One of the big things in making a tabletop game is how small it has to be. For many game’s that’s not a problem, but we are trying to capture the epic feel of JRPG’s that tend to have ultimate moves that deal 50 bajillion damage. We can’t do 50 bajillion damage in a game that is limited to about 100 health tokens.
So we created a game based around the number 5 – it seemed intuitive, 5 works nice in a base10 system. 5XG to level up, 5 starting HP, max 5-value moves, etc. I believe that we settled on a fairly balanced system.
There is a trade-off between big and small numbers. Big numbers allow for more variety in abilities and additional nuance when balancing them. Conversely small numbers keep everything calculable for players and limit components. As such we’ve tried to use the smallest numbers possible that allow sufficient variety and nuance.
We have been comfortable with the balance point for quite some time. However game’s only get better by trying something new. So that’s what we’re doing. We are currently rebalancing all moves and abilities to be based around the number 3 instead of 5!
We don’t know how this will work, and if it doesn’t it’s a couple of clicks on Google Sheets to put everything back where it was. But we are excited at the possible development – rather than compromise, we’ve actually discovered great innovations!
And a quick shout out to a couple of our playtesters which have been waiting to try Aethermon on Tabletop Simulator, I apologise for the delay this has created, rebalancing… 117 player moves and 42 opponent moves has been a process.
Stick with us AetherRen
Next week we’ll look at the way this has impacted the overall experience.