CS 611 Legends: Monsters and Heroes

I. The World of Play

The world of the game is represented by a fixed, square grid of spaces. The grid contains three types of spaces:

• Inaccessible spaces, which the heroes cannot enter

• Market spaces, where items can be bought or sold

• Common spaces, where battles can occur

Every time the heroes visit a common tile, there is a chance that they will engage in a battle with the monsters. These monsters are not created when the map is created. Every time the heroes visit a space we "roll a die," and, if they are unlucky, then the monsters are created and the battle begins immediately.

The party of heroes is always located in a specific space of the grid. When not in a battle, the party can move up, down, left, or right to an adjacent space. The player can enter the market if the party is on a market space.

An example world size is 8 spaces by 8 spaces. In this size our suggestion is to have 20% inaccessible spaces, 30% market spaces, and 50% common spaces.

II. The Battle

The battle pits the party of heroes against a group of monsters. A battle consists of multiple rounds, where the heroes and monsters each make moves. The fight ends when the HP of either all of the monsters or all of the heroes is zero. If the heroes win the fight, they earn money and experience, potentially leveling up. If the monsters win the fight, the game is  over.

The monsters are created at the beginning of the battle. Their levels should be scaled to the levels of the heroes. There will be as many monsters as there are heroes. For example, if the player decided to start their adventure with two heroes, then every battle will be against two monsters. A more complex (and dangerous!) version might vary the number of monsters encountered and the monsters’ levels.

The heroes move first in each round. During the heroes’ turn, the player chooses for each hero whether they will do one of the following:

• Attack, using the hero’s equipped weapon

Cast a spell from the hero’s inventory

• Use a potion from the hero’s inventory

• Equip a weapon or piece of armor

In addition, at any time during the heroes’ turn, the player can display the statistics (ex. strength, or base damage) of a hero or a monster. This will not consume the turn. Monsters have a base dodge chance, allowing them to occasionally avoid taking damage from an attack or a spell. If an attack or a spell lowers a monster’s HP to 0, that monster is defeated and removed from the battle.

After the heroes have made their moves, the monsters’ turn begins. The monsters will only attack the heroes, as they do not have items or spells to use. Heroes also have a dodge chance that will allow them to occasionally avoid taking damage from a monster’s attack. If a monster’s attack lowers a hero’s HP to 0, that hero will faint. Fainted heroes cannot take actions for the remainder of the battle.

During the round, clearly show to the player who took what action and that action’s result .

For example: “Karl the Barbarian attacked the Red Dragon for 504 damage!”,“Merlin used a health potion and recovered 300 HP!”, or “The Giant Bug attacked Wallace the Lame for 120 damage! Wallace the Lame fainted!”

At the end of each round (after the monsters’ turn), heroes that have not fainted regain some of their HP and mana.