two separate files or alternatively, all the pages as a single file interleaved for easy double-sided printing.or
Saturday, November 15
TGWAG League Table 3
Another great week of Dragon Dance progress. I've played it another five times and I've had a report from Konrad who has played it three times as well. Early indications are now hinting that the dragon is possibly a little overpowered in version one of the rules.
Talking about the rules, I've been very surprised at how stable this first version has been. Usually my first version of any game is dreadful, but this one not so much. So I've been struggling to think of how to improve it. Initially the only change I was thinking of making was to make a tie count as a knight win (the dragon's dead after all) and maybe reducing the dragon's hit points a bit. But Konrad's very detailed feedback gave me a couple of ideas and then I had a couple more from Dave's feedback after our end of Games Night game on Thursday. On the train on Friday I ended up making fairly large changes, so when that version becomes available it'll be interesting to see whether it's more interesting/fun and how badly I've broken the balance!
In terms of TGWAG there's been steady progress across the board, but Konrad's printing out, pimping, playing three times at the expense of his own NaGa DeMon game and then very detailed feedback with some cracking ideas has enabled him to race away at the front. Enrique (Eblasco/@7isprime) has also managed to nudge Roberto (during his trip to Saudi) into fourth place, currently out of the running for a free copy of the game.
Congratulations to Sir Konrad of Deutschland on his well deserved knighthood!
Talking about the rules, I've been very surprised at how stable this first version has been. Usually my first version of any game is dreadful, but this one not so much. So I've been struggling to think of how to improve it. Initially the only change I was thinking of making was to make a tie count as a knight win (the dragon's dead after all) and maybe reducing the dragon's hit points a bit. But Konrad's very detailed feedback gave me a couple of ideas and then I had a couple more from Dave's feedback after our end of Games Night game on Thursday. On the train on Friday I ended up making fairly large changes, so when that version becomes available it'll be interesting to see whether it's more interesting/fun and how badly I've broken the balance!
In terms of TGWAG there's been steady progress across the board, but Konrad's printing out, pimping, playing three times at the expense of his own NaGa DeMon game and then very detailed feedback with some cracking ideas has enabled him to race away at the front. Enrique (Eblasco/@7isprime) has also managed to nudge Roberto (during his trip to Saudi) into fourth place, currently out of the running for a free copy of the game.
| Name | PIPs | PIAL | Free game? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir Konrad/@pidaysock | 23 | Knight | Yes |
| Derek Hohls/@gamesbook | 11 | Squire | Yes |
| Eblasco/@7isprime | 9 | Footman | Yes |
| Roberto | 8 | Footman | No |
| @kimacus | 3 | Serf | No |
| Mal | 3 | Serf | No |
| @MTTJ_Patrick | 3 | Serf | No |
| @toddderscheid | 2 | Serf | No |
Congratulations to Sir Konrad of Deutschland on his well deserved knighthood!
Friday, November 14
NaGa DeMon 7: Less Selfish
Last year, despite the point of NaGa DeMon being to share and discuss your experiences I was very much focussed on my own efforts: Zombology. I played it lots, I blogged about it lots and that was it. The Daughter was still sleeping dreadfully and to survive at work I needed very early nights, so I had little time available for my NaGa DeMon and none for anyone else's.
This year, a couple of things are different. Firstly, The daughter, bless her heart, is finally sleeping like a boss - so I can go to bed at a sensible time fairly safe in the knowledge of an uninterrupted night and a morning that won't start at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night. Which means more free time. But also, more opportunity.
Sam, a friend at work is also taking part in NaGa DeMon, designing his first game themed around electioneering. So we've been splitting lunchtime playtesting sessions between Codename: Dragon and his game. In addition, a couple of the Newcastle Playtest crew were talking about taking part this year, I missed the last session due to cleaning up after the day's double-glazing, but we've arranged an impromptu meet up next week, so hopefully I'll be able to get involved and help them out with their playtesting.
