Ratero is a game of pickpockets operating in the City-State of Tempest, Tempest is similar to a Mediterranean 14th Century Port located at the cross roads to several great empires.
Having recently read the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch in which the central character starts as a very young lowly pickpocket and thief and also thanks to my local Costa Coffee which sells second hand books for charity, I got a copy of The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks, which again features gangs of pickpockets, scroungers and thief's, from which the central character wishes to escape, reading these got me thinking about a board game featuring these gangs and the areas they control, one of the books depicts scuffles between rival gangs, encroaching on the others territory.
In both of these books the gangs are led by a master or gang leader, in Locke Lamora the gang leaders have a double life, leading a semi respectable life in the eyes of the other citizens, while also being the leader of the gangs.
I started to think about how these ideas could translate into game play, what would be the main aims of the game, it was about this time that I got access to AEG's games designer toolbox for the City-State of Tempest, the era was spot on and the map of the City was just what was needed, as it is split into different districts, each with a different feel and look. The artwork on the site is excellent and has the right feel about it for Ratero.
Using the map and the districts I came up with the idea that each district would have its own rewards and dangers when it came to pickpocketing, operating in the slum areas, pickpocketing would of course be a lot easier, but the rewards would be a lot lower. But a pickpocket operating near the Canals and the Merchants would have a greater chance of some interesting rewards and wealth, however the City Watch operate in this area and the risks of carrying out a successful pickpocket attempt would be much higher.
Each player would play a gang leader like Vito Rossillio whom I posted a picture of in a recent post, Vitto has found himself living the life of a criminal, an expert lookout and very agile, he has a dislike for his fellow criminals and wants to distance himself from their activities, after a chance encounter with a couple of pickpockets he has decided to start his own gang, and profit from others without doing any of the hard graft himself.
Each gang leader will have a special ability that can be used during the game, there will be a choice of gang leader to play.
Each turn the gang leader will send out his pickpockets into various districts to help raise the wealth and influence of the gang.
Next time on the blog, further game play ideas and mechanics.
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