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Mr L F Braun wrote:
> > 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.)
Yes, thanks to the Animation folks for not needing their room. I think
we also gained one or two players who got suckered into the game instead
of playing with animation stuff... But you were a help on Friday. You
came up with a couple alternate palm ideas, and it seems you did some
work on pirate crews.
> > - 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!
One thing which helped keep up interest was a much smoother play, though
it did start to drag at the end (but then several folks were doing
suttling stuff at the same time).
> > - 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.
Well, beauty of the islands does help set a tone. But agree, the most
important thing is the game aspects, and that they be simple to run.
> 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.
If Chris could hold onto your cutters, that would be cool. I wonder if
we could get LD to donate a pirate set or two for prizes. With some
prizes dangling, we might be able to attract people to bring a ship MOC
or two. Next year I'll also scout out possible loaners from the Castle
room if we look short on bigger ships (also, in the future, I would like
to be able to leave my Wolfpack cutters in the Castle room - I could
have this year, except they were some of the few ships with sails).
> > - 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?
That might work. What needs to happen most is that island treasures are
worth enough to be worth spending time on islands instead of trying to
capture other ships.
> > - 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.
I need to contact them and find out what the costs are.
> > 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.
That may work out ok, though if that's done, then we definitely need a
way to pass through the wind without losing a turn (at least right now,
you can take a 90 degree turn through the wind at the beginning of your
turn). I need to look at some of my other sailing games and see how they
handle sailing rules.
> > 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!
Sure did, though it didn't seem to have much effect after the initial
problems... It might be interesting though to have some effect for
angering the gods...
> 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
Another reason we need effective chain shot rules. Chain shot doesn't
take down masts (though it can do serious rigging damage).
> 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!
There were several "null effect" men over board, your captain being one
of them.
Oh, another thing I really need to work out is beastie rules. If I'm
going to throw land beasts, they need definitive rules (I was letting
the gators save on a 1-4 on one die - I think that's easier than giving
them hit points).
Frank
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