Konrad, last year's TGWAG winner (and looking increasingly like this year's too!) is also taking part, so I'd like to try out his Cyberspace game too.
With the NaGa DeMon website fairly stagnant, I've been cross posting my NaGa DeMon blogs to the Google+ group for Board Games Design, so I'm watching that space too, I've not had much to say there yet, but as more information comes up about other people's games I hope to get involved.
In other news, I'll be spending 15 hours on trains over the next three days, so I hope to do more artwork for Dragon Dance, along with a new version of the rules and some more blog posts.
This year, a couple of things are different. Firstly, The daughter, bless her heart, is finally sleeping like a boss - so I can go to bed at a sensible time fairly safe in the knowledge of an uninterrupted night and a morning that won't start at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night. Which means more free time. But also, more opportunity.
Sam, a friend at work is also taking part in NaGa DeMon, designing his first game themed around electioneering. So we've been splitting lunchtime playtesting sessions between Codename: Dragon and his game. In addition, a couple of the Newcastle Playtest crew were talking about taking part this year, I missed the last session due to cleaning up after the day's double-glazing, but we've arranged an impromptu meet up next week, so hopefully I'll be able to get involved and help them out with their playtesting.
Konrad, last year's TGWAG winner (and looking increasingly like this year's too!) is also taking part, so I'd like to try out his Cyberspace game too.
With the NaGa DeMon website fairly stagnant, I've been cross posting my NaGa DeMon blogs to the Google+ group for Board Games Design, so I'm watching that space too, I've not had much to say there yet, but as more information comes up about other people's games I hope to get involved.
In other news, I'll be spending 15 hours on trains over the next three days, so I hope to do more artwork for Dragon Dance, along with a new version of the rules and some more blog posts.
Thursday, November 13
Mobile Development: Beta Testers Wanted
A brief interlude from my NaGa DeMon efforts.
I've been working on a Windows Phone version of the Martian Dice game designed by Scott Almes and published by Tasty Minstrel Games. Initially it was purely a personal project, so I could play it on the train when I go to Manchester for work (it's not available on the iPad) and as a programming exercise for myself. As it took shape I was fairly happy with it, so I approached Michael Mindes of TMG, and he very kindly said I could make it available as long as it was free of charge and I made clear it wasn't made or maintained by TMG.
It's now 'finished' and going through beta testing, and I'm looking for beta testers for it. If you would like early access (in return for some feedback!) please post a comment including your email address.
It only works on WP8 and WP8.1, and it's pass and play with no AI.
I've been working on a Windows Phone version of the Martian Dice game designed by Scott Almes and published by Tasty Minstrel Games. Initially it was purely a personal project, so I could play it on the train when I go to Manchester for work (it's not available on the iPad) and as a programming exercise for myself. As it took shape I was fairly happy with it, so I approached Michael Mindes of TMG, and he very kindly said I could make it available as long as it was free of charge and I made clear it wasn't made or maintained by TMG.
It's now 'finished' and going through beta testing, and I'm looking for beta testers for it. If you would like early access (in return for some feedback!) please post a comment including your email address.
It only works on WP8 and WP8.1, and it's pass and play with no AI.
Wednesday, November 12
NaGa DeMon 6: Something To Aim For
I've now played seven games of Codename: Dragon, four against Sam, two against Mal and one against Ian. I've drawn twice, once as the dragon and once as the knight both against Sam, and won every other game. Which is good, it makes me thing there's an element of skill in the game as the most experienced player wins more games.
Recently, Mal was wondering whether the dragon had too few hit points. I replied that I didn't have enough data, and here's the proof:
The blue bars represent the games I've played and the amount of life the winner had left at the end. The knight is on the left of zero, the dragon on the right. The orange line represents a target for the win distribution I'd like the final game to have. So very few ties, and a roughly Gaussian distribution on either side, but with the dragon as likely to win as the knight (assuming equally matched players).
