Game Idea: The Demons Among Us

Hello readers. Today I am posting a game concept that I have been contemplating over the last few weeks.  I develop game ideas often and I welcome you all to go visit my game development/publishing site, www.caledoniangames.com .  

The motivation for today's game concept comes from a few different sources.  One is the book I reviewed last week, Felix Gilman's The Half-Made World. In that setting, demons are manipulators of the world, forcing their will and satisfying their quest for greater power through the hands of their human servants.  

Another motivating force comes from games that I have played that were created in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft.  I have played the board game Arkham Horror and another game that exists in card and app form called Elder Signs.  All of these games are derived of H.P Lovecraft's influence upon the horror mystique.  While I had a bit of fun playing these games, I felt that they generally inspired an intentionally chaotic participation, one that felt disconnected from reality.  This, I believe, is totally natural for those particular games and part of their intention.  Since they are derived of Lovecraft's spirit, they appropriately exist within the guiding philosophy of his work. Lovecraft's work fundamentally followed "the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally inimical to the interests of humankind." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft)  

This idea, while interesting and compelling in the interest of creating a sense of terror, is not what I was after.  I wanted to create a game that tapped into what we all know and understand of reality. Human being's suffer, very often as a result of our own actions.  We make mistakes, harbor ill feelings, and at times walk with full knowledge into our fate.  I didn't want to create another game with Victorian stylized demons popping into the world for no discernible reason.  I wanted to create a game where player's take on demon's that life's lesson help them come to know all too well.  

In life we truly begin to understand ourselves more completely by our failures and how we cope with them.  My game would allow players to playfully recon well known failures of human character.  These human failings would prove to be compelled, not by a weakness of the human spirit, but by the ill intent of nefarious demons.  As player's face moral challenges they can strengthen their character in success and in failing they can better know the demon that plagues them.  In the end with knowledge and strength a player can challenge their diabolical influence.  Come on everyone, lets face our demons!

The Demons Among Us

Premise:

Demons, they compel poor choices, ill thoughts, and wrongful dispositions in us all. They sow doubt, avarice, and hate in the loom of their presence.  The hapless gambler betting his last dollar, the vain politician selling the last shreds of his morality, the addict turning their back on the ones they love while walking to their next fix, each one possessed by something they feel is beyond their control. A demon possesses and compels the characters of this game, you. They possess us all!

Each player, as with all people, has suffered from weaknesses through out their life.  These compulsions, as the players are coming to understand, have shaped them and are wrought from the will of a particular demon.  It fosters the fears and dire penchants that toil within the player’s souls.

In the play of the game, each player must encounter various moral challenges.  As characters succeed or fail. They come to understand either their individual strengths or the nature of their personal demons better. To know thy enemy is to know thy self.  In this knowledge a player may defeat their demon and be victorious!

Game Play:

Play of the game begins with each player choosing a character or “avatar”.  Each player in turn now draws one challenge card per turn. This challenge presents a scenario that will force an avatar to match their strengths of character against a demonic compulsion.  On the card will be a ‘condition for success’ value representing a target score for that player to achieve in their turn.  The target is met by combining their current score in that particular strength of character with a die total that they roll.

The chart below defines the compulsions of demons and their opposing strengths of character.

Compulsions of Demons	Avatar’s Strength of Character
Fear	Courage
Hate	Kindness
Sloth	Diligence
Avarice	Generosity
Vanity	Modesty
Doubt	Confidence
Vice	Virtue

If the player meets or exceeds the ‘condition for success’ value, then the player wins the challenge and records the appropriate change of their avatar’s strength of character score as suggested by the success panel.

If the player fails the challenge, then they reduce their ‘sanity’ score in the manner suggested by the cards failure panel, recording that change on their avatar sheet.  Failure isn’t all bad though.  In the game it is actually necessary.  It is through failure that a player comes closer to knowing the demon that plagues them. 

With each loss a player will also take note of the ‘demon score’ on the challenge card and add its value to the demon tracker portion of their avatar sheet. In this way, with every loss, the player better understands their demon. Eventually the failed challenges will illuminate a combination of various compulsions that match the spirit of one or more demons.  Once a demon is adequately defined on the player’s demon tracker that player may name the demon in their turn.  This action initiates a final battle with ones demon.  A player may also choose to wait. By waiting, a player has the chance to face more challenges in the hopes of building more strength of character for the upcoming battle. They could also visit the sanatorium.

The sanatorium is a player’s place of healing.  As player’s sanity score lessens they draw nearer to insanity.  If a player’s sanity reaches zero then they have gone insane and must spend the next three turns in the sanatorium.  When any player is in the sanatorium, they are there to heal their minds.  They may not face the rigors of challenges or demon battles during those turns.  A player’s stay in the sanatorium is denoted by a player holding a sanatorium token.  For each turn that a player is in the sanatorium they gain one sanity point.  Once an insane player has completed three turns in the sanatorium, they may return the sanatorium token and begin to face challenges or, if their demon is known, attempt a final battle.  They may also choose to stay in the sanatorium up to as many turns needed to reach their starting sanity score.  Player’s may also choose to enter the sanatorium of their own accord.  If a player, on any turn, wishes to stave off insanity and the mandatory three turn stay that goes with it, they may choose to enter the sanatorium willingly. Again, they may stay as long as they wish, progressing one sanity point per turn and earning no more than their starting value.

Final Battle:

When a player has faced enough challenges to define the nature of their demon and they feel they’ve amassed a reasonable strength of character and sanity score, they may choose to name their demon. By naming their demon, the avatar calls forth their demon to battle.  The player now assesses the combined value of all their various strengths of character and marks it on their avatar sheet’s total strength panel. They also note the demons strength score, noting that on their demon tracker.  The player now rolls a series of attacks.  With each attack if the player’s strength combined with the die total are higher than the demons strength then the demons health is diminished by one.  If the player fails to roll an adequate total then they lose one sanity point.  The battle continues in this manner till the demon health is reduced to zero and therefore destroyed, or the player’s sanity reaches zero and they are driven insane, forcing them to enter the sanatorium for the next three turns.  A recovered player may name their demon on a future turn, like the player though, that demon will have recovered and will return to battle in its full strength.

Once a player has defeated a demon they are victorious and the game is over.