Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Miskatonic Valley!

Hey all. So it's been a dog's age since I've been in here, but I've been busy with silly little things like marriages and such. But that's all complete now.

Anywho, this isn't a normal blog. I've been fiddling with another CUUSOO project [I believe I've mentioned the site before]. This one's more complicated, though, because it's a board game. And board games usually have rules. So here they are.

Almost looks real, don't it?

EDIT as of January 27th, 2013: I've tweaked some of the heres and nows in the rules as a result of some testing, so what appears below are hardly "final" in any official sense of the word.

Welcome to Miskatonic Valley, a place of mystery, magic, and monsters. 

AIM
Race through Miskatonic Valley on a mission to gather the forbidden tomes, and avoid collecting Curses. Once the Ancient One awakens, do whatever you can to destroy its physical form before it reaches its destination!

BUILDING THE GAME
Before you start playing, build the board using the building instructions and set it up according to the scenario.

Miskatonic Valley uses two LEGO dice; the Investigator die and the Monster die. Build them using the tiles shown below:
INVESTIGATOR DIE: Elder Sign, Hit/6, Hit/6, Skull/5, Skull/5, Hit/Skull/4
MONSTER DIE: Worship, Summon, Red tile, Blue tile, Red tile/Blue tile, Red tile/Blue tile

Place the following items inside the tomes, 1 per tome: 5 Pages and 4 Curses. Close the tomes, shuffle them, and place one at each location that has a bookshelf. Place the appropriate monsters in front of each location as indicated by the scenario.

Starting with the youngest player, each player chooses an investigator and takes the matching Investigator Pack with 4 Health [red cones] and 4 Wits [blue cones] on it. Place your investigator in front of the Sanitarium.

At the start of the game one star is placed on the last space of each arm of the Star Chart. After each investigator has taken a turn, move one star one space closer to the center of the Star Chart.

PLAYING THE GAME
The youngest player goes first. Play then continues clockwise.

MOVING INVESTIGATORS
On your turn roll the Investigator die and move your investigator up to the number of spaces rolled. You can't move into a space you've already been in this turn.

Elder Sign: Move up to 6 spaces AND move one star away from the center of the Star Chart.
Six: Move up to 6 spaces.
Five: Move up to 5 spaces.
Four: Move up to 4 spaces.

If you end your move in a space occupied by another investigator, move your investigator forward to the first available space.
If you move into a space adjacent to a monster, you MUST end your move in that space and fight the monster.
You may not move diagonally.

MONSTERS
There are different kinds of monsters in Miskatonic Valley.


At the end of your turn, choose one monster and move it 2 spaces. You can't move it next to an investigator. If there are less than 4 monsters on the board, instead of moving one, you may add a 1-Health monster in front of a location, but not next to an investigator.

FIGHTING MONSTERS
If you fight a monster, roll the Investigator die again to find out what happens.
Elder Sign: The monster loses 1 Health AND move one star away from the center of the Star Chart.
Hit: The monster loses 1 Health.
Skull: Move back 1 space away from the monster and roll the Monster die.
Hit/ Skull: The monster loses 1 Health AND move back 1 space away from the monster and roll the Monster die.

If the monster's Health is less than 1, you've defeated it. Take it off the board. If it still has Health and you are still next to it, you must keep fighting it!
If you are adjacent to two or more monsters at the same time, choose which one to fight first. If you win, immediately fight the next monster.
You may not fight diagonally.

THE MONSTER DIE
If a Monster wins a fight against you, roll the Monster die to find out what happens.
RED: Lose 1 Health.
BLUE: Lose 1 Wits.
RED/BLUE: Lose 1 Health AND 1 Wits.
WORSHIP: Move one star closer to the center of the Star Chart.
SUMMON: Add a 1-Health monster to the board in front of a location, but not next to an investigator. If there are no 1-Health monsters left, add a 2-Health monster.

