Damn these loopholes!

Okay, so the playtests today (thanks Ryan and Lily for running those!) revealed a pretty big loophole: a player can place a piece in the past, move it in the same turn (based on the turn order), and then propogate on their next turn onto a city. Then, in that same second turn, the player can move another piece in the past onto a city, thus setting up the win condition. What this boils down to is, a clever player could win the game in 2-3 turns and BREAKS THE GAME.

We don't want a broken game. So, the solution is to reorder the turn breakdown. Players must move pieces on the board BEFORE they can put new ones down. This keeps a brand new piece from being immediately mobile (and shifting it's propogation pattern closer to the win).

Also, after much convoluted discussion about the relative probabilities of the Camouflage card, we've decided to not change it, but reword it slightly on the card so that its use is more clear.

Rules v 6.0

Premise: Ra, the almighty Sun God, has proposed a contest: decide which is better, plants or animals. You, as either Bastet (on behalf of the animals) or Osiris (on behalf of the plants) must establish populations of your subject species (both in the past and in the present), evolve those species, control territory, and be the first to gain control of 1 of Ra’s cities in both the past and the present.

Time Travel: In a given turn players can choose to act in the past or present. Playing in the past will create a ripple effect on the board creating more of the species in the present based on that species reproduction pattern (pictured on each species card). This reproduction will occur only once on the following turn after a player initially plays a species card in the past. If the reproduction pattern causes you to place pieces in the present where you have pieces already, then the reproduction takes priority and you must place the resulting species from reproduction.

Figure 1. Reproduction Effect: The player’s piece in the past is transferred to the present and the past piece overrides any piece already in the present. After placing a piece in the same spot in the present, the rest of the reproduction pattern can sprout in any direction with the piece already placed being any of the spots on the pattern the player desires.

The reproduction patterns also work as a death pattern for when a species is defeated in the past – all game pieces of the species killed within the pattern are defeated.

Figure 2. Death Effect: The death of the player’s piece in the past is transferred to the present. After killing the piece in the same spot in the present (if existing), the rest of the death (same as reproduction) pattern can sprout in any direction with the piece already killed being any of the spots on the pattern the player desires.

Movement: Pieces can be moved based on the “move” number on a species’ card. This number acts as a maximum movement number – the player may choose to move a piece less than its movement ability. For example: a hawk (with movement of 2) can move up to 2 spaces. At no time may two pieces be on the same space unless they are battling.

Battle: There will often be cases wherein you and your opponent will be competing for the same space on the board. In these cases, your disagreement will be settled via a dice roll. Both players will roll a dice to battle. Players will add the resulting dice roll to the species strength number and the player with the highest combined number wins. In the case of a tie, the defending player wins the battle.

For example, say a battle occurs between a Hawk and a Palm Tree. After both players roll their dies, the Hawk rolls a 4 and the Palm Tree rolls a 2. Players would then add the rolled dice numbers to their species strength to determine who won. In this case the Hawk wins (rolled 4 + strength 2 > rolled 2 + strength 3). Keep in mind certain evolutionary traits enhance the strength and movement abilities of species.

Card types: In each player’s deck there are two types of cards, species and evolution.

• Species: These cards are one of the three species available to the player. Playing one of these cards allows the player to put another piece on the board for that species in the past or present.
• Evolution: From time to time, you will draw evolution cards, which can add new abilities to your base species. Each evolution card may only be played once, and on one species. It is important to note that evolution cards are not permanent; players may have the option to steal your evolution abilities.

Game Pieces:

Species: Species are represented on the board by pushpins. Animals are represented by the solid colored pushpins; plants by the transparent pushpins. Each species is color-coded representing its relative strength – from white (weakest) to red (strongest).

Mat: Each player has a placemat that acts as a quick reference to the rules of the game. To the left of each species is a graphic representing each species’ strength value. As evolution cards alter a species’ strength, the player must update the graphic to indicate the current strength of species.

Figure 3. Strength tacks: Use thumb tacks to represent what the strength of your species are to the left of their card picture on the avatar mat. Species start on the graphic at the initial strength noted on the card and can become stronger (and change the slider) based on evolution cards placed.

