War of the Concubines
Project Type: 5 Player Board Game
Date: 2018 - Present
Members: Chen Wang, Yeer shi, Will Chen
My Role: Game Designer
PDF link：War of the Concubines
War of the Concubines is a 5-player royal life Board Game. To simulate the harem’s life in the Forbidden Palace, four players become concubines, and one player assumes the role of the emperor. The goals of these two kinds of players are different. Combined with strategy and fun, this game is created for players who are curious to experience the classic royal life in Qing Dynasty.
In this game, four concubines have to compete for the emperor ‘s love and the chance of getting pregnant, give birth to princes, and help them to usurp the throne.
The emperor bears children with his concubines and balances the power between them. The final goal for the emperor is to prevent conspiracy from princes and their mothers to protect his throne. But he also has to ensure he has at least one heir at the end of the game.
Abstract
Background Story
The emperor has four concubines, they all love and awe him. But each woman has their own agenda- help their children usurp the throne and become the next emperor, The only way to achieve this is to serve the current emperor in bed as frequently as possible and eliminate their competitors. To achieve their goal, they are not afraid to do anything, such as spreading rumors, physically abusing others, or even using toxic, sterilizing herbs.
The emperor must be wary of the young princes and stay in power, but dying without an heir is equally disastrous.
Logo Design
Literal Translation:
"I can't do it, your majesty"
Inspirations
This game is inspired by popular TV shows in China such as “Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace,” ”Story of Yanxi Palace” and “Empresses in the Palace” in which female concubines and the queen compete against each other and help their sons ascend to the throne.
Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace
Story of Yanxi Palace
Empresses in the Palace
Sketches
Design Process
Initially, we envisioned two types of game scheme. The first one was to set up the emperor's role as an NPC which doesn't require a player.
The second is the current version. The emperor is an active decision-maker.
Game Materials
Emperor's Board
The emperor’s life bar records the probability of pregnancy in each round. The emperor rolls the dice to trigger an incident when he stands on a red block. If the emperor reaches the endpoint, he wins.
Concubine's board
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These boards include the Fetus’ Life bar + Prince’s Life Bar, the identity card area, and the competing area.
Fetus’ Life Bar and Prince’s Life Bar
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The Fetus’ Life Bar represents the progress of a pregnancy. Concubines cannot sleep with the emperor while pregnant.
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After the birth of the prince, The Prince’s Life Bar represents the power growth of the prince. If the concubine leads a prince to the end, it means the prince has usurped the throne successfully.
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Once the prince is born, he could never return to The Fetus’ Life Bar. He can only go as far back to the first step of a prince’s life.
Markers
Markers of the Emperor (X4)
- Represent the Emperor
Markers of the Prince (X44)
- Represent the Emperor
Markers of Alliance (X36)
- Represent the alliance between concubines
9 Identity Cards
- 8 concubine cards are available for players to choose from.
- One card represents the emperor
44 Competing Cards
- With plus or minus numbers to gain or reduce points. Can be placed either on one’s own competing area or a competitor’s
- The concubine who earns the highest scores at the end of each round gets to serve the emperor in bed
14 Prince Cards
- Increase or reduce the progress of a prince’s life
8 Buff Cards
- Help gain an advantage over other concubines, such as increasing the probability of getting pregnant and getting extra points
2 Debuff Cards
- Reduce the probabilities of other concubines getting pregnant and their chances of sleeping with the emperor
7 Defense Cards
- Eliminate the effects of buff/debuff
3 Duel Cards
- Designate a concubine to initiate a duel. A high-risk card that requires a second thought before use. If successful, it will cause a lot of damage to the other concubine; if not, it will backfire
1 D-6 Dice
- Roll for points
Game Set Up
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Place a state board in front of each concubine
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Place the progress board in front of the emperor
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Place hand cards next to the emperor
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Each concubine randomly selects two other concubines at the beginning of the game and gift them different skills. Choose a concubine to start the game.
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In the initial stage, each concubine draws four hand cards.
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At the beginning of the round, the four concubines decide who starts first by rolling the dice
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Choose a player or someone who most recently wears yellow clothes as the emperor.
Characteristics
Concubines (1-4 players)
A concubine is one of the four wives of an emperor, her goal is to bear him a son ahead of anyone else, and support this child to become the next emperor, even if it means embarking on a bloody road to seize his majesty’s power.
