Greetings, fellow travellers, greetings!

Heh - I see that my appearence surprises you! My clothes seem rare? My accent strange? Well, travellers - I'm on a short stop in this tavern, yet seeing people of such... manner as you, I happily joined your company! Now, there was a thing I wanted to say... what was that... Ah! Beer! You - young lady, beer for us all!

Now that we know each other a little better, let me start by saying that in my homeland we are used to say: "Don't hang the messenger!" Well, such a message I carry. But this is somewhat a secret, or myth.

I have thought that maybe Fantasy Flight Games is working on a Diablo boardgame. Why do I think that, my fellows? Becouse it seems obvious - there is a Starcraft game, there is a Warcraft game (even three), so a Diablo game seems obvious. Will anyone in FFG address this hypothesis? Am I right, wrong?

What would the game be about? A Descent/Doom spin - off? A strategy? (I would welcome that!) An adventure game?

Tell us something!

Well, my friends - it seems that the men after me are getting close. I need to depart - it's not safe here any longer. I bid you good luck, and may the High Heavens shine upon you!

Such talk might get you into trouble in these parts my friend! But what's the rush, stay a while and listen! Fancy another round? Thought so. The mountain pass outside is hideous for this time of the year, make use of the fireplace ...

You, my friend, speak as if I was listening the very sound of my own thoughts. Funny, it's as if you actually knew what I was thinking ... Don't worry, this trusty old blade is at rest tonight. I don't give in easily to random gossip and old tales. Especially because I feel the two of us are not alone in such thoughts. Wait a bit and I bet there will be another one coming closer to share their dreams as well ...

Boardgame seems like an obvious choice, though I can't help myself but recall the fabled LCG coming this summer. Timing is right, more of Diablo 3 is said to be revealed on this year's Blizzcon. I'm thinking along the lines of Tomb Raider CCG or other card games, where cards actually represented places or sections of "dungeons", besides the obvious creatures, characters and gear. "Chapter packs" would then be new dungeons or places. Options for solo play, coop and head-to-head.

It would probably be cool if each "Chapter" pack came with a different plastic mini (...er, playing piece) of either a monster or a hero.

Can you hear it?... Listen... but... no - just listen...

Ahh! The raiders passed! Probably just a small scout band from that castle I passed some time ago... or a banner of some knight or Lady? Whatever it was - it's gone now.

Heh - thank you for the pint! You have some great beer over here! Ha - I like it, and I do know something about beer friends - where I come from, everyone knows a lot about it, and when I say this one is good - you may be sure it's worth drinking... But you don't want to listen about beer, do you?... No - I know what you want to hear...

To be honest I never thought of an LCG, but the idea sounds great. However, I do think that this new LCG will be something connected with Warhammer. Let's hope for the best. I did a lot of thinking on my way here, and thought about a concept for a strategic boardgame of Diablo. It would be set during the Mage Clan Wars. Every player would lead his own Mage Clan to overwhelm the other ones. I don't really know the history of the Mage Clan Wars - the Diablo novels are not published in Poland unfortunately, and when I was in Holland I never found any of them. So correct me if I'm wrong or my knoledge of the subject is weak.

About the game. The board would be the map of Sanctuary, all the continents could be devided into provinces, which one should control. There would be some provinces of lesser meaning (Bramwell, Swamp Land), others would be of greater meaning and give "Victory Points" (Caldeum, Tristram, Lut Gholein, Harrogath) and the last type would be the ones, that give a very special, Diablo type, bonus. Let me explain. In this game, there would be certain types of Troops you can command - Infantry, Knights, Ships ang Mages. These would be depicted in figures or something like that. However, when your Troops or your Mage would take control over a certain province, you would be able to join a Character to your army. These Characters would be the ones we know from Diablo II and III (why not Diablo I? Becouse the Characters there, were not as characteristic and special, as the ones in the later games). They would not only help you in battle, but also give a very unique bonus. For example - when one takes control of Kurast, he/she gain control over the Paladin. Arreat Summit would give a Barbarian, Skovos Isles - the Amazon, Torajan Jungle - a Witch Doctor and so on. The Characters would give bonuses and special traits, that could help you win when used with thought. The Barbarian would give great bonuses in battle. The Paladin, would also give a battle bonus in, but not as big as the Barbarian, however - he would be able to protect and heal your Troops. The Witch Doctor could spread a horrible plague over a province, and heal your "plagued" provinces. The Wizard would work as a bonus Mage (about the important role of the Mage Troop, I will talk about in a few moments). The Necromancer would revive dead Troops after a lost battle, or revive the nemies Troops and add them to your side after you win a battle. And so on... However - one would not be able to control more then two Characters at a time. The game needs balance, and one who would be able to control some special provinces, by just being lucky - could become too powerful.

But you may ask - it's Diablo, so where are the High Heavens and the Burning Hells? They should play a big part in all this! Well... they do.

Whenever you use a spell, and you should use them as much as you can, you will gain some points depending on the spell type. Some spells give you Hell Points (HL) while others give you Heaven Points (HN). What's the difference? They are vast! When using a Heaven spell when your Mage is on a typically cursed province (Dread land) you may not only loose the spell but let demons into your world and control the province. But let's say that you use a spell on neutral ground. Well - you will gain some HN Points for it, which allow you to use more Heavenly powers. But - when you gain too much of these points one of the sides of the Demonic - Angelic conflict will have too much power and gain control over our world. This means that every player (EVERY PLAYER!) loses the game. It does not make a difference whether you use more "Hell" or "Heaven" - it's all about balance - too little balance and all is lost. Game over. However - the other players MAY use their points to lower the points of the enemy! This not only declines the ability to play certain spells by the enemy, but also can save the world from being lost for ever! Think of all the diplomacy, the interaction between players, plotting to stop one of them, an insane leader, who would rather let the whole world burn, than let anyone else win the game! Of course - the HN and HL Points would have some other use as well, but that's too much ground to cover right now. As for the other issues...

The Mages:

The Mages would be few, but powerful. They would be present on the board as any other Troop type, but would be the only ones to cast spells. When you lose all your Mages, you lose the game. And there would only be few (four maybe?), and unlike the other Troop types - could not be recruited back, or revived by the Necromancer. So one would have to keep an eye on a Mage. Especially if the enemy has just got control of an Assassin Character!

Dungeons:

The Dungeons would be randomly discarded on the Board at the beginning of the game. A leader may want to send Troops to explore a dungeon. This would work similar to the Expedition in Warrior Knights - when you send Troops to a Dungeon, you may gain many, many bonuses (money, "Victory Points", spells, HN or HL Points, and so on), but you may also loose ALL Troops that you have sent, and gain absolutely nothing. You may, hoewever increase your chances. How? Just send a Character with your Troops to a Dungeon, and the chance that you will gain the bonus is much, much bigger!

The Prime Evils:

I rest my case over here. I'm not yet sure how to use Diablo, Mephisto, Andariel and other Prime Evils in this game. I am thinking about making them a sort of a Conan for this game - when set loose (from a Dungeon that you found interesting to explore, for example), they would rome the land and start chaos at every step, until they are banished (another chance for diplomatic interaction between players - worst enemies would join forces, just to banish a Demon from the land, becouse this demon could bring doom to all). But this idea is still to be worked on.

So - that's how I see it. Hope you like the idea! Maybe someone from the creators in FFG is reading this, and will use the ideas in some game, not exactly Diablo - I would be honored! That's the Diablo game of my dreams. The question that remains is: what is yours?