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Author Topic: Multiplayer game shared health?  (Read 3344 times)

Gallows

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Multiplayer game shared health?
« on: January 14, 2015, 08:17:47 AM »
We have a couple of friends comming over this weekend and we'd like to play MW with them. I bought the miltiplayer activation wood tokens so I guess I'll just have to improvise the status board.

But my real question is related to gameplay. Reading through the rules I can see that miltiplayer games can suffer from having to focus on one enemy mage at a time to win. We're playing a team game.

What if we instead play with the rule that the two mages on a team shares health. Would that work? Perhaps just adding them will create a long winded game, so I was thinking about the average of the two plus 25 or 50 percent.

Would that work out alright or does it break something I'm not aware of?

Lord0fWinter

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Re: Multiplayer game shared health?
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2015, 08:49:02 AM »
Try -->THIS<-- . If you read down a bit, he updates the rules with a better revision.

I've played a multiplayer match with those rules and it went pretty well.

Edit- He updated the original post so no longer need to scroll down.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2015, 10:34:28 AM by Lord0fWinter »
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Zuberi

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Re: Multiplayer game shared health?
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2015, 10:06:39 AM »
After playing with it a bit, I have fine tuned it a little and shall update the main thread that Lord0fWinter linked to. However, I'll also post it here for your convenience.

Spell Rules
The Unique trait and Epic trait both apply to the whole team. Thus, if your team mate has a Unique spell in play, you may not play another copy of that spell. If your team mate has an Epic spell in their spellbook, you can not also have a copy of it in your spellbook. You also can not put Mage Specific Abilities on spells that you do not control, such as making your team mate's creature into your Pet, or putting Runes on your team mate's equipment (even if you cast the equipment).

Board Setup
Using two Arena Boards create a 4x6 Zone Arena. Labeling the Rows as A through D and the Columns as 1 through 6, the top left zone would be A1 and the bottom right zone would be D6. Team 1 would then start with their mages in B1 and C1, while Team 2 would start in B6 and C6. This allows team members to start near one another, yet with enough room so that they don't compete heavily for conjuration space. They also start within 5 and 6 zones of their opponents, which is comparable to a normal match and allows rush strategies to be just as valid, if not more so, as normal.

Shared Initiative
Initiative shall be shared by team members. When it is your team's turn in initiative order, only one of your team members may act. Decide as a team which team member gets to act whenever it is your team's turn in initiative order. You may not use your Quick Cast Marker unless you are the team member currently acting.

Shared Life
Each team shall have a Life total equal to 75% of the sum of the two mages that make up the team. Any damage done to one mage is cumulative against the entire team, and any healing done to one mage removes damage from the team. Thus it is possible for Mage A to take all the damage, and Mage B to still remove it by healing himself instead of his team mate. Consider this an improved version of Life Bond. For those who don't wish to do the math of percentages, I have calculated 75% of each individual mage at the end of this article.

Mage Life Conversion Cheat Sheet
Convert each individual mage using the chart below and then add the two team mates together. Round the total to the nearest whole number.

38 = 28.5
36 = 27
34 = 25.5
33 = 24.75
32 = 24
30 = 22.5

Conclusion
I have played several games using this setup and it works pretty well. I will warn you that this does not protect against every possible scenario that may crop up, as some things do occasionally raise questions during team play. Unfortunately there are not official answers for most of these questions, and I would suggest you just house rule them as they appear. I wish you luck and glory in the arena.

DaveW

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Re: Multiplayer game shared health?
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2015, 05:25:13 PM »
I like the revisions... especially the use of the quick cast marker limited to the acting Mage. I was a bit concerned about two Mages using their quick casts in concert.

I am going to use these rules to offer a team match (instead of, or maybe in addition to) the four-player free-for-all at a Con in April, and I'm looking forward to it.
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Zuberi

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Re: Multiplayer game shared health?
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2015, 07:16:13 PM »
I actually have not seen anyone abuse the Quick Cast markers, but my team games tend to be fairly casual. The possibility for abuse that my mind conjures up though was enough to prompt the change.

Free For All games aren't my favorite method of play. Mainly because it irks me that the mages can't start equidistant from one another with the current boards. You could use a custom board or ACG's method of marking intersections, otherwise the modular boards in Battlegrounds should help alleviate this issue. I also prefer using the rule where you win if you kill the mage on your left rather than playing last man standing. It makes the games more dynamic and interesting in my opinion and fixes the issue of player elimination in a game way too long for such a thing to exist.

However you decide to play your games though, I would love to hear about them and hope you find lots of fun and honor in combat!

Papachicken

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Re: Multiplayer game shared health?
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2015, 12:32:58 AM »
One thing I don't like about shared health is that it makes regeneration a little OP if you allow both mages to contribute to the shared health.  One thing I've done with my friends is a house rule where mages all have their individual health totals, but rather than die when one goes to 0 (effectively ending the game), one damage to a mage with 0 health counts as two to the partner.