Re: [piecepack] piecepackplus

[Thorn <edt@...>]

Ron Hale-Evans wrote:
> 
> I don't remember anyone else mentioning this.  It's interesting in
> light of the other recent efforts to expand the piecepack:
> 
>   http://www.freewebz.com/gamesbook/ppp/ppp.htm
> 
> Comments?

I found this site during my first 'search for everything piecepack'
phase.

Then, I thought it seemed like too much, more of an answer to 'what
_else_ can I paste on?' than to 'what else do I need?'.

Now...  <going back to read it again...>

I still think so.  Without rulesets or a source, the page reads to me
like a list of kit for the ultimate drumset, including four kinds of
sticks, a high hat, etc, that's standing gathering dust.

Meanwhile, the original piecepack spec inspires.  It may be just an old
oatmeal tub, but we sure can dance to it.  :)

PP+ is fine, if it stands alone.  But the very name begs comparison, and
invites confusion.  It sounds like it's 'more piecepack' but it breaks
the prexisting spec.

I guess the questions we should ask ourselves before modifying 'the
spec' (which I certainly don't feel _I_ have any right to do, anyway)
are these:

Does it (the change) in any way remove any existing function?  If so,
don't make the change.  This one's binary.  Don't break it.

Does it add something folk will use?  How often?  Could they manage
elsewise?  How easily?  For instance the proposed hex grid on the
numbered face of the tiles...  If it had been there, I would have used
it when I wrote Wand of Odin.  I can see using individual tiles with the
'three-seater' hexgrid as 'vehicles', or 'islands'.  I can see laying
out labyrinths for dungeon-like explorations.  And I _don't_ see any
easy way a user could replace the hexgrid function on the fly.  (And
also worth noting, they can't very easily recover from having the
'wrong' kind of piecepack; if they don't have hexes, and rules call for
them, they're stuck.)  Unlike the PP+ plans for adding counting tokens,
the hexgrid tilefaces aren't neatly obviated by the presence of note
paper.

I think the PP+ page best serves the piecepack community as a signpost,
warning us not to go there.

One good thing about PP+: it uses the relatively standard symbols of
playing card suits and a 'star', which as the author observes, spares a
maker from scrounging for graphics.