Scott - Either you're doing something wrong in Stone Age or I am.
To obtain a resource, I believe that a player rolls a number of dice equal to the workers placed and takes the TOTAL divided by [multiplier], not the number of [multiplier or greater]s rolled.
For example, I have two tools and want one gold. Under your example, I'd want to send about five or six workers to be sure to get that precious 6 (except a tool would boost).
Instead I send two guys. Their total will be 4 or more eleven twelfths of the time (33 out of 36) and I can add the tools if need be to get that one gold. I could send three guys to get that 215 out of 216 confidence if I really wanted...
As a closer I would like to say thank you Scott for all your wonderful work. Half the games my play group owns we purchased on your recommendation, and you've never let us down! Ohh and congrats and good luck with your book!
Last edited Thu Jul 1, 2010 10:27 pm (Total Number of Edits: 1)
I went through a so-called sleep study last night, so I had a long time while covered in wires and tubes, forced to lay in a bed, to think about things. I did develop a number of ideas for future episodes.
Reflecting back upon this episode, I think I missed on the "so-what-o-meter". This is something I use when I read research papers at school - when it's done, I look at it, and say, "So What?"
This is a new format, and I'm still trying to work it out, but I'm realizing that in this format, I need to come to a "so what" conclusion. So these are all different.. so what? What does that mean to designers or players? I did a little of that with the teachers, but it's not strong enough in this episode. I think that's what I can really offer with this - a comparison of something, and then the "so what" analysis. Perhaps I'll even start the design of an episode with the "so what" and work backwards to the games; that's how you teach - you start with the learning outcome and develop the lessons accordingly.
If your aim was to show in what other ways than moving meeples around on the board dice can be used, you succeeded. I found it interesting to see what other dice mechanisms are possible.
Well, one of the personal benefits I take from this new format is it gives me some more exposure to similar games. For example, I really enjoy Stone Age and Settlers of Catan. I had heard of Kingsburg, but didn't really know much about it, and I'd never heard of Macao. This video let me see how similar and different Kingsburg and Macao were from the two that I enjoyed. I'm still relatively new to the board game scene, so someone more experienced and exposed to the games that are out there might not get the same benefit, but that's what I got
Reflecting back upon this episode, I think I missed on the "so-what-o-meter".
I think that's more a topic issue than a BGWS issue, at least in this case. When dealing with Simultaneous Auction games you had a real sharp point you were focusing on, the key element was a mechanic not a component and the auction was a major component at that.
Dicing for Resources really felt so broad and mushy as to be nearly irrelevant as a topic. A little more focus on a single type of randomization for resources and showing cool variants of that would have pulled the episode together a little more - but then you run the risk of being overly hyper-focused.
Don't get me wrong, the coverage of the games was great, and I enjoyed the episode, I just didn't feel the topic was cohesive.
I would have liked to seen a blurb on Yspahan in there as well. I think its dice mechanic is innovatively unique much like the others you presented. Great video, thanks.
I would have liked to seen a blurb on Yspahan in there as well. I think its dice mechanic is innovatively unique much like the others you presented. Great video, thanks.
I actually pulled Yspahan off the shelf and considered it, but it's not as direct a dice-for-resource match as the other games. The dice let you do a variety of things (two of which are taking Gold/Camels).
But, I think this strikes to my deeper thoughts about the episode, that I really need to think more deeply about the underlying goal of bringing a group of games together...
Reflecting back upon this episode, I think I missed on the "so-what-o-meter". This is something I use when I read research papers at school - when it's done, I look at it, and say, "So What?"
I thought it was helpful to watch just to see what you think of several popular games. The core mechanic thing was just a common framework to make explaining them easier.
I think the more interesting subtopic that's hidden in this video is the difference between a game where you roll dice and then decide what to do with them and a game where you decide what to do and then roll dice to see if you succeed. Kingsburg and Macao are in the former; Settlers and Stone Age are in the latter. The difference is that in the latter type of game you end up gleeful some of the time and angry some of the time and in the former you can almost always take one plan and segue it into a different plan based on the rolls you got, so you don't have the same frustration when you don't roll how you want to.
Hello, wouééééé à new Scott's épisode I really like this new format, explaining rules was sometimes interresting, but this give more food for thoughts. Like Jae, I think Yspahan will have been a great addition to this épisode, spécialy because.... it is the best game Another interesting game to check out in this dice for "resources" genre is Alea Iacta Est, very interractive and the use of the dices bring just enouth "lightness" to make it really fun, the only draw back for me is the scoring system à bit to complex for such a light game.
Fred
Last edited Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:57 pm (Total Number of Edits: 1)
