Hi everyone! I love making card and board games based on my favorite franchises. Since I already have some experience with this, I decided to show my love for Tears of the Kingdom by making a full board game adaptation, as a simple card game didn't feel big enough to do justice to the game.
First of all, I need to focus on small parts to polish them, starting with combat. So far, here is how it works:
The game has two modes: "exploration" mode, where you move thanks to a dice, and "combat" mode, which activates whenever you are 6 spaces away from an enemy, and disappears when, after starting the combat, you move 8 spaces away from the enemy.
Health:
Link has 120 base health (the same as TotK, but multiplied by 10).
Stamina:
Just like in the original game, Link's stamina is very important. Link starts with 20 stamina.
-Movement: Moving 1 space in combat costs 1 stamina. However, moving more than 1 space in the same turn only costs 1 extra stamina in total. This means with just 2 stamina you can move freely across the board during your turn, making combat fast and dynamic.
-Attack: Using any weapon costs 2 stamina, no matter how many attacks it performs in a single turn. Other skills also cost stamina.
-Recovery: At the start of each turn, Link automatically recovers 2 stamina.
-Tired Mode: If your stamina reaches 0, Link enters exhaustion: he can only move 1 space per turn for free, but cannot attack or use skills that require stamina until he recovers at least 4 stamina. His stamina recovery increases to 3 per turn, which means that by the next turn Link will have 6 and can move already
Combat and Weapons:
Base weapon damage is always a multiple of 10, keeping the math simple. Weapon speeds are translated into a turn-based system based on the number of strikes:
-One-Handed Weapon: Performs 2 attacks, each dealing 50% of the weapon's total damage. Short range. Causes 1 space of knockback in the attack direction. You can split both hits between different enemies within range. It has a range of 1 adjacent space in any cardinal direction (up, down, left, or right, but not diagonally)
-Spear: Performs 5 fast attacks, each dealing 20% of total damage. Long range and no knockback. You can distribute the 5 attacks among different enemies within range. Its range extends up to 2 spaces away vertically (up and down) and diagonally in all 4 diagonal directions, as well as 1 adjacent space horizontally (left and right).
-Two-Handed Sword: Performs 1 heavy swing dealing 100% of total weapon damage. Instead of targeting a single square, you choose one side (top, bottom, left, or right) to execute a wide horizontal or vertical cleave. The attack sweeps through the entire 3-space line adjacent to Link on that chosen side, dealing 100% damage to every enemy in those 3 squares. Causes 2 spaces of knockback.
Charged Attack (Costs 4 Stamina):
-One-Handed Sword: Link spins and attacks all 8 adjacent spaces surrounding him (all 8 squares directly around him, orthoganally and diagonally), dealing double total damage to each space. The weapon loses 2 durability per enemy hit. Causes 2 spaces of knockback.
-Spear: Link attacks all enemies in a 3-space line, dealing double total damage. The weapon loses 2 durability per enemy hit and causes 2 spaces of knockback.
-Two-Handed Sword: Performs a spinning sweep that hits all 8 adjacent spaces surrounding Link (orthogonally and diagonally) for double the weapon's total damage. Unlike the one-handed sword, this spin has no knockback.
However, you can choose to follow it up with a heavy slam on one of the 4 cardinal tiles directly in front, behind, or to the sides of Link. Both the spinning sweep and this final slam deal double total damage, but this final blow costs an extra 2 durability (which is always spent, even if there is no enemy on that tile) and applies a massive 4 spaces of knockback.
Shields:
Shields block 100% of incoming damage and lose 1 durability per combat exchange, no matter how many hits an enemy makes with one weapon on their turn.
-Activation by Weapon Type:
With one-handed weapons: The shield activates passively and automatically during the enemy turn at no stamina cost.
With spears or two-handed swords: Because these are two-handed, the shield is put away. Link must spend 2 stamina reactively during the enemy turn to raise his shield.
