Designer Notes ItM #6 - Asymmetric Factions

Hello Reader!

Have you ever played a board game where before the game starts, you randomly (or not randomly) pick out a character, group, or faction with special abilities, benefits, and starting resources? When all players do this, the game mechanic is called "asymmetric factions". It's something that I enjoy in board games very much. Yes, it's present in Into the Mountain and yes I'm developing an innovative twist on it. Let's first break down what's going on with this game mechanic...

Some games with asymmetric factions (War of the Ring, Root, Star Wars: Rebellion)

Benefits of asymmetric factions.

There are several positive impacts of asymmetric factions on game design.

• Replayability. If a game has asymmetric factions, there is a clear incentive for players to play it again. Last game you played with those guys, next time you may play with these guys! It'll be a new experience!

• Power. Players feel like the faction is making them more powerful. In board games players want to feel rich, they want to feel powerful, and they want to feel clever. Starting with an asymmetric faction addresses all 3 of these desires. Many factions grant you a benefit only for you when you execute some action. It makes you feel more powerful (in this thing) than the other players.

• Clever. I think that players feel "clever" when they may make "good" decisions (leading to them winning the game). If you have a faction, you also have an opportunity to play the strategy for this faction well. Because I did this, I was able to do that, which lead to all this.

• Interesting. This is similar to replayability, but a different shade. Imagine games like Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride. These are great and very popular games. If you're looking for a strategy game, chances are stepping up with asymmetric factions will lead to a more interesting gaming experience. Think about Terraforming Mars, Terra Mystica (Gaia Project), Star Wars: Rebellion, Scythe.

• Theme. If you can offer the players the chance to play as the characters or factions of the game's story, do it. Having asymmetric factions offers designers this important opportunity.

These benefits to the quality of the game design are quite palpable. These are all things that many players want in a board game. For many strategy games in the last 10 years, it feels like a near given that this mechanic comes with. When writing this, 8/10 of the top 10 board games on board game geek have this mechanic. Why wouldn't every board game include this mechanic?

Drawbacks of asymmetric factions.

There are some issues with gameplay, game experience, and game design revolving around asymmetric factions.

• Imbalanced. Inevitably, if the game has the cool experience of different factions, some will be statistically more likely to win than others.

• Complexity. This is tricky. You can have very simple games also with asymmetric factions. You can have very complicated games without asymmetric factions. I would argue, that adding this mechanic will still always bump up the complexity for the players and especially the complexity of designing and developing the game.

• Narrowness. What I mean by this is, when you receive your faction, you very likely have a much more narrow strategy than you did if all players had no factions. If there's a game about farming with planting, tending, and harvesting and a player has their heart set on the planting aspect of the game, but they receive the faction best at harvesting, that player will feel a good deal bummed out.

These 3 drawbacks are quite real. The good news is, designers have many tools to overcome these drawbacks. How does this come together with game design? What does this mean for the design of Into the Mountain?

Managing asymmetric factions in game design

I hope my readers are other game designers/developers, and board game enthusiasts interested in the behind the scenes. Honestly, writing these blogs helps me in my design and development process. I think for medium to heavy strategy games, asymmetric factions are a very welcome mechanic. How should a designer handle the drawbacks?

With all design, the largest role is through playtesting. Completing games provides more information about which factions are overperforming and underperforming. That being said, no matter how much playtesting is completed, after publication, the games people complete will skyrocket. So I suggest brainstorming some ways to counterbalance this before the game is published.

For a very heavy strategy, Twilight Imperium (4th ed.) it's very clear that the factions are not always fair. During the games if people are aware of this, they can and often do play more harshly against factions they believe to be stronger. Also, there is an optional method to set up the game, such that those advantages and disadvantages are more balance (it's called a Milty draft).

Another approach to the issue of imbalance is to just let it be. If the factions are somehow random, then there's just a factor of luck. Many, many games incorporate luck/randomness. That's part of the fun equation. It also generates memorable experiences.

Finally, there's the issue of narrowness. I'm ignoring the complexity drawback. If you want to market a medium or heavy game, don't worry too much about complexity. But if players are giving the feedback that they felt to constrained by the faction after playing your game, then you have an issue.

One solution is to design factions with situational powers, abilities, etc. If this certain seldom situation arises, then you get to do cool stuff. Personally, I'm pretty flexible about gaming, so I can live with this. In my game, Into the Mountain, this isn't really an approach I'm thinking about.

You can also just dial down the power of the factions. They benefit a little in a certain direction, but not too powerful. This allows the players to lean into a strategy which may be more likely to win and not feel they are losing out on their factions strengths.

Faction sheet for Into the Mountain version 3.1. You see the passive ability and the flag card.

I really enjoy writing about these design topics and I hope you enjoy reading. If you notice things you like reading or maybe things that make you tune out, let me know! Write me an email, write on social media (IG, FB), write me on Board Game Geek. I'll get into more details of the design of the factions in Into the Mountain in post #7.

Thanks for reading,

Kevin