Decoys

[Drewcifer]

Hey guys, I'm developing a two player stealth strategy board game called Decoys and I'm looking for people to playtest it for me. I need to make sure people can actually understand my rules and play through a game without me there to answer questions!

 

It's all about perception and deception, hiding in plain sight. Each player has three game pieces. At the beginning of the game, they secretly choose one of the pieces to be the Spy, the other two are Decoys. To win, players use the Spy to capture objective points on the board before moving it to the Exit, or they can use their Spy to attack the piece they think is their opponent's Spy.

 

The purpose of the Decoy pieces, since they cannot complete any game-winning objectives, is to trick their opponent into thinking they are the Spy so that the real one does not get attacked. It's like Chris Hecker's Spy Party, but both players are hunter/hunted at the same time, and instead of hiding in a crowd of NPCs, the crowd is made up of players' game pieces.

 

If anyone is interested, what follows is the core rule set of Decoys. There exists another version with a couple extra mechanics, but I want to make sure the core of it works and can be played. If anyone has the time, I would greatly appreciate some feedback! It only takes about 20 minutes to play, and you'd be helping me out quite a bit! Thanks!

 

What you need: A pen, some paper, 6 unique game pieces, and a friend.

 

The Board: Here is an example of a Decoys board -

The red dots are Player 1's starting squares.

The blue dots are Player 2's starting squares.

The yellow dot is the Exit.

The green numbers are Objective Points (OPs). The numbers themselves are Objective Numbers (ONs). Notice there are three OPs for every ON.

 

Setting Up: Start by drawing the grid board as shown (I recommend 1"x1" squares), including all the numbers. You may want to mark the starting squares and the Exit, but it's not required.

 

Then, each player secretly chooses one of their 3 game pieces to be their Spy, as well as a set of OPs to capture by picking an ON (1, 2, or 3). Record these choices on a piece of paper, for honesty's sake. (For example; a player has a red piece, a blue piece, and a green piece. He chooses the red piece to be the Spy, and decides to go for the 1s. He writes "Red" and "1" on a scrap of paper without his opponent seeing.) The two pieces not chosen to be the Spy are called Decoys.

 

To determine who goes first, play a best 2 out of 3 game of Rock Paper Scissors, it gets you in the right mindset.

 

Objectives: Use your Spy to capture all three of your OPs (determined by your ON) and reach the Exit, or Attack your opponent's Spy. Decoys cannot capture objectives or Attack.

 

Turns: You start every turn with 3 Movement Points (MPs) to spend on moving all three of your pieces. It costs 1 MP to move any piece 1 square in any direction, but not diagonally. You do not have to spend all 3 MPs on your turn, but you always start with exactly 3.Your turn is over when you declare it is, and any number of pieces can occupy the same square. (For example; you can move one piece 3 squares, or one piece 2 squares and another piece 1 square, or move all three of your pieces 1 square each, etc.)

 

Capturing Objective Points: To capture an OP, simply move your Spy into a square marked with your chosen ON and leave it there for the duration of your opponent's turn. There is no special action required, as it is meant to be as subtle as possible. The number stays on the board, as players may choose the same ON and will have to capture the same OPs to win.

Only the Spy can capture an OP, and only if it matches the player's ON. A Decoy can be left on an OP during the opponent's turn but will not capture it.

 

Reaching the Exit: If you have captured all three of your designated OPs with your Spy, you can win the game by moving your Spy into the Exit square. As soon as the Spy enters the Exit square with three captured OPs, the game is over and you win.

Decoys cannot enter the Exit square.

 

Attacking: If you think you know which of your opponent's pieces is the Spy, you can move your Spy into a square adjacent to the piece in question and declare an Attack against it. To do this, reveal to your opponent which piece is your Spy and point out which piece you are attacking. Your opponent then reveals whether or not the piece you attacked is the Spy. If it is, then the game ends and you win. If it isn't, the piece is removed from the board, your turn ends, and the game continues on.

Decoys cannot attack.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Just for clarity's sake, when you say any number of pieces can occupy the same square, does that include pieces from both players? So each player could have all 6 pieces stacked on top of each other?

[Drewcifer]

Right, all 6 game pieces can be in the same square.