|
Post by unclemac on Jun 9, 2021 10:24:44 GMT
Calling Dick Tracy is a print & play board game I've been working on as a side project. It's at a point where it is playable, but could really use some objective playtesters to try it out and give suggestions. Feedback welcome!
Overview Up to 4 players walk the beat in Dick Tracy's city, responding to crime scenes, collecting sidekicks, and closing case files. The first to close a case file wins the game and earns a promotion from Chief Brody. But if Public Support for the police force drops too low, EVERYONE loses!
Gameplay At the beginning of a new day, each cop beginning with the Sergeant (first player for that day) draws a Call and Location card and resolves the Call at the given location. Green-bordered Scene cards are placed at the location, and remain there until a cop resolves them, or until the end of the day. Yellow-bordered Sidekicks remain on the map until someone claims them (or something bad happens to them). Red-bordered Subplot cards are played on ANY cop: the victim is moved to the location and must resolve the Subplot on his turn.
The cops now take turns roaming the city and trying to resolve the day's calls, both to gain evidence for their case files and to keep public support up. A case file consists of a Racket (the criminal enterprise the cop is trying to bust up), a Location (where the Racket is headquartered), and the Crook (the bad guy behind the Racket). Each piece of evidence the cop gains can be used to build this case file, and once complete, he can now go to the location and attempt to arrest the Crook. If he succeeds, he drops off his case file at City Hall and closes the case! Cops can use badges to purchase Crimestopper cards that help them in their endeavors: fast cars for high speed chase scenes, guns for shootouts, gumshoes for better sneaking, even plants and raiding parties to make arrests easier.
In the course of a single day, crooks can break out of prison and go On The Run, forcing the cops to hunt them down again; a Sidekick may be wrongfully jailed, murdered by a Racket's mastermind, or go on suicide watch; a cop may fall into a death trap, get ambushed by hitmen, or fall victim to a car bombing. At the end of the day comes Nightfall, when all unresolved Scenes are removed, hurting public support in the process; all un-booked Crooks go On The Run; and the Sergeant's badge is passed to the next player.
The overall goal of this project was to make it so that during a single game, each cop constructs a narrative straight out of Chester Gould's cartoon strip. In one of my test games, Sam Catchem took Junior as a sidekick to track down Flattop and stop his murder for hire organization, only for Junior to be murdered by Flattop as a result. Armed with a tommy gun, Sam went on the warpath, killing any hoods Flattop sent to stop him until he finally jailed Flattop and closed his case file. Unfortunately, the very next day Flattop's shyster lawyer got him out on bail...but Flattop was killed when a train hit his car while trying to skip town. Justice is a harsh mistress.
There was also the time I booked Breathless Mahoney for stirring up a bar fight. That was fun.
Thanks in advance to anyone who prints this out and gives it a shot. Double thanks to anyone who provides feedback that helps iron out the wrinkles. The game is far from perfect, but it's playable enough that I've had fun with a few people in my neighborhood.
|
|
|
Post by unclemac on Jun 13, 2021 10:14:59 GMT
I recently realized that a big part of the game was based on random occurrences, a bit too much like real life in the city. So I altered the gameplay a bit so that each cop also begins the day with 3 Call cards in their hand, which they can play instead of drawing one randomly. Now there's a bit more strategy in the game since each cop is trying to be the first to close his case file and get a promotion, so you can make things easier for yourself or harder for your opponents (or easier for everyone if public support drops too low and threatens a game over for all). Also made it so you can dump crooks from your paddy wagon to make room for someone more important, like a completed case file. The drawback is you reduce public support immediately when you do this. Also wondering if the game should end when the first case file is closed, or if the game ends at nightfall after the first case file closes and then score is tallied to determine the winner. It would put more value on how many exhibits are in a case file... A few fun photos of previous playtests: Closeup of the cop dossiers. All stats are 3 unless otherwise stated by these or an active card. Tracy is the best with a Sleuth of 4 and no drawbacks. The other three cops have a 4 in one skill and a 2 in another to balance it out. Also note the slots for the case file in progress, badges collected, sidekicks in tow, and crooks in the paddy wagon. Older version of Lizz and her backup/raiding party going "Bonnie and Clyde" on Breathless during her third jailbreak attempt. A hit was put out on Tracy, with Oodles and Mimi behind the trigger. He lost the initial shootout, but thanks to his bulletproof vest, he got the drop on them and busted them both. Since he took them alive, he gained evidence for his case file.