It's going to be really difficult to achieve this considering the asymmetry in the game:
But it gives me a target to aim for. Clearly what I need to begin with is a shed-load more data. That's where you come in - there's PIPs galore available for helping me to fill in those blanks!
Recently, Mal was wondering whether the dragon had too few hit points. I replied that I didn't have enough data, and here's the proof:
The blue bars represent the games I've played and the amount of life the winner had left at the end. The knight is on the left of zero, the dragon on the right. The orange line represents a target for the win distribution I'd like the final game to have. So very few ties, and a roughly Gaussian distribution on either side, but with the dragon as likely to win as the knight (assuming equally matched players).
It's going to be really difficult to achieve this considering the asymmetry in the game:
- the knight has fewer hit points
- the dragon has fewer dice, so needs to recuperate more often
- the dragon's attacks and defence are stronger
- the knight has the ability to attack and change range
- the knight has the ability to prevent all damage once
- the knight has the ability to combo attacks
But it gives me a target to aim for. Clearly what I need to begin with is a shed-load more data. That's where you come in - there's PIPs galore available for helping me to fill in those blanks!
Monday, November 10
NaGa DeMon 5: Since Records Began
A vital part of designing any game is recording ideas, what works and what doesn't and outcomes.
In recent months I've been using Evernote on my phone, iPad and Laptop to record ideas about games along with feedback and information about game outcomes. This year I've also been using it to keep track of everyone's PIP scores (it's much better at that than the way I was using Excel last year).
I generally expect a new game to go through its first few versions very quickly, since the first time you try it there's usually something dreadfully broken that you'd not even contemplated that needs immediate attention - without fixing it the game is so broken that it's not even playable.
With that in mind my first prototype was a mixture of pen and pencil scribbles on plain white card, I only used pen for the things I was convinced wouldn't change (the names of the characters: St. George and Dragon), with everything else drawn lightly in pencil ready for frequent erasing and amending.
As it turns out after a week of playing I've not changed anything (except the name of one of the characters: now the more generic Knight). So it's time for a component upgrade: I've printed my own P&P files ready for testing this week:
A disadvantage of my assumption of horrible brokenness is that I've not been recording the outcomes of the games properly. When the components are changing on a daily basis, recording the results of the games in minute detail is a waste of time. You know there's something obviously broken, so knowing that the knight wins 53.3% of games with on average 3.45 life left isn't going to help. Expecting the worse I've made a mental note of who won (me!) and who they were playing (a fairly even mix of knight and dragon) but I've not been recording the final scores needed for tweaking to try to make the game as balanced as possible between the asymmetric knight and dragon. Seeing as I've now played five games and I've just made a new version with no substantive changes I can now start tracking the scores to the point where I accumulate enough data to be meaningful. I've also tried to work backwards and remember the scores from the five games I've already got under my belt.
Hopefully I'll soon have some more data from TGWAG competitors to add to that which I've collected and mis-remembered myself...
In recent months I've been using Evernote on my phone, iPad and Laptop to record ideas about games along with feedback and information about game outcomes. This year I've also been using it to keep track of everyone's PIP scores (it's much better at that than the way I was using Excel last year).
I generally expect a new game to go through its first few versions very quickly, since the first time you try it there's usually something dreadfully broken that you'd not even contemplated that needs immediate attention - without fixing it the game is so broken that it's not even playable.
With that in mind my first prototype was a mixture of pen and pencil scribbles on plain white card, I only used pen for the things I was convinced wouldn't change (the names of the characters: St. George and Dragon), with everything else drawn lightly in pencil ready for frequent erasing and amending.
