Dragon Souls - working title (Unity)(WIP)

This is a fantasy table-top game using cards, buildings and characters.

Up to four conjurers must call forth armies from the ether by controlling different regions of the world and gaining the power of the regions' main buildings (village, temple, castle or citadel, each region has one) and then using the new abilities each one grants the player to unleash ever more interesting and powerful spells and creatures upon their foes.

The number of regions and thus the number of available buildings will vary and can be specified, and I intend to create each game world procedurally so that each game is unique.

All characters and creations can use magic (if they have enough magicka) and can be modified heavily using other spells, craftable items and so on. Last player standing wins.

When a character dies, its killer will randomly gain a pick-up of some sort. It may be a spell or character card, or it may be an artifact that can be used to forge tokens (stat boosters).

The skill involved in playing the game will depend mainly on how good a player is at meshing all of their creations together, knowing where and when to summon something, and knowing which items to forge.

Each item in the game world has an element; it can be Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Spirit or Dragon. Regular creatures are one of the basic four, and these elements are arranged rock-paper-scissors style, with Earth beating Water, Water beating Fire, Fire beating Air, and Air beating Earth. In each case if the target of a spell is of the weaker element, the spell effects are boosted.

For friendly spells, if the element of the target is the same as the card (usually), the spell is enhanced.

Nothing beats Spirit, and Dragons are special in other ways. In addition, Dragon Spells can only be drawn if the player actually possesses a Dragon in the world because Dragon Spells are very powerful and much sought after. Each Dragon is also immune to spells of its own element. The king of Dragons is the Platinum Drake, which requires one of each building to summon, is immune to Spirit and has the highest stats of any creature (so far).

Magic can be used by any creation, though only some creatures (usually Water elementals) have enough magicka to cast the best spells; the others can cast little stat-bosters and small ailments.

How to play (each player completes one phase before the next one starts)

Players will have at any given time 4 character card slots, 8 spell slots and a Dragon slot.

Each player has a D3 which is used to modify stats and decide outcomes.

Each player has a player character which must not be allowed to die.

Each player starts with one region containing a Village.

Each player starts with a single forging artifact in their inventory.

Each player starts with 1 Spirit Energy (the currency which is used to create things and cast spells) and this will increase by 1 point per turn up to a maximum of 20.

Phase 1

A player rolls their die (critical score of 3 allows for special improvements on certain creatures) - criticals don't have to be used instantly and can be saved. The die score is added automatically to all stats of all creatures and remains added until next time the die is rolled.

A player decides if they wish to swap any of their cards (up to four can be swapped on one turn)

Phase 2

A player can move any or all of their units as per the Range statistic of each.

Phase 3

A player can use Spirit Energy to summon new creatures (if they have the correct buildings and enough Spirit Energy)

Phase 4

A player can cast spells from any or all of their units. Players use Spirit Energy to cast spells, while creations use their own Magicka score. A character's Wit (or any other skill) can be damaged over time until it reaches zero and the creature dies. Dragon Spells can be cast by anyone powerful enough to use them.

Phase 5

A player can attack any or all enemies using their units in melee combat. Units can move to do this based on their Range

Phase 6

Turn ends.

Players' used cards are all replenished from the creature and spell decks (which are endless and simply random) and Phase 1 starts again, only this time a player's Spirit Energy has increased by 1 point.

If a player draws a Dragon card it is placed in the Dragon Slot, and if they possess a Dragon in the world, they also have a chance of drawing Dragon Spells amongst their usual selection.

Creations standing in regions owned by them will receive +1 Wit, regardless of what their maximum is. Player characters do not receive this benefit.

For each building/region owned by a player, their maximum Spirit Energy will also increase by 0.5 per turn, so conquering new regions should always be a priority for players. Ten buildings would give a player a new maximum of 25 Spirit Energy. When combined with spells and tokens which allow a character to draw extra cards during play phases, extra Spirit Energy can come in very handy since both summoning characters and (the player character) casting spells requires it.

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Regions and Buildings

Each region of the map contains one of the four buildings. Owning a building is as simple as being the only character in the region. When this is true, the region remains yours until an enemy vanquishes all defenders and thus becomes the sole occupier of that region. Buildings cannot be destroyed or interacted with in any way (yet) and are simple indications of which regions offer which sort of creatures.

Tokens and Forging

Tokens are talismans which can boost a creation's stats by a given amount permanently, or offer protection against various attacks and spells. Regular creatures can have one token, player characters can have three tokens, and Dragons can have up to two (Dragons have a third, default token each which makes them immune to spells of their own

element).

When a creation is killed, the killer randomly receives an item. If the winner's Dex is high, they stand more chance of finding forging artifacts, if their Magicka is high they stand better chance of finding rare spell cards, and if their Range is high they have more chance of finding creature cards. If the creature's Wit is high they stand more chance of finding regular spells of their own element.

To forge tokens, two or three items are combined together to produce a final effect (like alchemy in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim). On each game, the ingredients required to forge particular tokens will be randomized, though the ingredients will be listed in each case so a player knows what they must find.

Tokens in a player's inventory can be applied as simply as looking in the list of tokens and selecting one. Tokens cannot be removed, though they can be replaced, so choose wisely.