Introduction Army Building PDF
Preview Introduction Army Building
Introduction One of the many advantages of Golem Arcana being digitallyenhanced is that the rules of the game are encoded into the App and thus the interpretation of those rules is universal for everyone that plays. This means that the written version of the rules can be much shorter and clearer because the author does not have to try to account for every possible interpretation that said this version of the “rules” is not the final version by a long stretch and is not presented like the final version will be. These are the rules that were used in the prototype that was played by more than 600 people at GenCon and PAX Prime and while they form the foundation of the rules for the final game, there will be many changes between their current state and the final version. This applies even more to the statistics and special abilities of the Golems, Golem Knights, and Ancient Ones that were included in the prototype. Those participating in the Beta program will have insights and input into the iterative process of developing the game and the units. With those caveats in place... Army Building Golem Arcana armies are designed to specific army point totals. Every unit in the game will be tested to make sure that its army point value is an accurate reflection of its power and functionality in the game. One of the many advantages of the digital aspect of Golem Arcana is that not only can the App handle the math of army building, it can also seamlessly handle incorporating updates. So if a unit somehow makes it through testing either overpowered or underpowered for its army point value, the army point value can be easily corrected after release and automatically updated into everyone’s game via the App to make sure the figure is balanced. No more errata sheets to keep track of! Golem Arcana armies are assembled from four types of units Golems, Golem Knights, Blood Knights, and Ancient Ones. All units are rated in army points on the same scale so that players can explore combinations of Golems, Knights, and Ancient Ones in their armies, looking for different combinations of maneuverability, firepower, and special actions that will bring their strategy to life. CRUNCHY BIT: Here is an example of how we plan to approach army point values. We did not use this scale in the prototype. Note that this is the starting point of our balance thinking and it will definitely evolve over time with the support of our Beta Test Group. Base Game: Approximately 58 figures (thus, 5 8 Knights) and 13 Ancient Ones, per team. Base Game Points: 500 Note: this is army point value is our assumption of a default tournament game. Home games or “playing out of the box” will be different. Class Approx Point Range Approx ratio to smallest golem War Sprite 3040 1 1.5x Ogre 4060 1.5 2x Titan 80160 3 4x Colossus 300400 10 13x Knight 0 15 0 .2x Blood Knight 5 30 .15 1x Ancient One 10 100 .33 3x Golems Golems are the only unit type that can move and attack on the battlefield, and thus Golems are the backbone of any army. Golems, represented on the board with largescale prepainted plastic miniatures, are crafted from one of four magical Codexes handed down from the Ancient Ones. Multiple copies of a Golem can be used within an army and yet end up with different capabilities based upon which Golem Knight is assigned to each copy of the figure. Golem Knights Golems come with generic Knights who have do not have an ability. Players can assign a named Golem Knight which has an ability that can modify, enhance, or augment the capabilities of their Golem or the Golems around them. Some provide additional noncombat abilities such as mana discovery or healing. The Golem Knights are represented as digital characters and are assigned to Golem figures via the App. Blood Knights Blood Knights are Golem Knights who are descended from Ancient Ones. Their bloodline connection to these powerful supernatural beings allows them to channel mana from the battlefield to the Ancient Ones and in return, ask their ancestors for blessings, curses, and miracles in return. From a gameplay pointofview, Blood Knights are exactly like Golem Knights. From an army building pointofview a player can only add Ancient Ones to his or her army if they already have one of their descendents (i.e. a Blood Knight) in their army. Note that even if the Blood Knight’s Golem is removed from play, the connection to the Ancient One remains intact and its special abilities remain available. Ancient Ones Ancient Ones accumulate mana for the player to spend on blessings, curses, and miracles which aid the player’s army on the battlefield. Blessing and Curses buffs and debuffs respectively are cast upon regions and stay there for the remainder of the game unless countered by another special ability. Miracles are instant benefits to the player’s team. Game Setup and Number of Players Battlefield Design Our prototype uses a printed map that is smaller than the battlefield players can create with the six 3x3 terrain tiles that come with the base game. (To give you a sense of scale, each region can hold up to four of the smaller Golems.) Players can expand their battlefield by adding additional terrain tiles from expansion sets, but you cannot use the same terrain tile twice in a battlefield because they must remain uniquely numbered. In the final game, the players will decide how to lay out the terrain tiles for their battlefield and inform the Golem Arcana App of their battlefield design (either by tapping each tile or via a drag and drop interface). Teams