On 6/8/2018 at 11:43 AM, Rakaydos said:I never did get feedback about the "first place moves first, pilot skill is driver weight" variant. (it's still on this page, even!) It's a rule borrowed from racing games like Formula D to reduce car interference, combined with an aspect of mario kart that hasnt been touched on yet, shoving smaller kerts out of your way with sheer mass.
Before I knew about this variant of Mario Kart, I'd made my own version called X-Wing Derby and prototyped it on a 3'x3' mat. My version messed with the core mechanics a lot more, e.g.:
- I amplified damage a lot (all damage cards are faceup, and crits deal 2 damage)
- Obstacles very dense and damaging; you had a high chance of damage if you hit them, and a crit was serious
- Green maneuvers would repair a damage card or regen a shield, in addition to reducing stress
One of the main mechanics was that Pilot Skill = Weight, and ramming or being rammed by someone below your pilot skill would let you tractor them (1-speed straight or bank maneuver; roll left/right or boost forward/backward). IMO I like the rule, but I need a lot more playtesting than I got.
Another rule I had was obstacles were placed one player at a time around the course (had to be at least a 2-straight maneuver away from each other) until they were all on the board, and I had a lot of them. I feel I need to streamline this, or bake their positions into the course (I like the idea of playing on cardboard that can be drawn on with marker, then folded up when done).
My powerup table was junk and needs a total redo. But I did want to adjust your roll based on your ranking so you'd get better items while behind.
I'd like to see a red shell or blue shell style of powerup that places a token on the table. The owner of the token moves that token every system phase by choosing & executing any maneuver in the game, then doing a SLAM -- so the shell can move very fast and make tight turns etc. Any opponent touched by the token or its movement templates is damaged and ionized. Blue detonates in a radius 1 when it reaches the front player. Red only lasts for one touch, blue lasts until it reaches the farthest player ahead (and then must explode that turn). Red shell is destroyed if it overlaps an obstacle or wall, while blue is only destroyed by walls.
I also liked the idea above where kill damage wouldn't back you up to a checkpoint, but would instead hold you stationary for a turn while your ship repaired. I also think some damage could launch you sideways ala tractor beam, but that would need testing; maybe best to just save that for tractor beams, to incentivise those weapons.
I haven't read the whole thread, but I like the idea of walls stopping you if you bump, but then you can ionize your ship to rotate 180 or 90 degrees, so you're never completely stuck. I think that builds off of an idea someone posted earlier in the thread.
My heart is drawn to allowing point-buy, but I suspect pre-built characters that are balanced against each other is the way to go (basically Mario Kart quickbuilds).
I hope to play the real mariokart version at some point, but I'd have to get a group at one of my game stores interested and then get components built. Might like it more than mine, or maybe it'll help me work out what I want to do with my version.
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