Notes from Playtest One Hundred and Seventeen

Two player playtest with Dan

What we tried

Event marketplace manipulation (need a better name for those resources at the bottom of the event cards) can move resources up or down one, or drop them to the bottom.

Changes to the resource values. Reintroducing plants worth three with a distribution of 3, 2, 2, 1. Birds replace squirrels and have 2 meat, 0 hide. Rabbits have 2 hide and 0 meat.

"Bare handed" hunting. Actually, it's a new piece of equipment that all hunters always have available: a knife. The knife does 1 damage and requires a roll of 12.

Tear drop shaped score markers. They're flat-ish, possibly stackable, and have a point that can aim at the score number of things become crowded.

The game is divided into four seasons, with different rules for what happens when characters die, and new public goals. Each season (except maybe Winter) will have 3-4 different variations.

The game starts in the Spring. Character that die and come back in the Spring will get 1-3 points for equipment, but no goal. We tried 2. Spring includes a shared public goal, and this one is cooperative, intended to help players who are behind get the points they need for better equipment. The goal we tried rewarded all players for not leaving face down disks on the board: 3 if there are none, 2 if there is 1, and 1 if there are 2.

Summer gives re-spawned characters 0-2 points for equipment, we tried 1. Also death gives you an additional goal. The public goal is to explore a long distance from the village. This game we tried "3 points for claiming a corner space". Other variants could be claiming an edge space, a space a certain number of spaces from the village, or a space not touching another claimed space.

Fall gives characters who died a goal, but no points. They may discard a goal for a retry crystal (this was overlooked in our playtest). Other variants could always include a retry. The public goal for Fall is an early reminder that it's time to start balancing out those score. We tried scoring 3 points for having scored an equal number of plants and animals. Other goals could be having balanced (or near balanced) hunt and gather scores, or near balanced total tiles collected whether scored or not.

Winter gives you one extra retry when a character dies and comes back, no goals or points. No public goals, only the players' own secret goals. Winter may be printed directly on the board.

Notes

Fighting a wolf with a knife was so fun! I had a retry and came one roll away from finishing it off.

The rabbit only having hide does make a difference. The intent was that the meat and hide wouldn't both bottom out at the same time when the majority of animals are sold. Another side effect is that the minimum value of an animal becomes 2 points (a rabbit when the hide is valued at 1) instead of 4.

The 3 value plants can lead to some really big scores, Dan got 20 in one turn. But they also make it possible to come back from a large deficit, and inject more gatherer points into the game. I'll keep an eye on whether it's working.

The Tornado event was almost awesome! Dan was pushed all the way to the village, and almost moved all the other characters out of it. It will still get removed, but there's a germ of a good idea in there.

When I write up the rules for seasons I will have to clarify that the "death bonus" comes from the season that you re-spawn in, not the one the character dies in.

I'm really liking the way Seasons are working. Having the death rules on the board helps with teaching. The public goals are important to go after, 3 points is the maximum value those should be. I'm hoping they'll help guide new players too.

This is definitely a 90 minute game now, with events and retries. Sometimes individual turns can go a little long. I had one turn where two events and a torch extended my turn long enough to get me killed by a bear, while carrying a plant in a pouch. It was brutal, but memorable!

Things to try next

Maybe the retry crystals should be kept in the burial ground so that players don't forget to take one when they die.

I need to revisit the player aids, or add more text to the board. Especially with the seasons putting the rules surrounding death in text for everyone to see, there are other rules that it's becoming more clear are missing from the player aids or the board. Those rules include hunting and retries. I should find a place for them.

Text should be larger on the season cards because they're always on the table, you can't pick them up to read them.

Mechanism that hasn't been tried: players taking two turns in a row. Might work as an End of Spring event, where each player takes two turns in a row going around the table. Too powerful for one player to be allowed to do it..