Cards: Each player has a deck containing the species and evolution cards.

How to play:

Initial setup: After shuffling the deck, each player draws five cards and is given one of each of their three species. Players roll to see who goes first, and take turns alternating placing pieces on the green spots on the board only until each player has three. Initially pieces may only be placed in the present.

Turn breakdown (go through these steps in order, skipping 1 and 2 where appropriate):
1. Draw cards until there are 5 in your hand.
2. Place an evolution card on a species if so desired or possible. Player may only play one evolution card per turn. You may only have two evolution cards per species.
3. Place one species on the board (past or present)

4. Move one species on the board (past or present)

5. If an opposing species exists on a piece you are moving to, you will roll the dice to settle the conflict. Your roll must be equal to or greater than the health score of the enemy you are attacking.

End Condition: When one player controls one of Ra’s key cities in the present and one in the past and holds these cities for two turns, the player wins.

Rules v5.0

Premise: Ra, the almighty Sun God, has proposed a contest: decide which is better, plants or animals. You, as either Bastet (on behalf of the animals) or Osiris (on behalf of the plants) must establish populations of your subject species (both in the past and in the present), evolve those species, control territory, and be the first to gain control of 1 of Ra’s cities in both the past and the present.

Time Travel: In a given turn players can choose to act in the past or present. Playing in the past will create a ripple effect on the board creating more of the species in the present based on that species reproduction pattern (pictured on each species card). This reproduction will occur only once on the following turn after a player initially plays a species card in the past. If the reproduction pattern causes you to place pieces in the present where you have pieces already, then the reproduction takes priority and you must place the resulting species from reproduction. The reproduction patterns also work as a death pattern for when a species is defeated in the past – all game pieces of the species killed within the pattern are defeated.

INSERT IMAGE HERE.

Card types:

• Evolution: From time to time, you will draw evolution cards, which can add new abilities to your base species. Each evolution card may only be played once, and on one species. If that entire species dies on both boards, all current evolution cards are permanently removed.
• Species: These cards are one of the four species available to the type of life form that you have chosen. Playing one of these cards allows the player to put another piece on the board for that species in the past or present.

Movement: Pieces can be moved based on the “move” number on a species’ card. This number acts as a maximum movement number – the player may choose to move a piece less than its movement ability. For example: a hawk (with movement of 2) can move up to 2 spaces. At no time may two pieces be on the same board space unless they are battling.

Battle: There will often be cases wherein you and your opponent will be competing for the same space on the board. In these cases, your disagreement will be settled via a dice roll. Both players will roll a dice to battle. Players will add the resulting dice roll to the species strength number and the player with the highest combined number wins. In the case of a tie, the defending player wins the battle.

For example, say a battle occurs between a Hawk and a Palm Tree. After both players roll their dies, the Hawk rolls a 4 and the Palm Tree rolls a 2. Players would then add the rolled dice numbers to their species strength to determine who won. In this case the Hawk wins (rolled 4 + strength 2 > rolled 2 + strength 3). Certain evolutionary traits enhance the strength and movement abilities of species.

How to play:

Initial setup: Each player draws five cards, and is given one of each of their three species. Players roll to see who goes first, and take turns alternating placing pieces on the green spots on the board only until each player has three. Initially pieces may only be placed in the present.

Turn breakdown (go through these steps in order, skipping 1 and 2 where appropriate):
1. Draw cards until there are 5 in your hand.
2. Place an evolution card on a species if so desired or possible. Player may only play one evolution card per turn.
3. Do one of the following (in the past or present):
- Play a species card and place a piece on the board. Pieces must always be initially placed on a green space.
- Move a piece on the board.

End Condition: When one player controls one of Ra’s key cities in the present and one in the past and holds these cities for two turns, the player wins.

Thoughts on Card Balance

Hey everyone, sorry for not being able to make the Monday meeting. However, after reading through the new posts, here's some thoughts I have on the new card balance. First off, the new base scores for all the cards:

Lion/Palm - Move 1, Value 4
Snake/Iris - Move 2, Value 3
Hawk/Wheat - Move 2, Value 2, Can move over pieces without starting conflicts.

