Re: piecepacking pirates

["Clark D. Rodeffer" <clark@...>]

--- In piecepack@yahoogroups.com, "Emily" <emily.page@...> wrote:
> I have played and I think I am playing
> properly... although there are some spots
> in the instructions where I have to guess
> at what the proper thing is to do.

Thank you for trying my game, and I apologize if there are places in
the instructions that are unclear. Those are entirely my fault, but
you didn't say what was unclear. So if you have any questions, feel
free to e-mail me at clark AT redheifergames DOT com, or send me an
instant message. I'm also CDRodeffer on most of the popular ones (AIM,
MSN, Yahoo! and Google Talk), and am available most of the time
between 8 AM and 5 PM Eastern Time.

> I have already entered the disclaimer of
> being really horrible at games, I think...
> so this will come as no surprise to
> anyone... but I am coming out with like 3
> booty at the end.

I've played PPP many times, and I probably die within the first three
turns about a quarter of the time, even now. The dice are fickle, the
pirate's life is hard and short, and sometimes you just get unlucky
running into a big ship right off the bat. One thing I've been telling
beginners to try is, instead of rolling for booty, start the game with
12, then buy a sloop and three crew. This softens the first few turns
a bit.

That said, the game is still fairly chaotic, meaning similar initial
conditions can lead to wildly varying results after a few turns.
Retiring with only a few booty is possible, as is retiring with
hundreds. One player on the BoardGameGeek site reported an ending
score over 30,000 (with 80 buried booty and 48 on the ship and a
notoriety of 9). I consider myself very successful if I get a score in
four digits, but that's rare for me.

Anyway, thanks for trying my game, and I hope you enjoy it, even if
the enemy ships are brutal.

Clark