Oh my. After days of roaming the BGG website, I think I will rename it the GBBBG, the “Goddamn Bloody BGG” but I cannot complain too much: it exists for a long time, does the work of compiling the outpouring of any woman and man even remotely connected to board games and it was created in 2000. I am not sure computers existed at that time so kudos to the admins for completing this herculean task. I know UX didn’t exist then though, that’s for sure, and Jacob Nielsen is just a figment of your imagination.
Anyway and more importantly, GBBGG hosts the first contest we agreed to join. I mean, you did, Lovely Star, really. My design is so-so and you can find it here, if you feel so inclined as to have a laugh today: Zelazny’ Stairways.
The contest is the 9-cards (and 18 generic components) design one. “9” reminded me of Zelazny’s Amber cycles in which you follow a prince of the Amber’s kingdom battling his siblings to regain his crown while trying to end the spread of Chaos which threatens to destroy the world as he knows it.
Brothers and Sisters. BFFs.
The members of this loving and caring family are able to voyage through shadows of the only real world or kingdom, Amber. Earth as you know it, is only one of these shadows. As they walk, princes and princesses of Amber can alter their environment and little by little, arrive to a new shadow. Some shadows are deserts, empty of life. Others are full of diverse beings, some human-like and many not, but also of resources of various types. Zelazny uses this constraint to create conflicts in his books. For example, in Amber, gunpowder doesn’t work, but the prince we are rooting for found a shadow which produces the only powder that works as expected in the kingdom. An interesting point is that the path they use to move from Amber to one shadow must always be the same so in order to go back to that, for example, best-ever-pancakes-shadow, our hero and his family better have a good memory.
In the game, a competitive one for two players, you win by completing one of these two conditions:
- You bring back the crown to your base
- You remove every evil contamination from the game
The game is divided in two parts – first you create the world, second you complete one of the objectives. In the first phase, players mainly use cards. In the second phase, they use units they collected in the first phase (the cards do not move).
Mad World.
In Zelazny’ Stairways, 8 of the 9 cards are divided in 4 areas (representing road, field, prairie, water, sand, mountain and forest). Players add cards to the table (the game’s universe) by connecting them through common areas. So if a card on the table shows a “sand area” (simple picture of a pathway in the middle of a dune), you can connect to it a card you have in hands with the same “sand area”. You simply put the new card on top of the previous one so that they overlap on that common “sand area” only. The 9th card, the Castle, is an area that can connect to and be connected to every other area.
In essence, I wanted the (two) players to create a new game’s universe with each new game. Each of the images I used for the 7 areas (which I repeat semi-randomly on each of the 8 cards) show a path. The goal here was to show to players that they were not semi-gods able to sprout new worlds at will but that they were following a track leading to a discovery of existing places (that I called “Alternates”). Bonus point is that the units players will be able to collect in phase one will change from game to game.
To represent Chaos, each player receive 2 “fixers” and 2 “transponders”. Each time a player plays the first card of the two cards they receive (two is only possible as long as there are enough cards) for their turn, either a fixer or a transponder must be played on it. Fixers are the evil contamination of the world. The transponders allow players’ units to move faster and you can use yours’ or your opponent’s indistinctly. The first phase of the game ends as soon as every fixer and transponder as been placed.
I hope players will consider that as a source of engagement: how do I get the Castle closer to me? how do I allow my units the largest jump and ensure I can access any part of the game’s universe fast enough to counter my opponent’s actions? Am I making sure the fixers are closest to my enemy’s base than mine?
‘Source it.
Save for the Castle, each card shows one or more icons representing resources: soldiers, carriers, weapons, the Justice and the Crown. If a player puts down a card that shows icons on any other area than the one using for connecting, they can pick-up one resource represented by the icon(s) on the card. So if I connect a new card to a card with a “sand area”, and that “sand area” shows a weapon icon, I cannot take a weapon. However, if the weapon icon is displayed on any of the three others areas of the card I just played, I can take that weapon.
So once again I reached to the source. The mechanism described above for resources ties back to the books as different worlds give you different resources and you can only get so many resources by shadow/alternate. My Beautiful, please know that this limit is another (I hope) source of the players’ engagement: How to get a specific resource once these other cards have already been played on the table?
One unit of despair.
In the second phase, all players’ units start from the player’ table area. Yes, I mean where they put their hands when they rest them on the table. Units enter the game by the two areas closest to their owner’ seat. Again, that ties to the books and marching orders start somewhere in the shadows.
As usual in such games, different units move differently. Some units can carry other units making them more powerful, slower or allowing them to remove fixers. I am not interested by one player annihilating the other so the hope is that both players will aim for different things and, use the combat resolution system to set back the other while they pursue their own plan by either good tactic analysis or opportunities.
Losing combat means losing time: units drop what they carry and are sent back to their owner’s base. Hopefully, the transponders (if placed cleverly in phase one) allow the player to only lose that battle but still stay competitive. Dropped items can be picked up by your opponent’s units or yours if they move smartly and fast.
There are two special units or resources of importance:
- The Crown – bring it home and and win the game
- The Justice – walk through any area and remove fixers
Short-sightings and short-comings
I learnt a lot in a very short time. I’ll go with my list first. I know your game is already perfect as you are.
1 – Not starting early enough – one week working on this was not enough and it definitely shows in the rules, the realization, the testing. I have until tonight to check for typos in the rules but I would love to be able to change other things and make them at least clearer.
2 – Tests – A lot of prototype-testing (I tested alone). Definitely something I did a lot in the last days and I think the game rolls but it can be bumpy at times in phase two.
3 – Mechanism – I like the idea of recreating a new world each time. The more games you play, the better you will know the cards and what world works for you. However I am not that happy with phase two as it doesn’t flow as much as I wanted. I am not even sure how to make it better.
4 – Rules – I am clear when I explain it to other people. I am unable to translate it correctly in the written world. This is sometimes a struggle when writing a mail or a short-story but the systematic nature of a game didn’t seem that hard to write down. It is. Just check some of the content on GBBGG. Hard.
5 – Units differentiation – All units are common to both players, and they all have the same color. So if you have a courier and I have a courier, one of us might forget which is yours and which is mine. Probably me, ô Well of Wisdom.
6 – Inelegance – some game’s notions and concepts are not that clear and could have been cleaner. For example, where is each player’s base is a bit weak in my opinion.
7 – GBBGG and GDCR – I definitely find the site hard to use at times. At the same time some fellow board-gamers went through explaining what you have to do to enter a contest and why this and why that. Love them geekers.
Three wishes.
1 – The game is out!
2 – The game is out 🙂
3 – The game is out 😀
On top of that I have one like on GBBBG. From a very nice person who will not play the game. I got a like! I am so happy I feel like rolling on the floor and rubbing my belly with me nails.
Wonder. Wonder? Please tell me you got yours out in time too? Please paste the link here and I’ll have a look. I know how difficult it is to get someone to even only read your rules and even more to get someone to test. Currently, my game is untouched.
If you didn’t that’s fine. We got 4 more contests to aim for.
You and me, my anonymous sibling, you and me!
These Worlds Inside. 