I'm still a bit concerned about how there really is only a very slight difference between the tier 2 and 3 creatures. Snake/Iris and Hawk/Wheat. As I'm not sure most playtesters have realized or utilized the "fly" function, and without that, Hawk/Wheat is the weakest piece without any redeeming qualities. So, I'm thinking on how to switch that, but unless we have a bigger game board, bumping up the movement to 3 will overbalance the movement rate. So, very last minute, but something important that Dan Arey pointed out:

Differences in abilities and creatures in the Past vs the Present? Why would I want to play a certain creature or card in the past as compared to the present?

As for the evolution cards, I'm not exactly sure if we should cut down the variety that much, however, I do agree we have to simplify it and make it easier at a glance for the players. We have already cut out Stench, Vines I am hesitant to take out, since the -1 movement range was tweaked to work well as a lock down measure once we put it down to a one hex range. But more importantly, it is a counter to the +1 movement wings mechanic card, but we can also put wings cards in the plant deck too. However, it would be nice to have a little bit of variety between the players to allow them a little more gameplay difference between the two gods. For venom, what I'm worried about is something else that Dan Arey had said:

Are there any cards that would decrease your opponents abilities, or just ones that would increase your own?

So in essence, we have no debuffs, only buff cards. And the closest one to this was the venom card, which was a inverse buff for your creatures, which I really think we should keep. I am proposing to not add any new cards, but at least keep the one debuff card and change the vines card to the same thing, an inverse buff for your opponent. So these two cards would be:

Venom/Poison - Reduce the Base Value of all creatures attacking this evolved creature by one.

Vines - Reduce the Base Movement Speed of animal type by one. This cannot reduce movement to zero.

I'm a little worried about vines, since it is vastly underpowered as compared to wings. I will print this up anyway just in case, but please test this and go from there and see how it affects gameplay. The positive, is that it will be useful on the two faster creatures, but can be used as a counter if used on the 1 movement Lion.

Here are the current balances for each of the decks, I like the balances that Ryan has placed for the cards, and by adding the Venom and Vines card, and then factoring in each of the characters minus the old "power" one, the new decks should look something like:

10 Wheat/Hawk
8 Iris/Snake
6 Palm/Lion

1 Camoflauge
1 Wings/Vines
2 Parasite
2 Spines
2 Venom

This brings it up to: 24 creature cards and 8 evolution cards. It's a little annoying to have to tier the creatures by 2, but with the "Golden" 3:1 ratio that MTG uses, I think it would be a pretty safe bet. And by factoring in the draw one card a turn and discard down to five, it'll be simple to keep in card rotation.

Dollars, bitches!

At our meeting Monday morning, we'll need to chat briefly about who's spent what, so we can figure out who owes what. Shouldn't be real drastic; I can't imagine that we'll go over $10 a person, and even that is probably a high estimate.

Meeting on Monday!

Let's meet on Monday to do all the construction-y stuff that we usually end up doing five minutes before lab on Tuesdays. 10am, in the IML.

To Do:

1. Construct new board (we printed new images, we just need to afix them to a new piece of foam board)
2. Assemble new decks. Diana will be printing the new cards (in color! gasp!) and will bring these to the meeting. This means Al needs to get the changed evolution cards to her by Sunday night (or forward the PSD's to Ryan so that Ryan can get them done by Sunday night).
3. Finalize the illustrated rules, based on Diana's/Lily's revisions. Diana will print in ZML.
4. Playtest. Because we never get tired of playing this friggin game.

After this meeting, Ryan will take all the materials home for additional playtesting with his compatriots of the fraternal variety. If he finds that we still have changes that need to be made, we will reconvene in the IML on Monday night, time TBA.

Discussion: Evolution Cards

So as we have done a whole heck of a lot of changes, another thing we now need to consider is the balance of the evolution cards.

Before the evolution cards would add or subtract from different attributes of each species. As we discovered in the second playtest session this was too much for the players to handle. We noticed that the players would end up with situations where a player would perform multiple calculations (i.e. 4-2+1+2) to even determine if they won or lost a battle. Though this worked for us when we were playtesting it because of our familiarity with the system it was not something a player new to the game could handle with ease.

