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Made in gb
Been Around the Block





Hi all,

I had a quick question, as a hobby of mine I've written a ruleset for a monster hunting type game. Designed around using miniatures, it works similarly I guess to an MMO. A group of 5 heroes vs a monster, so it would be like boss battles. With threat generation, AI controls for the monsters etc.

With some leveling up, gear upgrades, abilities with cooldowns etc.

At the moment it's just a ruleset which I could design up myself into a nicer looking rule book, and I may do anyway. No models or anything as I'm not even sure when to begin with anything like that.

I could go into more detail but my main question is, say I wanted to see if I could create something out of this. Kickstarter to me seems like a place where a fully formed idea and business is put forward, but if I wanted to say gauge interest in a project like this could I use something like patreon or gofundme?

Anyway just looking for some help

Thanks

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/01/27 10:27:32


To see my painted models visit my instagram: templar2792 
   
Made in gr
Thermo-Optical Spekter





Greece

Kingdom death monster has more or less the gameplay you pitch so a look at it would be quite beneficial to your project, especially what you can do the same and were to diversify.

I am not sure on the crowdfunding platforms even the small ones seem to be governed by the same dynamics Kickstarter is,social media and formed ideas gain over raw unfinished potential.
   
Made in gb
Been Around the Block





It is the same in that Kingdom death is survivors vs monsters, but I think this idea is different in that it encourages a pick up and play game. I know KD uses lots of cards and such for it's combat and survivor/settlement building, whereas mine is more dice roll and movement based like warhammer or DnD.

The combat itself would be different with unit statistics and all different kinds of class spells and abilities, promoting synergy and cooldown usage to survive particular enemy abilities, it's hard to explain without going into the full rules haha

I want to make a proper rulebook for it that's my end goal I'm guessing. In order to do so I'd need things like illustrations and such, problem is I'm no artist. Page design and layout sure but I can't free draw to save my life.

The game itself needs playtesting as well of course, it's just I do have a full time job so I can't devote huge amounts of time to it.

I guess really what I'm looking for is a way to find out if there's even any point pursuing this, because if I went to kickstarter straight away with at the basic word document stage it's currently at then it would for sure fail.

To see my painted models visit my instagram: templar2792 
   
Made in us
Confessor Of Sins




WA, USA

So basically, you want Monster Hunter in RPG form, right?

Well, with any game, here's a few tips:

Don't even think about illustrations and page design and layout, they do not matter. You are putting effort into the window curtains of a house that isn't even built yet.

Don't rush into Kickstarter. Right now, all we know is that you have a very basic and broad idea. It's one that has some merit, but it needs a lot of fleshing out and detail. I don't understand why you aren't willing to post all the rules you have. Do that.

 Ouze wrote:

Afterward, Curran killed a guy in the parking lot with a trident.
 
   
Made in gr
Thermo-Optical Spekter





Greece

I think he wants monster hunter is a pseubdo RPG form, which is not a bad thing I tinker myself on something similar over the past year.

I disagree on illustrations the image of such a game is one of the most important factors and the game will live or crush burning on how striking the image is and how it will be delivered on the game.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
GKCM27 wrote:
It is the same in that Kingdom death is survivors vs monsters, but I think this idea is different in that it encourages a pick up and play game. I know KD uses lots of cards and such for it's combat and survivor/settlement building, whereas mine is more dice roll and movement based like warhammer or DnD.

The combat itself would be different with unit statistics and all different kinds of class spells and abilities, promoting synergy and cooldown usage to survive particular enemy abilities, it's hard to explain without going into the full rules haha

I want to make a proper rulebook for it that's my end goal I'm guessing. In order to do so I'd need things like illustrations and such, problem is I'm no artist. Page design and layout sure but I can't free draw to save my life.

The game itself needs playtesting as well of course, it's just I do have a full time job so I can't devote huge amounts of time to it.

I guess really what I'm looking for is a way to find out if there's even any point pursuing this, because if I went to kickstarter straight away with at the basic word document stage it's currently at then it would for sure fail.


Art station, conceptart and deviantart has a plethora of concept artists and illustrators and it is but a few of the places you can hire artists but before you do that make the concept of the world from your mind to text, put the limits and the must haves the key unifying feature ectr and work from there, believe me a concept artist worth his money will answer yes in the question "can you deliver proper artwork from a really bad description?" so work the world in text before you work with art and illustration.

More importantly though decide on the medium, the concept you say is made for boardgames, no work so far has been made for coop wargames and the game balance of an AI system greatly benefits the controlled boardgame environment, but the boardgame market wants streamlined rules and as few stats to track as possible.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/23 21:52:26


 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




Maryland

I like the idea of threat, and it kind of leads down possible paths for rules presentations if you're going for a game:

Players want to hit monsters to create threat, so threat generation comes from attacks.

If I remember correctly, Monster Hunter focuses on the gear instead of leveling player abilities, so those attacks should come from the selected gear.

The gear then has to be interchangeable.

So I can imagine a main status card that covers important stats: player health for damage, stamina for performing attacks, and a threat tracker.

Then a player's equipment comes in the form of cards, that show statistics, like armor, durability, damage, damage type, range, abilities, etc. You can have different copies of cards with various "levels" of the equipment that you can improve to from monster rewards.

Speaking of whether to make it a board game/wargame:

You actually have a novel idea to borrow from the Monster Hunter series - the necessity of tracking monsters across multiple arenas.

