Against the Inevitable: Breaking Down the Walls

Last time I talked about how nemesis players can add obstacles to slow the heroes’ progress. Today I’d like to take a quick look at how the heroes overcome those obstacles.

Obstacles should be removed by winning challenges. Each such challenge should have a built-in risk and reward. The greater the risk, the greater the reward should be. Reward points can then be used to remove obstacles, with reinforced obstacles costing more to remove.

Reward points should be something characters can stockpile, so that they can overcome an obstacle through multiple smaller challenges. In fact, I may have things like tools and treasure largely serve as reward point storage systems. For that matter, leads can serve a similar function. However, I’ll probably restrict it so those points can only be spent in conjunction with winning a challenge. Otherwise, the heroes could use stockpiled points to blow through obstacles without risking a challenge.

I’ll also thinking of adding some kind of “flow back” mechanic. One feature of the threat pool system is the players can see exactly how much resistance is left on the nemesis side. While this can be useful, that level of certainty may make the enemies feel more predictable and “safe”. It also makes the end game easier to spot. By letting a certain random amount of threat flow back into the pool after an obstacle is removed, I should be able to bring a bit more uncertainty into the game.

That’s it for now. Next time I revisit the game I should have some rough challenge mechanics worked out.