Character Interaction
One area of development that we wished we could have pursued more with the original game was direct interaction between characters in play. How could a Farmer go to the Merchant to buy something that would ultimately benefit them both? After a few starts and stops, we decided that the content we wanted to create was outside of the original scope for the core box, so we put it on a shelf for a later date.
The later date has arrived! Fulfilling the first run of Mythwind has been very satisfying, and many players have shared the same wish for interaction between players. Now that we’ve got some more time to tackle the problem leading up to the second print run, we’ve had some fresh ideas on incorporating character interactions into Mythwind with the Friends & Family expansion.
At its core, it is quite simple: Each character can visit another character during the town action phase. Each character has a unique ability that players can interact with.
In this example, the Ranger visits the Farmer to purchase tended strawberries. They take the strawberry, place it in their crop storage (on the card), and can spend it during an expedition to perform the Divert Path action.
When the Farmer visits the Crafter, they pay 2 coins plus the Crafter’s reputation level to commission the Crafter with a unique request card. The crafter completes the request as usual, and the farmer benefits by upgrading a skill by one level and receiving an equipment action for free! The Crafter keeps the fulfilled request and has an opportunity to boost their reputation.
We are so excited about these types of interactions where players can directly help and benefit each other by using each character’s unique abilities.
To set up the character interaction, each character takes the reference cards for all other characters in play. So, if there are three people playing the Crafter, Ranger, and Farmer, the Crafter would take the Crafter’s Ranger and Farmer reference card (as each character has a unique way of interacting with each other character).
When we release more characters in the future (not during this campaign), they will all include character interaction cards for every other character!
Villagers
The character interaction element could warrant its own expansion, but we wanted to make Friends & Family even more content-rich. It will also include 12 inter-actable villagers, each with four levels of friendship cards and an alternative building.
When you construct one of the new alternative buildings (many with fresh new abilities), the villager comes into play on the newly added community board.
Socialise
When a character uses a building associated with a villager on the community board, you will perform the socialize action after all characters resolve their town actions (including the building action).
The socialize action is a big town party, and everyone's invited! All of the villagers who had their building used will attend, and any character in play can also show up.
During the socialize action, characters can bring any number of hired villager dice for a communal roll. The more the merrier! If the roll is equal to or higher than the value on the villager card (varied by player count). If it is, add a heart token to the villager card. The friendship level increases when there are enough hearts, providing you with a new story segment to discover.
Partners
After increasing the friendship level to the partner level, you now unlock a special ability that is available when you socialize with this character (instead of the socialize action). It's a nice little boost to whatever building they are affiliated with!
Marriage
What’s a town full of people without a little love and romance? Certain villagers will be eligible for marriage after reaching the partner friendship level. You’ll need to pay for an expensive wedding but will be rewarded by having access to your spouse’s partner ability with the use of a hired worker.
Children
There may even be an opportunity to have a child arrive at your front steps after you are married!
If you have a child, you will be given a unique die that is rolled at the start of every turn. The children die is usually good, providing an extra sprite or villager dice action for you to use, but sometimes the child will cost you a coin or just do nothing! Why do kids eat so much?!
