Cataclysm - The Game
Cataclysm is a four-player game in which three player-controlled Heroes take on a single powerful player-controlled Villain. The Heroes and the Villain take turns moving around a grid using customizable combinations of equipped abilities to defeat their respective adversary. The game ends when one of the two parties defeats the other.
The Story
In the beginning of Time, the deities Oros and Adanai created the World. Oros made the skies his dominion while Adanai cared for the earth below, and together they crafted many plants and creatures and breathed life into them. After entire millennia of their benevolent rule, they together had three children: Fosfor, Baruka, and Zaphis. They promised their children that one day the World would be theirs to rule and care for.
However, as their children grew older, Oros and Adanai noticed their unruliness and rashness and pride, and decided the time had not yet come for them to inherit the World. Over time, the young gods grew impatient, until one day they rebelled against their parents and swore to take control of the World if it would not be given to them. They then wrought havoc upon the World and became known as the three Disasters.
The Cataclysm is the site of this cosmic rebellion, a land warped and seething with unfathomable power. Many sentient beings of the World remained loyal and true to the old gods. However, many others, out of despair or of awe or of a thirst for power, turned their allegiance to the new gods. And some, from both camps, come to the Cataclysm to either attain the strength to defeat their foes, or to prevent such power from falling into the wrong hands.
THE CARDS
Cards are how players interact with the board and each other.
THE CARDS - CHARACTERS
Character cards represent the Heroes and the Villain controlled by the players. They start at level zero and finish developing by level ten, leveling up after every rotation of turns. These characters are unique with their own stories and personalities, but they all share the same three proficiencies:
FORCE: close-combat prowess CLARITY: ranged ability ARCANA: magic mastery
Certain abilities grow stronger with certain proficiencies. All Heroes begin LV 0 with their own proficiency values that total up to 7 proficiency points (PP). Heroes gain 2 PP per level, with a total of 20 PP to distribute by LV 10. The maximum for each proficiency is set to 20 PP, so this allows for one proficiency to be maxed out with some extra points to put into other proficiencies.
Villains, however, start with 10 PP pre-distributed across their proficiencies at LV 0, and gain 3 PP per level for 30 PP to spend by LV 10. The maximum for any proficiency is still 20 PP.
Each character also has a certain amount of health (HP). When a character’s HP reaches zero, they are defeated. Characters also have health recovery (HP+), which is health they gain back at the start of their turn.
Not only do characters have these stats, each character card features a unique Special and two Talents. The Special is a “passive effect” that costs nothing and always affects the character. The two Talents are low-cost active effects unique to that character.
THE CARDS - ABILTIES
Every player has a “loadout” with four slots to add powerful and interesting ability cards to augment their character. They have many different descriptions and effects, but they share three common attributes:
POWER: the strength of the ability REACH: the range of the ability’s effect WILL: the cost of using this ability in a turn
Ability cards typically scale up in strength with one or more of the three proficiencies. Some ability cards also feature an effect that triggers upon activation. Some ability cards can even be activated on another player’s turn.
THE CARDS - LOADOUT
Ability cards in the player’s Library (their collection of ability cards) can only be utilized if they are in the player’s loadout. There are four slots available to the players.
Heroes start LV 0 with only one slot unlocked. They unlock a new loadout every two levels, unlocking all of their loadouts by LV 6. Every two levels, the player can also swap out one ability card in the loadout for another, but once they reach LV 10 then everything is locked in permanently.
Villains start with all four of their loadout slots unlocked. But they cannot swap out cards -- whatever is in, stays in.
THE TURN PHASE
At LV 0, the Heroes make the first move. The three players roll dice to decide the order of play, then the Villain makes the final turn in the rotation. Each turn features different phases:
Lock-In: The player selects which ability card they will add to their loadout. Pray: The player rolls dice to determine how much Will they have available to spend that turn. Heroes roll two dice, Villains roll three. Action: The player takes action, spending will to navigate the board and use abilities. Players can only move once, before or after using an ability. Each ability also can only be used once per turn. End: The turn is only over when the player declares the turn is over.
THE BOARD
A 15x15 grid with variable terrain. Elevated “hill” tiles are difficult to walk through, but offer certain advantages. Black “chasm” tiles are impossible to walk through. Heroes begin their journey on one corner of the grid while the Villain patiently waits in the opposite corner.
THE BOARD - MOVEMENT
There are four levels of terrain: ground (0), hill (1), mountain (2), and peak (3). To move from one space to another costs one Will. Moving up elevated terrain demands more Will, one extra point for the difference between the levels. So moving from ground to hill costs 1 (base movement requirement) + 1 (difference between levels of terrain) = 2 Will. Moving from ground to mountain costs 1 + 2 = 3 Will. And making the jump from ground to peak costs 4 Will. The same applies when moving down terrain as well.
THE BOARD - ADVANTAGE
Players on higher terrain have an advantage over players on lower terrain. The player on top has unaffected Reach, but players below them require extra Reach depending on the difference between the levels of terrain. A player on the ground needs at least 4 Reach to affect an adjacent player on a peak: 1 (Reach required to affect an adjacent tile) + 3 (difference between levels of terrain).
THE BOARD - LINE OF SIGHT
Players can only affect what they can see, and sight is affected by terrain and even other players. A player should draw a straight line from the center of their space directly to the space they are trying to affect. If there is any terrain obstructing that line, then the player cannot see beyond that point.
IDEAS
Since this is a board game being adapted into a computer game, there are some fancier mechanics that can potentially be explored and made possible by the computer.
IDEAS - MICRO PROFICIENCIES
Perhaps the three main proficiencies (Force, Clarity, Arcana) can do more than just enhance certain cards. Maybe they should enhance the characters themselves as well. Imagine if each proficiency was associated with three “micro proficiencies.” Now, the player’s total proficiency points/ PP are divided between the three main proficiencies. And the total PP one proficiency has can be distributed among its three micro proficiencies.
FORCE → VITALITY, STAMINA, MASTERY CLARITY → ACCURACY, AGILITY, CRITICAL ARCANA → WILLPOWER, WISDOM, INTELLIGENCE
VITALITY increases the character’s total health. STAMINA increases the character’s health recovery. MASTERY increases critical strike damage.
ACCURACY increases damage a character deals with ranged strikes. AGILITY increases how much further a character can move. CRITICAL increases the chance of landing a critical strike.
WILLPOWER decreases the cost of activating abilities. WISDOM decreases the damage a character takes from ability effects. INTELLIGENCE increases the strength of all ability effects.
These micro proficiencies each also have a 20 PP cap. A player can either invest everything they have into one micro proficiency in each tree, or they can spread it out.
HEROES
Davin, the Impossible Boy “You know -- where I come from, there are no gods.”
A mage from a future where magic is all but forgotten, practiced only by rare secret lineages. Talented but overconfident, Davin travels back in time to witness the peak of sorcery. With his baseball cap and magic duffel bag, he kind of stands out.
Neomystic: if Davin’s total roll is less than or equal to 6, he can add 1 Will to that total. Echo: Davin may spend 1 Will to apply the base damage of his most recent ability cast this turn to the total damage of the next ability cast on the same turn. Backpedal: [REACT] Davin may spend 2 Will to blink back to the space he occupied in the previous rotation.