To solve this, we think it would be best to have only four types of evolution cards. These would be:

• Camouflage (Must have total strength of 4 or higher to beat card)
  
• Wings (+1 Movement)
  
• Parasite (Steal an opponents evolution card)
  
• Spines (+1 Strength)

The main change is that we have combined all the logisitics of evolution (attack, health) into the one attribute of strength. Now the issue is we need to think about balancing the deck with respect to these evolution cards. My personal thoughts on the matter are to have the following setup:

• 1 Camouflage card
• 1 Wings Card
• 2 Parasite Cards
• 3 Spines Cards

Wings and Camouflage are the strongest cards and should be minimized because we don't players creating invincible characters or winning the game too fast. The parasite cards add the nice "gotcha" factor and the spines cards are just a good base to have since the battles are now settled by the nice balance of strategic chance (or "str-ance" if you will :-P).

Thoughts?

-Ryan

Oh, the changes.

Okay, so. Notes based on playtests, our chat with Dan, and our discussions of how to fix problems that came up.

-As mentioned in a previous post, there is too much math! See that post for changes to the combat system, cards, and board.

-Animals need to be color-coded (weakest to strongest, same color system for both players) so that they're easier to keep track of.

-Avatar mats need to be standardized using the new color system, so that you can tell at a glance what the state of your and your opponent's species is.

-Minor thing, but change the board to read "Past" and "Present", rather than all that Fertile Crescent stuff

-The rules are straight up confusing. Best solution? Illustrations. Most of the time, our written rules confuse players, but as soon as we demonstrate to the players what to do, it's really easy. Let's see if pictures will be enough to take us out of the explaining process.

So, now some pictures:

New Osiris mat (note the updated plant species):

New Bastet mat (note the updated animal species):

New battle system again!

Okay, so we've determined that our biggest problem is juggling all the math created by modifiers (evolution cards, negative numbers designed to weaken/balance species, etc). Our goal, therefore, is to remove as much math as possible, while still allowing for balance between species and modification using evolution cards.

So, each species has a number assigned to it (a positive number, 0-3 or something). When a battle occurs, each person rolls a dice and then adds the species' number to their dice roll. The one with the largest total wins the fight.

To keep track of species' numbers, the board will include a slider next to each species. That way, the number can easily be changed by evolution cards, and it's easy for the player and their opponent to keep track of how strong each species is.

So, to implement this new system, we need to do these things:
1. Assign each species their base number (1 for white species, 2 for green species, 3 for red species), and change the cards such that each animal has a "Strength" attribute, rather than Health or Attack or whatever.
2. Construct sliders on the board
3. Modify evolution cards such that they don't talk about changing health/attack/whatever. All evolution cards should only have modifiers to the "Strength" attribute.

Al, if this is confusing for you, give me a call. Also, if there are too many changes to the cards for you to handle (being out of town and all), just send me your existing PSD's and I'll take care of making the changes.

Okay, I think that covers it. Ready? BREAK!

--Diana

Rules v. 4_0

Premise: Ra, the almighty Sun God, has proposed a contest: decide which is better, plants or animals. You, as either Bast (on behalf of the animals) or Osiris (on behalf of the plants) must establish populations of your subject species (both in the past and in the present), evolve those species, control territory, and be the first to gain control of 1 of Ra’s cities in both the past and the present.

Initial setup: Each player draws five cards, and is given one each of their three species. Players roll to see who goes first, and take turns alternating placing pieces on the green spots on the board only until each player has three. Initially pieces may only be placed in the present.

Time Travel: In a given turn players can choose to act in the past or present. Playing in the past will create a ripple effect on the board creating more of the species in the present based on that species reproduction pattern (pictured on each species card). This reproduction will occur only once on the following turn after a player initially plays a species card in the past. If the reproduction pattern causes you to place pieces in the present where you have pieces already, then the reproduction takes priority and you must place the resulting species from reproduction. The reproduction patterns also work as a death pattern for when a species is defeated in the past – all game pieces of the species killed within the pattern are defeated.

