Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dagda Mor 04-20-04, 09:59 AM	They have RISK set in the LOTR universe and several other variants, and it seemed to me that it'd be really fun to play a version set in Faerun. So I made one. I don't have any way to scan the board in and show it, but here are the basics: I divided the continent into 6 regions, the equivalent of continents. Concerned that the way the regions were far more interconnected than the continents of RISK would make it nearly impossible to hold on to a whole region, I included a new mechanic: Capitols. If you control the capitol to a region, you may replace one of your d6s with a d8 whenever a combat is taking place in one of those regions. No capitol is right next to any other region. You can't pick a capitol as a starting territory until all the other regions are taken, and no-one can have more capitols than another. (the spares are under the control of a neutral cavalry) I've played it a few times. The Capitol Mechanic had the interesting effect of making it so everyone tends to have their forces in one large block by turn four or so, with the stragglers being eliminated by turn 6. Also, I found that when you know about the background significance when your forces in the Hordelands bear down on Rashemen, it's just plain fun. I'll post more later, but the reason I'm doing this is to get feedback and suggestions. So tell me what you think!
Dagda Mor 04-20-04, 08:49 PM	No responses yet? :( Oh well. Here's some more in-depth info on the regions: Western Heartlands: 12 nations, 9 bonus armies. Icewind Dale, The Silver Marches, Waterdeep (Capitol), The High Forest, The Sword Coast, The Heartlands, Amn, Aunoroch, Cormyr, Sembia, The Dalelands, Moonsea. Unapproachable East: 9 nations, 6 bonus armies. Damara, Archendale, Impiltur, Algarond, Rashemen, Thay (Capitol), The Hordelands, Mulhorand, Unther. Island Kingdoms: 4 nations, 2 bonus armies. Evermeet (Capitol), The Moonshaes, Nelanther Isles, Lantan. Golden Lands: 4 nations, 2 bonus armies The Dragon Coast, The Shining Plains, Vilhon Reach (Capitol), Chelimber. Serpent Coasts: 5 nations, 3 bonus armies. Tethyr, Calimshan (Capitol), The Lake of Steam, Chult, Everska. Vast: 6 nations, 4 bonus armies. Western Shaar, Eastern Shaar, The Great Rift (Capitol), Thesk, Chondalwood, Lurien. I'm considering adding an Underdark segment to connect the far corners of the map. The Capitol would be Menzoberranzan; it would link to several Underdark Regions, which would have access to the Hordelands, Chult, The Dalelands and possibly the Great Rift, although the last nation would force me to revise the Vast and move the capitol elsewhere. I'm also debating wether or not to have the Underdark region be completely controlled by neutral armies at the start. Also, the Vilhon Reach can be accessed by the Lake of Steam, so I may have to revise the map there; a more defended capitol would make the central area of the Golden Lands not be overrun as often.
AvengedMutablegenus 04-20-04, 08:55 PM	Wizards as we all learned aren't very open to new ideas (See Globe of Toril Thread) **Shakes fists angerly at Wizards!**
Dagda Mor 04-20-04, 09:57 PM	yeah, if I expected Wizards to be open to this sort of thing I would have written them a letter instead. Does anyone have any other ideas for variants this game could use? Does this just seem like a dumb idea? Please, tell me what you think.
Autosponge 04-20-04, 10:25 PM	I would do this... Remember Dragon Chess from DR100? Well, it rocked--but anyway. Same idea. There are three levels (you may have to do this with three different boards IRL, but on a computer it will probably work well without a lot of hassle). Middle level is the ground. Lower level is Underdark. Upper level is for floating cities (like that of the Shade city). You could do things like, if you control the whole shade city, you can move it on your turn from state to state (omg the carnage!). Underdark will be connected at various places to begin with, but if you control certain areas you can sacrifice a certain number of armies to make a one-time move to another state that you're not connected to but that is "above" one of your controlled areas. This would represent the Drow Invasion factor (love it). Other than that-- I wanna play :D
Metis 04-20-04, 10:52 PM	Hasbro owns RISK, Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast, Wizards of the Coast owns the Realms. I see it as quite possible... If only someone who can personally reach the ears of the Hasborgs could mention it to them.
Dagda Mor 04-20-04, 11:42 PM	Autosponge, you have some good ideas. If I did a more complex system like that, I'd probably prefer using a system similar to Risk 2020, where you earn points based off (I think) the number of countries you take; these could be spent on items like Flying cities, mythals (which increase defense), portals that can transport one or two armies a turn, and passages into the underdark. You could also include the cards, only you draw things like secret portals in enemy territory and the like. Also, the "generals" would be a cool way to include high-level characters like Drizzt and Elminster. For now, I personally am just trying to work out a basic version; something on that sort of scale would definitely be cool, but it would be nasty to balance (and I'd actually have to get Risk 2020). Keep those suggestions coming!
