| |
Thanks for the fast writeup, Frank! And thanks again
for running such a great game. I think having a few
people around who could handle the "normal" activities
of movement and combat meant that when one of us was
near contentious happenings, we could handle it ourselves
(as I did in our little spate of combat over by the Pirate
Island).
In lugnet.fun.gaming, Frank Filz writes:
> Well, I didn't take many pictures, and I don't think we had a web cam in
> the room, so I won't be able to do a turn by turn re-cap of the game, so
> I'll just free associate about the game...
I took some, but they were all turns 15-17 (see my email to
you from Sunday). I can put them up on Brickshelf later
this week.
> First off, as has been mentioned before, this was absolutely the best
> game we have played so far. Some contributions to this were:
>
> - We were able to setup Friday night.
And we were able to change rooms, very important indeed!
Unfortunately I was not a lot of help, for which I feel
badly. (And I forgot sails and rig for my cutters, oi.)
> - Almost all of the participants were able to play the whole game.
That was definitely a strength--and that very few got
really discouraged by adversity; Jason Mantor in particular
was especially fun because his mood never soured, and he
picked up a new cutter and soldiered on!
> - I really simplified island play. Instead of having major scenario
> islands, most islands just had some buried treasure, or a stranded
> pirate or two or three. The most time spent on any island was about 5
> turns (3 separate islands). None of those islands required heavy
> interaction with me.
I think this has proven that the system for the islands is
more important than the beauty of the islands--and I liked
the card idea you broached during the weekend.
> - With more treasure to be had on the islands, several folks made it
> into port to sell captured ships and treasure and buy more gear or
> better ships.
>
> Some things which may not have gone so well:
>
> - The only larger ships were three class 2 ships I brought. We were
> severely lacking when Scott Quirk (?) got a big treasure haul.
I'll take the lumps for that. I had the most stuff at home
to build larger ships, and I ran out of time (my bad time
management) before Fest. If I'd been thinking, I would at
least have pulled together the fixings for some Armada Flag-
ships.
Next year, of course, I won't be in-country at all; if anyone
wishes I can loan my cutters to someone (say Chris) and/or my
hull pieces and island plates so they may be used next year.
> - I probably made gems a little too valuable (they were word 1d6x10
> gold, if a 6 was rolled, they were worth 1d6x100 gold, and if yet
> another 6 was rolled, they were worth 1d6x200 gold).
I noticed this; maybe make the steps x10/x20/x40/x80 or
some slightly lower exponential?
> - We didn't have enough range sticks. A combination of the K-8 not being
> out Friday, and the sparseness of it meant we had to improvise a bit. I
> am thinking about having some 2x4s engraved with numbers to use for
> making some range sticks.
Do you think the HPT guys would allow a bulk discount? I'd
be happy to put in $5-$10 for my own range stick. If you
want to take up a Pirate Game materials collection, let me
know.
> - We were almost short of island material, though Lindsay came up with a
> couple clever ways to use all the palm tree bits Chris had brought
> amongst which was only a single palm tree fork. Duplo 2x2 bricks
> actually worked out to make nice little rocks (which tended to not be
> very interesting, though one chain made a handy way for some pirates to
> swim from one island to the next, and reduce the chance of attracting
> sharks).
A couple of the building ideas we came up with shall become
standard for me, I think! The Duplo bricks did work well,
and the hopping pirate trick was one of the highlights of
the game--pirates chasing their ship.
> - NPC ships are just a pain, I suspect this is one reason Steve runs
> only battle games now. I put Lindsay in charge of one of the merchants
> at one point. Actually, I think neither merchant really did much (except
> the 2nd one got a good shot on Larry), though the 2nd one may have been
> captured near the end (the 1st got off almost unscathed, despite sailing
> right at Shiri...). The Islander catamaran wasn't too much of a pain to
> run because it didn't last long.
I had only started playing the 2d merchant when we broke up the
game for the evening. However, I was clearly doomed, being in
the middle of the Aaron/Scott/Shiri Combined Fleet.
> I'm thinking that most islands should be small (the 16x16 printed
> islands work great, but a few built up islands like the shrine or
> Strawberry Island [built from about 10 Duplo bricks - this provided
> cover for Larry once] would be nice also). The larger islands are harder
> to deal with since they can take several turns to explore. The island we
> used as a pirate base turned out to also provide some separation of the
> ocean which worked well.
I liked the tricky navigation. The idea of having some spaces
where a cutter can pass but not a class 2 or 3 or more is a
good one! I did, however, think that we needed to cut down
"free moves" from 2 points on the compass to one at the start
of a move.
> When Scott realized he wasn't going to be able to crew all the ships he
> had to buy to spend his money, he negotiated with Shiri and (?) who were
> not in the best of shape. They helped crew his ships and the combined
> armada stood a good chance of sweeping the ocean had we more time. Of
> course Chris Weeks and Larry had joined in common cause, and Kai was
> potentially going to join them, which would have made it a close fight
> (but still with the advantage to Scott's fleet).
(?) = Aaron Sneary.
> The time Kai knocked his ship over and sent two crew flying. Followed
> shortly by knocking the top of the mast off.
And hit it with the range stick, and again, and again. He angered
the statue gods!
> Lindsay and (?) capturing one ship, starting to tow it home, and then
> the other player back stabbing Lindsay just as Scott's fleet was about
> to set sail.
I think it was Nick Greene. The owner of said ship, whose captain
got duly plugged and sent to Davy Jones's Locker, was Jason Mantor
(still the game's best sport, as far as I'm concerned). He also
put his captain overboard thanks to a bad brush of the hand.
The worst part was on the last turn of the ship's life, when I
shot my cannon in hopes of killing a crewman and instead took down
the mast (after missing horribly for such a long time). Then,
when Nick backstabbed me and my crew was in disarray, I still
came out on top thanks to "saved luck." :D
And, of course, I knocked my own captain into the sea just as
my ship went into port to escape the Combined Fleet. A good
time was had by all!
best
LFB
|
|
Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | The Pirate Game at BrickFest 2002
|
| Well, I didn't take many pictures, and I don't think we had a web cam in the room, so I won't be able to do a turn by turn re-cap of the game, so I'll just free associate about the game... First off, as has been mentioned before, this was absolutely (...) (22 years ago, 24-Jul-02, to lugnet.gaming, lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.pirates)
|
15 Messages in This Thread:
 
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
This Message and its Replies on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