Battle: There will often be cases wherein you and your opponent will be competing for the same space on the board. In these cases, your disagreement will be settled via a dice roll. The player who initiates the challenge must roll a number that is higher than or equal to the defender’s species’ health number (2 for a hawk, 4 for a palm tree, etc). Certain evolutionary traits enhance the defense and attack abilities of species.

Card types:
Evolution: From time to time, you will draw evolution cards, which can permanently add new abilities to your base species. Each evolution card may only be played once, and on one species. If all of that species dies on both boards, all current evolution cards are permanently removed.
Species: These cards are one of the four species available to the type of life form that you have chosen. Playing one of these cards allows the player to put another piece on the board for that species in the past or present.

Movement: Pieces can be moved based on the “move” number on a species’ card. This number acts as a maximum movement number – the player may choose to move a piece less than its movement ability. For example: a hawk (with movement of 2) can move up to 2 spaces. At no time may two pieces be on the same board space unless they are battling.

Turn breakdown (go through these steps in order, skipping 1 and 2 where appropriate):
1. Draw cards until there are 5 in your hand.
2. Place an evolution card on a species if so desired or possible. Player may only play one evolution card per turn.
3. Do one of the following (in the past or present):
- Play a species card and place a piece on the board. Pieces must always be initially placed on a green space.
- Move a piece on the board.

End Condition: When one player controls one of Ra’s key cities in the present and one in the past and holds these cities for two turns, the player wins.

Meeting on Saturday at 2, in IML.

Lily's observations and everyone's suggested rule changes from Tuesday

- The game is too slow and people tend to want to flood the board isntead of moving
+ suggestion(s): force all placement of cards into one action and all movement into another
- Hard for players to tell where to put evolution cards on the templates (as there are whole cards they want to see)
+ suggestion(s): make the height of the template longer and add a spot that explicitly says "put evolution cards here"
+ suggestion(s): leave a spot on the template for a discard pile
- Placement of propogated pieces in present is not obvious (nor is death pattern)
+ suggestion(s): illustrations or actual physical demo before game starts
- battle isn't clear enough
+ suggsetion(s): Avoid hardcore RTS players, I kid I kid! Add some form of flanking or influence for surrounding pieces
- players want to play multiple pieces or attack in masses or take more actions
+ suggsetion(s): You can't make everyone happy? Most solutions would increase complexity unfortunately
- too many evolution cards
+ suggestion(s): only one evolution card per species
- which leads straight into: can't tell what your and the other person's stats is
+ suggestion(s): visible pegs or a wheel that allows both players to see all the numbers. Or, make the game digital. Sigh. Also, line up the template better both color and placement wise so that its easier to see whats going on when both players have the same thing going on initially.
- It's Egyptian myth not Fertile Crescent
+ Suggestion(s): Find people who know less about history, no really, I kid!
- Too many things going on!
+ Suggestion(s): Play again? It doesn't hurt as much the second time! No, the serious change here is removing the mandrake and cattle.

Rule sheet changes
- Fix end condition on premise section of rules to 1 city each in past and present
- Only place pieces in the present on first turn
- Have to place new pieces in green zones only (always)
- Only one evolution card per turn
- Each piece only propogates once ever
- Only one piece per spot
- Battle happens at the intersection of speicies from different sides on one spot
- What happens when you propogate onto a piece you already own (override)

-Lily

Evolve Cards

Animal Evolve Cards
Plant Evolve Cards

Rules v. 3_0

Premise: Ra, the almighty Sun God, has proposed a contest: decide which is better, plants or animals. You, as either Bast (on behalf of the animals) or Osiris (on behalf of the plants) must establish populations of your subject species (both in the past and in the present), evolve those species, control territory, and be the first to gain control of 2 of Ra’s 3 designated cities.

Initial setup: Each player draws five cards, and is given one each of their three species. Players roll to see who goes first, and take turns alternating placing pieces on the board on green spots only until each player has three.

Time Travel: In a given turn players can choose to act in the past or present. Playing in the past will create a ripple effect on the board creating more of the species in the present based on that species reproduction pattern (pictured on each species card). This reproduction will occur on the following turn after a player initially plays a species card in the past. The reproduction patterns also work as a death pattern for when a species is defeated in the past – all game pieces of the species killed within the pattern are defeated.