Dagda Mor 04-21-04, 01:54 PM	All right, here's what I've come up with using the Risk 2020 system: Point-Buy Items (point costs yet to be determined)- Portal: pick two nations you control. You treat those countries as being linked. If an enemy takes control of a nation with any number of portals in it he controls them. At the start of your turn, you may choose do deactivate or destroy a portal you control. A nation can have multiple portals, including multiple ones between the same nations. You can attack through portals, but you can only send one guy to another nation per turn per portal to that nation. Mythals: A nation with a mythal lets the defender replace a d6 with a d8 while fighting to defend that nation. A mythal functions only for your side and is inactive when an enemy occupies the nation. A nation can have only one mythal at a time. Flying Cities: Really expensive. I don't think there should be another bord to place flying cities on, but it should work the same way. Flying cities can move one nation at the beginning of your turn. Treat them as nations linked only to the country beneath them. Flying cities are also linked to flying cities in the same nation. I have to stop typing now, but I'll post more later.
Dagda Mor 04-22-04, 03:38 AM	Heroes: We're talking Drizzt, Elminister, all the greats. I don't have many ideas with these guys; maybe you get a random character and each has his/her own abilities. Should they be drawn along with other cards or bought? The Underdark could maybe have a few passages to the surface in places like Chult, the Great Rift and the Dalelands. Cards: One destroys enemy Mythals in areas you control. One has you pick a random nation from the cards. You have a secret portal from that location to another nation you control. You put the card face down and each turn may "move" one guy through it, to a max of 5. At the beginning of a turn, you may reveal that secret portal and put all the guys you had there. If it's an enemy nation, that army has to fight to the death.. One lets you send 5 troops from one area you control to another. One lets you link to a surface nation from the underdark for one turn. Take the nation and you can still transfer troops until the enemy takes either of the nations. Each region's nations can only be accessed by a certain underdark nation. These are all just my ideas. Please tell me what you think. I'll try and have a pic of the board up tomorrow; do you guys want me to help you make your own sets and start playing?
WizO_BigSister 04-22-04, 06:08 AM	I think the concept is great, but it has been so long since I played Risk I can't really comment on the suggested rules and nations etc .... we are talking decades :eek: I would be very interested to see your map, and the details of the rules, but dont want you to give anything awa unless you want to :) I'm sure I can twist Dox's arm enough to find some way of supporting/hosting a game if you'd like it :)
Zat 04-22-04, 04:31 PM	You are a genius. I want to play it sooooo very much now. If you need someone to help it through anything, I'll do it. YAHHHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zyme86 04-23-04, 01:33 AM	I would suggest to use elements of both. If you've ever seen the risk 2020 board, the continents are interconnected by sea collonies, not just the fords between continents like in regular risk. to include the underdark, you could incorperate the underdark as a seperate region, much like the moon in 2020, but have them connected between the nations.
Dagda Mor 04-23-04, 03:27 AM	Nice to see you finally joined, Zyme, although I'm not fully sure what exactly you mean. What I was thinking about was indeed having a seperate moon-like map for the Underdark, although in the basic version (the one without the point buy and the cards, that I've actually more or less finished on) it would only be about 5 nations. It would access all the far corners of the map and provide handy shortcuts, but I'm probably going to have all the outer nations start out with 3 neutral armies guarding them, as well as another 5 guarding the central capitol of Menzoberranzan. The advanced version would probably have a far larger Underdark, although if I'm going to design it I'll probably have to get the Underdark supplement. . . I have a couple good digital photos of the rough game board I drew; however, showing them to you all is proving difficult. However, the said board will have to be redesigned to avoid being upset by the Underdark access points. On that note, I have a question that some of you could probably help me with: what are the places that have fairly good access to the underdark? Good access means that it's often used; If I recall correctly, possible sites for this include Waterdeep, the Great Rift and the Dalelands.
Zat 04-23-04, 04:16 PM	Would you be making the army pieces themed like in LOTR Risk?
Dagda Mor 04-23-04, 08:13 PM	Making pieces? I'm not a game designer with access to resources, I'm a teen who had a fun idea and is trying to go ahead with it. Themed pieces sound quite cool, and if there's ever a real, official FR Risk I would probably like it to have them. . . But the version I'm making requires the map, a d8 and a Risk set. That's all.
