Biomes is in the prototyping stage as a board game. This allows me to rapidly design and test changes in the rules, simplifies my task in simulating the game, allows players to learn the game and play it faster, and also allows me to distribute current and past prototypes easily. If you would like to play Biomes, please feel free to download and print out the resources that are below. You can also visit my blog which has postings describing some of the process and prototypes that have been completed, as well as conclusions from these prototypes.
Current Prototype: 6.1
Biomes is a cooperative board game featuring exploration and deck building mechanics. The current prototype of Biomes is 6.1
Rules:
biomes_rules_6.1
biomes_boards_5.4 – out of date
Prototype History
Several older prototypes of Biomes exist. Feel free to look at and/or play these prototypes which are listed below. There are printable resources above which are largely backwards compatible.
Prototype 1.0
Prototype 1.0 was the very early iterations I played with myself. Average game length was about 15 minutes. No rules exist for this prototype as it was largely an ideation iteration and was not intended to be played by others. These iterations centered around the core mechanics of exploration, discovery, and collection but generally lacked an overall goal to the game.
Prototype 2.0
Prototype 2.0 was the first playable prototype of Biomes. This iteration introduced keys and an end goal of collecting enough keys to escape. The first tribes were also included, featuring a tribe which would steal from you every few turns (not rounds) and a friendly tribe which you could trade with to get secrets faster. Finally, this prototype included the first rules set for how to setup the game by stacking the decks of tiles and secrets. This prototype was played using Settlers of Catan pieces.
Prototype 3.0
Prototype 3.0 introduced various kinds of danger, tools to fight the danger, and began the differentiation of tile types. This was the first prototype to include the Roaming Gang, the Captured secret, death mechanics, mercenaries, lakes, farms, and a box of extra secrets.
Prototype 3.2 (3.1 was skipped)
Prototype 3.2 was the first iteration to have a board turn at the end of the round. Previously, enemy and ally cool-down simulations was done at the end of every player turn, but 3.1 changed this to be at the end of the round. This prototype also included the killer tribe variant which would attempt to destroy your secrets and gave you a carry capacity.
Prototype 3.3
Prototype 3.3 featured specialization of all tile types, enemies going berserk when the exit tile was found, a starting layout that included a starting farm, and one pile of tiles and one pile of secrets.
Prototype 3.4
Prototype 3.4 introduced the cool-down board to replace all of the die based cool-downs of previous prototypes and changed death to injury. This was the first prototype to have a printable set of rules.
Prototype 4.0
Prototype 4.0 introduced quests to the game, the buff system, new buff types, deserts, blacksmiths, tools, and simplification of the tiles and secrets to a stack of each tile type and box of secrets.
biomes_p4
biomes_printableSubBoards
Prototype 4.01
Prototype 4.01 was a quick iteration to optimize and clarify some of the largest problems from 4.0. In particular, it changed when quests would update from 1 random quest at the beginning of each player’s turn to all quests at the end of the board turn.
Prototype 4.10
Prototype 4.10 distinguishes between several minor quests and one major quest, changes keys into shields that are acquired in the minor quests to be used in the major quest, and adds several new secrets including a factory which allows you to produce various kits.
biomes_rules_4.10_final
biomes_secrets_4.10
biomes_boards_4.10
Prototype 4.2
Prototype 4.2 simplifies several mechanics such as stealing and battles, changes the roaming gang such that it is in all games and is not a quest, and consolidates exploration and discovery together.
Prototype 4.3
Prototype 4.3 simplifies a few more mechanics from 4.2 including carrying capacity, factories, buff applications, and some battle mechanics. 4.3 also re-arranges the rules to be more user friendly.
Prototype 5.0
Prototype 5.0 is a re-imagining of Biomes largely from the ground up. The game still features tiles but now features cards instead of secrets. In 5.0 players collect resources and spend them on actions such as exploring and excavating. Quests still exist but have been greatly altered to reflect the discovery based nature of the heart of Biomes.
biomes_rules_5.0
biomes_rules_5.0_rev – revised rules for 5.0 after 1 playtest
Prototype 5.1
Prototype 5.1 is the result of playtesting 5.0 a few times. The rules have been streamlined, clarified, and some excess rules have been removed.
Prototype 5.2
Prototype 5.2 features optimizations from 5.1. Players can no longer improve resources but get 2 resources for each resource built. 5.2 also features multiple types of quests, artifacts, and danger cards using a different subset of cards and quests in each game.
Prototype 5.3
Prototype 5.3 features several changes from 5.2 such as the removal of danger cost and movement cost, renaming build to harvest, and perishables. 5.3 also features reworked quests, artifacts, and danger cards.
Prototype 5.4
Prototype 5.4 has a slew of changes:
1. The Danger Level has been replaced by a 3 day timer (3 times through the danger deck)
2. Upgrading the base has been removed
3. Forests and Lumber have been removed
4. Artifacts are now called Powers
5. Excavate has been removed in favor of Buying Powers at quests
6. Players gain experience to upgrade their personal actions and resource draw per turn
7. Player boards help players track important information
8. Updated quests, Powers, and Danger cards
biomes_rules_5.4
biomes_boards_5.4
Prototype 6.0
6.0 introduced major story changes:
- The forge and dragon’s lair as the main quests
- Changing the number of quests to 6 with 4 needed to win
- Changing experience to prestige which is used to buy powers and upgrades
- Bringing lumber back for moving the base camp
- Requiring the base camp to interact with quests
- Starting the game with only the forge tile and no wall rules
- Reworking of most quests
biomes_rules_6.1
boards forthcoming