and Players Golem Arcana will support 28 teams and each team is able to support multiple players. Thus, the game can handle those rarebuttrulyepiclyhuge battles. We envision that the “standard game” will be two teams of one player each and that most organized league play and tournament play will be the same. This may change based upon feedback, of course! Victory Conditions Our prototype only included the “last man standing” victory condition but the final game will have a variety of victory conditions that players can select when they start a game. In the final game we are planning to include at least the following victory conditions: ● Last man standing in which the player with the last remaining Golem wins. ● King of the “Hill” in which the first player to take control of an area for a total of X turns wins. ● Find the Relics in which players explore the battlefield looking for hidden relics of the Ancient Ones. Once discovered, they must transport them back to their base. First player to accumulate X relics wins the game. ● Escort in which one player wins if they successfully escort an AI controlled unit from point A to point B and the opponent wins if they are able to destroy the AI unit before it reaches point B. (Of course, this will require us to hit our AI stretch goal!) Scenarios Scenarios can be downloaded into the App to provide new challenges and fresh game play options. Scenarios will be based on specific terrain tile sets so that you can use scenarios for the tiles you own. Scenarios include the following elements: ● Battlefield design. ○ The scenario will specify a battlefield design and display how to lay out the terrain tiles it incorporates. ● Number of teams ● Army point total for each team ● Terrain modifications ○ Scenarios can change the play dynamics of regions on the terrain tiles of the battlefield. For instance, the water on a tile might be frozen, making it passable by walking Golems, or specific forests regions might be on fire so that they cause damage to Golems occupying them. ○ These changes can be in effect at the start of the game or can change over the course of a battle. for instance the fire might start in one region and spread to others over the course of the game. ● Objectives ○ Scenarios can include objectives to be accomplished during the game, such as controlling a specific region on a specific turn or attacking a scenario unit such as a command post. ○ Scenarios could be won by accomplishing objectives or game dynamics could change via the accomplishing of objectives. For instance, a scenario might include an objective to find the tomb of an Ancient One. To explore a region, the player has to move a Golem to that region and then perform no attacks for one turn. The player who finds the tomb first has that Ancient One added to their army for the remainder of the game. ● Victory conditions ○ Every scenario has specified victory conditions which can incorporate the victory conditions mentioned above or can be a custom combination of the standard victory conditions and the scenario specific objectives. Golem Statistics Golems’ movement, defense, and attacks are defined by a set of statistics. All the values used in the prototype are not really balanced yet (we need to take all the units we haven’t created yet into account) and thus will change before the final game is released. The prototype Golem information screen for the Durani Stone Knight (now called the Hamazi Winged Preserver) In the prototype Golems have the following elements and statistics: ● Class ● Base size ● Number of Golem Knights ● Movement Points ● Diagonal Movement ● Dodge ● Armor ● Health Points ● Attacks ○ Target type ○ Range ○ Accuracy Bonus ○ Damage ○ Recharge Rate ○ Attack Effect We anticipate adding the following additional statistics for the final game: ● Movement Type ● Attack Type ● Armor Type Class There are four classes of Golems, from smallest to largest they are: War Sprite, Ogre, Titan, and Colossus. ● War Sprites are often scouts or forward observers but can also be effective infighters who swarm larger Golems to engage in melee. War Sprites typically have two attacks and one Golem Knight. ● Ogres are larger and more sustainable than War Sprites and present a midpoint between the maneuverability of their smaller cousins and the firepower of the bigger Titans. Ogres typically have two attacks and one Golem Knight. ● Titans are normally the big boys of the battlefield, presenting more limited movement but substantial sustainability and firepower. Titans typically have three attacks and one Golem Knight. ● Colossus are rare awesome walking mountains of death which may not move fast but they don’t need to. Colossus typically have four attacks and a crew of three Golem Knights. Base Size Golem figures come on one of three base sizes; single, double, or quad. Class Base Size War Sprite Single Ogre Single Titan Double Colossus Quad Base size is used in determining legal moves as discussed in several locations below. Number of Golem Knights Most Golems only have a single Golem Knight mastering them, with the notable exception of the Colossus which has three Knights. Since Golem Knights each have a special ability, more Knights results in more abilities that can be used. Movement Points The Movement Point (MP) statistic is the number of movement points a Golem can use per turn for movement. Most regions (squares) cost 1 movement point to enter, but certain terrain types can modify this. For example, it takes 2 MP to enter the hills in the prototype. Diagonal Movement All Golems can move vertically and horizontally