Re: Mod Moons

["jdroscha" <jdroscha@...>]

--- In piecepack@y..., "Troy Holaday" <tholaday@g...> wrote:

> 1) added a hexboard.  Say what you will, but sliding tiles over 1/2
> a unit is not the same.  A beehive cell hex grid provides not only
> a hexboard, but it adds a triagonal board (played on the points). 
> This gives equidistant moves in three directions, something not
> possible with the tile-slide maneuver (note that if you are playing
> along a 'seam' - on a tile-slid board - you would have only three
> moves, but would have four from the center of any tile.

   Me confused.  With an offset square grid, you have six directions 
you can go from the center of a tile, just like hexes.  And thee 
directions you can go (though, as you point out, they are not 
equidistant) from any vertex.  I must be missing something.

   But if you're going to work from vertices, it looks like you may 
encounter a problem.  Namely, your coins and/or pawns will not 
comfortably fit on adjacent vertices.  Yes, no?

> 2) I changed the ace on the tiles to add the swirl icon, instead of
> having the moon show twice.  (I think the icon that means value=1
> and the icon that stands for a suit might be best kept separate -
> no matter what the 'tradition' is in playing cards.  Confusing
> these two means losing a layer of mechanics.)

   I don't see a problem with using a spiral for ace on tiles.  Ace 
tiles use suit symbols in the original set for three reasons.  First, 
they are easier to distinguish from across the table.  Second, they 
look more like traditional aces (and you will note that "traditional" 
is a strong thread through the whole piecepack design to increase 
possibility of ubiquity).  Third, so they match the dice (see my 
reasoning on suit symbols for aces on dice below).

   But, I have to say I don't see a difference mechanically.  The 
spiral means ace and the suit symbol means ace; they are mechanically 
interchangable in the context of piece values.  I.e., what rules can 
be constructed when there is a spiral on the tile that can't be when 
there is a suit symbol?  Just curious.

> 3) I did the same (changed the ace) on the die.  Hell, the dice are
> color-coded aren't they?  (The moons suit is not as apparent an
> example as one of the 'colored' suits would have been, but I didn't
> think of this ahead of time.)  I would make the same argument about
> aces I made in mod "2)", though now the dice aren't matched to suit
> by anything but color.

   This might cause difficulties for some folks.  The original 
piecepack design is color-blind friendly except for the pawns.  
Distinguishing the dice merely by color only exacerbates this problem.

> 4) I added direction markers to the face of the die.  Now they can
> be used as 'spin-down' pawns.  The 'robot' can move, indicate
> facing, and take damage.

   Sounds like a nice feature.

> 5) I added larger points to the center of the square grid tiles.

   What is the purpose here?

> 6) I added a 'front' marker (dot) to one side of the pawn.

   Seems problematic.  I would think a directional marker on a pawn 
would only be irritating unless it were on the top of the pawn where 
everyone can see it from their angle.

   Happy to see you inspired.  I encourage you to construct a set to 
your liking, play with it extensively, report your findings to the 
group.

--James