Elective: Monsters Galore

 

Welcome

Welcome to the “Monsters Galore” Elective. We’ll be playing a fully cooperative multiplayer game that and discussing the ramifications of cooperation to game design. There are lots of intriguing issues at play here, all of them completely applicable to electronic mediums.

Monsters Galore is a completely cooperative game, which means that players will be trying to “beat the game.” There is no character improvement during the game, but there is plenty of luck, a sense of accomplishment, teamwork, and risk versus reward. It’s very similar to the dynamics found in a cooperative FPS.

Introduction

Monsters Galore is world split between its safe but barren southern hemisphere and its lush, but hostile northern hemisphere, filled with monsters. A group of naïve settlers from the south have decided to move north to enjoy the good life. They have found a location perfect for their new home. With enough water, food, wood and stone, they will have created a safe haven for themselves and their children.

Working together, they venture out into the wilderness to locations where each of the four resources can be found. They are safer traveling together.

Monsters venture out each night in search of food. If they find a settler, they will chase him or her back to the settlement. If they come upon the settlement itself, they will eat one piece of it.

One last note: sometimes there are cloudbursts of “manga,” a foodstuff preferred by the monsters to all other foods. Settlers will gather it wherever they can; it can be given to the monsters as a distraction.

Equipment

Settlement Square: 1. Place this at the center of the area in which you are playing.

Location Squares: 20.

Player Representation: Each player is represented by an action figure.

Manga Chips: 12.

Dice: 1D3 (a modified D6), and a common D6

Monsters: 6

Resources Beads: 2 water (blue), 2 wood (amber), 2 stone (white), 2 food (green)

 

Rules

Goal

The goal of the game is to complete your settlement by gathering resources before the monsters get bold and all pounce on the settlement, eating all that they find. The players have 40 turns to build their safe haven before it is destroyed.

Board setup

Players place location squares adjacent to the settlement, creating four distinct, non-intersecting paths to the four resources. No path may be shorter than 3. Take turns creating the board. Place two resources on the furthest location squares.

Player Setup

Each player chooses one figurine to play and takes one manga chip to play at any time.

Turn Cycle

Players take turns going clockwise from the starting player (selected as the person who looks least like a monster). After all players have moved, night falls and the monsters take their turn.

Player Turns

Each player rolls a D3 (note the special dice) and moves any number of squares up to and including the number rolled. A player who rolled a 2 may move his character 0, 1 or 2 squares. Movement may be to any adjacent square. The settlement counts as a square. It is often advantageous for players to end up grouped by the time that night falls, but players do not know what subsequent players will roll for movement.

Players who end their turn at the resource locations (at the end of the four paths) may pick up one resource to carry back. This resource stays with them on the way back to the Settlement. Players may only carry one resource at a time. Players who deliver their resource to the settlement drop it off, where it becomes a step toward victory.

 

Monsters Turns

After each player has rolled and chosen their movement, a D6 is rolled for the number of monsters that come out that night. The first path is denoted by 1, the second by 2, the third by 3, the fourth by 4, the settlement itself by 5 and a 6 indicates that Manga falls from the sky to a random location on the board.

Manga Locations: When a 6 is rolled for monster location, this indicates that Manga has fallen from the sky. Roll a D6 for location, re-rolling if a 6 is rolled. A 1-4 indicates one of the four paths and a 5 indicates that the Manga fell on the settlement. If the Manga fell on a path, roll a D6 to determine where it landed.

Monster Location: For each monster that was rolled, place a monster figure at the end square of the path that it appeared. Do this as the dice are rolled. Once all the monsters have been set down, they travel as a group up the path toward the settlement attacking the first non-empty square they find. If they find a square with a resource but no players, the resource goes back to its starting point and the attack is over for that group of monsters. If they find a square with Manga in it, they eat it and head home.

Monster Attacks: If players are found in a square that monsters enter and the number of monsters is greater than or equal to the number of players, then all the players drop any resources they are carrying and are sent back to the settlement.

Monsters will only attack if they have equal or greater numbers. Once monsters attack or eat, they are done for that turn.

If players outnumber the monsters, they flee for that turn.

If Monsters attack the settlement, they eat resources. The number of resources eaten equals the number of monsters minus the number of settlers located at the settlement on that turn. The resources eaten are chosen at random.

The monsters on a path search toward the settlement for something to eat or attack, but they will not travel as far as the settlement itself. Only monsters whose location roll was a 5 will attack the settlement.

Using Manga: Players may use any or all manga they are carrying to distract the monsters. Each manga counts as one extra player when counting who outnumbers whom.

Any player may choose to use manga chips to distract monsters attacking the settlement even if they aren’t at the settlement location. Each chip reduces by one the number of resources that the monsters will eat.

End of Monster’s Turn: Once all the monster fights are resolved, players each take their turns again; however, this time, start with the player who went 2nd the last time. Each new set of turns will continue this way so that no one ever goes first twice in a row.

Keep playing until you build your settlement or 40 turns pass. That’s not 40 rounds. That’s 40 player movements. If there are 5 players, that’s 8 rounds

Break into groups of 4 to try the game out

Walk around, participate in discussion.

Discuss results

We all discuss the results of play. Did players find strategies that always worked or could never work? What did they learn about cooperation in a game such as this?

Decompose game

If there’s time, break-down and discuss the fundaments of Monsters Galore.

Movement: By having variable movement, it’s difficult to move together. Players may “throttle” their movement back in hopes that a nearby player will be able to join them. Increased player number equals strength against monsters.

Manga: By creating a “goody” in the playfield, players are enticed to split up. This creates a sense of serving one’s self at times, rather than sticking together. Also, by allowing players to spend their Manga helping the Settlement, there is an element of sacrifice.

Making it Digital: How would you change this game to make it playable in a digital medium?

How would you change movement? (hint: different character types that offer speed versus defense versus carrying capacity).

How would you depict such a game? 2D? 3D?

Information is shared in our board-game. How would you expect our digital game to differ? Discuss a console, possibly split-screen version as well as an online version. How important is it to know what is happening to the other players?

What fundamental changes would you make to the rules? Would you allow players to use Manga to assist any other player?

Would you change the types of resources or their distribution or the settlement’s need for them?