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Sgt. Cookie
2012-02-19, 10:36 AM
Warning: This may end up sounding like the ravings of a madman.

Last night as I was trying to get to sleep (Huzzah for messed up biorhythms) I thought up an idea about incorporating chess into a game, to illustrate to the players that the world is moving along.

At the start of the campaign, the chess board is set up for a brand new game. Then the DM moves chess pieces around; perhaps one piece of both sides once per session.

The "game" would use the standard rules of chess, pawns can only capture pieces diagonally, castles can only move in straight lines and the queen is the most powerful piece, and as certain events occur, the game progresses.

A few examples:

A religious order manages to convert a powerful ruler. This would be represented by a bishop capturing a queen.

A king is about to be assassinated, but it is in fact a double. This would be represented by castling. ("Castling" allows a king and a castle to swap places, provided that neither piece has moved.)

A somewhat known but unimportant person suddenly becomes quite powerful, this would be represented by a pawn reaching the other side of the board and changing to a different piece.

The DM might have the PCs be a piece on the board as well, moving it about as they perform other tasks.

If the king is captured, that does not necessarily mean the end of the campaign. It could instead mean a large shift in the status quo and a new game is set up.

The big clincher? The player's do not know what the chess board means. They may hear about certain things ICly, and may eventually figure out what is what on the chess board.

Mystify
2012-02-19, 10:39 AM
Its an interesting idea. 1 move a session would probably mean a very long-term campaign if you want he game to progress at all.

Sgt. Cookie
2012-02-19, 10:47 AM
Depending on the speed, more pieces could be moved a single session.

Othesemo
2012-02-19, 10:48 AM
That sounds like a sweet idea. Of course, I would probably say that about anything that incorporated chess into D&D. Still, it'd be fun to watch the players figure out what the board means.

Tarvon000
2012-02-19, 11:38 AM
That's a very interesting idea. Perhaps you could have the chessboard be a minor artifact the PCs find, and maybe even have them find a high-level spell or another artifact very late in the game that allows a small degree of control over the chessboard.

Mystify
2012-02-19, 11:45 AM
That's a very interesting idea. Perhaps you could have the chessboard be a minor artifact the PCs find, and maybe even have them find a high-level spell or another artifact very late in the game that allows a small degree of control over the chessboard.

Thats a cool idea. Actually have the chess board represent something in-game. When you find an item, and the DM pulls out a model of it, you pay attention.

Siegel
2012-02-19, 12:49 PM
As long as the PCs are not the pawns...

Avaris
2012-02-19, 12:58 PM
Sounds like a fun idea. I'd agree that it'd be fun to have as an actual item in game: a chess board which moves pieces on it's own, and the pieces can't be moved by anyone external to the game. Seems like the sort of thing a lawful mage would make for fun...

I think my main thought is that it'd be important to have a good idea of the structure for the campaign/chess game in advance. Using your own example, if a member of the nobility gets killed by a religious figure, the board will need to be moving towards that scenario for a few moves. This means that once the players have figured out what the board means they can try to predict what will happen by looking at the board... that knight is taking lots of pawns, but is vulnerable to that castle? A succesful general is going to die in a siege battle. If they succeed in preventing what they predict the game will play out differently of course... the knight doesn't get taken for example.

Mystify
2012-02-19, 01:29 PM
Sounds like a fun idea. I'd agree that it'd be fun to have as an actual item in game: a chess board which moves pieces on it's own, and the pieces can't be moved by anyone external to the game. Seems like the sort of thing a lawful mage would make for fun...

I think my main thought is that it'd be important to have a good idea of the structure for the campaign/chess game in advance. Using your own example, if a member of the nobility gets killed by a religious figure, the board will need to be moving towards that scenario for a few moves. This means that once the players have figured out what the board means they can try to predict what will happen by looking at the board... that knight is taking lots of pawns, but is vulnerable to that castle? A succesful general is going to die in a siege battle. If they succeed in preventing what they predict the game will play out differently of course... the knight doesn't get taken for example.
I agree, that would be essential to making it an interesting piece of the game world.

Lea Plath
2012-02-19, 02:27 PM
This is a pretty genius idea, actually. I'm loving it.

