Written 01.10.2009 - Uploaded 01.10.2009
This series of game design diary articles introduces thoughts behind my Descent mod or total conversion project, as well as discusses testing results. Most recent rules for the mod project are available from this page as well.
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I will start this diary by presenting project goals. In the simplest form, this project's output should be a complete mod for Descent: Journeys in the Dark. For those unfamiliar with Descent, it is a rather epic dungeon crawling board game designed by Kevin Wilson and published by Fantasy Flight Games. If you are into dungeon crawlers, it's definitely worth checking out. With all its expansions, it contains over 200 plastic miniatures, more than 600 cards, enough dungeon map pieces to construct maps larger than any table you're likely to find and an almost overwhelming amount of cardboard tokens. Can you spell modding opportunities?
However, simply making a mod is not the sole purpose of this project. For me, personally, it offers a chance to see some key mechanics from Project Copernicus put into action. Furthermore, it is a project that can be easily worked with in iterative steps, allowing me to involve playtesting very early and thus gain motivation right off the bat via receiving feedback. It's a stepping stone, a project that is most likely to get finished, giving inspiration to be pervasive with later projects as well. Finally, the project produces this series of articles, which shed some insight into what I was thinking and how the entire process was carried out. Maybe someone out there learns something, or in the very least has some interesting moments reading this.
The project started simple. I have been thinking about Copernicus for quite a while now, but never gotten myself around to program its game engine. It's a daunting task, even though it's just a 2D pixel engine for turn-based strategy. The production costs (in time units) just to prototype the engine is a bit too much, especially since it's hard to get any feedback before something is working. So I finally get myself into thinking: I have this magnificent turn-based dungeon crawler game for which I've spent around 300 euros (includes miniature paints, card protectors and so on) that has a lot of various components - I can use all that, as a prototype engine for my core ideas! On top of this add the fact that I've also been thinking some Descent houserules and larger variants, and suddenly we have a project.
Obviously I'm not going to take all the rules from Project Copernicus at once and play it out with Descent pieces. After all, this project's actual outcome is a Descent mod, not full paper prototype of Copernicus which, being a computer game after all, would not probably that much fun to play. I also don't want anyone thinking this is me telling how Descent should've been done, and how I prefer to play it. No, I think Kevin and his team did a brilliant job with the game, and I will keep playing Descent as it is, especially vanilla Descent*. This is a mod, and it's pretty much an entirely different game from Descent, only using playing pieces and very core mechanics from the original. It's just like your usual Half-Life or Quake mod - same core, different game.
I wanted to start simple with the rules and only include the essential key mechanics that will make this game different from Descent. Details and especially balancing factors are much easier to consider after some initial playtesting. So what are these key mechanics then? If you look right to the bottom of it, there are two mechanics that define how the system changes, and everything else follows from these two. The first, the one that derives from Project Copernicus, is the idea of blocking zones. Put simply, it means figures cannot just run past others when they are wielding deadly sharp things or horrible blunt objects. I'll discuss it a little bit more shortly. The other one is changing victory conditions to the likeness of computer RPGs. The heroes lose if they are all knocked out. And that is all. Everything else follows from these two changes.
In Descent, figures are allowed to pass each other (but not move through hostiles) just like that, walking or running past. However, to me melee fighting is a lot more about engaging your enemies and staying engaged until one side loses. Equally, when a sole warrior with his massive ax is guarding a hallway or standing in front of the sorceress he's sworn to protect, you can't just run past him. These are the key reasoning points behind blocking zones, which basically mean that every melee fighter's front sector is a zone which blocks movement through it, and is hard to get out of. The intended impact to gameplay is that both sides can protect their more vulnerable members more easily, and also prevent passage to key locations. Furthermore, the new mechanics allow figures to intercept (basically jump in front of) ranged attacks, which also allows them to shield weaker mages and archers in the back row.
Naturally this change commands some additional adjustments to Descent's core mechanics. Originally in Descent there is no need to keep track which way figures are facing. However, since the very description of blocking zones defines them as being in front of melee fighters, it suddenly becomes very important to know where everyone is looking at. Further down the line, facing brings some more adjustments and possibilites to the table, such as flanking and attacking from behind. All this finally commands minor adjustments to how particular rules, abilities and items work in the game, and balancing all that will take time and endless hours of playtesting. However, I am expecting our very first playtests to show the impact this mechanic will have on essential gameplay and tactical doctrines of Descent.
The other mechanics change, which moves away from a victory point based system towards immediate survival is just something I have always liked to experiment with in Descent. For those unfamiliar with Descent, its victory condition is based on Conquest Points. The heroes start with a small amount of them and gain more as they proceed in their quest through the dungeon. If a hero dies, the heroes lose points and the hero automatically resurrects in town, ready to teleport back into action on the next turn in full bodily and spiritual health. The new approach relaxes the losing conditions for heroes, because the game is only over if everyone is knocked out.
Descent is not big on healing magics. It is often not even desirable to spend too much time trying to heal, as long as there's enough Conquest Points to afford a hero death. This is a tactical doctrine in the game, and works well as soon as everyone figures that out (I do think it is slightly counter-intuitive). Heroes who die no longer automatically resurrect. Again, it is quite obvious that this commands another change: heroes need a way to resurrect their comrades, otherwise the game would become very difficult indeed. The most natural line of thinking was to give resurrection and healing powers to all heroes who know at least a little bit of magic. Of course it's easier to heal than resurrect, and suddenly avoiding hero death is a major principle in effective tactics.
Giving healing powers to mages gives them more utility overall, and especially makes it very crucial for the team to keep their fragile healers safer than ever before. All this underlines the roles of different party members, which is a key concept in Project Copernicus. Since I already gave melee fighters and mages some new utility, I figured ranged fighters also need a new advantage, which would allow them to do something the other two classes cannot. So now they can pick targets by using careful aiming, avoiding interception by front-line fighters.
I don't know what kind of an image this article has painted in your head about the mod. Personally I'm eager to find out what kinds of tactical doctrines are induced by these changes. We will see about that, too, as soon as I get some playtesting done. One thing I'm sure of: this mod will very likely make the already longish game even longer and more complex.
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* By vanilla Descent people typically mean the Descent core game, where each game starts fresh with a new hero party. Descent has a campaign expansion (pretty soon two of them) which makes the game into a longer effort with the hero party keeping items and abilities between dungeons.