The Value of a Modular Board in a Game (Tayamat-2)

As I wrote in my first entry, I'm a D&D player at the core. I love acting around table, see my character builds up and explore those fantastic worlds. Role players raid a different dungeons, castles and towers in different maps. Discovering the unknown has its own charm. I thought I could bring this charm to Tayamat with a modular board.

I made heavy research how to adapt a fixed board to a modular board without losing the soul of the game. Boardgamegeek.com was the main source with its huge database. Luckyly, I had a few games with modular boards, too. So, my first attempt was to create symmetrical map pieces similar to the fixed board that can be combined on the table in different combinations. As I look at the results I realized that it became a replica of an other game which I abstained to do. I was very impressed the clever map system of Hellas so I tried hexagon map pieces but it didn't worked for me. After many alternative approaches, I decided to divide the town into building cards, keep the castle card in the middle of the buildings. The spaces between the cards would be the streets...

With the modular board, Tayamat v3.0 is less dungeon crawling game and more area control game where you defeat monsters and free the buildings from monster occupation.

I choosed basic colors like yellow, blue, Green and Red for naming phases in rounds, for players and for the districts in the city. The reason choosing the same colors for phases, districts and players lies in the game mechanics and the theme. In the game, the pawns of the dragon (monsters) take back (reoccupy) some of the freed districts with certain color and princes heals in the phase of his/her color.

The coins were removed from the game but the concept of money was used in the form of crystals. Besides, the number of items were reduced, the prices were rearranged. With the reduction of board size, game duration and other game components Tayamat was no longer a heavy game.

I used player elimination concept again in this version to reduce the chance of king making and to keep the players on their toes. A player had little chance of elimination but it could happen...

On the other hand, I was trying to prepare a well arranged small summary card for the players. I placed the equipment list, the explanations of the special abilities which can be gained during the game, monster powers and the value of the crystal sets in the summary card.

I made the necessary changes in the rules according to the new modular board such as the movement per round, starting positions etc... I was very satisfied with this version of the game. After a few tests, to my surprise, none of my friends liked the extra ordinary board thought the game was running smoothly. Any way, it wasn't over yet...

Next: Final Stage in the Development of Tayamat the Boardgame