HEALTH AND WITS
If your Wits are reduced to 0, any Wits you lose must instead be lost as Health.
If your Health is reduced to 0, return your Investigator to the Sanitarium.

If you start your turn in front of the Sanitarium, instead of moving, you may roll both LEGO Dice. The Monster die tells you what you heal [Red = Health, Blue = Wits, Red/Blue = both, Summon or Worship = you pick Health or Wits], and the Investigator die tells you how much [heal the number rolled MINUS 3; if you roll the Elder Sign, heal 4]. You can't leave the Sanitarium if your Health is 0.

COLLECTING THINGS YOU'LL NEED
When you stop moving in front of a location with a bookshelf [brown space], if there is a tome there, collect it. If there is no tome on the bookshelf, you may take one from another player, but you must give them one of yours if you have one. When you take a tome from a bookshelf, you can look inside it for free, but don't show anyone else what's inside! During your turn you can look inside any tomes you have collected, but you LOSE 1 Wits for each tome you open.

Any time a tome is opened, move one star one space closer to the center of the Star Chart.

If you stop in front of a location without a bookshelf that ISN'T the Sanitarium [black space], you can take one Item from the Store that you don't already have and put it on your Investigator Pack.

ITEMS
Revolver Instead of moving, you can shoot [see below]. After you use this item for the second time, return it to the Store.
Axe When you roll an Elder Sign, you can move your investigator up to 4 spaces and automatically hit an adjacent monster. If you lose Health, return this item to the Store.
Needle At any time, return this item to the Store and restore 1 Wits. Whenever you roll an Elder Sign while you have this item, restore 1 Wits.
Turkey At any time, return this item to the Store and restore 2 Health.

SHOOTING
If you have a Revolver, you can shoot. Roll the Investigator die; the number rolled MINUS 3 is the number of spaces away from you that you can shoot [you can shoot 4 away when you roll an Elder Sign]. If a monster is within that distance in a straight line, it loses 1 Health.

WHEN THE STARS ARE RIGHT
When all four stars are in the middle of the Star Chart, the Ancient One will awaken and begin its terrible march across Miskatonic Valley. Place it on the board in its starting spot [as indicated by the scenario], and place the Star Chart in the box [you won't need it anymore]. Every player now opens any tomes they have collected to reveal if they are Cursed. Tomes can no longer be collected this game.

Once the Ancient One is awoken, the Monster die behaves differently. If WORSHIP is rolled, add a 2-Health monster to the board in front of a location.

At the end of each player's turn, the Ancient One moves two spaces towards its destination [as indicated by the scenario]. If it would enter a space occupied by another figure [investigator or monster], that figure is moved to any space 1 space away from the Ancient One.

FIGHTING THE ANCIENT ONE, PAGES, & CURSES
The Ancient One can be fought like a monster, but it is bigger and tougher. It begins with 6 Health, and during each fight, it IGNORES the first time it is hit.

If an investigator who has at least 1 Page rolls an Elder Sign, it counts as a hit, AND the Ancient One loses 1 extra Health.

Once during each fight, an investigator can put one of their Pages in the box to re-roll the Investigator die if they don't like the result.

When the Ancient One hits an investigator, after rolling the Monster die to see what happens, that investigator ALSO loses Health and/or Wits equal to the number of Curses they have [you can choose how many of each you lose, as long as the total equals the number of Curses].

If the Ancient One reaches its destination, the game ends and all investigators lose.

CHANGING THE GAME

[There's always a blurb in LEGO Games about how you can change rules to make the game more complicated and to make it your own. Naturally, I'd want to encourage this as well, so here's an 'advanced' rule that I think might actually make the game much more interesting.]

HEED THE CALL
When the Ancient One has awoken and all players reveal the contents of their tomes, if someone has MORE Curses than any other player, that investigator is now the Cultist. They lose all their Wits and may not heal them. Investigators and the Cultist treat each other as if they were monsters when fighting and moving. The Cultist ignores 1-Health monsters. If the Ancient One reaches its destination, the Cultist wins.

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