So a monster can have stages, at after a certain amount of damage is done, it flees. So, if you make the base game set in a grassland setting with a certain X by X square arena, with terrain elements, then it leaves the board, and a new arena is generated. (This also lets to create some expansions with different enviroments - tundra, swamp, jungle, volcano, etc.)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/24 00:45:42


   
Made in gb
Been Around the Block





Thanks for the tips, I wasn't rushing into this idea for kickstarter or anything but I think it's nice to have an idea of a goal. I'm far far off that goal I need to playtest the thing thoroughly myself first of all.

Also just to confirm in case anyone thinks I'm literally making a Monster Hunter RPG from the video games, that isn't the case, I'm just calling it a Monster hunting game as I haven't got a trendy name for it yet and it's the best way to describe it.

The reason I haven't posted any rules is that it's in a 20,000 word document, which includes everything from the basic rules for heroes and monsters, race and class information and abilities and monster entries.

It probably needs a serious edit and expansion and such but if people want I could post it.

It runs off a similar stat system to warhammer, with similar tables for stats, hit rolls and wound rolls, I was debating to go D10 with it but sticking with D6 for now as it's what I know best.

The threat system is that a wound caused or healed causes 1 threat. Some classes and races have higher base threat, but abilities can increase or decrease the threat you cause, monsters generally will go for the highest threat but some will target specifically healers first or such. So tanks automatically cause more threat, and that will be a thing to balance, making sure they cause enough so they aren't useless but not too much so you can just ignore it.

Abilities have turn cooldowns, so they may allow you to cause way more damage, automatically pass saving throws, reduce damage, sprint etc etc

Magic is done by a magic pool system, so each hero has a total magic pool number say 12 for a mage. Spells then cost magic power, you can use a maximum of 12 in this instance. Spells don't have cooldowns, but you have to decide how and what spells to use. Some will cause damage, others will slow a monster or immobilize it, some will distract it etc

Gear is simplified into, armour, weapons, and 2 accessories, which you collect from a loot table after slaying a monster, the more powerful the monster the better the gear.

Monsters have a similar statline with some differences, their intelligence rating shows whether they attack the nearest target at all times, the highest threat target, the damage dealers or the healers. They have abilities of their own which you need to be aware of before trying to kill them.

My idea was to use character sheets like DnD but a card system could also work too I guess no reason it couldn't

Anyway let me know what you think!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/24 09:33:34


To see my painted models visit my instagram: templar2792 
   
Made in gr
Thermo-Optical Spekter





Greece

All sound good and they have been tested in the past with varying success.

cool-downs especially have been used both by turning the weapon/ skill card and turning it back on the right alignment and by placing cubes on it and removing one each turn.

how you record information if more or less dependent on how you will market the game, boardgame approach would benefit more from cards recording information rpg character sheets would be more at home with a wargames approach.

But such a game will live more on its campaign system than its one off battles.
   
Made in gb
Been Around the Block





My idea was probably character sheet based, where the abilities have a certain number of boxes depending on how many turns cooldown they have. Possibly using a counter of some kind and at the start of every turn moving the counters along. Or you could draw on in pencil of course but that might get messy!

In terms of the campaign system, the one I have now is pretty basic in terms of depending on the highest level hero you have you roll on a table to show what monsters are available for hunting, and they all drop different gear. Slaying a monster gives XP and one piece of loot from the loot table.

In terms of expanding the campaign system, I've had an idea for a dungeon crawl, having to fight multiple boss monsters as well as smaller less dangerous monsters along the way. More dangerous but with opportunities for better loot. Again very similar to say a dungeon in an MMO.

Their aren't any 'role-playing' elements in this really, it's primarily an action game.

I have a bit of free time this weekend, so what I'm going to do is play test it for a bit, do any necessary editing, then upload the basic rules to here so people can have a read through. I don't want to upload them in their rough state now and have people think it looks terrible haha


To see my painted models visit my instagram: templar2792 
   
Made in gr
Thermo-Optical Spekter





Greece

"Role play" is a loosely defined terminology nowadays.

Anything from pure role play, to choose your own adventure, having upgradable stats, or a campaign system is termed to have at least "role play elements" in it.

Don't worry much about the state of your game and how it will be perceived, people will find it bad, regardless of how good it actually is and public scrutiny will find loopholes you never imagined, don't worry about it, a good game designer learns to listen to everything, filter what is worthwhile and that even the biggest troll can have a good idea buried in their constantly wining posts.

Don't let negative feedback discourage you.
   
Made in gb
Been Around the Block





Thanks for the advice! And by not roleplay I meant in the sense of having conversations with NPCs etc, this game requires no GM of any kind. It can be played solo as I mentioned if someone wanted.

I'm attaching the first 10 or so pages of basic rules if anyone wants to have a look, I'm sure there are spelling errors and such as I haven't proof read it or anything. I haven't included race, class or monster entries or stats only because I need to do more testing before knowing exactly how to tune these things.

If anyone wants a read through and has some comments then I'd be glad to hear them!
 Filename MonsterHuntingBasicRules.docx [Disk] Download
 Description Monster hunting basic rules
 File size 15 Kbytes


To see my painted models visit my instagram: templar2792 
   
Made in gr
Thermo-Optical Spekter





Greece

Scythe had an interesting abstraction on "NPC" dialogues essentially giving 3 options to the player to choose from and each choice delivering a bonus or a penalty depending on the choice.
   
Made in gb
Been Around the Block





Sounds a bit like mass effect haha

I've started designing up a nice colour rulebook with diagrams and artwork (admittedly stolen off google images but I'm not selling this so I figure it would be ok for now)

When it's done i'll upload it as a PDF, might make for easier reading than the straight word document.

To see my painted models visit my instagram: templar2792 
   
 
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