Game: Tales of the Arabian Nights

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

caradoc — 2008-12-02T20:45:50+00:00

Issue 3 of the Z-Man Newsletter has been posted.

Announcement here

Direct link here

Cheers,

Giles.

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

caradoc — 2008-11-30T11:50:29+00:00

There's a little more on the Z-Man edition of Tales of the Arabian Nights in the next issue of the Z-Man Newsletter - which should be posted December 1st

Cheers,

Giles.

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

Jagergamer — 2008-11-30T11:34:45+00:00

Be sure to get this one as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Arabian-Nights-II-Sindbad-Everymans/dp...

These translations are excellent, I have them both and they are great reads!

Thread: Re: Simple Gender Question

BigD145 — 2008-11-29T14:45:16+00:00

nyhotep wrote:

IIRC it is even possible to be cursed with a sex-change!

I was told you couldn't win when sex-changed.

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

clloyd09 — 2008-11-29T13:58:59+00:00

Hmm... It doesn't say "pre-order", and lists it as the re-print and "In-Stock".

But, on the Z-Man site, it says "2009" and isn't available for ordering.

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

DavidPD — 2008-11-29T06:54:46+00:00

Are you sure?

Looks like it's available right now.

http://www.starlitcitadel.com/games/tales-of-the-arabian-nig...

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

cayluster — 2008-11-10T16:11:58+00:00

snej wrote:
cayluster wrote:
Yeah, the "novelization" has only been out for, like, 300+ years...

Actually it's over 1,000 years old, according to Wikipedia. =)
And it was collected from existing folktales many of which are probably a lot older than that.

Yeah, I know - I would hope many of us would know that this is one of the foundations of modern literature. I was referring to the time it's been available to those of us who adore novelizations... that is, us English speakers (since you were referencing a new English translation). Hence the + helpfully included after 300

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

mevans444 — 2008-11-07T05:38:38+00:00

mr_lunch wrote:
when the Aussie dollar is looking a bit better...

Or the Canadian "Loonie".

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

mr_lunch — 2008-11-07T00:14:54+00:00

As much as I'm looking forward to this, the delay might mean it comes out when the Aussie dollar is looking a bit better... Well, I can hope...

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

clloyd09 — 2008-11-06T21:58:35+00:00

I think what the poster might have meant is that there's a new translation available now. It may have been available for 1000 years in the original Arabic, but apparently some of the existing translations are either dated or lacking. from the description on Amazon.com

Haddawy's translation is easily the clearest, most fluent and readable I have met.
And user reviews seem to agree.

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

snej — 2008-11-06T21:34:28+00:00

cayluster wrote:
Yeah, the "novelization" has only been out for, like, 300+ years...

Actually it's over 1,000 years old, according to Wikipedia. =)
And it was collected from existing folktales many of which are probably a lot older than that.

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

cayluster — 2008-11-06T21:19:24+00:00

snej wrote:
Geosphere wrote:
What the heck am I going to get her now...

There's a novelization already available, that might get her into the mood (in more ways than one — I hear it's got some good naughty bits!)

Yeah, the "novelization" has only been out for, like, 300+ years...

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

bdean152 — 2008-11-06T21:03:58+00:00

This messes up my bulk order of Cosmic Encounter, Chicago Express and Tales.
How early?
Thanks for the Update..

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

cuzzle — 2008-11-06T19:10:31+00:00

I was really hoping this would be out this year. Probably the game I'm looking the most forward to.

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

clloyd09 — 2008-11-06T18:42:58+00:00

Hmm... On a lark, I clicked on the link. The book sounds quite good.

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

snej — 2008-11-06T18:38:54+00:00

Geosphere wrote:
What the heck am I going to get her now...

There's a novelization already available, that might get her into the mood (in more ways than one — I hear it's got some good naughty bits!)

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

Geosphere — 2008-11-06T16:11:18+00:00

Sigh. Well that closes the door on another holiday purchase for the wife.

What the heck am I going to get her now...

Thread: Re: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

clloyd09 — 2008-11-06T16:09:13+00:00

Awesome! Looking forward to this title.

Thread: Tales of the Arabian Nights -- Updated Release Information

rsolow — 2008-11-06T15:59:30+00:00

Greetings All,

We heard from Zev "Z-Man" Shlasinger earlier this week and were told that Tales of the Arabian Nights is now looking like an early Q1 2009 release.

CLS Games
Atlanta's Board Game Warehouse

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

ninjadorg — 2008-11-01T09:55:25+00:00

Well, the map for A Touch Of Evil is a very much more simplistic map than this and it works beautifully with the game.