As it turns out after a week of playing I've not changed anything (except the name of one of the characters: now the more generic Knight). So it's time for a component upgrade: I've printed my own P&P files ready for testing this week:
A disadvantage of my assumption of horrible brokenness is that I've not been recording the outcomes of the games properly. When the components are changing on a daily basis, recording the results of the games in minute detail is a waste of time. You know there's something obviously broken, so knowing that the knight wins 53.3% of games with on average 3.45 life left isn't going to help. Expecting the worse I've made a mental note of who won (me!) and who they were playing (a fairly even mix of knight and dragon) but I've not been recording the final scores needed for tweaking to try to make the game as balanced as possible between the asymmetric knight and dragon. Seeing as I've now played five games and I've just made a new version with no substantive changes I can now start tracking the scores to the point where I accumulate enough data to be meaningful. I've also tried to work backwards and remember the scores from the five games I've already got under my belt.
Hopefully I'll soon have some more data from TGWAG competitors to add to that which I've collected and mis-remembered myself...
Saturday, November 8
TGWAG: League Table 2
It's been a good week, not only have I played Codename: Dragon five times already (without a loss!), but I've also managed to get a first stab at the rules and an initial print and play version up for playtesting. And all this despite having the house turned upside this week due to the double-glazing being done. The double-glazing will be finished by the middle of next week, so things should settle down a bit then I hope.
It's also been a good week for TGWAG. In addition to last week's four competitors (all of whom have gained points this week) we have four new competitors too.
So we have a few people raised from serfdom, and Konrad has even been made a squire! Heady heights. The big question is: will anyone get knighted next week?
It's also been a good week for TGWAG. In addition to last week's four competitors (all of whom have gained points this week) we have four new competitors too.
| Name | PIPs | PIAL | Free game? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Konrad/@pidaysock | 12 | Squire | Yes |
| Derek Hohls/@gamesbook | 8 | Footman | Yes |
| Roberto | 6 | Footman | Yes |
| Eblasco/@7isprime | 4 | Serf | No |
| @kimacus | 3 | Serf | No |
| @toddderscheid | 1 | Serf | No |
| Mal | 2 | Serf | No |
| @MTTJ_Patrick | 2 | Serf | No |
So we have a few people raised from serfdom, and Konrad has even been made a squire! Heady heights. The big question is: will anyone get knighted next week?
Friday, November 7
NaGa DeMon 4: Print and Play
Just under a week in and already I'm posting Print and Play files!
Codename: Dragon has really surprised me. It's the first time I've designed a game and the first prototype hasn't been so hideously broken that I've had to make sweeping changes - either during the first game or immediately afterwards. I've now played this version five times, three times as the knight and twice as the dragon. The first game resulted in a tie, but since then I've won every game I've played, which implies that it's not so totally random that there's no learning curve that rewards repeated plays.
That's the good news. The bad news is that despite it kind of working how I had hoped and not being too unbalanced or broken, there's been no love for it yet. My testers have been happy to play again and I think are largely still trying to get their heads round how the game works. But no one is clamouring for another game or offering to sell me their firstborn or a kidney for a copy of their own that they can carry with them at all times and foist upon unsuspecting spouses, relatives, friends and strangers.
So it clearly needs some work.
But I'm not sure what. That's where you come in. There's a couple of links at the bottom of this post to the front and back files, both two sheets of A4. If you fancy it please print them out and give the game a go (you'll also need the rules, 29 counters and 8 six-sided dice). There's PIPs by the bucket-load for feedback (especially critical) and ideas.
Please get stuck in!
Codename: Dragon has really surprised me. It's the first time I've designed a game and the first prototype hasn't been so hideously broken that I've had to make sweeping changes - either during the first game or immediately afterwards. I've now played this version five times, three times as the knight and twice as the dragon. The first game resulted in a tie, but since then I've won every game I've played, which implies that it's not so totally random that there's no learning curve that rewards repeated plays.
That's the good news. The bad news is that despite it kind of working how I had hoped and not being too unbalanced or broken, there's been no love for it yet. My testers have been happy to play again and I think are largely still trying to get their heads round how the game works. But no one is clamouring for another game or offering to sell me their firstborn or a kidney for a copy of their own that they can carry with them at all times and foist upon unsuspecting spouses, relatives, friends and strangers.
So it clearly needs some work.