Dagda Mor 04-24-04, 12:36 AM	Okay, I'm more or less finished with the basic version of the game, except for the chore of making a new map. I'll use the small underdark with 4 links to the surface. Each of the regular nations will have 3 neutral armies controlling it, while Menzoberranzan will have the standard five (It being the capitol and all). I don't want the players controlling the Underdark right off, but I was wondering if I should make it so Menzoberranzan is choosable as a capitol? You'd be surrounded by neutral armies, and it would be kinda risky, but it could be worth it. . . As always, tell me what you think (Please, any feedback on the suggested mechanics would be greatly appreciated). As for the pics of the map: WizO_bigsister tells me that I have to get them optimized first, and then hosted somewhere. I have no idea how to do that sort of thing, and I'm asking if it'd be okay to post the pics in the creative forums. I still want to get them up, although I got about 20% of the names wrong (I was staying at a beach house when I made the large version and was doing it from memory).
Dagda Mor 05-07-04, 09:23 PM	http://myth-drannor.net/hosted/Map1-small.jpg This is my rough draft; I'll have the errata & instructions up soon! Edit: Hosting was lost. Head on over to page 2 for the images.
Dagda Mor 05-07-04, 09:59 PM	Things to change for the final version of the map: Rename the nations as follows: Lurien to The Golden Waters, Chondalwood to Lurien, Thesk to Halruaa, Evereska to Tashalar, Icewind Dale to The North, Archendale to Impiltur, Impiltur to Narfell and Chelimber to Chessenta. Put a "The" before the Nelanther Isles, Western Shaar, Eastern Shaar, and Moonsea. Between Narfell and Algarond, insert a new country called the Great Dale that touches Impiltur, Rashemen and Thay. In terms of drawing, make The Great Rift a little larger. Shrink Waterdeep and The High Forest to make more room for The North and The Silver Marches. Make it easier to see that The Nelanther Isles and The Moonshaes are separate. There is a new region: The Underdark. It's on a separate board. The capitol is The Darklands. Each region is linked to the capitol and a surface region, as follows: The Northdark-The Silver Marches The Serpent Deeps-Chult The Earthroot-The Hordelands Great Bhaerynden-Lurien Since you can't see the region key, I'll just tell you the revised version: Green: The Western Heartlands. 9 bonus armies. Red: The Unapproachable East. 6 bonus armies. Dark Blue: The Golden Lands. 3 bonus armies. Brown: The Shining South. 4 bonus armies. Light Blue: The Island Kingdoms. 2 bonus armies. Yellow: The Serpent Coasts. 3 bonus armies. Dark Purple: The Underdark. 2 bonus armies.
Dagda Mor 05-07-04, 10:40 PM	Capitols Each region has a capitol that grants bonuses to any combat that takes place in them. Whenever a combat occurs, if either person controls the capitol nation of the region the combat takes place in, they may replace one of the d6s they roll with a d8. Deployment None of the Underdark save it's capitol can be claimed. Capitols cannot be claimed until all other available nations are taken. No player may have more capitols than any other. When deployment is finished, a neutral army takes control of all other regions. It places five units in each capitol and three in each Underdark region.
RoastSlinky 05-09-04, 01:28 AM	Nice... very nice. Did you think of adding Commanders (or Heroes) like in Risk 2120?
Dagda Mor 05-09-04, 12:11 PM	We've talked about it above; my comment on that sort of thing is that it sounds great, but I wouldn't be doing it on my own. Probably.
Zat 05-10-04, 12:02 PM	Kudos dude, kudos. It looks like this will actually turn out. Mad props.
Dagda Mor 05-23-04, 05:31 PM	Just a quick update. School's out for me in two weeks, and I'll start working on the final map then. It'll be drawn so that you can print it out in three pages; two halves of the map and the underdark. I'm thinking of drawing it with colored pencils and inking with felt-tip pens. Any comments?
Zat 05-24-04, 11:17 AM	Sounds good. What were you thinking about for pieces? Just standard stuff, or mabey some cool looking ones? Just curious.
Zanan 05-24-04, 11:45 AM	Actually, I have no idea what RISK / Risk is, but ... the capital of the Underdark is hardly one drow city of just one race and it is most certainly not Menzo. For the City of Spiders lies far to the North west of mainland Faerūn and thus, if you want a linked city you'll have to go for the likes of Guallidurth,Sschindylryn or Undrek'Thoz. And that is, of course, only for the drow. You won't get the illithids, dueragr and beholder work for them or under their banner.
