Design Tip of the Week #19 (Special Powers)

What are the advantages of Special Powers?

Special Powers can be leveraged in a lot of situations to differentiate things.  It could be characters the player controls, neutral characters everyone can control, items players can gain, foes, locations on the board, etc.  Here are some benefits of having special powers in your game:

• Differentiation - This is the biggest one in my opinion.  Makes things act (and just as importantly feel) different.
• Variety - Lets every game feel different.  If you can have a different power each game it increases the replayability.  Even if the powers just come out in a different order, or on a different spot the game changes from one game to the other.  This is especially true when you have 2 variable things that intersect creating lots of different combinations.
• Theme - Special powers are a great way to add theme to your game.  They have to make sense though.  Don't paste this on.  The power really needs to evoke the feel you are trying to reach for that character.  An example we had in Salvation Road was the "Annoying Kid".  He was a Survivor so he had an ability that hurt the group.  We wanted him to feel annoying to the players so we made him hurt other characters when he went to their location.  It made sense thematically as other characters were more careless around this kid since they were just trying to get away from him, but it also made the player annoyed with this character as well.  You had to plan around him and make sure that no one ended up with him.  He filled the roll thematically for the character and for the players.
• Fun to Design - Tinkering with special powers in your game lets you learn a lot about your system.  It lets you break things in interesting ways without complicating the system.  Even if you don't keep a power, it may change the way you think about your game and lead to bigger changes.

What are some challenges of Special Powers?

Special powers are cool, so why not put them in every game?  Here are some negatives:

• Hard to Balance - Special powers can be very hard to balance.  In math terms if something is worth 1 and something else is worth 1.5 what do I do?  Do I make them both worth 1.5 or 1.  What if the next thing is worth 1.7?  They will never be 100% equal and this could upset some players.  It is also easy to miss something without a lot of playtesting and it could totally break your game.  Even if you fix it later players may have moved on to the next game and won't even give it another chance.  They may perceive your game as broken and not well playtested.  It could be a poor reflection on you as a designer even if one card is off.  My friends won't play City of Remnants any more because there was a broken card in it.  It has since been erataed but they won't even bring it to the table to try it, and view the company in a poor light.  I would love to give it another try, but it will sit on my shelves collecting dust until I find another group to play it with.
• Unwanted Complexity - Some games just don't need more complexity.  It could be a light game that needs to stay light.  Even adding little powers may push it over the top.  Or it could be a big heavy game where one more thing will make your brain melt.  Either way, if you are pushing the "Fun to Time Ratio" of you game don't add more stuff.

When should I start adding Special Powers?

I usually try to get the core of the game down before adding special powers.  I may add some basic ones early that give +1 here or -1 there, but try not to mess with the core until it is solid.  These basic powers give me something to balance my future powers against too.  If I want them to be really good I will add +2 to something and see how that changes things.  But I don't get into the nitty gritty of powers until the game is balanced everywhere else.

How do you introduce new powers?

I try to balance them again the basic powers I made early.  I typically try to come up with a whole lot of thematic things first and add them, not concerning myself too much with power level.  After playing them I will work on the balance if the game still feel good.  Balance can be achieved by either making a power better or reducing the cost, or by making a power worse or increasing the cost.  This seems obvious, but people often forget about the cost part of this ratio.  All the powers don't have to be the same if there are different costs associated with them.  I will get into this more later, but just be careful with costs.  If it just a one time cost and come out early, is it too good?  If it is a steep cost with a great power, does it lead to rich get richer situation?

When introducing a new special power to an already flushed out system with other powers already designed, I try to make the new power a little better than the others.  I do this intentionally because I want people to use it so I can see the consequences of it.  If it is on par, or worse than your other powers people will avoid it because they are unfamiliar with it, or perceive it as weaker.  You want it to get tested so it is better to lean toward too good and back it down later after you realize the consequences of it.

Lessons Learned?

Special Powers are good for a lot of games.  If your game needs a shot of theme try to add them in.  Make sure you know your game can handle the added complexity though or it could hurt your game more than help it.  Also, realize you will be adding a lot of playtest time as you try to balance the powers.  Don't release new power without playtesting them with your other powers or it could break the game and make you look bad.

What's Next?

That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about the "Fun to Time Ratio".  Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.