So ignore the nay-sayers UH, this is gonna be tops!

Thread: Re: Release Date???

RacingHippo — 2008-11-01T08:37:06+00:00

le_el wrote:
Now from Fortress: Ameritrash

"...The new ETA is Feb. 2009."

Rats. Too late for Santa.
OK, anyone want to buy it me for my birthday in April...?

Thread: Re: Release Date???

le_el — 2008-10-31T16:57:45+00:00

Now from Fortress: Ameritrash

"Tales of the Arabian Nights did not make it to Essen, due to the paragraph booklet not being complete. 1000 new paragrahs in the style of the original stories have been added to the paragraph booklet which is based on the revised German edition. This required additional development time. The new ETA is Feb. 2009." (bold mine)

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

JimJohnny — 2008-10-30T20:39:12+00:00

I don't see why people get so analytical about every single detail on the map. It looks great to me! There could be million variations of this map that would have worked and that would be acceptable by most of us. And this is one of the many. And it is way above a mediocre board for the game.

One thing I only need to say about the artwork is the backside of the encounter cards. I have seen two different options of them. One with the gold outerline that goes around the sides of the cards and an older version without anything gold that had a decorative rectangular pattern going around the card. I liked most that older version and since you have the gold thing in the front part of the cards as well as on the box and around the map I believe that it would be nicer to have a different back. The gold line blends well with the card artwork on the front but in my opinion something different on the back will add something more to the game. But then again.... that's only my humble opinion.

JJ

Thread: Re: Simple Gender Question

ArsLoqui — 2008-10-07T20:55:33+00:00

Excellent! It's a purely aesthetic consideration for me; my gaming posse consists of ladies and gentlemen, and I wanted to be sure that everyone wouldn't be stuck playing a dude. Thanks!

Thread: Re: Simple Gender Question

newuser — 2008-10-07T15:50:44+00:00

nyhotep wrote:
IIRC it is even possible to be cursed with a sex-change!

You do remember correctly.

Although a small touch, gender options were just another interesting part of this great game.

Thread: Re: Simple Gender Question

nyhotep — 2008-10-07T15:32:49+00:00

As Avi says, in the original, each player marker was double sided, male one side, female theother. In general , it made no difference, but some events were available (or mandatory) for female characters only, and probably some for males only.

IIRC it is even possible to be cursed with a sex-change!

Thread: Re: Simple Gender Question

abbibi — 2008-10-07T15:03:12+00:00

It was in the original version, and gender does effect certain aspects of the gameplay.

Thread: Simple Gender Question

ArsLoqui — 2008-10-07T14:09:11+00:00

Do players have the option of choosing to run either a male or a female character?

Thread: Re: Z-Man Page is up

blueatheart — 2008-10-02T05:08:28+00:00

http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/tales_arabian_nights.htm

Thread: Z-Man Page is up

Starsaver — 2008-10-02T04:29:14+00:00

Just in case you guys dont know, Z-Man Games has just updated it's website and has given Tales of the Arabian Nights it's own page. Sorry, I am unable to give a link beyond Z-Man's homepage:

www.zmangames.com

Thread: Re: Release Date???

RacingHippo — 2008-09-26T22:19:35+00:00

le_el wrote:
From Z-man's web page:

"Tales of the Arabian Nights
Unique, immersive game where your reactions to wondrous encounters will determine your rewards... DECEMBER"

In that case it's going top of my wishlist in case Secret Santa picks it for me!

Thread: Re: Release Date???

le_el — 2008-09-26T16:38:35+00:00

From Z-man's web page:

"Tales of the Arabian Nights
Unique, immersive game where your reactions to wondrous encounters will determine your rewards... DECEMBER"

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

eikka — 2008-09-25T14:10:52+00:00

When I look carefully, I understand that the game board represents an old map, the sea is "clean paper background" and the land represents "drawings on a paper".

But if the map is represented as an age-old drawing, the brightness of the background paper (i.e. the sea area) should have equal brightness than that of the drawing (i.e. the land), which would probably make areas indistinguishable. Due to this brightness difference, I believe that my cognitive system tells me that the sea areas are "drawn" and the land areas are the background - so I believe that by inverting the contrast, the land silhouette would start making more sense again.

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

eikka — 2008-09-25T09:35:49+00:00

I hope this comes out as a positive criticism:

I really like the professional finish of the map as well as the effort put on improving symbolic communication to the player (gems are really thematic symbols here). But, I agree with other posters that the brighter sea area creates a cognitive dissonance.

