Characters
GENCON
It’s been a crazy couple weeks. This past weekend, we were in Indiana for GEN CON. It was an amazing trip. I made note of some very cool booth setups. Chip Theory Games and Kingdom Death Monster were my two favorites.
I also picked up several games including signed copies of Wingspan and Everdell collector’s edition and expansion. There were some very nice discounts on a lot of stuff, way better than PAX Unplugged in Philly. Not that I didn’t love PAX Unplugged, but there weren’t any discounts there. When this game is ready for sale, I’ll be certain to sign copies at every GEN CON.
While on the trip, I only had limited time to work on the game mechanics, but I’m getting close to having a version of mechanics good enough to start game testing. I’ve also begun working on making characters. I hope to make a game that has some truly unique characters, so I’ve been making a list of characters beyond the typical archetypes, although I’ll also have those classics too.
Character Design
My character artist is almost done with the first character and it’s turning out awesome. I shared a picture of the sketch as part of this post. (Check out more of Henry’s work here: @henryl_sketchbook) With many more characters to go, I wanted to share character ideas, mostly focused on playable characters but could also include bosses. Let me know what you think and share some of your own favorite playable characters!
Giant Beast
Very un-intelligent, brute force with very high physical strength focused on offense. Could run out of energy quickly.
Psychic
A psychic character, possibly an elder character, very weak physically but with extreme mental capacity. Capable of nearly any magical attack and often uses mind games with simple-minded creatures.
Twins
Twin characters that always appear together and cannot be distinguished. Players playing these characters can perform actions with either of the two twin miniatures.
Mirror
Difficult to find and catch, this character uses mirrors in battle that can be angled to redirect certain attacks to hit others. Mirrors could also be used to confuse simple-minded creatures to think they are looking at another of their own kind. Could also be used to see around corners.
Beyond The Game
A character in the game that can see the “bigger picture” that they are in a game, thus allowing them to manipulate the game play itself such as other characters player mats and game rules.
Beast Master
While this is somewhat more common, I’ve always loved characters that can control other creatures such as trained animals or robots.
Energy Absorption
This character gains their power and energy from other players. This would be very weak 1 on 1 against players with low energy, but could draw lots of energy from large groups. Maybe every stamina token used against this character gives them additional stamina to use back.
Builder
A character that can build and manipulate the board by creating physical objects or modifying terrain either through mental or physical abilities.
Gardener
A variant of the builder that can control plant life to grow and create obstacles or control some plants to act like helpers / pets that can attack on their behalf or cause other effects like poison.
Insects
Couldn’t help to draw influence from Naruto, but would wouldn’t want to have a character that can control insects that share a symbiotic relationship with their own body. Very creepy and very cool.
Wind
There are a number of ways this could be done, but think of a character that uses wind to control other objects and the environment. You could go the route of Storm on X-Men and control weather, they could use some magical power to influence energy to create wind, or you could give them an object like fans or wings that create wind currents.
Stinky
I’ve always wanted a character whose stench was his/her weapon. So disgusting that others can’t stand to be around them, possibly poisonous, but it also distracts and in some cases stuns the enemy from the smell being so overpowering.
Possessed
This could go a number of ways, but characters that are possessed by either very powerful creatures, or just creatures with abilities different than their own. This gives you a character with potentially two abilities in one. Of course giving in to their possessed spirit inside of them would have to come at a cost, such as not being able to discern friend from foe.
A few other quick ones you can interpret on your own
- Cannibal
- DigDug
- Puppet Master
- Trapper
- Portal / Teleported
- Self Destruct
- Musician
- Dancer
There are a ton of unique characters in tabletop games, video games, and movies to draw inspiration for, almost too many at times. I certainly don’t want to ignore the classics, but I really appreciate some of these cool twists. What are some of your favorites?