But I'm not sure what. That's where you come in. There's a couple of links at the bottom of this post to the front and back files, both two sheets of A4. If you fancy it please print them out and give the game a go (you'll also need the rules, 29 counters and 8 six-sided dice). There's PIPs by the bucket-load for feedback (especially critical) and ideas.
Please get stuck in!
- Card fronts (2 sides of A4)
- Card backs (2 sides of A4)
Wednesday, November 5
NaGa DeMon 3: First Rules!
We're still right at the beginning of November, but things are off to a great start. I've managed to play Codename: Dragon a few times at work this week already and considering how fresh the idea is, the game works remarkably well. Don't get me wrong, it's a long way from finished. But even now it's playable and interesting. I was delaying putting the rules up here until I'd had a chance to play them and check them for glaring problems, but here are the first version rules for critique:
Dragon Dance
Fire v. Lance
2 players
10-30 mins
10+?
8 The dragon action cards
1 The knight player aid card
1 The dragon player aid card
9 heart tokens representing the knight's life force
20 gold coins representing the dragon's life force
3 large red dice for the dragon
5 small white dice for the knight
Dragon Dance is a game of bluff, cards and dice between a knight and a dragon in a mortal fight over the King's daughter.
Both players roll all their dice and place them in front of them and place their player aids with the 'Long Range' side face up nearby.
Each round consists of four phases:
Choose a die
In the first phase, both players simultaneously choose either one of their remaining dice, or none. High values boost attacks, low values boost defence and medium values boost both attack and defence to a lesser degree.
During this phase, hide your remaining dice from your opponent and then choose one of them to use this turn (by, for example, placing a finger on it) or choose none (by, for example, placing a finger on the table next to your dice). Then reveal your dice along with your selection. The chosen die will be used to either boost an attack or defence card, or as a bluff to trick your opponent into playing a sub-optimal card.
Choose a card
Once both players have revealed their chosen die (or none), both players simultaneously chose a card to play this turn. The chosen card is placed face down on the table in front of them and then when both players have chosen the cards are revealed. Chosen cards must be playable at your current range, check your player aid to see which cards your can play at your current range, or check the 'Short range' or 'Long range' icons on the cards in your hand. You begin the game at long range.
Action the card
Both cards are actioned simultaneously.
Attacks & Defence
If either player chooses an attack card, calculate the damage they deal as follows:
If they have chosen a die, use the table on the card to determine how much damage they are dealing, if no dice is chosen determine damage using the no dice column in the table.
If their opponent has not played a defence card, they lose life force equal to the damage dealt.
If their opponent has played a defence card, use the table on the defence card (along with any die chosen) to determine the defender's protection as for the attack damage. The attacker's damage minus the defender's protection is the amount of damage dealt to the defender.
Example 1:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '5' and the Hack attack card and Derek chooses a '1' and the Flap defence card. With a 5, the Hack deals 3 damage, but the Flap and a 1 prevent 4 damage, so no damage is dealt.
If both players attack, the damages are calculated and dealt simultaneously, possibly killing each other at the same time.
Example 2:
Roberto (the knight) chooses a '6' and the Charge card and Todd chooses a '3' and the Breathe Fire card. With a 6, the Charge deals 5 damage, which is unblocked, so the dragon loses 5 life force. Breathe Fire with a 3 deals 3 damage, so the knight loses 3 life force.
Charge
The knight has the Charge card, which is a very powerful long range attack, combined with a reduce range movement. After dealing damage, if any, resolve the movement as described under 'Movement' below. For example, in Example 1 above, the combatants would now be at short range.
Dodge
The knight has a Dodge card which if played reduces damage dealt to him this round to zero regardless of what attack the dragon performs.
Example 3:
Jack (the knight) chooses no die, and the Dodge card. Sam chooses a '6' and the Rake card. Sam's attack would have dealt 3 damage to the knight, but the Dodge reduces that to zero, so no life force is lost.
