by Samthere
When I first played KoT, I loved it, but two problems with it have stood out to me from even the first games:1) Dying is harsh but appropriate. However, the general feeling I've noticed isn't that the penalty for dying is unfair, but that it's often possible to die without having been able to make any decisions to stop it.
2) For a game that's all about getting into and smashing up Tokyo, it's far too easy to stay out of Tokyo and win by rolling VPs.
My solution (though the details are still under construction) is the following:
Instead of having 6 identical dice [BGCOLOR=#000000]123♥!≡[/BGCOLOR] (1 2 3 heart energy claw)
We have two different types of dice:
Destructive dice: [BGCOLOR=#CC5555]$$≡≡♥![/BGCOLOR]
Development dice: [BGCOLOR=#5555CC]♥♥!!$≡[/BGCOLOR]
The $ (which would be a star symbol) replaces the different victory point options, and acts like a 1. With the following dice pool mechanism, this balances out a little, making it easier to get some VPs from the dice, but less dramatically valuable.
Before a player's first roll on a turn, they must select which 6 dice they will use, but they are limited to a maximum of 4 of a particular type. Once they have decided, these dice are used for all the rerolls.
This gives a player greater control over their likely outcome, without taking away the element of chance, and makes being in Tokyo a stronger source of VPs.
Cards:
Certain cards that trigger off of dice results of 1 2 and 3 would no longer make sense. They would have to be altered on a case-by-case basis, sometimes referencing the dice type.
For example:
Freeze Time normally triggers off of [BGCOLOR=#000000]111[/BGCOLOR]. Instead, it would trigger off of "scoring off-colour VPS ([BGCOLOR=#5555CC]$$$[/BGCOLOR])" or "scoring VPs from dice with at least ([BGCOLOR=#5555CC]$$[/BGCOLOR])".
Complete Destruction would probably be something along the lines of "if your final roll includes ([BGCOLOR=#5555CC]$≡[/BGCOLOR][BGCOLOR=#CC5555]♥![/BGCOLOR]) score 5$ (or whatever amount) in addition to the normal effects".
Other cards would need their values adjusted, or effects considered.
With extra heads, perhaps the player chooses 7 dice with a max of 5 from one pool, or maybe they have the same pool limit unless they have 2 extra heads, or maybe the extra head dice are just d4s with ([BGCOLOR=#55CC55]$≡♥![/BGCOLOR]).
Alternatives:
Mixing up the symbols (currently attack pairs with VPs, heal pairs with energy) - if other pairings would make the game more exciting (or possibly if there were 4 dice types, each results paired with two, but this would likely get too complicated).
Also, to decrease the difference between the on- and off-colour dice, perhaps using a d10 would work, with 3 of each on-colour result and 2 of each off. This still provides the necessary element of choice, but without increasing the ability to roll what you want by quite as much.
Note:
At the moment this is just an idea. Suggestions, adjustments, comments, et cetera, are all very welcome.