Magnus Caseus

Magnus Caseus is a table-top RPG where players compete in each faction of the Roquefort Kingdom. The game is about building up your cities and becoming the richest city with the most CHEESE! 

Each player takes on a role of a faction and is in charge of their own cities. The factions are Military, Clergy, Farmers and Merchants. A Deck of 52 Cards is used to determine the power of your faction throughout the game. Two Dice is rolled to determine the energy you need to build up your faction. 

Compete with each faction to earn you stars and become the most powerful faction in Roquefort Kingdom.

What you need to play:

• Deck of 52 playing cards
• 2d6
• City maps
• Paper, post it, anything for tracking the game (Or tokens if played in real life) 

TTRPG Intentions:

Mechanics

BFB inspired us to include a deck of cards in our game. Our game is meant to be played between 2-4 players and the game calls for players to role play as a city and use strategy to make it as strong as possible. Players will each take on a role of a faction (military, clergy, farmer, or merchant) and will be assigned a village map based on their faction choice. Each faction has two leaders - to fill in a leader spot, one must get a queen, king, or jack card. Each faction also has 10 spaces for people of the factions. 

Ex: Clergy will have 4 spots for clergy, 3 spots for farmers, 2 spots for merchants, and 1 spot for the military.

To make a turn, players roll 2 d6s to determine the energy they have for their turns. Players perform actions considering the amount of energy they have. 

Example: If you roll a 5, the energy options available to you are level 1: pick a card and level 3: place a card. If you pick a card and choose to place it, you are left with 1 energy level (1+3=4). 

Aesthetics

The game is supposed to be set in late medieval times in a dark fantasy universe. The visual style is expected to resemble that of the Root board game and Paladins of the West Kingdom board game, serious yet playful. There are four mouse characters- each being a leader of their own faction. There are going to be two main elements that would be a subject for design- city boards (where players place their cards) and a standard deck of 52 playing card. 

Narrative

There’s a game of thrones happening in the region and each player is a part of the conflict. Players will need to take on the role of a city leader: Pope (Clergy faction), General (Military faction), Doge (Merchant faction), Elder (Farmer faction). Times are turbulent and one has to be swift with their decisions to assure survival and prosperity of their realm. Not only are the cities in turmoil but there’s also a threat to the north where the Great Emperor is gathering his armies to put an end to the cities' independence. Gather your men, strengthen your government and prove yourself worthy of being the one and only OVERLORD . 

Devlog (from playtest on 10/18/21):

Determining energy system 

We settled on the costs of the actions and their functions. 

“1 - Pick up a card

3 - Place card on map

5 - Swap a regular card (2-10) with another player’s

7 - Swap a K,Q,J with another player’s 

10 - Take card from the discard pile”

Deciding leader slots 

When we first played through, we decided on the win condition concerning leaders. We also came up with the rest of the win conditions.

Star points system 

We decided on giving out stars for different categories as an award system. The categories that we would compare with each other are as follows:

Most points in: (“points” are from the number of the card you place in each slot)

• Military 
• Clergy 
• Farmer 
• Merchant 
• Full set of leaders (K+Q)
• Total value of cards all together (leaders + factions) 

Whoever would get the most points in a category, would receive a star. If there is a tie between leaders, a tie break would be determined by whoever has the most energy remaining from their last turn. 

Determining Special cards

• Decided that the “Ace” determines the energy you receive for your next round. The energy is determine with a 1D6 
• We decided to make a Joker card a bad luck card, where a player skips their turn and making them lose energy (which is determined by rolling a 1D6)

Adjusting leader rule

We decided to make the leaders count as a “full set” only if it is a King and a Queen. Now only the player who has this combination and wins a tie with other players gets the star. 

Adjusting joker card rule 

Before we had an idea about Joker making a player skip a turn and making them lose energy. During the last play test, though, it was decided to remove the energy reduction.