2011 November 30 » UnderDiscussion

Game Night Blog Carnival: Discworld

Nov 302011

Welcome to the new Game Night Blog Carnival! This is a feature we’re doing once a month with a few other RPG blogs. If you have an RPG blog, and would like to participate, check out the FAQ at the main Game Night page.
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When a game is based on a specific property, the theme is frequently just pasted on. This is not the case with Discworld: Ankh-Morpork. Discworld: Ankh-Morpork is a four player game by Treefrog Games and Mayfair Games. Discworld is based on Terry Pratchett’s series of novels of the same name. I have read several of the novels and as I read the rules for Discworld: Ankh-Morpork I could tell that the game was designed around the source material. The game is mostly about controlling areas of the twin cities of Ankh and Morpork but that is not necessarily the winning condition. Each player is dealt a card with one of seven people vying for control of the city on it. Each of these personalities has their own winning condition, though three of them are basically the same. The personalities winning condition make sense based on the characters in the book. These personalities are kept secret so that part of the game is trying to figure out who your opponents are while masking who you have been dealt.

Game play is pretty simple with most of the complexity being in the blocking of opponents actions while accomplishing your goal without giving away who you are. That means that means most people won’t be taking a straight forward approach. Each turn you play one card from your hand and do what it says to do. Then you draw back up to five cards. About as simple as it gets. The game ends when someone announces that they have met the victory condition or the draw deck runs out. If no one has managed to win when the deck runs out then there is a point system to determine the winner. Area control is represented on the board with wooden pawns of minions and buildings. There are a few other types of pawns depending on events that can occur during the game. There is also an interesting mechanic called “trouble”. A black trouble marker is placed into an areas of the city when a minion is added to an are where there is already a minion. “Trouble” effects what can be done in that particular area and figures into the winning condition for one of the characters.

Having a building in an area of the city allows a player to have access to the special ability of that particular area. Each area can only have one building on it. Buildings count for establishing control of an area as well. Control of an area is determined by who has the most bits of wood on it.

The game itself looks wonderful. The art on the board and cards is very good. The wooden pieces are well made and it is obvious what represents what. The only thing missing is four elephants and a turtle to hold the board up.

I enjoyed this game because it is simple to play but requires canny decision making and some deduction work to figure out who may be who. When we played we successfully managed to keep each other unclear of our identities. It is vital for everyone playing to understand the victory conditions for each personality so no one gives the game away. I recommend the game for less casual board gamers since it requires constant attention to what the other players are doing. There is definitely a hose the other guy element to the game. I highly recommend this for board gamers who are also fans of Pratchett’s work. The game is more fun when you get the jokes.
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The next stop on the Game Night Blog Carnival is Glimm’s Workshop. Be sure to check out the main page of the Game Night Blog Carnival!

Random Quotes Wednesday: 11/30

Random Quotes No Responses »

Nov 302011

I’ve survived the horror that is Black Friday again this year. To celebrate I’m giving you twice the quotes for the same low price!

I’d contacted the Vatican in reference to your possible canonization. They reminded me that you ain’t dead yet … but it’s the thought that counts, right?
fuck this station. I’m going to weld people into lockers until I get kicked out.

A long time ago, I was taught all the ins and outs of being a good DM/GM by an older player, who gave me plenty of guidelines to work by. One of my favorite of his guidelines was this: unless a player gives you reason to believe he is going to act like an asshole, it’s safe to assume that a player isn’t going to act like an asshole. If you’re afraid that he’s going to hog all the face-time, let him know. He’ll probably make an effort to be an equal part of the story, rather than a greater part. Unless he has a history of douchebaggery, there’s no particular reason to watch what he does. If he starts being a douchebag about it, you can fix it mid-campaign and solve the problem.

It isn’t realism, it’s verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
“You are going off the reservation with this… are you sure you want to?”

At this point we follow an ancient elven warrior proverb, it sounds better in elvish I swear.
“Run away, come back, and burn the place down.”

“What the fuck? They destroyed our homeworld in like a year, and they’re still down there somewhere like dread fucking Cthulhu, what more evidence do you need?”
Interesting how the unsavory behavior is considered acceptable when it’s being done, but is harmful when exposed. The leaks are not causing the harm. It’s the activities that led to the leaks that are the real problem.
What would Hercules do? When confronted with a task beyond the ken of mortals or gods, change the rules of the game.
Masterwork items are essentially just well-made. They are not the equivalent of a damascan-steel katana forged over the heat of a rare slow-flowing lava river over the course of 3 years by a master weaponsmith at the culmination of his career.
But in a world of mad science and fucking unionized supervillains, you might want to take the guy who claims to have magical powers at his word.
Best to avoid things that do nothing except spoil a players fun.
Restating my point, if you and the DM disagree with a rules interpretation. Accept the GM’s view. You can always vote with your feet by not showing up for future games in his world. It makes your GM have less stress running a game.
Low magic is quickly becoming a sign of a game I don’t want to play.
Questions are the hallmark of the creative mind, and the curious cat finds the cream. “What if” and “Why not” are great questions.
I’m not much for psionics (or monks) in D&D, but everyone who defends their presence by saying how great they were in Dark Sun is not scoring the gimmick any points with me. Dark Sun may have had some good stuff in it, but its pointlessly inflated stats and “Faster, DM, Kill, Kill!” attitude turned me off so stone cold so you might as well be trying to convince me that Rob Schneider’s a great actor because of the amazing range he displayed in “Deuce Bigelow”.
An elegant cat toy, from a more civilized age.
It’s such a shame that Lucas had that that tragic accident after Star Wars came out. I’m sure the sequels would have been amazing.

In Washington’s defense (during the war anyway), there’s a reason he lost so many battles – the war kind of resembled the Empire’s invasion of Hoth, only repeated dozens of times across dozens of cities. Not really his fault he was outnumbered and outgunned at every turn. Just saying.
Yeah, I wish more people remembered the British’s use of AT-AT walkers. Those guys were real a*****es for that tactic. At least Ben Franklin got to train with Yoda during his time in France after all the dust was settled or we would never be the country we are today.

I remember sitting in on a TSR sales presentation at a trade show in the early ’90s when they announced yet another Buck Rogers game (probably “High Adventure Cliffhangers”). Some retailers audibly groaned, and Jim Ward, who was making the presentation, said “That’s right—we’ll keep making it until you start buying it.”

Have a good week, I’m going to go back to sleep.