Emperor (1 player)
The emperor keeps the balance of the palace in check, rationally dissolves dispute, and completes a glorious and long-lasting reign.
In Order to Win
Concubine:
Any concubine can support any prince to go to the end of the Prince’s Life Bar.
Or when the emperor wins, one’s prince has the most advanced progress among all the princes’ life bars.
Emperor:
The emperor goes through his entire life bar, no prince has usurped the throne, and there is at least one surviving prince.
When the emperor triumphed, he had the shackles of the most advanced emperor, and he also won with the emperor.
Rules
Rules for the emperor
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The emperor can only win when he reaches the end of his life.
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Initiating an event in the emperor’s life
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Determine the launch of different events based on the number of points
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The emperor has the ability to check and balance the whole game. In the controllable cards, he limits those concubines who have great advantages and supports those who are weaker on the field.
Rules for concubines
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Each concubine uses competing cards to place in one's competing area to increase the chance of serving the bed, or put in others' competing areas to reduce their chance.
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When a fetus’ life bar reaches the endpoint, a prince is born. After that, a concubine could support the prince to usurp the throne by using prince cards.
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The end of a prince's life equals the victory of the concubine. For example, when the emperor reaches the end of his life without any prince reaching theirs, the emperor wins.
Each Turn
The Emperor
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At each start of the game, the emperor controls N number of cards. *N is the number of concubines
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Extract N cards and pass them to each concubine without looking
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Extract N cards and pass to each concubine after looking
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Initiate emperor's life events
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Incident list:↓
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Send to the Cold Palace: Emperor choose 1 concubine and send her to cold palace
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Reward the World: Each concubine can extract one more card.
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Access Restricted: In this round, the concubine cannot draw a card this round
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Desire Less: In this round, the emperor does not distribute cards.
Concubines
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At the beginning of each round, the concubine who won the chance to serve the bed in the previous round will start first.
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If no one is favored in the previous round, then the dice should be rolled and the one who gets the most points wins
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While playing, concubine can choose several operations:
1. Place point cards in one's own or others' areas
2. Use Prince Cards to add points for the prince
3. Use Buff or Debuff Cards against yourself or others
4. Initiate a duel -
When it comes to the end of the round, all concubines exhibit their point cards and the one who has the most number can win the favor.
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After getting successfully favored, the concubine can roll the dice to determine whether or not she is pregnant based on the rate displayed on the emperor's board.
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When a concubine ends up having -3 points or below, then her oldest prince gets back one pint for his life
Progress of Serving the Bed
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All point cards have positive and negative values
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All point cards must not be revealed until the end of each round
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At the end of each round, everyone exhibit the front of their cards and calculate the points together
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After everyone has finished calculating the points, the person with the highest points wins the round and gets a chance to serve the bed by rolling the dice.
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When a concubine ends up having -3 points or below, then her oldest prince gets back one pint for his life. If that concubine does not have a prince, she will be sent to the cold palace
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Every time when the dice is rolled, a pregnancy rate is displayed on the emperor's life board. When the rate is at one-third, roll out 1-2 to get pregnant; at one-half, roll out 1, 2, 3; at one-sixth, roll out 1
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After successfully receiving the chance to serve the bed, a concubine will enter the pregnancy phrase. If not, she won't be pregnant.
Rules of the Cold Palace
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When a concubine fails to be favored and her points get below -3, she would be sent to the Cold Palace
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When a concubine loses a duel, she would be sent to the Cold Palace
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When the emperor triggers a Cold Palace incident, he could choose a concubine to send to the Cold Palace
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During her time at the Cold Palace, a concubine cannot compete for favors or get pregnant, nor can she use any card's abilities. She could only draw cards, discards cards and competes for points
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When successfully getting favored again, the concubine leaves the Cold Palace
Rules of Duel
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Designate a concubine and put her in the Cold Palace
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The attacker rolls the dice first
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At 4- points, the attack is not successful and the world remains peaceful
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At 1-3 points, the attack is successful and the opponent needs to roll the dice
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If the opponent is unable to get 1-3 points, she will be put into the Cold Palace until she gets favored in a round successfully
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If the opponent gets 1-3 points, she can fight off the attack and the attacker will be put into the Cold Palace until she escapes