Project Heracles - Design Journal, Day Two

Day Two(11/21/19)

Today I finished the board, created the new dice system, made my first ten powers, and actually played a solo run of my game.  All in all, a productive day!

The new dice system, the biggest thing I added, uses custom d6’s, each with three blank sides and three printed sides.  The printed sides are identical, each yielding a result of 1, so each die can result in either a 1 or a 0, and X number of dice results in a number between 0 and X.  The point of this system is a) simplicity, and b) ease of scaling.  Additionally, unlike my old system, my stats all use numerical values of the same scale, so I have the freedom to translate one stat, say strength, to another, such as armor, without fear of making something explode.  As a side note, these dice were inspired by those from the Royal Game of Ur.

The powers might have been the most fun part to create;  Translating things into game terms has always been my strongest suit.  I started with invisibility, which exponentially increases defense while activated, but you can only make basic strikes without revealing yourself.  The next powers, in order, were Super Speed, Super Strength, Laser Vision, Flight, Heightened Elasticity, and Stone Form.  I then added a few more mundane powers, Marksman, Brawler, and Multitasker, which represent skill rather than supernature.  These will become more useful when I incorporate gear.

My first solo play, though dull, proved the system to be solid.  I drew two powers from the deck(Super Strength for player one and Stone Form for player two) and pit my poorly cut minions against each other.  Because I gave a single power and no weapons(later, I plan to have at least 3 powers and 1 weapon, maybe more), gameplay was fairly static. and this was unhelped by the fact that  both powers happened to be melee-centric.  Though choices were less than I’d like, the dice system worked well and the powers were balanced.  Next test, I’ll incorporate more powers.

I also did a few things shop-side for TGC.  First off, I needed to figure out how to make my dice system on there.  Custom dice were too expensive, and none of the unprinted parts would do.  I eventually landed on five sticker dice, though I’ll keep my eye out for better options.  This, along with a few other tweaks, brought the cost above $40, so I elected to trade the accordion board for a quad-fold mat(which will allow me to move from the squares from .75 inches to 1 inch, if I so choose).

Although I had a very productive day two, I still have a lot of work to do.  Tomorrow, I plan to create some gear cards, test those with more powers, and(if all goes smoothly) play with another human.  Until then, as always, keep on geeking on!