Dungeon Crawl: Thoughts

Some thoughts that I've been having this week and a point that my brother, Joe, brought up.

I still have no idea what to call this game, but the overall design is coming along smoothly. I have over 20 of the abilities written up and got a little stalled for ideas to round out the set. Since I didn't know immediately what to add to them I began working on the items. As I got started on them I talked to Joe about the abilities I had so far and asked if he had an idea or two to add. His suggestion was to make negative abilities.

This was something that I hadn't considered and found that I liked the idea of it. I still haven't written any of them up, but I'm sure that's what the remaining abilities will be. Something that alters the way that the player plays the game to some extent while remaining interesting and fun.

I did, however, begin to apply the thought that not everything has to be good to the item rewards. I've written up a few items like the one above and then began to make a few traps. If a player draws one of these from the Loot Pile they will still receive another card, the item that was actually in the chest, but there will be some negative effect that takes place. One trap Freezes the player in place, ending their turn and skipping their next, while another deals a point of damage to all units in that room, regardless of allegiance.

The rooms themselves are beginning to come together. Again this is just me running around and grabbing an image here or there from the internet. Currently I have 3 icons that I'll be using. Walls will be coming later, or I'll simply make them black lines like the outer edge.

Chest: The first player that steps on this icon draws one card from the Loot Pile. If the card is a trap the effect of the trap occurs and then the player may draw another card from the pile. A player may only have 4 items at the end of their turn. They may discard items at anytime during their turn. 

Red Summon Sign: When a room is revealed a Mob card is drawn from each of these icons. 

Black Skull: This icon indicates the summon location a Boss unit. Lots of things happen when a Boss is spawned, but I'm not sure all of what just yet. 

I'm still working on the Player Cards right now, and I'm trying to figure out what exactly I need to have on it. Player stats I will certainly need, as well as a way to track level progress. Do I need to include slots of the player abilities or items? I want to, but that seems to just make the card needlessly large. The rules will say that a player can only have 3 abilities and 4 items, so do I need to actually include a location on the card? I'm starting to think not after doing a few mock-ups. I also want to include a portrait of that Hero to give the player a face in the game.