Board Game Thematic Survey
Hello! I am working on a deductive word association party board game and I can't decide which theme is more attractive. If you could spare a few minutes to share your opinion, I'd really appreciate it; it would be a great help to me!: )
In short, the game combines elements from Werewolf and Codenames. The essence is that there are civilians and secret duos. There can be several of the latter. They are forced to refer to certain words in their communication, which can also raise suspicion. These words that connect them can be nouns, verbs, place names, or anything they secretly obsess over.
I created a development page for the game if you would like to participate as a tester or just help out with brainstorming: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SecretCults-274180003253988
I would be interested in your subjective opinions on the following themes:
SECRET CULTS: Normals VS Cultists (Modern Era). Secret cults want to recruit you. Expose them!
CULT KINGS: Loyalists VS Cultists (Medieval Era). The king has died. Find the best candidate for the throne. Beware, secret cult groups are also vying for power. Expose them!
DEFENESTRATION: Loyalists VS Conspirators (Modern Era, Political). The council must appoint a new head of state. Beware, secret conspirator groups are also vying for the throne. Those accused of conspiracy will be thrown out the window.
BRAINWASH: Normals VS Brainwashed (Modern Era). Find out who the brainwashed are before they brainwash your mind too!
PLANET KING: Residents VS Aliens (Sci-Fi). The king of planet XY has died. Find the best candidate for the throne. Beware, aliens from other planets are also vying for power. Expose them!
MENTAL HOSPITAL: Doctors VS Lunatics (Modern Era). You wake up in a mental hospital where everyone is dressed as doctors. Find out who deserves a straitjacket and who the real doctor is!
REPTILIAN HUMANS: Humans VS Reptilians (Modern Era). Reptilian humanoids from planet XY have infiltrated us and want to take over. Expose them!
You can write any comments here:
- ack
- i can be won over by such types of games if the story is logical and interesting, meaning it should be a short but impactful background story. in other words, if it's modern and political, we shouldn't choose a king, but rather a president, and instead of a council, let's take the example of the usa and have the senate choose.
- many ideas are interesting, but the one-line elaboration is insufficient to convey the feeling. what actions are important in a werewolf game: selection based on a common vote, nighttime attack, and the resulting elimination (or conversion?) of a player. it would be good to feel the parallel in different themes, which you touched on in some places, like in the case of throwing someone out the window (which is a very good idea), but it wasn't consistent. what needs to be decided is whether a civilian can turn into a traitor, because these seem to be transitional at first: secret cults: normals vs cultists (modern age). secret cults want to recruit you. expose them! brainwash: normals vs brainwashed (modern age). find out who the brainwashed are before they wash your brain too! the rest, however, do not. what i clearly like more: brainwashed, mental hospital, but here the setup needs to be well thought out so that everyone wakes up at the same time, yet i assume in a good case everyone thinks of themselves as a doctor. by the way, two movies came to mind that you might draw inspiration from, both about infiltration by aliens: they live, invasion of the body snatchers.
- look closely at similar games to find something unique in them.
- the farthest doctor-mental patient combo is the best :) if you need to test the game, feel free to let me know. since the survey is anonymous, i'll give you a password from which you'll recognize the applicants for testing. code name: radiator. :d
- the medieval and alien themes are definitely appealing because they speak to specific audiences. for common users, i think the crazy house theme could be the winner.