Moonbound

The main mechanics of our game includes a betrayal system, a randomly generated map, the collection of an item called “Magic Dust” that can be used in a couple ways depending on the role, a stat system, as well as a randomly generated event and item system upon exploring new parts of the map, all of which is inspired by the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood.

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The first part of our game is a simple “betrayal system”. In the beginning, players draw random Role Cards to determine who they are; there are 3 Riders, and 1 Wolf. The Wolf wants to kill the Riders, while the Riders want to escape. These roles shape how each player plays the game, and is based upon how in the original fairy tale, there is a wolf who is trying to kill and eat the little Red. In our game, the Wolf has killed one of the Riders and is posing as one of them in order to kill the other three.

 

Otherwise, the main part of our game is the exploration that leads to a randomly generated map. Whenever a player moves through an empty pathway, they get to pull a random area tile from the pile and place it down. Once they have done so, they must do the following actions: they “collect” the number of magic dust listed, and move their counter up on their Magic Dust Collector.

 

Then, depending on the symbol on the area tile, they may do any of the following actions: for a crescent moon shape, they draw an event card and complete the action on the card. For a star, they must draw an item card. And finally, if there is a full moon on the area tile, they must place down a Moon Stone. Afterwards, their turn ends. This mechanic is the main driving force of the game, since it allows for the Riders, the players, to find their way back to Grandma’s house, collect items and earn better stats in order to escape from the Wolf’s clutches.

 

For Magic Dust, Riders must take it to the Wood Clearing tile that will be randomly uncovered as the game progresses. In total, they must bring 45 Magic Dust here in 3 separate amounts of 15 in order to make it out. Each Rider may only carry 10 at a time, unless explicitly stated otherwise. The Wolf, on the other hand, wants to use the Magic Dust in order to upgrade themselves; after they are revealed, they take Magic Dust to the randomly placed Moon Stones and upgrade their stats in order to make them better at killing the Reds.

 

The next main mechanic of our game are the stats; each Rider starts with a different set amount of stats that influence how they play, and those stats include Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, and finally Health. The Blue Rider is the strongest, the Green Rider is the smartest, the Yellow Rider is the fastest, and finally the Red Rider is the most healthy. Depending on what number a Rider’s stat is currently at, they may roll the corresponding amount of dice to complete certain actions.

 

These actions, then, tend to stem from event cards - and sometimes item cards - that are randomly distributed during a game’s play time. All of these items wildly vary, and tend to break previously established rules in order to introduce fun and new ways to play the game. Other parts of the game that may require dice rolls include the simple combat system - roll the amount of dice you’re permitted, typically based on strength, and whoever has the lowest takes a point of damage - or when you’re trying to access the bridge to escape.