stoicsentry: BTW the new board will be 8x8 with characters as far away from each other as possible. Think that's big enough?
WhiteElk: Indeed!
It will take us longer to engage in combat, but gives us plenty of room to maneuver. The 'first to act' advantage is mostly nullified. The Mages unlimited range attack might give a minor edge. I suppose if that was deemed a problem, we could limit the Mages range to 6?
Rodzaju: Rather than the plain white map, you can get some models out on a chess board.
Maybe throw a rock here & there to make things slightly more tactical...
WhiteElk: Sorta like so... see attached picture.
To make that gameboard I used the editor for the open sourced Battle for Wesnoth game. We could add a variety of tactical considerations to the board... Impassable mountains and rivers. Chokepoints like river crossings and mountain passes. Terrain features which impede movement, and/or give bonus to specific skill sets (
such as a Ranger ability in forests, Archers gain increased range on hills). Roads to increase movement. Hills to increase Warrior defense. Fortifications to race towards, Villages and other resources to fight over, and more. All depends on the scope of the game and how big a board we want to play on.
For unit models we have alot of options available to us. Such as using unit sprites from Battle for Wesnoth, or fan created units from a variety of games such as Civ4 or AOW etc. People could find, edit, or create icons that match their character. Our forum avatars also work as they are easily identified. In cases where we stack up on a tile, we can overlap the icons such that they can still be identified.
Another thought: We could add a section to the gameboard to display each characters icon. That way we have quick reference to what pic belongs to who. Perhaps we could include a space for updated stats... such as current HP's, item inventory, ability usage?
AGHHHH I just wrote a long post and it disappeared somehow!!!!
Shoot.
I said that I disagree with you on Arc because:
1. Mages are so inferior in close combat, I believe that having this ability available to them actually creates balance.
2. HPs have been increased so the ability is no longer quite as powerful.
3. You can use special abilities AND attack now, but you can't do that with certain abilities like Arc, which I think provides balance to that ability.
4. Arc has the disadvantage of spreading damage around rather than targeting one vulnerable character.
I also said:
I like what you did with the board there. Can you send me a link to download this editor?
I agree with you about the icons, and welcome you to pick one if you want.
I agree with you about putting important info on the map, insofar as it is possible. The way I've been doing it currently would be difficult (using MS Paint) because I would have to keep erasing everything and re-typing it all. Hopefully I can find an easier way.
I agree with you about terrain, that will be here for game 3. At least I think so.