Deck Building Game - going back to the project

The wonderful folks who follow me on twitter will know that I was working very very diligently on a Deck Building Game (hence forth DBG, because I'm lazy). Then I stopped working on it. Other projects got ahead of it and I needed some time to think about how to press on with a game that has no text, that's right NO TEXT. Everything is icon based. I had a bit of a time trying to figure out how to come up with icons that made sense. I feel like it's progressing in the right direction, but my immediate concern is that there are too many cards available at any given time. Nothing like giving AP players too much to think about. I'll give it some more thought this weekend and into next week, but ultimately this is going to go on the back burner again while I offer some more games to publishers and continue working on the Pineapple game with Chris Urinko (@battlejack) and keep playtesting.

A social game

For those that follow me on Twitter you'll recall earlier this week I tweeted about a game idea I had for a social game. Here's the write up on it. If you're so inclined, feel free to make it into a prototype and play it.

Those familiar with Mafia or Werewolf will find similar mechanisms here, however these is no player elimination. Note: I have made some edits to reduce confusion about the roles and teams.

Lock'd Up!

A social game for 5 to 9 players.

Set up:

Select 1 player to be the Narrator. The Narrator will have several responsibilities including helping the prisoners identify each other and passing out the Contraband and Treatment cards.

The players will be divided into equal teams of Reds and Blues. If the number of players is unequal, the Narrator will add an extra Red card to the roles. The Narrator will deal the Red and Blue role cards face down so that each player other than the Narrator has 1. The players may now look at their cards, but are discouraged from discussing what roles they have been given.

The Narrator will now deal a Lock'd Up! card to every other player. These players are in Jail. The remaining players are considered to be out of Jail and will act as Guards. The Narrator will now ask the players with the Red roles to close their eyes so that the Blues can identify each other. Once this is done, the Narrator will begin the game. If by chance all of the Blues are out of Jail the Narrator will redeal all of the Lock'd Up! Cards so that at least 1 Blue is in Jail.

Playing the game:

Once the set up is complete the game will begin. The Narrator will deal either a Contraband (Blue) or Treatment (Red) card to each of the players who are out of Jail and acting as Guards.

The Guards will now select a representative who will interview one of the Prisoners. The Prisoners will also select a representative who will be interviewed by the Guard. The Guard will pass the Prisoner the Contraband or Treatment card. The Prisoner will look at the card and show their Role card (either Red or Blue) to the Guard, but only so that the interviewing Guard can see it. The Prisoner will show the card they received to the other Prisoners then place it face down in front of the Narrator in a separate pile from the remaining Contraband/Treatment cards.

After the interview has been completed the Guards will decide among themselves which Guard will be placed in Prison and which Prisoner will come out of Prison. After the discussion has ended the Prisoner who has been released will pass their Lock'd Up! Card to the Guard who has entered Prison.

Following this, the Narrator will ask the players who have the Red Role cards to close their eyes and the Narrator will call out a number of Blues who have been correctly Jailed. If all of the Blues are outside of the Jail the game will end immediately and the Blues will win.

Ending the game:

The game will end after 5 rounds if the above option has not occurred. If this is the case the Narrator will reveal the Contraband/Treatment cards, if there are more Contraband cards than Treatment cards the Blues win. If there are more Treatment cards than Contraband cards the Reds will win.