Notes from Playtest One Hundred and Two

Game End
(paranoid yellow)

What we tried

New event Cornucopia replaces Bird. It's a collection of plants that can be gathered, worth 1 herb, 1 berry, and 1 nut.

Changed Mammoth to Sabertooth, a deadly animal worth 2 meat and 2 hide that has 5 life, which must be scored ASAP.

Trying arrows cost at 0, but you may only buy them if one of your characters has a bow.

Goal points lowered (quantities in parenthesis):
2 (4), 3 (4), 4 (3), 5 (3), variable (3).

Moved event disks at least 4 spaces from the village, they are better mid game.

Notes

Before starting the game there was concern that turning in 3 events for equipment (and probably goals too) encourages bad behavior. It hurts the game if people are just running around flipping events, not letting them do their job of mixing up the demand track when it gets stuck. Inspiration (the event that hands out goals) might be enough to get more goals out there.

Some ideas for restricting events:

• 1 event per turn limit.
• If kept an event disk don't get explore cube.
• turn in 3 events for a goal, not equipment.

Called shot should be -1 to your rolls if wrong.

Trader is too complex. Shouldn't change the demand track, maybe shouldn't even change amount you get for trades. That it doesn't change demand is significant. It works awesome with Cornucopia, an event that gives you one of each plant, because it doesn't move meat and hide to the top.

Here is the biggest problem right now: game length has gotten too long.

The events on the board and being able to trade in equipment, have added complexity. Games are lasting 90 minutes or more. In some ways that's good, it gives time for the luck variance to settle out. But it's also hurting the urgency of the game. The end always used to come just a little sooner than you'd expect, and I like that a lot. This playtest I called an early end to the playtest with 20% of the plant&animal disks undiscovered. I'd much rather the game take one hour or less, and leave players wanting to go again.

The reason I decided last fall to increase the length of play by adding 50% more plant&animal disks was to be sure there was time for the game to have a nice story arc, where characters start out weak and grow stronger through a series of adventures. I think with event disks and equipment trading this can be done in a tighter time frame.

Another problem with the longer game is that it actually limits the paths to victory. In a longer higher scoring game you basically need to get the better equipment, Bow or Atlatl, to compete. The cost is absorbed by having more time to use it. In a shorter game you have less time to recoup your investment, so a more frugal strategy could succeed.

board setup

What's Next?

• 24 plant&animal disks
• 1 event per turn limit.
• If you kept an event disk don't get explore cube.
• simplify Trader event
• turn in 3 events for a goal, not equipment.
• called shot gives a -1 penalty if you get it wrong.