Combo
Knight has two short range attacks Hack and Slash which have the 'Combo' keyword. If a Hack or Slash is played and deals damage as described in the 'Attack and Defence' section above, the knight may perform a follow up attack. Providing the combatants remain and short range and the knight has his other short range attack card in his hand he may immediately play it (assigning a remaining die if any) as an undefended attack which deals a second round of damage this turn.
Example 4:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '4' and Hack, while Roberto chooses a '2' and Advance. The Hack deals 2 damage to the dragon, and seeing as it dealt damage, Konrad can use the Combo effect to immediately play the Slash card from his hand (not the discard pile) along with the remaining '1' die to deal a further 1 damage. Roberto's dragon loses a total of 3 life force.
Movement
If either player has played a movement card (Charge, Advance or Retreat) then the range is adjusted:
Discard card and die
Dragon Dance
Fire v. Lance
2 players
10-30 mins
10+?
Contents:
8 The knight action cards8 The dragon action cards
1 The knight player aid card
1 The dragon player aid card
9 heart tokens representing the knight's life force
20 gold coins representing the dragon's life force
3 large red dice for the dragon
5 small white dice for the knight
Dragon Dance is a game of bluff, cards and dice between a knight and a dragon in a mortal fight over the King's daughter.
Aim of the Game
The aim of the game is to reduce your opponent to zero life force through cleverly timed attacks without running out of your own life force. Each round you will simultaneously choose a card and a die to action - either attacking, defending or manoeuvering as you dance around each other looking for an opening to exploit. The dragon is more powerful and has more life force, but he's also less agile and slower, so the knight has to strike fast before his limited life force is extinguished.Setup
Decide amongst yourselves who will play the dragon and the knight. The dragon player takes the dragon player aid, action cards, three red dice and the twenty gold coins to represent his life force. The knight player takes the knight player aid, action cards, five white dice and nine heart tokens representing his life force.Both players roll all their dice and place them in front of them and place their player aids with the 'Long Range' side face up nearby.
Play
The game takes place over a number of rounds during which the players act simultaneously. Throughout the game the players' life tokens, remaining dice and played cards are kept open so that both players can see them.Each round consists of four phases:
- Choose a die (or none)
- Choose a card
- Action the card
- Discard card and die
Choose a die
In the first phase, both players simultaneously choose either one of their remaining dice, or none. High values boost attacks, low values boost defence and medium values boost both attack and defence to a lesser degree.
During this phase, hide your remaining dice from your opponent and then choose one of them to use this turn (by, for example, placing a finger on it) or choose none (by, for example, placing a finger on the table next to your dice). Then reveal your dice along with your selection. The chosen die will be used to either boost an attack or defence card, or as a bluff to trick your opponent into playing a sub-optimal card.
Choose a card
Once both players have revealed their chosen die (or none), both players simultaneously chose a card to play this turn. The chosen card is placed face down on the table in front of them and then when both players have chosen the cards are revealed. Chosen cards must be playable at your current range, check your player aid to see which cards your can play at your current range, or check the 'Short range' or 'Long range' icons on the cards in your hand. You begin the game at long range.
Action the card
Both cards are actioned simultaneously.
Attacks & Defence
If either player chooses an attack card, calculate the damage they deal as follows:
If they have chosen a die, use the table on the card to determine how much damage they are dealing, if no dice is chosen determine damage using the no dice column in the table.
If their opponent has not played a defence card, they lose life force equal to the damage dealt.
If their opponent has played a defence card, use the table on the defence card (along with any die chosen) to determine the defender's protection as for the attack damage. The attacker's damage minus the defender's protection is the amount of damage dealt to the defender.
Example 1:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '5' and the Hack attack card and Derek chooses a '1' and the Flap defence card. With a 5, the Hack deals 3 damage, but the Flap and a 1 prevent 4 damage, so no damage is dealt.
If both players attack, the damages are calculated and dealt simultaneously, possibly killing each other at the same time.