The area contrasts, in my opinion, should communicate "dark, murky seas" vs. "dry, rocky landmass" of the middle-east region. Now the sea area symbolizes dryness whereas the land area symbolizes dark, moisty soil. Also, the green in the forests is perhaps a tad too "pure" green. I'd prefer some red tint to make it blend better to the map.

Overall, work quality feels very professional. You definitely got me interested in this game. Cheers!

Edit:spelling

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

Mockerre — 2008-09-24T09:54:35+00:00

I don't personally understand UH. He says he was going for the old map look - and that's fine (of course, they don't make maps like that anymore for a reason ). But then I see green trees all over and I'm stumped.

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

matthewjhoskins — 2008-09-11T22:38:21+00:00

Blix wrote:
UniversalHead wrote:
Blix wrote:
I just wanted to provide some feedback. I assumed that is why you are showing the preview art.

Oh, and thanks for writing directly to Zev about it Jeremy. Very mature. Did you do stuff like that in school?

1. I didn't email "Zev" directly (I don't even know who "Zev" is). I emailed the Z-Man customer service people and voiced my opinion. I would assume that is why they have a customer service email account for people to use.

Z-man games is two people: Zev Schlesinger and Paul Girardi. By e-mailing custserv@zmangames you were sending an email into Zev's inbox.

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

Blix — 2008-09-11T02:11:51+00:00

UniversalHead wrote:
Blix wrote:
I just wanted to provide some feedback. I assumed that is why you are showing the preview art.

Oh, and thanks for writing directly to Zev about it Jeremy. Very mature. Did you do stuff like that in school?

I've tried to stay cheerful and with a on my face, but I think I'll not post any more on this thread until the game is released. When everyone sees the final game, feel free to comment your hearts out.

Thanks to all those who had constructive comments to make.

1. I didn't email "Zev" directly (I don't even know who "Zev" is). I emailed the Z-Man customer service people and voiced my opinion. I would assume that is why they have a customer service email account for people to use.

2. Voicing an opinion using the channels made available, I don't think, has anything to do with maturity levels. As a consumer I have a right to voice my opinion to any manufacturer (game or otherwise).

3. I am sorry you are taking this so personally. I think it is great that this game is being released. I have been waiting for this to happen for over 20 years. I am merely disappointed with the board design. That is my opinion and I am entitled to it... just as you are entitled to yours.

So lets just agree to disagree.

Thread: Re: Release Date???

ScottE — 2008-09-10T07:01:19+00:00

Glad to hear it's coming along but I'm not stressing the release date. This is a super complex, text heavy game so take your time editing it. Would suck to have a lot of errors from rushing.

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

Doc_Adam — 2008-09-10T06:17:08+00:00

I think UniversalHead has been a pretty good sport here, most of his comments I think have been very tongue in cheek.

For the most part the thread has been good fun and well natured, lets not get too serious or start throwing insults around over the colour of the sea.

On another note, the Poll I posted was not serious (I thought that the Pink option would have made that obvious) I was trying to highlight the no win situation graphic designers are in when they come and post their wares on BGG.

GO Map with Hands

AB

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

MrSkeletor — 2008-09-10T01:16:52+00:00

steinley wrote:
About some of the biggest bunch of whining I have ever seen.

Perhaps the names of the continents and the seas printed in 20 pt font all over the map is a tip off which is land and which is sea -- not to mention cities, trees, and blue sea routes.

Disagree Steinley. The only "whining" I have seen is from UH himself.

If you don't want people to comment on the map why put a preview of it up?
This is not UH's personal boards, people should be free to post whatever they like about the game and it's components - even if it was already released. Since when has that not happened on here?

UH himself feels free in this very thread to pick on other artists work (the cartoony images in prophecy, Blackbeard being amateur) so I'm not quite sure why his work is meant to be such a sacred cow.

It's his choice whether or not to listen to peoples complaints - and yes, there is no way he can make everyone 100% happy - but bitching at people because they would like blue seas or whatever is shockingly unprofessional.

If you like taking compliments for your work then you have to also be able to take criticism as well.

Thread: Re: Unusual question: would this work in a "english for foreigners" class?

AndersGabrielsson — 2008-09-04T14:50:10+00:00

I think it would be okay. There are plenty of useful words (and quite a few less useful ones, as noted above), and if you're not playing in storymode you will also get plenty of pronounciation practice when reading the little paragraphs.

