Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Defcon Fun!

Setup:

1 board
Stack of effectiveness cards
Stack of disarm cards
Stack of apocalypse cards
Tokens to track positions
1d20 die

1.) Players roll to determine who goes first. Highest number wins, gameplay goes counter-clockwise. Lowest roll becomes the nuclear armed nation.
2.) All players (incl. nuclear nation) place their tokens on start and the nuclear token on "Neutral"


The Game:

The goal is to prevent the nuclear armed country from launching their nukes by using diplomacy. As you play cards, they affect the nuclear token, pushing it closer to apocalypse or disarmament.

Effectiveness determines how effective you are in using your country. It also keeps the game balanced by disallowing some cards being played in the beginning.

1.) Roll the D20 and go the number of spaces it says. If you land on the proper square (Diplomatic countries = 'D', Nuclear country = 'A'), take the appropriate card. If you're on the opposing square, see rule #4.

2.) Each card has a description written on it. The required effectiveness to play the card is stated in the top right corner.

3.) Every time you play a card, it will 'tap' your effectiveness.
EX: A player has two total effectiveness and plays a card that costs one effectiveness. That player only has one effectiveness left to use this round. 'Tapped' effectiveness returns after one round.

4.) It costs one effectiveness to draw your card from an opposing faction's space.
EX: Nuclear country lands on a 'D' space. They must pay one effectiveness to draw an 'A' card.

*You may only play cards anytime during your turn, unless the card is special.
**Card trading is prohibited unless a special card dictates otherwise.
***Players may not reveal their hands to anyone else unless a special card dictates otherwise.

2 comments:

  1. Cameron,

    Interesting concept for your game! I'm interested in a couple things. First, what is the goal of the nuclear power nation? Is this player's goal something like a) set off the nuclear war or b) to use the nuclear weapon as deterrent/bullying tool?

    Second, how much impact does the nuclear nation have over its political stance? Or is the stance largely controlled by the cards? If control is placed largely to cards (chance), how much control do you think the game suggests a ruler/president of a country has over its political stance towards nuclear warfare?

    Also, do you have examples of the cards in the decks, and how did the playtest go?

    -Devin Monnens

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  2. The game itself was really cool! I think there needs to be more effectivness cards, and that the nuclear country can't be drawing 3 cards per turn, that made it almost impossible for the other team to win. Two cards for the nuclear country seemed to be a much fairer way to go.

    I did like getting to attempt to take out the nuclear country though!

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