Quirkworthy

Fastest Kickstarter In The West

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Quirkworthy

I often hear people bemoaning the lateness of this or that Kickstarter project. Some are over a year behind schedule, and so it’s hardly surprising folk get peeved.

In contrast to this trend, I recently got a boxed game called Neptun from Queen Games. This campaign finished on the 1st of September 2014, and had an estimated delivery date of December 2014.

It actually arrived before the end of September!

Naturally, even this speed comes in for a bit of flak. The criticism I’ve read is that Queen are just using this as a pre-order system. Indeed, depending on where it was printed, it may even have been on a ship by the end of the KS. Even if it was printed locally they must have been pretty well advanced with the whole thing. That’s true.

Is this a bad thing?

Personally I don’t mind. When I look at a KS I read the delivery date like I check the rest of the page, but it doesn’t make a difference to buying in or not – it’s more of a hint towards how realistic and experienced the creator is. Whether I actually pledge or not depends partly on a more general assessment of the people supplying it, though it’s mainly the project itself (and shipping/tax costs). Regardless of what the nominal use of Kickstarter is, I am perfectly happy with people using it as a pre-order system. It may allow me to see a product I hadn’t been aware of, and it probably allows the company to promote its wares more broadly than traditional methods. In either case, I don’t see how I am suffering.

One argument I’ve heard against this sort of thing is that it drowns out the genuine and deserving people who are really just starting something up. I disagree, certainly as far as I am concerned. On the occasions I look at Kickstarter with a view to spending some money, I trawl through all of the currently active gaming projects. If I expect them to deliver a project I want then I consider pledging. If not then I don’t. To be honest, the delivery date is of little interest in itself. I’ve already got plenty of toys to be going on with, so I can wait 🙂

I suppose that people who only look at the summaries of KS on news sites, or only buy things they think are heavily discounted may have a different view. Personally I think that whatever Kickstarter was ostensibly set up to do (and I’m not convinced what they say in public and think in private necessarily match) it has evolved since it entered the real world and continues to do so. In our supposedly free market it will reach the level the buying public deserve. No sense complaining about some theoretical ideal which never really existed anyway.

But that’s just me. What do you think?

Posted in Kickstarter, Random Thoughts | 12 Comments

Weird Stats

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Quirkworthy

Not game stats, but website stats. This morning I looked at the stats for this site to see how many page views there had been. At that point there had been 270. The strange thing was that there had, apparently, only been 1 visitor…

Checking back later, there is still supposedly only 1 visitor today, but they’ve now looked at some 340-odd pages.

The page views sounds about right. The number of visitors is clearly wrong because more than one different person has posted a comment today.

Does anyone else have a WordPress.com site they could check to see if it’s a WordPress issue or something odd with this site specifically?

Ta.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 8 Comments

DZ FAQ Updated

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Quirkworthy

It’s here.

I’ve managed to deal with 130-something comments plus half a dozen pages worth of other notes. Not as much as I’d hoped to get done, though it’s progress. The Overwatch article I posted earlier will hopefully clear most of that up too.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my brain is fried so I’m going to stare blankly into space for a bit.

Posted in Deadzone, FAQ | Leave a comment

Overwatch In DZ

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Quirkworthy

First principles: if all else is equal, simple is better.

The discussion around Overwatch has been both interesting and frustrating to watch at the same time. After reading many comments I ended up more confused than when I’d started, and so I decided to take a step back and return to first principles. It felt like we were getting into ever murkier waters, with all sorts of convoluted situations and logical loops.

Don’t get me wrong: this is my fault. You guys are just trying to understand it, and it’s not clear enough. So, how to make it clearer?

Well, I always start with what’s printed. Once a game is live then what is written and current should be changed as little as possible. That’s my view. It’s fine to clarify what’s not clear, or correct typos and whatnot if they can’t be resolved without change. However, in this case there is a perfectly reasonable way to play Overwatch from what is written in the rules. All you have to do is ignore a confusing comment I wrote in the FAQ. That’s fine. When I post the new FAQ it will be gone.

So, to go back to the rules as they stand in the book, do we need to make any changes? At the moment, I think I need to add a note that you cannot have more than one Overwatch counter on a model at once. This question comes up with the Sentry ability. There is also one phrase that needs to be explained a bit, or perhaps rephrased (see below).

With that in mind, using just what’s written in the rules, how does Overwatch work?

Let’s say I have a model called Bob in my Strike Team. When it comes to my Turn I could activate Bob to Move, Shoot, and so on as normal. Instead, I decide to put him on Overwatch. The Overwatch rules (p31) say I place an Overwatch counter by the model as a reminder. The Turn sequence (p21) also states that I mark him with an activated marker as he has chosen an action (nothing in the rules says I should treat him differently from other models in this regard). The activated marker means that he cannot have another action allocated to him, while the Overwatch counter means that resolving this chosen action has been deferred. So far, so good.

