Thoughts on Civilization IV Modding

So, as I sit here on the cusp of ending two development cycles at the same time, I can look back at the two and clearly see the direction I am going on both.  As with any mod for Civilization IV, it is always hypothetical game of chances, what if’s, and possibilities. With that said, however, I wanted to create two different kinds of games with the mods.  The first mod was born in the early days of my modding experience and included some rather fanciful stuff, while the second mod was based more on more or less realistic boundaries.  I preface that phrase knowing all to well that the game itself lends to weird possibilities such as Lincoln with long bows, Hitler with the jets, or even Solomon with a tactical nuke — that is just the game.

In the first mod, ExtremeMod, I decided to rename it so that it better represents the game at large. Drawing from my RPG of the 1990s, I gave it the name Multiverse.  Rightfully so, it is full of magic, steampunk technology, dinosaurs, psionics, weird technologies, and endless combination of the bizarre.  I also wanted to make the game a resource battle, and thus I placed almost every item and building on the need of owning a particular resource. I also created at least 30 new resources and the appropriate technology and improvements to support it.  Multiverse will grow in the coming years, if I have the chance, to be the pinnacle of fantasy design with new player cultures  (such as the elves, amazons, dwarves, dark forces, and perhaps even a zombie king). It will also have new units, technologies, and experiences.

In my second mod, I wanted to create a game that had a rich source of Unique Units and Buildings, drawing on history to recreate some of the greatest technologies and wonders.  It is not necessarily about having specific resources, but more about experiencing all the different cultures and civilizations in the game.  There are some aspects of the game, most notably combustion units, that require a specific resource (oil), but for the most part it is open to building anything with the minimal number of resources.  This game so far has proven great fun in play testing and I hope the game will continue to grow with new UUs and UBs.   I am finishing up the second test phase of latter half game play, basically starting after the Renaissance.

I also want to specfically thank the designer known as Tsentom for provided me with such a great base to design my game. I love what you have added and have learned so much from you.  I have never met the guy, nor even had a correspondence with him, but feel indebted to him. It has been a scant year since I started modding for the game and I have learned so much — I wonder what another year will hold for me.

Troy

August 21, 2011

New bloodbath Equipment list

I am in the process of now developing a detailed listing of equipment, including weapons, armor, adventuring gear, medicine, potions, poisons, career related equipment, and miscellaneous categories.

A good RPG can be often graded on the detailed equipment lists the game offers. I have always been amazed at what players want to buy for their characters, and even more surprisingly what they often do with the odd assortment of gear.

Presented below is just the first version of what I hope will be a much more lengthy and detailed work of equipment:

Bloodbath_Equipment

New edition of Bloodbath

Here is the next version of my game Bloodbath. It is getting very close to being what I call done. When I say that, I mean the rules are done. It will take me considerably longer to flesh out the world of Helboria and provide a ton of charts for more loot and treasures. I also need to create the random dungeon rules, which is in the works now.

Bloodbath v3

BB character

Making Changes to Bloodbath

Hi everyone.

I have been busy modifying and re-structuring the rules of Bloodbath and it is nearly ready for a new release. The game has really undergone some big changes, which I hope will make the game more fun and easier to play. One of the biggest hurdles was making new characters strong but not over-powered. We are still struggling with making the characters hardy but not immortal.

Some of the bigger changes we made is in how to roll up a character. We have added two new ways of rolling attributes for a total of three methods: straight down the line, place them where you want, and a point based system. We will probably need to modify this rule set at least one more time.

We also changed all the attributes so that they control just 1 aspect of the game. It is my opinion that it makes the game much stronger and less prone to silly math errors and confusion.

Might is used for damage and for carrying loot.

Fury is hit points.

Bloodlust is initiative and determines Sanity.

Arcane is all things magical.

Skill replaces Power, and is just the number of points you can spend on talents (used to be skills).

Tenacity — used to be Wisdom. Now you add your Fury, Bloodlust, and Arcane and reference a table to determine what a monster needs to roll to hit you. This score is modified by armor. This rule set will also be modified a bit over time as well, since I still think the bell-curve is not where I want it to be.

We also got rid of Factions all together — too complicated and not needed.

Now classes determine your ability dice (used to be called Talent). So a Pkahrian Pirate rolls 2 dice for arms, 1 dice for magic, and 4 dice for Adventures.

All Talents (used to be called skills) have been drastically reworked or deleted from the game. I tried to make all Talents work the same way, or if one doesn’t that it makes sense of why it is that way.

All items in the game have been adjusted and I have done away with the silly names for them — just use basic weapon and armor names and leave the creative naming to monsters and the Helborian landscape.

Classes of course now determine the dice a player rolls for all Talents in the game. They also have been structured with bonuses and penalties. I am still up to complete modifications on the classes of the game. I am still toying with the idea of making some drastic changes to how abilities are checked, but I like how these things work.

Still adding monsters and loot as I type this. At a certain point I want to start fleshing out the world as well. I hope that I will have a new PDF before I leave on vacation in a week, then after I get back I hope to flesh out the world and have the game up and running at 100 percent by early summer.

Bloodbath III

On January 21st, 2010 I officially began a complete re-write of my hellishly fun role-playing game, Bloodbath from 1988. I hope to spend the next 60 days in intense writing and re-design. After that, I will spend two to three months in open beta testing with players in the Grand Rapids (Michigan) area refining and honing the rules.

My first thought was to create a non-editable PDF and provide a site specifically dedicated to the game and its inevitable expansions. I will follow it up with Bloodchant and with future expansions to dungeon design and adventure modules.

Of course, I have not forgotten about Phantasm Adventures and have some really great ideas on how it will be published.