The nice chaps at Q-Con in Belfast have invited me over as a guest, which is rather jolly. Do pop in if you get a chance, as it promises to be a fun time all round. I’ll be runing a demo or two of Dwarf King’s Hold, chatting about the upcoming Dwarf King’s Hold 2: Green Menace as well as future plans for the series, plus giving a talk on board game design and being part of the panels on several other discussions later. Should be pretty busy. Have a look at their site for details of the talks and more, here.
DKH Videos
When I was at the UK Game Expo a little while back some nice chaps did a video of me babbling about Dwarf King’s Hold. In fact, I got so excited that I went on for rather a long time and they had to split it in two 🙂
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Scenario Design
Just added a page on the topic of scenario balance.
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Nearly there
If you have a look at Mantic’s blog you’ll see the cover art for DKH 2, and it looks pretty good to me. The whole project is almost ready for the printers, which is always both a nice stage and a slightly nerve wracking one. There’s always a slight worry that what you get back will have some dread problem with it, and though it rarely happens it can go horribly wrong. It’s usually not someone’s fault – more often I’ve seen problems caused by tiny differences is versions of software or fonts between the layout artist and the printers.
The best moment is when you finally get the fresh copy back from the printer and it all looks great 🙂
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Stay on target…
I don’t think I’m alone in being a gamer that is easily distracted by new and shiny toys. However, it’s worse when I’m distracted from finishing one design by the next one I have planned. With DKH this started when I was pondering what Ronnie and Mantic might release next. Goblins seemed to be on the cards, judging by what he said on the BOW site and the fact that he’s half way there already. Now he’s obviously going to be distracted by the Warpath gubbins, but it started me thinking. Soon I was half way through the rules and scenarios for them and I have the text for the back of Green Menace to finish first.
The nice thing here is that even if Mantic never do plastic goblins I can still play with the rules and, if they aren’t going to happen, I can stick them on the web anyway 🙂
Of course, there’s plenty more to explore before then. I’ve been looking at all the other models that each of the existing ranges have, and wondering how I can squeeze them down the tunnels too. Cavalry and war machines are a bit cumbersome, but pretty much everything else seems like fair game.
Keep your eyes peeled. You never know what’s around the corner.
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Now I think about it…
I had finished scenario 13 and it was all ready to roll, then I had one of those ‘good ideas’. Luckily it’s not a good idea that completely destroys all my previous work and I’ll be able to see if it really does improve things the way I think it will tomorrow. However, it is an object lesson in listening to the niggles at the back of your brain. I knew there was something else I should have been doing with it and the press of deadlines had got me ignoring it. Never a good plan. Still, now it’s all full steam ahead. Need to rework the map slightly and tweak the text to match so it can get sent in and made all luvverley by the layout pixies.
Gotta love them layout pixies 🙂
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Design Theory: The Art of the Original
I’ve been chatting on FrontlineGamer’s blog about some mudslinging that’s been going on about a new game, and it brings up the old chestnut about whether you can copyright game mechanics or not. That and the related notion that there’s nothing new in gaming, just reworkings of existing mechanics. I’m working up to a much longer ramble about this, but for the moment just thought I’d put a couple of ideas out there.
Firstly, as games tend to model the same thing over and over (combat, movement, etc) it’s not surprising that different people come up with the same or very similar ways of doing things. It is perfectly possible to develop a nearly identical rule without ever having any cross-pollination between the developers. Seen it done several times. Done it myself. In a legal sense, the first out the door is the one that has the legal protection, but only (as I understand it) if that idea is non-obvious and unique. Is that fair?
Secondly, if there really aren’t any new mechanics to be had (and that’s a fairly big if), can anybody claim copyright or ownership? Should they be able to?
I know what I think. What’s your view?
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Back!
I know I’ve mentioned being busy before, and it doesn’t change. Mind you, a month with no posts is not what I was aiming for. Must try harder…
On the Dwarf King’s Hold front, I’ve just finished the manuscript for the second starter set: Dwarf King’s Hold – Green Menace, and that’s looking like it’ll be lots of fun. The new tiles from Tears of Envy are looking lovely. I’ve also done a new scenario for the Mantic Journal which will appear in French as well, apparently. It’s always a bit strange seeing things you’ve done in languages you can barely muddle by in. Nice, but strange. Finally, we’ve been brewing a plan for something special to give as a bonus if people order both starter sets together. I’m sure the chaps at Mantic will spill the beans soon on that one 🙂
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Long Day
Well Salute was an adventure. I can’t actually tell you anything about the event myself as I spent the whole day running demos of Dwarf King’s Hold. That seemed to go very well though, with our giant version getting much praise. Several folk said they’d buy it if Mantic sold it at that size (though I very much doubt they would at the price they’d have to charge). It’s also rather impractical for all but the smallest of scenarios, unless you have a 12 foot table to play on. Looks pretty though 🙂
Thanks to everyone who came along and had a game. I’m not sure how many I got through, but it was quite a few. There was even one we did in French (with the help of a translator). That was an odd experience.
It was also interesting to see the mix of luck and victories during the day. All sorts of tactics were tried, and landslide victories went to both sides, as well as grindingly close calls. I started off thinking that I’d keep score, though that went by the board in the mayhem of the day. I have the impression that it was pretty even honours though, which is a good thing. I’ll try to remember to keep track if I run this at a convention again.
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Salute
I’m off to London today in preparation for the Salute show tomorrow. I’ve never been to Salute before, so it’ll be an adventure. Mind you, I don’t expect I’ll see much of the show as I’ll be running a demo of Dwarf King’s Hold at 3 times the normal size. The guys at Mantic have organised a set for me that uses their 3-up resins instead of the normal scale figures, which is all rather fun. I think it should look splendid at that size, so if you’re popping along to Salute do drop by the Mantic stand and say hi.
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Quirkworthy 