How about having two linked chess boards, where a puppet master controls the other pieces and uses them to set in motion evens, by playing the game and the PC has to work out how to manipulate events in order to check mate him?

zorba1994
2012-02-19, 03:22 PM
This is a pretty genius idea, actually. I'm loving it.

How about having two linked chess boards, where a puppet master controls the other pieces and uses them to set in motion evens, by playing the game and the PC has to work out how to manipulate events in order to check mate him?

Make the universal chess board play a game of Bughouse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bughouse_chess)

ProtectorRoss
2012-02-19, 09:26 PM
This sounds intriguing! I love chess and RP games. I look forward to being updated on your progress with this new adventure.

Sith_Happens
2012-02-21, 08:12 AM
Warning: This may end up sounding like the ravings of a madman.

More like a supervillain.:smallwink:

raymundo
2012-02-21, 08:56 AM
That's a very cool idea, I think I'll actually give it a try in my campaign.. which coincidally has two nations struggling for control of the island they are on, but who don't actually engage in open warfare yet.

Jay R
2012-02-21, 09:01 AM
This sounds like an impressive idea, if done well. But it will take very careful planning before the game starts to have legal moves of a chess game follow the plot.

It's also going to require a fair amount of either railroading or separating the PCs from the plot, to keep the D&D game from going where the chess game can't follow. (If they kill a character or blow up a castle that is represented on the board, the game won't necessarily have a legal move to simulate that action.) Also, they may make several moves for one side, in the time that the other side makes a single move.

In short, the idea is easy, and sounds exciting; the implementation will be extremely difficult. Good luck with it.

Rorrik
2012-02-21, 10:25 AM
I think I'm going to start brainstorming a game with a chess board artifact as well. This could be extremely fun. Though I admit there will be times when the rules of chess need to be bent as affected by the PCs. Maybe they are beings of legend capable of bending the the rules of Vlaren's War Board.

gkathellar
2012-02-21, 11:02 AM
This is a very cool idea. If you really wanted to switch things up, you could use Go, which is both more and less intuitive at a glance.

Lea Plath
2012-02-21, 11:48 AM
This is a very cool idea. If you really wanted to switch things up, you could use Go, which is both more and less intuitive at a glance.

I dunno, go I think would be more interesting for a political intrigue game.

gkathellar
2012-02-21, 11:53 AM
I dunno, go I think would be more interesting for a political intrigue game.

Why?FILLER

Jay R
2012-02-21, 02:03 PM
If the goal is to provide clues for the players, or even a visual representation that shows them what's going on, I would use chess.

Most D&D players wouldn't recognize liberty, gote, sente, atari, or a ko fight. But pretty much anyone knows that the figure with the horsehead is a knight and the ones with spheres are pawns.

When speaking to PCs, use a language they understand.

Lea Plath
2012-02-21, 06:40 PM
Why?FILLER

Well isn't go all about capturing enemy pieces by surrounding them?

gkathellar
2012-02-21, 06:48 PM
Well isn't go all about capturing enemy pieces by surrounding them?

Go is about coaxing your opponent into positions that are difficult to defend, while at the same time maintaining strong defensible positions. So, similar to Chess, but more visually intuitive, and more mathematically complicated.

Rorrik
2012-02-21, 07:26 PM
Go is about coaxing your opponent into positions that are difficult to defend, while at the same time maintaining strong defensible positions. So, similar to Chess, but more visually intuitive, and more mathematically complicated.

From that standpoint go seems like a much more flexible game than chess and perhaps better for this plan. It can more easily map the movements of the war the PCs are a part of, and if the game is already well advanced another piece or two laid by the PCs might take a while to take effect. No castles to blow up, just a figurative current standing of the battle.

But if the players are aloud to bend the rules, I'd go with chess.

jaybird
2012-02-23, 03:35 PM
Instead of worrying about the PCs making disallowed moves - run with it. Treat them as a completely unexpected factor in the calculations of either side, and thus either a group to be converted or eliminated. Places the PCs nicely in the centre of the story.

kaomera
2012-02-23, 07:21 PM
Warning: This may end up sounding like the ravings of a madman.
This is about the tenth or so time I've seen that title, and the first that I actually read it correctly as ''chess'' and not ''cheese''.