Niklas Jansson
patreon
Starsword Solo Boardgame, WIP
🕑 Added 2022-01-27 17:19:18 +0000 UTCI better post this as a WIP or it'll be forever. Like mentioned in the previous post, I've been thinking of using a "retro" board game style as a vehicle for my Starsword / Star Sword setting. It makes it simple for me to focus on lore-type illustrations and not getting bogged down by specific assets. For example, I started on Space Crusade type game but quickly realized that painting floor tiles just feels like generic work. So, at least for now I'm focusing on being able to make some headway. In a way, text and silhouettes open up spaces for the imagination. Boardgames are often abstractions, risking a clash when paired with very literal/realistic assets. I've used some of my sprite-like silhouettes when designing the ship illustrations. The reverse is much harder - to design big then hope that it works as graphically as a small silhouette.
The map and counters here (150ppi iirc) are just for a single short mission in some star sector. I did a test play of it a few years ago which went alright.
I'll post some rules once I've cleaned them up... which could be time consuming. My document (20K characters) is still currently a mess of notes I barely remember making. The combat uses tables (2D6) of Weapon (e.g. Neutron blaster) vs Shipsize (Fighter, Corvette, Destroyer). To keep table count down there can't be many of each, but I found that I don't really need finer control as depth of play arises from combinations of pieces on the board . The number of dots behind a ship on the counter is movement in hexes, which I find to be a more graphically effective solution than finding the right number on the counter. Example table:
NEU vs FIGHTER/BOMBER
(This is a more powerful weapon perhaps more suitable for taking out Corvettes, but it will blast a smaller ship to smithereens should it hit.)
2 Severe misfire! Blinking lights and panic! Damaged attacker: An explosion rocks the ship as a power-bank explodes.
3-6 The shot flies wide, frustrating the gunner.
6-8 The nimble target ducks and weaves, easily avoiding the incoming fire.
9-11 * A glancing hit tears the ship in half, sending its remains spinning into the eternal void.
12 * A perfect shot, reducing the target to a spray of molten debris. If multiple small ships in hex: the top one gets peppered by high velocity debris and is permanently disabled. AAAaaah!
I can add little special rule cases or just narrative detail as needed, so while I need to limit the amount of weapons and targets, it's still a fairly dynamic system. Because it's a solo game and not competitive I feel like experience is more important than quickly "solving combat". For this reason I might write multiple paragraphs for misses, hits and other results, to keep the player engaged in that frame of mind. In 2+ player games perhaps there is instead a meta-narrative emerging in play, but that's not what I'm looking for here. I suppose I'm rather limiting my player base, but perhaps I'm actually doing this for myself, foremost...