Example 2:
Roberto (the knight) chooses a '6' and the Charge card and Todd chooses a '3' and the Breathe Fire card. With a 6, the Charge deals 5 damage, which is unblocked, so the dragon loses 5 life force. Breathe Fire with a 3 deals 3 damage, so the knight loses 3 life force.
Charge
The knight has the Charge card, which is a very powerful long range attack, combined with a reduce range movement. After dealing damage, if any, resolve the movement as described under 'Movement' below. For example, in Example 1 above, the combatants would now be at short range.
Dodge
The knight has a Dodge card which if played reduces damage dealt to him this round to zero regardless of what attack the dragon performs.
Example 3:
Jack (the knight) chooses no die, and the Dodge card. Sam chooses a '6' and the Rake card. Sam's attack would have dealt 3 damage to the knight, but the Dodge reduces that to zero, so no life force is lost.
Combo
Knight has two short range attacks Hack and Slash which have the 'Combo' keyword. If a Hack or Slash is played and deals damage as described in the 'Attack and Defence' section above, the knight may perform a follow up attack. Providing the combatants remain and short range and the knight has his other short range attack card in his hand he may immediately play it (assigning a remaining die if any) as an undefended attack which deals a second round of damage this turn.
Example 4:
Konrad (the knight) chooses a '4' and Hack, while Roberto chooses a '2' and Advance. The Hack deals 2 damage to the dragon, and seeing as it dealt damage, Konrad can use the Combo effect to immediately play the Slash card from his hand (not the discard pile) along with the remaining '1' die to deal a further 1 damage. Roberto's dragon loses a total of 3 life force.
Movement
If either player has played a movement card (Charge, Advance or Retreat) then the range is adjusted:
- If one or both players 'reduce range' you are now at short range
- If one or both players 'increase range' you are now at long range
- If one player 'reduces range' and the other 'increases range' your range remains the same
Flip your player aid cards as necessary to show the range you are now at.
Discard card and die
At the end of the round both players discard the cards they played (face up where they are visible to both players) and any die they used with it. These discarded cards and dice are unavailable to the player until they play the Recuperate card, which allows them to reclaim all discarded dice and cards, returning the cards to their hand. Once they have reclaimed the dice all their dice are re-rolled.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the round in which at least one player has been reduced to zero life force. If the other player has at least one life force remaining they are the winner, otherwise the game is a draw and the Princess wanders off.Monday, November 3
NaGa DeMon 2: Codename: Dragon - Components
I've said before that you shouldn't invest too heavily in the components of your early prototypes since the game is likely to change beyond recognition and those components that you splashed out on or invested hundreds of hours of artwork in are liable to be replaced by something else in very short order.
NaGa DeMon is a slight exception to that rule for me, since at the end of the month, I've committed to sending prototypes to the three most helpful competitors in TGWAG. So I need to make my copy plus three more. Since those three competitors will (hopefully!) invested their valuable time and effort in helping me, the least I can do to show my appreciation is to give them a signed, limited edition prototype that doesn't totally suck. So I want to splash out a little and make the prize a neat little package. So I need some components. Times four.
As I mentioned on Friday, I'm expecting the game to feature cards (which I'm a dab hand at, if I do say so myself), dice and counters. Some dice for St. George and some for the dragon, plus some counters for St. George and some for the dragon.
When I think dragons I think big scaly red beasts guarding a vast hoard of gold (thanks J.R.R. Tolkien!) and when I think St. George I think white and red - the colours of the flag of St. George, the national flag of England which is incorporated into the Union Jack of Great Britain.
So, to separate the dice between players, I've gone for white dice for St. George and red ones for the dragon (the dragon is a bit wordy, he needs a name. Bonus PIPs for the best suggested name in the comments). I went to Travelling Man after work on Friday to get the dice and they had some nice Chessex ones in two different sizes. Since I need more white than red (I think!), I've gone for smaller white ones (bonus: St. George is smaller than the dragon) and nice marbled red and gold ones for the dragon.
