Loads of Stuff

From: buserian_at_juno.com <buserian>
Date: Tue Jan 17 17:12:44 2006


Some catch-up from Simon's message, stuff not addressed in Chris'.

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 14:33:05 +0000 (GMT) Simon Phipp <soltakss_at_yahoo.com> writes:
>
> > On the subject of eliminating units like Hungry Jack, what other
units in
> > the game are worthy of deletion? Whose loss would not really be
noticed
> > much? Twin Stars is one, for me, just because they can ONLY show up
as a
> > Random Event (an event for which, I might add, Sartar does not have
an
> > equivalent). BUT, because of their importance in Prax, I would want
them
> > kept simply so they could be used in combo games with NG. However, I
> > would definitely make them simply part of the Lunar Battalia (along
with
> > 3-5 other Lunar spirits, as well as adding 4-6 Sartar spirits and
several
> > independent spirits, like Chalk Man), and remove them from the Random
> > Events Table.
>
> I've always wondered why they are Random, as the Lunars have had them
for
> years - after the Sable Conversion. I would certainly use them in Prax,
in
> fact in my Argrath in Prax scenarios, anyone getting the Twin Stars
gets a DP
> boost for the Sable Tribe. Although, if they are in the Lunar Battalia,
then
> they start with the Lunars, which is inconvenient.

In scenarios involving Prax (not the Praxians, but Prax itself), they shouldn't be part of the Lunar Battalia. I would normally just add them to the Lunar Spirits, myself.

>
> Steve:
> > > On the subject of scenarios - I think that there is potential to
write a few
> > > more DP scenarios. Perhaps someone could come up with a 'Battle of
Iceland'
> > > scenario.
> >
> > That would be a bit difficult, if only because of the sheer number of
> > heroic individuals who would simply be subsumed within a single
counter.
> > That is, I would write such a scenario such that Kallyr, Orngerin,
and
> > ALL of the other rebel leaders are simply represented by a single
counter
> > -- Argrath.
>
> What, you mean only having one Argrath, rather than many? Something
that I
> have always subscribed to, having never liked the "Many Argraths"
rubbish.
> Fine by me.

No, what I meant was that all of the leaders taken together, with their personal guards, equal a single counter. And Argrath is the proper one to use.
>
> > And if you can't have individual counters for each of the leaders
(and I
> > don't see that you could, at the DP scale), what's the fun in that
scenario?
>
> Also, that scenario takes up less than a sentence in King of Sartar, so
can't
> have been that important. The Boat Planet isn't even mentioned, so
that's two
> supplements invented out of nothing. Now, the Dragonrise might
beinteresting.

Yeah, you must be right that they were invented -- The Composite History of Dragon Pass is such a comprehensive, objective source. :)

But what Simon said just got me thinking about a different kind of boardgame, one set in the Sky World...

>
> > - delecti/zombies need substantial work. I'd keep them but do
> > something(TM) with them
>
> They are fine, but I'd introduce the Ghoul King fromm KoS, give him a
maximum
> of, say, 4 Ghoul counters that he can create from slain units, but give
each
> counter a missile factor (howl) and a fairly high CF (4 or 5 - poison).

So, give one minor Sartarite king who was cursed a total of five counters? You call the Grazers weak, then want to give King of Ghouls five counters? It's a matter of scale -- to make a single ghoul counter would take HUNDREDS of ghouls! King of Sartar would make a nice "random monster" to add, but he (and all his attendant ghouls) would amount to a single, pretty weak, counter, IMO.

> > - ethilrist is good - no change
> Never liked him. Never understood Keener Than, or the dog, or the
cloak.
> Leave them in Hell, that's what I say.

Well, I would change the Cloak to make it a TREASURE, that could be stolen and used by someone else. BTW, did anyone know that the image used for the Goblins (who appear after the Cloak is used) was originally drawn to be an ent for the Shadows Dance game?

>
> > - exiles are OK - no change
> The Earth Twins have a WMD, which is useful.

They do? Or do you mean the Earthshakers?

> > - dwarf is good - almost always the pivotal point as the sides vy
for
> > the alchemical or at least the canon cult. I'd change one of the
> > stone men to something else exotic/exciting
>
> If you are expanding the game northwards, there would be tunnels
between the
> Dwarf and Dwarf Hat/Greatway, so one of the Gifts could be movement in
the
> tunnels.

Yeah, the leaders of Greatway would love that one. :)

One of the early games Greg worked on was a set of two "scenarios" where you have elves invading Dwarf Tunnels (specifically said to be of Dwarf Run), then a counter-scenario with the dwarfs invading an elf garden.

> > > - ironhoof needs a shaman counter or something
> >
> > I don't think so -- I had always planned to add a Foxwoman magician
unit,
> > with spirit.
>
> Are they in the Beastlands? I thought they were further north, maybe
not.

First mentioned in King of Sartar as belonging to the Beast Men.

>
> > I have a marginally related point in respect of the newts.
> >
> > In the game I played with Robert (5? gosh! years ago) I allied
Cragspider.
> > I knew Robert
> > always went for the newts, I planned to use Cragspiders special to
hit the
> > dragons eye
> > _before_ the alliance took place. Absolutely no basis in the rules,
but
> > bearing in mind the
> > (then recent) devastation markers from tRD, I planned to suggest that
the
> > eggs were destroyed
> > and discuss whether the renmaining non-eye newts automatically allied
with
> > Robert (the eye
> > gies being fried) possibly minus their rebirth ability. Or whether
Robert
> > got the lot but the eye
> > having been destroyed none had rebirthing.
>
> That's interesting. You'd give the opponents an awful lot of DPs if you
tried
> it, though. It would probably take out some of the Newts, and the
Inhuman
> King. The idea of taking out an Independent before being allied is one
I'd
> never thought about.

Well, in a rules sense it simply doesn't work. Logically it should, but it doesn't in the rules. HOWEVER, Dave Cheng once suggested having a bunch of Devastated Earth counters (or whatever he called them), which would replace a city if it was destroyed by dragonfire/fight, WMD, etc. Now, if you had such counters (or such a rule), then yes, the ally would become unavailable, because there would be no capital city to go to to ally them. An excellent reason to adopt Dave's option as a rule. Rather than having such devastation counters, however, maybe just make it a rule, and suggest that you use quarters (or quid) to cover up the devastated city.

These devastation counters become very important in the final day of the Dragonkill War, natch. I do like the idea.

I suppose we could add up the maximum number that would be needed by counting the WMDs and dragons, but seems a waste of counters, plus you'd need to include some in every game, etc. Coins work better.

Cheers,

Steve

Powered by hypermail