Some of the ideas that I have had already:
Each hero has six attributes: Attack, Smarts, Persuade, Defense, Stealth, and Will. Each encounter (villian or obstacle) has most of these attributes. For example, a mysterious phone call wouldn't have and Attack or Defense rating. There's little to gain from shooting your phone in frustration.
The game starts with a grid of cards, all face down. The Boss is at the top-centre of the gird. Your party can enter from either bottom corner. Defeating encounters opens up the encounters adjacent to them, eventually making a path to the Boss.
When you first uncover an encounter, one of your party members sneaks in. You roll a die for your hero and one for the encounter, adding their Stealth skills. If the hero gets a higher score, they can choose to either go first or retreat if it is too dangerous. If the encounter has a higher score, they go first.
Who ever goes first can either Attack, Outsmart or Persuade the opponent, so long as the opponent has a Defense, Smarts or Pursuade skill. Roll a die each for the hero and encounter, adding their skill. If the attacker/outsmarter/persuader rolls higher, the opponent gains a Strike. If an encounter has as many Strikes as they do Will, they are defeated and the party gains experience points stated on the card. If a hero gains Strikes equal to 3 times their Will, they give up on their mission and leave the party.
For example:
Warrior Att: 4, Sma: 2, Per: 1, Def: 3, Ste: 2, Wil: 4
Zombie Att: 3, Sma: 1, Per: –, Def: 4, Ste: 0, Wil: 2, Exp: 2
The Warrior walks to the card, not knowing what it is. Turning it over, he makes a Stealth roll: rolls 2 + 2 Ste = 4, Zombie rolls a 5 + 0 Ste = 5. Zombie goes first.
Zombie attacks and Warrior defends. Zombie rolls 3 + 3 Att = 6, Warrior rolls 5 + 3 Def = 8. No Strike is made.
The Warrior thinks. He can't persuade the Zombie because they can only follow their master's orders. He could attack it, but the zombie's defense is just as good. The zombie being stupid makes outsmarting it the best option. The warrior rolls 4 + 2 Sma = 6, the zombie rolls 4 + 1 Sma = 5. The zombie takes a Strike. Only one more Strike against the zombie is needed to defeat it (2 Wil). The zombie now has another go... When the Warrior finally defeats the Zombie, the party will gain experience as shown of the card. Some cards also reward you with treasure. Now there is up to three more cards available to travel to adjoining this one.
When the party has enough experience, each character gains a pre-determined skill point (in the Warrior's case, Attack, because the card says so) and a special ability. With the Big-Boss being such a tough opponent, your party will need all the equipment and experience they can get to defeat them.
This is just the beginning of ideas for the game.