Battle: There will often be cases wherein you and your opponent will be competing for the same space on the board. In these cases, your disagreement will be settled via a dice roll. The player who initiates the challenge must roll a number that is higher than or equal to the defender’s species’ health number (2 for a hawk, 4 for a palm tree, etc). Certain evolutionary traits enhance the defense and attack abilities of species.

Card types:
Evolution: From time to time, you will draw evolution cards, which can permanently add new abilities to your base species. Each evolution card may only be played once, and on one species. If all of that species dies on both boards, all current evolution cards are permanently removed.
Species: These cards are one of the four species available to the type of life form that you have chosen. Playing one of these cards allows the player to put another piece on the board for that species in the past or present.

Movement: Pieces can be moved based on the “move” number on a species’ card. This number acts as a maximum movement number – the player may choose to move a piece less than its movement ability. For example: a hawk (with movement of 2) can move up to 2 spaces.

Turn breakdown (go through these steps in order, skipping 1 and 2 where appropriate):
1. Draw cards until there are 5 in your hand.
2. Place an evolution card on a species if so desired or possible.
3. Do one of the following (in the past or present):
- Play a species card and place a piece on the board.
- Move a piece on the board.

End Condition: When one player controls one of Ra’s key cities in the present and one in the past and holds these cities for two turns, the player wins.

Card Templates

Here is the basic template for what they should all look like. I am emailing Diana the set for now, if you guys need any copies, let me know too. After talking with Ryan and working on the cards, I've decided against the tiny symbols for the propagation, mainly because the cards are so small, it will be more clear if they are just marked with black and white spaces.

Color Schemes for Player Pieces

For Animals:

Yellow-Lion
Blue-Hawk
White-Snake, Give me all your love baby!
Cattle-Red

For Plants:

Green-Palm
Blue-Wheat
White-Iris
Mandragora-Red

These are the colors of the push pins that correspond to each, and each side is clearly marked by transparent colors and solid colors, for less confusion on the game board.

If possible, we can color code just the area on each game board where cards are supposed to be placed for now to make it even easier for people to identify each unit.

Some Hieroglyphics Templates

Big Trouble in Little China

EDIT: For some strange reason, the playtesting notes from Saturday were posted, but only showed up in the side bar as an external link. Weird. Well, they've been reposted and should now show up on normally. Here is a breakdown of some of the stuff that was important to change in the rules:

In the case of a tie, the attacker wins. This is done otherwise there is too slim a chance to defeat some cards, especially with buffs on them.

We are ramping down the cities to two in both the past and the present and centralizing them closer to each other in the center of the board. This is a result of looking at all three games and determining that the play time was far too long for one round. While game three with one city in the past and two in the present was close, it still took about 34 min to finish one game. This creates more space around the gameboard, or the illusion of it, as there will be more empty space that players can move, but will probably not place creatures there for strategy.

We need to distinguish if something has evolved or not based on some sort of marker on the board.

Animal and Plant cards on the template will be colorized at this moment depending on the color of the push pins that will represent them, this will be the easiest solution to color coding at this moment.

Attack will be resolved for intersecting pieces, not adjacent.

The Stench card is useless and needs to be reworked with the current rules.

The Vines card wil be powered down to an area of effect of 1 hex instead of two.

The Mandragora and Cattle Cards will have their power reduced to +1 instead of +2

Viper will be changed to Snake to avoid confusion in the field.

The Wheat and Hawk Cards will have their move reduced to 2, effectively making them the middle of the road -2/2 card. However, this slighlty unbalances the Iris and Snake, which has a -1 to attack and 3 defense, effectively making it take up the same niche as the Lion and Palm cards.

Logo!

The title logo would be for the game board, and the single butterfly would be for the backs of the cards (maybe do a green butterfly for plants, red for animals). The blue single butterfly would also be used on the avatar cards, the rules, whatever else we would want the logo on. Let me know what you guys think. Also, HEY AL. SEND ME THE FRIGGIN CARD DESIGNS ALREADY! Gonna need those so I can update the avatar cards :-P