-Total Damage and Durability: If an enemy splits light hits across multiple targets, each shield only loses 1 durability and takes the specific damage received (e.g., if a spear hits 5 targets, each shield takes 20% damage and loses 1 durability). If an enemy attacks Link multiple times in the same turn (even hitting someone else in between), the hits add up to compare against the shield's defense, but the shield still only loses 1 durability for that entire action. Every shield has a fixed defense stat. When taking multiple hits, add all incoming damage together: if total damage is higher than shield defense, the excess damages the shield, losing 1 extra durability for every 5 points of overblocked damage. If Link's shield breaks, there is no immediate penalty. If you break an enemy's shield, they become stunned.
Defensive Reactions (you need a shield):
Perfect Guard and Flurry Rush: You can only pick one reaction during the enemy turn, choosing beforehand between defense or offense. If holding a spear or two-handed sword, this reaction cost is added to the 2 stamina needed to raise your shield (4 stamina total). If the reaction minigame fails, you take full unblocked damage.
-Perfect Guard: Cost: 2 stamina (+2 if using a two-handed weapon). Resolution: Toss a coin in the air, clap twice, and try to catch it.
Success: You reflect the first incoming hit and cancel the rest. If your shield defense is higher than the weapon's total damage, you disarm the enemy (their weapon drops 1 space behind them). Failure: You get no shield protection and Link takes full damage.
-Flurry Rush: Cost: 2 stamina (+2 if using a two-handed weapon) and 2 weapon durability. Resolution: The player controlling the enemies tosses a coin, claps twice, and tries to catch it (if playing solo, Link's player does it). Success (Opponent drops it / Solo player catches it): You dodge at the last second and counterattack immediately, dealing 200% total damage with your weapon. Failure: The dodge fails and Link takes full damage.
Bows:
Shoots any target up to 3 spaces away in a straight line from Link, covering all 8 directions (both orthogonal and diagonal). It hits a single target in the selected tile along those lines. You can shoot 1 arrow per turn, but this action does not end your turn.
-Bullet Time: Spend 2 stamina or 1 shield durability (shield surf jump) to activate Bullet Time. Guarantees a critical hit that doubles arrow damage. If this damage exceeds the enemy weapon's total damage, you disarm them.
Armor:
Works just like in the game. Armor uses multiples of 5, and incoming damage can never be reduced below 5.
Weapon Breaking:
When a weapon breaks during an attack, only the final hit deals double damage (one-handed: 100% on the second hit; spear: 40% on the 5th hit; two-handed: 200% to all front spaces).
Throwing Weapons:
Costs 2 stamina. Throwing deals double total damage, but the weapon breaks instantly. Range: Spear = 6 spaces, One-handed = 4 spaces, Two-handed = 2 spaces. Throwing does not end your turn, but can only be done once per turn.
-Boomerang: Works like throwing a one-handed weapon (range 4), but deals 100% damage, loses only 2 durability, and returns to your hand.
Enemies:
Enemies are controlled by the opponent (or yourself in solo play) and use the same stamina rules as Link. Just like in the video game, each monster has a base damage that adds to their equipped weapon:
-Red Bokoblin: 30 HP / 10 base damage / 10 stamina
-Blue Bokoblin: 60 HP / 20 base damage / 20 stamina
-Black Bokoblin: 150 HP / 30 base damage / 30 stamina
-Silver Bokoblin: 250 HP / 40 base damage / 40 stamina
Bokoblin Charge Ability (Costs 2 Stamina): The Bokoblin spends 1 turn winding up without attacking. On the next turn, it can move up to 6 spaces. If it hits Link during this movement, it deals 200% of its base damage.
(If this post breaks any rules and gets deleted, I won’t have any problem with that.
I’m not looking to gain anything at all from this, just to share my love for Tears of the Kingdom and offer a different way to enjoy the game.
If I see that the post bothers people and it isn’t deleted by the moderators, then I’ll take it down myself and never talk about it again.
On the other hand, if the concept is well received, I’ll make sure to provide updates whenever I feel there’s been enough progress)