North is an idea that originally started as a video game. In that concept, I wanted the player to have to choose whether to travel during the day or during the night, with different risks for each. This is something I didn't do a great job of incorporating into the board game design - it only showed up in that the enemies (bandits and coldbringers) moved during different turn phases.
After looking at the board game Mage Knight, I now have a much better idea of how to incorporate day and night into North. In Mage Knight day and night are different phases, and multiple turns take place during each day and night phase. That's a little too complicated for what I want to do with North, so for the redesign I opted for a simpler version: alternating rounds. The first round of the game is day, the second is night, the third is day, the fourth is night, etc.
During a day round, it's warmer outside, so it's easier to regain heat by spending endurance (see yesterday's post). More importantly, coldbringers aren't active during the day, so you don't have to worry about them at all - you can even safely move through their spaces! The risk during the day is that bandits are active. Bandits won't kill you, but they can steal your stuff, which makes skill checks and surviving more difficult.
At night it's colder and more difficult to regain endurance, and you risk coldbringer attacks eating your heat and potentially rendering you "mesmericed" (see yesterday's post; also I still don't think I like that word). On the other hand, bandits sleep at night, so you don't have to worry about having your gear stolen.
I also mentioned resting yesterday. Resting is a special action that costs no endurance, which is why I didn't get into it when I was talking about the endurance overhaul. When you rest, you take no actions on your turn, and regain all your endurance. You can even activate special items or abilities that trigger on a rest - for example, start a fire to keep you warm while you sleep.
Of course, resting does come with a risk: since you're less aware, you take a penalty to your rolls to defend yourself against bandits or coldbringers. I haven't decided exactly what that penalty is yet - maybe a negative modifier, or the inability to use your skill bonuses. Regardless, it means you have to take a look at what enemies are nearby before you decide to rest: sleeping at night means your stuff can't be stolen by bandits, but you could be chilled by coldbringers; sleeping during the day risks theft but keeps you safe.
That's it for today! Tomorrow I'll talk about the other new mechanic I hinted at yesterday: weather.
At night it's colder and more difficult to regain endurance, and you risk coldbringer attacks eating your heat and potentially rendering you "mesmericed" (see yesterday's post; also I still don't think I like that word). On the other hand, bandits sleep at night, so you don't have to worry about having your gear stolen.
I also mentioned resting yesterday. Resting is a special action that costs no endurance, which is why I didn't get into it when I was talking about the endurance overhaul. When you rest, you take no actions on your turn, and regain all your endurance. You can even activate special items or abilities that trigger on a rest - for example, start a fire to keep you warm while you sleep.
Of course, resting does come with a risk: since you're less aware, you take a penalty to your rolls to defend yourself against bandits or coldbringers. I haven't decided exactly what that penalty is yet - maybe a negative modifier, or the inability to use your skill bonuses. Regardless, it means you have to take a look at what enemies are nearby before you decide to rest: sleeping at night means your stuff can't be stolen by bandits, but you could be chilled by coldbringers; sleeping during the day risks theft but keeps you safe.
That's it for today! Tomorrow I'll talk about the other new mechanic I hinted at yesterday: weather.
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