but some Golems can also move diagonally. In our prototype, if a Golem has this ability it is indicated with a slash “/” immediately following the Golem’s MP value (3/). Dodge A Golem’s dodge value increases the required die roll an enemy needs to hit it. Higher dodge values represent Golems that are more difficult to hit. Armor If a Golem is successfully hit by an attack, its damage is reduced by the value of the target Golem’s armor. Health Points Damage that makes it past a Golem’s armor reduces it’s health points. When a Golem’s health points are reduced to zero it is removed the game (See Death Mana below for more of what happens when a Golem is killed). Attacks A Golem can have 24 attacks, as discussed in the class section above. The player can choose to use none, some, or all of the attacks available every turn. For example, a Colossus with all of its attacks available (i.e. none on recharge) could fire all four attacks in a single turn if there were valid targets available for each attack. Each Golem attack is defined by a set of attributes: ○ Target type ■ Golem the attack is targeted at a single Golem ■ AOE the attack is targeted at a region and will affect ALL enemy Golems in that region. In the final game we envision having AOE attacks which can do “friendly fire” damage in addition to attacks which only affect enemy Golems. ○ Range ■ In the prototype, a zero (0) indicates that the attack is a melee attack and its range cannot be increased. In the final game we will likely indicate this in a different method to avoid confusion about magical effects which increase or decrease an attack’s range. A range of one (1) is the adjacent region etc. ○ Accuracy Bonus ■ An attack’s accuracy bonus value reduces the die roll needed to hit a target with this attack. More on this in the combat section below. ○ Damage ■ The damage of the attack will be reduced by the target’s armor. ○ Recharge Rate ■ Recharge determines how often an attack can be used. A recharge of one means that the attack can be used every turn, two means every other turn, three every third turn, etc. In general more powerful attacks have longer recharge periods. Any attack that is not being recharged and has a valid target can be used. ○ Attack Effect ■ Some attacks contain special effects which take place under specific circumstances. These attack effects are often the building blocks of player’s strategies, because they can be chained with other attacks, Golem Knight abilities, and Ancient Ones’ blessings, curses, and miracles creating powerful combination effects. ■ Not all attack effects are positive. Some might be a negative effect on the attacker to help balance the play of powerful attack. For instance, the attacker’s dodge value is temporarily reduced when this attack is used. ■ Currently, the default trigger to activate an attack effect is for the attack to succeed. However, if you look through the attack effects of the Golems in the prototype, you will see a wide variety of triggers required for an attack effect to be activated and a wide variety of effects when they are activated. These represent a small subset of the triggers and the attack effects we intend to include in the final game. Example Attack Effects ● If attack roll is 30 or greater above to hit value, this attack has no recharge added. ● If attack succeeds +1 Recharge to random attack on targeted Golem The prototype Attack Details screen Turn Order and Golem Activation In Golem Arcana players alternate turns and within each turn each player can use each Golem in their army. Movement Golems can use all their movement points every turn. Moving into an open terrain region costs one movement point. Terrain types can modify movement point costs and terrain obstructions can modify ranged attack tohit values. Once a move or attack is completed with a Golem that Golem is activated and the player must complete all movement and attacks with that Golem before moving onto the next Golem. Once activated, a player can use all of a Golem’s movement points and any available attacks in any order desired. This allows players to intermix movement and attacks in any way they wish. For instance, a Golem might use a ranged attack, then move into the same region as the target to attack it with Golem’s melee attacks. The player taps on the region they wish to move to, the App verifies that it is a legal move, and then the player taps the confirm button on the stylus or taps the region again to confirm the move. Terrain Types and Obstructions Each region has one terrain type and can additionally have one obstruction type. In the prototype there were three terrain types; open and hills. The open terrain costs 1MP to enter and the hills cost an additional MP to enter (reflected by a reduction to the Golem’s MP) but extends the range of ranged attacks by one region when firing from the hills. The prototype’s hills information screen, accessed by simply tapping on the hills In the final game we are looking at a region’s terrain type establishing the following kinds of things: ● If a region is impassable ● Which movement types can enter the region ● MP cost modifier to enter the region ● Attack range modifiers or similar effects In the prototype there is no distinction between movement types but in the final game there will be different movement types such as; walking, flying, hoping/hovering, and swimming/wading. Terrain Obstructions Obstructions in a region include things like mountains, trees, boulders, buildings, etc which may impact movement and/or attacks.
Description:The list of books you might like