Dawnspeaker 05-24-04, 02:37 PM	I love this idea. If you have a Digital Camera you should take some pictures and put them up to show everyone. On a side idea a FR version of Axis and Allies could be pretty fun as well.
Dagda Mor 05-24-04, 07:25 PM	Hoo boy. Okay, several of these questions can be answered if you look above. I did take digital pictures of the rough draft; they're linked to above. Risk 2020 has been discussed above, with several ideas. Menzoberranzan is not the capitol in the revised version; I got my hands on the Underdark Supplement and wrote some real nations such as the Northdark. And Zat, I think I answered your question above. Remember, I'm not a game designer, just someone with as many resources as the rest of you. Now on to the other questions: Dawnspeaker, I agree with you about there being an Axis and Allies. I've actually toyed around with the idea before, but I would need to get my hands on the game and study the rules. I would probably set it in the Unapproachable East. And Zanan, I'm afraid RISK is too broad a board game to go into that sort of detail. My only attempt to show the hostility of the underdark was making it neutral-controlled, and I'm happy with that. (Slight pause). Although, an Axis & Allies Underdark would be pretty awesome. . .
Dagda Mor 11-21-04, 11:56 PM	First off, I apologise for performing thread necromancy with this post, but I felt I ought to say something to those who were looking forward to this. Basically, I did almost nothing in terms of game design (or activity on forums) over the summer. I've finally started becoming active again, and will probably finish work on the map over winter break, as I did with the rough version. So expect to see the Final version about a year after you saw the rough version, assuming I can find hosting.
Quenditar 02-09-05, 11:44 PM	*casts Speak with Dead on thread* The link to the map isn't working.
Dagda Mor 02-10-05, 12:46 AM	Damn, I need to get back to work on this thing. Hell, I need to start working my projects in general. FYI, this is how you get me to do more work on something: Just poke me. Hmmm, hosting does indeed seem to be down. I don't think I have the images myself anymore; if I can't find them, I'll take some new pictures. I know how to host images now, so I can handle that. . .
bobsan 02-25-05, 03:14 PM	Damn, I need to get back to work on this thing. Hell, I need to start working my projects in general. FYI, this is how you get me to do more work on something: Just poke me. Hmmm, hosting does indeed seem to be down. I don't think I have the images myself anymore; if I can't find them, I'll take some new pictures. I know how to host images now, so I can handle that. . . *Poke*
Zyme86 02-28-05, 09:49 PM	Br, I mean Dagda Mor, I know you spend all you group's time on these boards, so please spend some of that excess time propelling you group and you projects foward.
Nyat 02-28-05, 10:07 PM	Br, I mean Dagda Mor, I know you spend all you group's time on these boards, so please spend some of that excess time propelling you group and you projects foward. *poke* try using the word "your" ;)
Dagda Mor 03-01-05, 12:25 AM	I apologize for the random antics of my friends. . . :P Unfortunately, my rough map has been used as a sketching board; you'll see some markings where I want to revise the boundaries, include new countries, etc. Full Map (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/Dagda_Mor/P1010102.jpg) East Half (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/Dagda_Mor/P1010105.jpg) West Half (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/Dagda_Mor/P1010107.jpg) Underdark Basic (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/Dagda_Mor/P1010116.jpg)
Dagda Mor 03-01-05, 12:48 AM	Ok, for those of you who are dying to make your own board and want to use the more balanced final version, here's what I recommend: Print out the two halves and the Underdark on sheets of paper. These will be the three boards you use. I advise you trace the borders onto new sheets of paper and follow the revised directions below. Rename the nations as follows: Lurien to The Golden Waters, Chondalwood to Lurien, Thesk to Halruaa, Evereska to Tashalar, Icewind Dale to The North, Impiltur to Narfell, Archendale to Impiltur and Chelimber to Chessenta. Put a "The" before the Nelanther Isles, Western Shaar, Eastern Shaar, and Moonsea. Between Narfell and Algarond, insert a new country called the Great Dale that touches Impiltur, Rashemen and Thay. In terms of drawing, make The Great Rift a little larger. Shrink Waterdeep and The High Forest to make more room for The North and The Silver Marches. Shrink The Moonshaes and make it clearer that they're seperate from The Nelanther Isles. The Underdark uses a separate board. The capitol (The central region) is The Darklands. Each region is linked to the capitol and a surface region, as follows: The Northdark-The Silver Marches The Serpent Deeps-Chult The Earthroot-The Hordelands Great Bhaerynden-Lurien Here's the revised region key and nation colors: Green: The Western Heartlands. 9 bonus armies. Red: The Unapproachable East. 6 bonus armies. Dark Blue: The Golden Lands. 3 bonus armies. Brown: The Shining South. 4 bonus armies. Light Blue: The Island Kingdoms. 2 bonus armies. Yellow: The Serpent Coasts. 3 bonus armies. Dark Purple: The Underdark. 2 bonus armies. Special Rules: Capitols Each nation has a capitol (The region with the star) that grants a home territory bonus. Whenever a combat occurs, if either person controls the capitol nation of the region the combat takes place in, they may replace one of the d6s they roll with a d8. During the intial troop deployment, capitols cannot be claimed until all other available nations are taken. No player may have more capitols than any other. None of the Underdark save it's capitol can be claimed. When deployment is finished, a neutral army takes control of all other regions. It places five units in each capitol and three in each Underdark region.