Whether it's good in class would depend a lot on your students and how you teach.

I don't think it's too gamey - there is a fair amount of randomness involved. It's not a game you play to win so much as to experience, so playing time can be fixed and the game abandoned when the time is up without problems IMO.

Players don't have to talk a lot to each other other than reading the paragraphs and asking for which action they choose.

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

steinley — 2008-09-04T05:14:00+00:00

About some of the biggest bunch of whining I have ever seen.

Perhaps the names of the continents and the seas printed in 20 pt font all over the map is a tip off which is land and which is sea -- not to mention cities, trees, and blue sea routes.

Thread: Re: Can the Book of Tales and Charts in this version be used with previous versions?

Kiyote — 2008-09-03T12:39:35+00:00

There was a bit of a teaser display of this at GenCon. Believe me it's as well produced as it appears from all of the samples posted to the BGG.

Thread: Re: Unusual question: would this work in a "english for foreigners" class?

BrenoK — 2008-09-02T02:59:08+00:00

Yeah, I figured there would be some unusual words in the game (like Efreets, etc), but thought that the narrative nature of the game would be enough to be an exercise in a foreign language on its own.

Thanks for the opinion, though.

Thread: Re: Unusual question: would this work in a "english for foreigners" class?

ptarth — 2008-09-02T02:56:55+00:00

As much as I like the game, I'd have to say this isn't what you are looking for. The game can be played in "story mode" in which players tell stories based on the events that happen during their turn, or by just reacting to those events. In either case the language in the game focuses on the Arabian Nights theme, which means plenty of Efreets, Djinni, Djinn, Rocs, Prophets, and the occasional lonely hunchback. If you are trying to expose students to current English language and grammar, this will definitely confuse them.

If this isn't enough to convince you, go read all the reviews & session reports for the various editions.

Answers to original questions:
Good for non-English speakers: No
Too gamey: Not really, its like a choose your own adventure, lots of luck
Take 2 hours: The game length is really variable, but 2 hours is probably a decent average time.
End game criteria: Just setup the game to last N turns and play until everyone has had that many. Set the victory condition to something like, "whomever has the most riches and treasures wins".
End game satisfaction: Probably won't be an issue.
Players talk a lot: Not necessarily see above

Thread: Unusual question: would this work in a "english for foreigners" class?

BrenoK — 2008-09-02T01:38:20+00:00

So, I've just started teaching English here in Brazil. Would you guys say, based on your knowledge of the original, if this game would be good in an english class for "foreigners"? Is it mostly language-oriented or is it too "gamey" (with a focus on different strategies and optimization and such)? I'm thinking about getting this to use in some of my more advanced classes.

And does it really take 2hs? most of my classes last 1 hour and a half? Is the endgame criteria something that can be shortened, and if so, will it be an annoying thing (will it feel abrupt and unsatisfying?)?

Do players have to talk to each other a lot?

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

UniversalHead — 2008-09-01T23:31:50+00:00

Blix wrote:
I just wanted to provide some feedback. I assumed that is why you are showing the preview art.

Oh, and thanks for writing directly to Zev about it Jeremy. Very mature. Did you do stuff like that in school?

I've tried to stay cheerful and with a on my face, but I think I'll not post any more on this thread until the game is released. When everyone sees the final game, feel free to comment your hearts out.

Thanks to all those who had constructive comments to make.

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

ScottE — 2008-09-01T23:16:07+00:00

UniversalHead wrote:
The people that are most anticipating the release of this game are probably the same people that played the West End Game version. So the more this game veers away from that version... I think, the more people are going to say "errrr... this isn't the game I remember nor want..."

Zev should have saved himself some bucks and just reprinted the 80s version then. Not to mention avoiding damage to my sensitive little 'designer's pride'. Ha - I've been designing professionally for 20 years mate - that got calloused over many years ago!

Personally I love it (and I'm a professional artist if that helps! ). And I probably would not have bought this if just a reprint of the old version. I will admit freely I'm a bits whore and I fully endorse the current trend of reprinting old games with all new high quality graphics and bug fixes/streamlining to make them even better. If you prefer the old one you can always pick one up on eBay (fairly cheap once this edition ships).

Oh, and I voted for Pink!!

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

Blix — 2008-09-01T21:47:07+00:00

I just wanted to provide some feedback. I assumed that is why you are showing the preview art.

Thread: Re: Second art preview for new edition

UniversalHead — 2008-08-31T23:09:34+00:00

... and I can't help but quietly mention that the 'poll' doesn't actually include my existing design.