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Re: [piecepack] Re: Fwd: Good Portsmanship contest results

On 3/19/07, Clark D. Rodeffer <clark@...> wrote:

Hey! Congratulations to Gary, Mike & Steve, and all the rest. This
sounds like a fun crop of games, and I can hardly wait to get to play
them.

> 6. Take Off, Eh!, a port of El Grande, by Clark
> Rodeffer. [...] However, mechanics count too, and
> the mechanics to this game need more playtesting.
> One game of TOE! was enough to show there are some
> serious things wrong.

Ron, thanks! I'd very much like to take you up on your offer of more
detailed feedback and chat with you off-list about the mechanics,
rules and how they might be improved.


You're welcome. Take Off, Eh! is a funny, funny game. I have a little
bit more feedback below.


> In our game, for various reasons, the Queen hardly
> moved at all. Imagine if the King never moved in
> El Grande -- it would be a static, anticlimactic
> disaster for all players. [...]

I agree. In the next version of the rules, I plan to test the idea
that moving the queen is not optional, that she must move to a new
province if a crown tile is taken. After all, no one says, "No," to
the queen.


Well, the main problem in our game was that the majority of the
Queen's tiles got built into the board at the begiinning of the game
and therefore couldn't be used! Ouch!

Doesn't the King move pretty much every turn in El Grande? One of the
best suggestions from the playtesters was that the Queen should move
_every_ turn, and that instead of drawing a Crowns tile to determine
minimum distance to move, you should roll the Crowns die. What do you
think?


I admit that long-winded rules are one of my weaknesses. I'd love to
chat with you and/or anyone else who played the game about suggestions
on how the rules can be made more succinct, yet get everything across.
A player aid card would almost certainly help, but doing something
like that in Markdown would be a challenge. Thoughts or suggestions?


Well, more noters later. You don't have to have the rules in Markdown
any more, but for the contest, you could have included a separate file
or two, preferably with graphics for the suits, such as the face of a
coin.


> Everyone who played agreed the game was fixable,
> however, and we have several suggestions.

Please send the suggestions my way! Thanks again for playing Take Off,
Eh!, and I want to make it as good as it can be.


OK, will do, Clark!

Now back to looking for my glasses...

Ron

--
   Ron Hale-Evans ... rwhe@... ... http://ron.ludism.org/
Mind Performance Hacks book: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mindperfhks/
	   Center for Ludic Synergy: http://www.ludism.org/
(revilous life proving aye the death of ronaldses when winpower wine has
		   bucked the kick on poor won man)