Re: [piecepack] "Time Marches On" Winner

[Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe@...>]

On Mon, Apr 01, 2002 at 07:31:41PM -0000, jdroscha wrote:

> I chose [trumpet 
> fanfare] "Kidsprout Jumboree" as my favorite (and therefore the 
> winner).
> ...
> KIDSPROUT JUMBOREE
> Comments: This would be worth playing even without the Excuses, but 
> they really do make the game.

Thanks!  The story behind these is that I already had the basic
mechanics down for the game (playing Sprouts to the center of the
table, scoring with the Schedules, etc.), but it was too much a simple
Hols der Geier/Beat the Buzzard type of game.  I thought about what I
could do to enliven the simple coin-contest with some strategy and/or
tactics, considered what components I had left to work with (basically
two spare tiles per player) and fairly quickly came up with the
mechanic of playing Ace and 2 tiles on yourself and other players.
Then I racked my brains for what must have been a couple of hours,
trying to find a thematic rationale for this mechanic.  I brought it
to Marty and she said immediately, "Those have got to be excuses, and
I think it would be really funny if you had to make up a real excuse
every time you played one."

> Fun theme, well intertwined with the mechanics.  Quick to play, easy
> to remember, good dose of luck, fair helping of tactics.

Thanks!

> Suggestions: I would like to see more variety in the Activities.  I 
> suggest one of two methods... 1) one chart for each die color, vary 
> the time needed for activities (rather than merely matching the die 
> roll), and allow the Leaping Buck (or Rutting Buck, as I am wont to 
> label) which color/chart to roll against; or 2) just keep the die 
> roll for # of hours as it is now but skip the chart and let the Rutt, 
> er, Leaping Buck "make up" the activity name.

Great idea.  We are leaning toward having a list of suggested
activities for each die roll, but allowing the Leaping Buck to make
one up if they please, thereby having it both ways.

> Why?  Because I like to relate the Excuse directly to the Activity,
> and more variety would provide further meat for the grinder (or
> somesuch metaphor).

Yeah, the idea of relating Excuses to Activities came as a surprise in
playtesting, but too late for us to include it in the contest version.
We'll add a hint to this effect in the next version.

> Also, the rules could more clearly state that each round is not so
> much progressing through the day as it is progressing through the
> day planning.  That is, the action takes place perhaps the night
> before (or the morning of), and the SproutMeisters are filling their
> dayrunners.

Heartily agreed.  We clarified this verbally to our playtesters but
again did not have time to put it in the contest version.

Another thing that needs to be clarified: some of our playtesters were
confused and thought they were making Excuses for their Sprouts:
"Little Johnnie has the Mesopotamian Flu", etc.  You are really
playing Excuses for yourself _on_ the Sprouts.  Exactly why _your_
having the Mesopotamian Flu should make your own Sprout look younger
or someone else's look older needs to be carefully explained...

Ron

p.s. Marty just joined the list.  Hi, Marty!

-- 
         Ron Hale-Evans ... rwhe@... & rwhe@...
           Center for Ludic Synergy, Seattle Cosmic Game Night, 
Kennexions Glass Bead Game &  Positive Revolution FAQ: http://www.ludism.org/
Home page & Hexagram-8 I Ching Mailing List: http://www.apocalypse.org/~rwhe/