If Bob uses his Overwatch to react to an enemy action then resolve it as per the normal rules. People seem to be pretty clear on how this works. I’ll deal with the odd wrinkle (mostly sentry guns and Indirect fire) in the FAQ proper.

If Bob gets to the end of the Round without using his Overwatch then this counter will remain in place. However, like all other activated counters, Bob’s will be removed at the end of the Round. Again, this is what is written in the rulebook as it stands.

So, Bob could potentially start a new Round with an Overwatch counter already beside him. (This is the situation a model with Sentry starts every Round in.) What does that mean? It means that Bob is still on Overwatch and can react to enemy actions as described in those rules. However, he has not got an activated counter and so he could be given a different action in any of my subsequent Turns¹. Following on from this, if he does react and loses his Overwatch counter then he will still not have been activated this Round. His Overwatch was last Round’s action deferred. So he can be given a new action, which could be Overwatch again.

I think this is both clear and resolves most of the questions posed. Apologies for the confusion.

1: This is the meaning of the phrase at the bottom of the left hand column on page 31. This new action is likely to be in a subsequent Round, but need not be. It must, however, always be in a subsequent Turn. This means that there is always a least a small gap in the Overwatch coverage of a single model for an opponent to exploit.

Posted in Deadzone, FAQ, Game Design Theory | 38 Comments

Thank You For Your Patience

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Quirkworthy

But I’m going to impose a little longer.

I’ve dealt with a bunch of the DZ FAQ, though there is still more to go through. I was hoping to get all of it done (bar the answers that need time-consuming diagrams or videos). However, it’s all taking much longer than I’d like. As I said before, I don’t really want to put out a new FAQ now and then another in a couple of days as that’ll only confuse people. I do want it finished though.

To give you an idea of the task, I’ve got four different Word docs full of comments, questions and emails collected and sent to me from different sources, much of which is duplicates. There were also 520 comments left on the DZ FAQ thread here. Now many of them have either been answered already or are discussions around a topic, so there aren’t anything like that number of actual questions. Even so, with this amount of info to cross-check (never mind the several rulebooks, card decks, etc) you can see why it takes a while to get through.

To give you something interesting and DZ to read while I’m trawling through a little more of this, I’ll write up a core piece of the overwatch discussion for my next post. I’ll continue with the FAQ for the rest of today and post wherever I’ve got to when I stop this evening. This will give you a wodge of new things to read in time for any weekend games you may have planned 🙂

Apologies for the delay.

Posted in Deadzone, FAQ | 4 Comments

Spy Vs Spy

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Quirkworthy

Nothing to do with Deadzone.

Can anyone recommend any good board (or card) games about spies, espionage, counter-intelligence, and similar cloak and dagger skullduggery?

I can’t think of any really good ones off the top of my head. I’m sure there must be something though. Doesn’t have to be in print.

Any thoughts?

Posted in Board Gaming, Random Thoughts | 30 Comments

Flavours Of News

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Quirkworthy

It’s a classic good news, bad news situation. Which do you want first? The bad news? OK.

The bad news is that I’m going to delay posting up the new DZ FAQ for 24 hours 😦

The good news is that the reason I’m doing that is that I’ll be spending twice as much time working on it 🙂

So probably good news overall 😀

I was in the middle of sorting through a bunch of different threads and thought it might be sensible to finish off a bit more while I was in the zone, as it were. Flitting between systems always entails a bit of lost time remembering how things work. I’m also working on a follow up post or two when I’ve made some props to photograph. All in the name of clarity.

Posted in Deadzone, FAQ | 10 Comments

A Design Theory Question

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Quirkworthy

Over the last couple of years I’ve expounded on the theme of game design theory a number of times. Several people have been kind enough to say that these posts have been helpful to them in their own design work, which is very good to hear. I wrote them with the intention that they form a sort of reference for people who were interested, and always intended to return to write more. As always, these will be my own opinion rather than any granite carved gospel – the aim is to inspire and kickstart some thinking rather than to preach. Mostly 😉

What topics though?

Well, you tell me.

There are some obvious topics yet to cover, such as playtesting. However, what I think you may want to know isn’t necessarily the same as what you actually find tricky. It’s clearly better to cover topics that are genuinely helpful rather than being simply whatever happens to have flitted across my brain that morning…

So what elements of design theory intrigue you, or would help in your own designs? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do 🙂

Posted in Game Design Theory | 14 Comments

A Little Dungeon Sagas Progress

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Quirkworthy

Since the Kickstarter I’ve been pushing ahead with various pieces of the large puzzle that makes up Dungeon Sagas. Now that we’ve got a final list of things to include, I’ve got a map of what I need to get done and the order it needs to be done in. At least roughly.

