In Want of Connections is a tabletop roleplaying game I collaboratively designed with a team during a two week sprint for an Introduction to Game Design course. Community, collaboration, and a touch of chaos serve as the pillars for the game, which is set in Regency-esque high society. Drawing upon the strong thematic background of this period, our game seeks to provide players with an ostentatious, slightly over-the-top playspace for humor coupled with a pinch of uproar.
Rather than playing as individual characters, players act as great families and collaboratively tell the story of the drama that ensues between the households—a story which ultimately ends in the families never being seen together in the same room again! Our game runs without a game master, or DM, and the story is prompted through cards which players draw at the start of their turn. My primary contribution to this project was designing and ideating on the three types of cards scaffolding the players' story: Development Cards, Introduction Cards, and Object Cards.
Gameplay occurs on a large, communal sheet of paper, with each player drawing out a family tree that represents the household they are in charge of. On their turn, players will choose to draw a card from the Development, Introduction, or Object Card piles. Development Cards foster relationships, both negative and positive, between characters or set the scene for a particular event that happens in the community. Introduction Cards allow players to create a new character who enters the community, expanding the world of the game and adding tot he collective playspace. Object Cards ground the story with concrete details and provide players with smaller narrative threads to craft and weave into their larger story. At the bottom of every card, a piece of flavor text is included that helps re-enforce the theming and tone of the game.