|
|
|
Post by techlego1971 on Jun 14, 2021 6:13:06 GMT
Just a quick note. I saw your post on Martins PNP facebook page and decided to have a quick look. I would say that you should revise the player count to accurately represent the number of players needed. The phrase up to 4 players implies , whether rightly or wrongly, 1 to 4 players. However, reading the rules the player count is meant for 3-4 with a 2 player variant.
Also, and this is a pet peeve of mine, designers that neglect to mention player counts for their games, will almost always cause me to pass on checking the game out.
That said, good luck with your game and I hope that you get some good constructive feedback.
|
|
|
Post by bulsatar on Jun 15, 2021 4:58:15 GMT
End of shift makes sense to me. Sure, the first one to bag a bad guy should get something, but what if you catch a "bigger" bad guy during your shift? Maybe a couple win conditions... Or an agreed upon win conditions... Or a small set of cards for win conditions.
|
|
|
Post by unclemac on Jun 17, 2021 9:15:22 GMT
Just a quick note. I saw your post on Martins PNP facebook page and decided to have a quick look. I would say that you should revise the player count to accurately represent the number of players needed. The phrase up to 4 players implies , whether rightly or wrongly, 1 to 4 players. However, reading the rules the player count is meant for 3-4 with a 2 player variant. Also, and this is a pet peeve of mine, designers that neglect to mention player counts for their games, will almost always cause me to pass on checking the game out. That said, good luck with your game and I hope that you get some good constructive feedback. If i get enough playtests in I can probably better figure out what the proper player count is for this. I'd like to be able to confidently state on the box "this many players, this much playtime" but at present that's one thing that's still up in the air. The game seems to work best with 3-4 players but with 2 it's a bit sketchy.
|
|
|
Post by unclemac on Jun 17, 2021 9:17:12 GMT
End of shift makes sense to me. Sure, the first one to bag a bad guy should get something, but what if you catch a "bigger" bad guy during your shift? Maybe a couple win conditions... Or an agreed upon win conditions... Or a small set of cards for win conditions. Yeah I like that. I think that's along the lines of what I had in mind, since one player could end up with a more valuable case to close than the other. You think maybe the game should be timed, and at the end 1st, 2nd, 3rd places are tallied?
The Blank Strikes Back game mode gives a pretty good model for in-game time limit. Almost feels like what I've been working on has just been the system, and that should be the game itself.
|
|
|
Post by unclemac on Apr 9, 2022 1:13:17 GMT
Made some updates recently and uploaded a new version.
For 3-4 Players
Goal is to spend a working week busting bad guys and stopping crimes, with each round depicting a single day. Bust a crook, score a point for your Cases Closed scoreboard. Close a Case File, and you score a point for every exhibit it comprises (racket, location, crook, any subplots resolved during the case, and the sidekick who helped you close it). At the end of the sixth day, everyone tallies their Cases Closed score, and whoever scores the most wins.
Cops that draw Subplot cards can play them on anyone, potentially screwing over their rivals (or making their case files more valuable if they survive).
I've added a calendar sheet to keep track of the day of the week and each Cop's score. Players can play several weeks if they like, instead of just one week.
Cops also have a chance for some last-ditch points on the final day: you get bonus points at the end of the week if you have a Sidekick, if you have a completed Case File in the works, or if you have Crooks in your paddy wagon.
If you've printed and played this already, all you'll need to print now is the revised rulebook and a few calendars for keeping score.
|
|