Hey y'all,
As stated here:https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1851295/legendary-items-mm-..., this is in continuation of my "Room for Growth" general discussion on M&M.
I think what's very motivating in most board games, is a sense of working towards something. Whether that's a new level-up, or accomplishing a specific goal, both are very important to maintain player engagement.
I think personal goals in M&M is severely lacking, and this could be a major problem for the game.
The only sense of growth, of toiling for something with a payoff is the level-up system. However, due to the nature of the level-up system in M&M, you are constantly balancing when do I want to level-up vs. when do I want to use my ability NOW. This is an essential question in M&M, and I think it's actually a very good design component in this game that's not seen really anywhere else. You are balancing, "do I want benefit NOW (instant gratification)" vs. "do I want to save (delayed gratification)".
Now this would be a stellar design component, if there were other tools players could invest-in/work towards, however there's really not. Now, one could argue that the in-game achievements offer some sort of incentive. However, these achievements are rarely beneficial enough to seek as they only last 1 chapter, and they mainly happen by chance anyway. For example, if Player A is going for the "roach master" achievement, and Player B kills a roach, this doesn't make Player A very happy.
I believe M&M needs a more strict personal-quest system or job board, which would very much solve this issue of not having anything to 'work towards' during a game session.
Included in the DWT expansion is a village. I believe this village has a lot of unused potential. DWT also introduces an element of keeping things in-between chapters (cheese) which sets a precedent.
When starting a chapter in the DWT village, there should be a random "quest board" for each mission. This could range from 'collect 3 acorns' or they could actually be things that happen in-game like "kill 3 roaches" or they could invent a new side-quest, "rescue X person". There could be quests that last for only 1 chapter, or stay relevant for multiple chapters.
By completing quests, these could give you Quest Points to spend at the shop, which you could trade in for powerful items, equipment, or even tricks/abilities. How interesting would that be?
I believe this would not increase complexity since it happens outside of normal gameplay, and acts as a 'break' from the tactical decision making.
I think M&M has a lot of room for growth that has not been tapped into, and I'm wondering what you guys think.
Thanks!
As stated here:https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1851295/legendary-items-mm-..., this is in continuation of my "Room for Growth" general discussion on M&M.
I think what's very motivating in most board games, is a sense of working towards something. Whether that's a new level-up, or accomplishing a specific goal, both are very important to maintain player engagement.
I think personal goals in M&M is severely lacking, and this could be a major problem for the game.
The only sense of growth, of toiling for something with a payoff is the level-up system. However, due to the nature of the level-up system in M&M, you are constantly balancing when do I want to level-up vs. when do I want to use my ability NOW. This is an essential question in M&M, and I think it's actually a very good design component in this game that's not seen really anywhere else. You are balancing, "do I want benefit NOW (instant gratification)" vs. "do I want to save (delayed gratification)".
Now this would be a stellar design component, if there were other tools players could invest-in/work towards, however there's really not. Now, one could argue that the in-game achievements offer some sort of incentive. However, these achievements are rarely beneficial enough to seek as they only last 1 chapter, and they mainly happen by chance anyway. For example, if Player A is going for the "roach master" achievement, and Player B kills a roach, this doesn't make Player A very happy.
I believe M&M needs a more strict personal-quest system or job board, which would very much solve this issue of not having anything to 'work towards' during a game session.
Included in the DWT expansion is a village. I believe this village has a lot of unused potential. DWT also introduces an element of keeping things in-between chapters (cheese) which sets a precedent.
When starting a chapter in the DWT village, there should be a random "quest board" for each mission. This could range from 'collect 3 acorns' or they could actually be things that happen in-game like "kill 3 roaches" or they could invent a new side-quest, "rescue X person". There could be quests that last for only 1 chapter, or stay relevant for multiple chapters.
By completing quests, these could give you Quest Points to spend at the shop, which you could trade in for powerful items, equipment, or even tricks/abilities. How interesting would that be?
I believe this would not increase complexity since it happens outside of normal gameplay, and acts as a 'break' from the tactical decision making.
I think M&M has a lot of room for growth that has not been tapped into, and I'm wondering what you guys think.
Thanks!