For life counters, I recently bought some red wooden hearts from BoardGameExtras.co.uk for pimping my copy of Love Letter. Thinking ahead I bought a load more for Codename: Dragon purposes. That's St. George sorted, and it fits well since lots of computer games use hearts as the iconography for lives. Which just leaves the dragon. Dragon = hoard of gold. As it happens I've a load of yellow wooden disks left over from the limited edition of It's Alive I published back in 2008. I've hung onto them knowing they'd come in handy sooner or later. Their time has come!
Which give me this:
NaGa DeMon is a slight exception to that rule for me, since at the end of the month, I've committed to sending prototypes to the three most helpful competitors in TGWAG. So I need to make my copy plus three more. Since those three competitors will (hopefully!) invested their valuable time and effort in helping me, the least I can do to show my appreciation is to give them a signed, limited edition prototype that doesn't totally suck. So I want to splash out a little and make the prize a neat little package. So I need some components. Times four.
As I mentioned on Friday, I'm expecting the game to feature cards (which I'm a dab hand at, if I do say so myself), dice and counters. Some dice for St. George and some for the dragon, plus some counters for St. George and some for the dragon.
When I think dragons I think big scaly red beasts guarding a vast hoard of gold (thanks J.R.R. Tolkien!) and when I think St. George I think white and red - the colours of the flag of St. George, the national flag of England which is incorporated into the Union Jack of Great Britain.
So, to separate the dice between players, I've gone for white dice for St. George and red ones for the dragon (the dragon is a bit wordy, he needs a name. Bonus PIPs for the best suggested name in the comments). I went to Travelling Man after work on Friday to get the dice and they had some nice Chessex ones in two different sizes. Since I need more white than red (I think!), I've gone for smaller white ones (bonus: St. George is smaller than the dragon) and nice marbled red and gold ones for the dragon.
For life counters, I recently bought some red wooden hearts from BoardGameExtras.co.uk for pimping my copy of Love Letter. Thinking ahead I bought a load more for Codename: Dragon purposes. That's St. George sorted, and it fits well since lots of computer games use hearts as the iconography for lives. Which just leaves the dragon. Dragon = hoard of gold. As it happens I've a load of yellow wooden disks left over from the limited edition of It's Alive I published back in 2008. I've hung onto them knowing they'd come in handy sooner or later. Their time has come!
Which give me this:
Sunday, November 2
TGWAG League Table 1
We're only two days into NaGa DeMon and already The Game Within A Game is off to a good start. We've got four competitors so far competing for three signed and numbered limited edition copies of the NaGa DeMon version of Codename: Dragon.
Konrad and Derek both took part (and won a copy) last year, with Roberto and Todd new participants for 2014.
My father-in-law is visiting at the moment, but I've managed to bag up the components I think I need for my first copy, and last night I made some basic cards for it too. The cards are hand-scribbled with pencil to enable easy editing when the first version inevitably turns out to be horribly unplayable. I'm going to try to get some games in at lunchtime this week, since I'm pretty sure I can't make Newcastle Playtest on Tuesday after all - it'll be cleaning up after the first day of double-glazing instead.
Konrad and Derek both took part (and won a copy) last year, with Roberto and Todd new participants for 2014.
| Name | PIPs | PIAL | Free game? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Konrad/@pidaysock | 4 | Serf | Yes |
| Derek Hohls | 3 | Serf | Yes |
| Roberto | 2 | Serf | Yes |
| @toddderscheid | 1 | Serf | No |
My father-in-law is visiting at the moment, but I've managed to bag up the components I think I need for my first copy, and last night I made some basic cards for it too. The cards are hand-scribbled with pencil to enable easy editing when the first version inevitably turns out to be horribly unplayable. I'm going to try to get some games in at lunchtime this week, since I'm pretty sure I can't make Newcastle Playtest on Tuesday after all - it'll be cleaning up after the first day of double-glazing instead.
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