Last friday I had a very helpful meeting with Ronnie and the Mantic crew about this roadmap and we agreed on the best way forward. So, with everyone singing from the same song sheet, it’s just about getting on with it 🙂

There are, of course, details to be nailed down regarding exactly how the retail products are done. This won’t change what Kickstart backers get, just what happens after that’s been delivered. This difference between retail and backers is an interesting part of running a Kickstarter. With some products these two elements will be identical, with others they may be completely different. It all depends on exactly what you’re making. Just how much effort sorting all that out requires is something I’d not even thought about till I saw it done. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes you guys never see. In fact, when I talk to people who’ve just run their first KS they nearly always tell me the same thing: they didn’t realise quite how much work there was behind the scenes. Luckily for me I don’t have to do most of that logistical malarkey: I just do the game design 😀

Anyway, back to DS.

Much of this development will happen among my usual testers and the Mantic crew. However, some of it will be public so you guys can both see where we are and join in the fun 🙂

Exactly what and when this will be are things I haven’t yet nailed down entirely, and the first stuff is likely to be at the end of the month after an internal milestone has been ticked off. Until then, you should be getting your hero and monster models ready (if you haven’t already). Whatever else happens you can be sure you’ll need them!

Posted in Dungeon Sagas | 8 Comments

The Day’s Plunder

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Quirkworthy

Back from the show, and bearing bags of swag 🙂

I’ve not been to the Derby show at this venue before, and it’s a big change from the last couple of places they held it at. Instead of a series of different rooms and levels, it’s now in a single large exhibition hall. Perhaps a third of the space was filled with various tournaments with the remainder being demo games and trade stands. Quite a big event all told.

So, with lots to see and do I strode purposefully into the venue and got a grand total of perhaps 4 paces before spotting Rick P with his Gates of Antares demo, and there I stood for the next half hour. Currently this seems to be using the core concepts of the popular Bolt Action rules, though the dice have morphed into D10s to allow more variety in game values. They are currently in Beta testing, and I think you can sign up to take part on the Warlord site.

Though it was nice to chat, I eventually had to make some effort to explore the rest of the hall. Even at a steady walk, and stopping only infrequently, it took a fair while to wander round the whole place (and I ignored the tournaments entirely).

As is common for me these days, much of my time ended up in discussion with people I know. This was partly why I’d thought about what I wanted to pick up in advance. And as it happened, I did pretty well at following my shopping list; thanks to a great deal at Caliver I was able to pick up what I needed in one place. First on my list, was some Agema plastics.

Agema are relatively new boys to the gaming world, and have so far brought out a small range of Republican Roman models. Carthaginians are in the pipeline. There are also a few metal figures to complement these plastics and I’ll be picking these up too (probably from the web store). I didn’t see them today.

Republican Rome is currently blessed by not only these plastics, but also some new Victrix ones. I was tempted by these as well, though they are quite different and I’m not convinced they would mix all that well. The main difference isn’t one of detail or height, but of bulk. The Victrix offerings are much more in the GW-inspired “heroic” style that has been popular for some time. Agema, on the other hand, have gone for a much more realistic anatomy, and personally I like it a lot. It’s just a matter of taste. The Victrix models are also less varied in pose, with all of them standing straight. This will probably make them very good for ranking up in mass armies, which is fine. However, I was initially thinking of skirmishes for my Romans, so the added variety and movement in the poses of the Agema offering was another plus for my devious purposes.

Perrys next, and as there was a show deal on 4 boxes I went for that. Can’t have too many Perry models. I’ve got a small mountain of WOTRish Perry models and the Foot Knights are their latest addition to the range. It would have been rude to leave them out. WWII because they look lovely, even though North Africa wouldn’t have been my first choice of theatre. By mixing in a few of the metals I should be able to stretch this to Tunisia or Italy. Zouaves? Well I didn’t have any and I needed a fourth box. And they’re lovely 🙂

Last, but by no means least, I was given a copy of the Relics rulebook by the very nice chaps on their stand. The quick and rather bloody demo I had gave me an idea of the overall shape of the game rules, and they’re an interesting change of pace from the norm. The models too are a different sort of theme from the usual fare, and I applaud them for both brave choices. I always enjoy seeing people trying something different. As a note on the image, I’ve left this somewhat bleached out so you can read the title. The real appearance is much more dark, menacing, and difficult to read 🙂