shadow_walker2.0 03-01-05, 03:53 PM	me and friends did something like this but ours was more like RISK meets FR meets Star craft it worked pritty well.
Galaktia 03-11-05, 01:26 AM	I'd just like to say that the three level idea suggested by one person is very similar to the game metal fatigue, :) Oh that and you should alter the point by system to allow you to level up heros.
Zyme86 07-04-05, 05:32 AM	bump
Dagda Mor 07-30-05, 11:04 PM	Loathe as I am to admit it (well, not really), I need help to finish this project of mine well. Details here. (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=474150)
Quenditar 12-01-05, 06:23 PM	Has any progress been made?
WhtKnt 09-27-06, 10:46 AM	Awesome idea, mate! Consider this a :bump:. Now then, for heroes (which I really like the idea of), why not take a page from Risk Godstorm? In Godstorm, each player gets a number of faith tokens each turn, based on the number of territories the player holds (just as with extra armies). Each player, in addition to their armies, has access to four special figures; these are the gods of magic, death, sky, and war. Not only can faith tokens be used to purchase cards that invoke the various powers of these deities, but they can be used to bring the deities themselves into play. When in play, a deity does not fight mortals. Instead, they influence your armies in different ways. For example, with the deity of war on your side (and the deity of war is the only one that begins the game on the board), you win all ties, regardless of whether you are attacking or defending. My advice would be to use heroes in the same fashion. If you don't want to deal with tokens, simply say that all heroes begin the game in play and when they are gone, they're gone (in Godstorm, gods aren't slain, merely vanquished until the player pays 3 faith tokens to bring them back). Give each faction four heroes (a wizard, a warrior, a cleric, and a rogue, for example). The warrior lets you win all ties, whether you are on attack or defense. If you have the wizard, you reroll any 1s rolled. If the rogue is in your army, you roll an additional die. Finally, after a battle which you have won, the cleric lets you roll one die and replace that many lost armies (up to the maximum that were lost in the battle). These armies go into the territory that was won or being defended. These are just some thoughts, you may have different ideas. In Godstorm, when two gods meet, they do battle independently of the armies they control (gods never battle mortals and mortals never battle gods). A godswar involves choosing gods to face off and rolling 3 dice, plus the number of armies in the battle. The losing god is vanquished. The same system can be used to resolve conflicts between heroes. All gods can use their special powers in a godswar, so heroes can do the same. Only after the godswar has been fought does the battle for control occur. If you wanted to, you could also add the element of hero cards into the game. In Godstorm, miracle cards are earned by having the appropriate god in play and sacrificing two faith tokens, or by completing a special task (shown on the reverse of the cards). If, for example, your army defeats an army with a god backing it, you can take a sky card. Miracle cards have a variety of effects, and each is appropriate to the god they represent. For example, you might draw the Storm's Rage card from the god of war, which allows you to choose a territory, roll a die, and destroy that many armies. Each card costs a number of faith tokens to play, and you could use the same mechanic for hero cards. Godstorm also introduces a unique piece called temples. Temples provide one additional army and one additional faith token during the Raise Armies and Gather Faith step. In addition, they let you reroll any 1s when defending a territory containing a temple. You could use the same mechanic for capitols. Anyway, that's my 2 coppers.
Yakostovian 09-29-06, 02:55 AM	Quick Rule of thumb for Risk is every Contient you control, the amount of bonus armies you get 1 for every 2 countries contained therin. Doesnt work with all though, Europe should be worth 3, Asia 6, and N America 4.5 based on that rule. The balance that affects Europe though is that Ukriane can be invaded from 9 different locations, Making it the hardest location to hold in the whole game. Sorry to criticize, or critique, depending on how you take it. However, I do realize it is your game, and you are free to assign as many armies to each region as you decide. 9 for the Western Heartlands is a bit mush to me though. Another suggestion, divide Chult in half.