Sunday, November 24, 2024

Proposal: Beanpole Position

Timed out, 1-2. Failed by JonathanDark.

Adminned at 26 Nov 2024 16:05:27 UTC

If the proposal “Scategories” enacted, this proposal has no further effect.

To the first paragraph of “Races”, add:-

Each Race has a Grid, being a list of Snails.

Replace “Create a new Race” with:-

Create a new Race whose Grid is a list of all Snails in a secretly random order

In “Moving”, replace “At any time, a Snail may Move” with:-

At the start of a Race, the first Snail in the Grid is the Active Snail. At any time, the Active Snail may Move

Replace “specifying one of the actions listed below” with:-

specifying and performing a sequence of up to five actions, from those listed below

Add to the end of that rule:-

After a Snail makes a Move, the next Mobile Snail listed in the Grid becomes the Active Snail; if no such Snail exists, the first Mobile Snail listed in the Grid instead becomes the Active Snail. If no Snails are Mobile then no Snail is Active. (A Snail is Mobile if they can Move.)

If the “Slugs” rule exists, change the Slug of Death’s Movement Rule to “Any Snail may cause the Slug of Death to Crawl twice as its Move.” and Slingshot Sam’s Movement Rule to “Slingshot Sam is never considered to be Mobile.”

If a Race exists, set its Grid to be a list of all Snails in a random order.

As per the previous proposal, it does seem like if we stick with the initial “someone takes all their moves in one go and then other players each try to beat that” game structure, where during your own turn every other Snail is either at the 0cm starting line or the 100cm finish line, we’re going to be missing out on a lot of scope for interesting mid-race interactions. It feels more like a throwing sport than a track race. (I just tried to invent some new Moves and it’s difficult knowing that other players’ locations will never be relevant.)

This makes each race a turn-based game, where we each take a chunk of up to five move actions at a time.

Comments

Desertfrog: Jury

24-11-2024 16:24:55 UTC

I originally wanted to avoid a turn-based structure to minimize waiting, but I have to admit that it has some clear advantages (possibility to refer to “next” snail in actions; no situation where everyone is waiting for someone else to move; timing doesn’t matter; etc.)

Kevan: he/him

24-11-2024 16:42:08 UTC

Yeah, it’s a balance between an obvious, easy tabletop mechanic and how we should handle the players who don’t check in much or don’t intend to keep up with the game. I’d hope it could work.

It might be worth going further down the Giolitti/Battlebots route and only having a subset of Snails in each race, so that each one can be run more quickly.

Clucky: he/him

24-11-2024 16:53:19 UTC

We’ve done a lot of turn based dynasties like this before. This dynasty is offering a different way to play, and it seems unfortunate to abandon that and replace it with a system we’ve already used before we even try this one

Kevan: he/him

24-11-2024 17:31:41 UTC

It’s not abandoning it, it’s just breaking it up into chunks so that the decision players get isn’t one big “Jonathan finished his entire run in 17 rolls, Kevan in 23, how shall I make my run?” plan but a shorter chain of three or four “Jonathan is 10cm ahead of me now, Kevan 2cm behind, what shall I do next?” decision points.

That’s immediately a more interactive driver’s seat type of race. I suspect it’s also an easier framework for people to invent Moves and other mechanics for.

Clucky: he/him

24-11-2024 19:14:08 UTC

against

JonathanDark: he/him

24-11-2024 20:38:24 UTC

Per the discussion on the other Proposal, I’d rather encourage players into a decision to not spam their Moves via strategic choices than through hard rules against it, just because I’m now curious to see how far we can take it. We could be wrong, and that’s fine by me to learn this, perhaps the hard way.

against

Kevan: he/him

25-11-2024 08:14:25 UTC

[Jonathan] A game where players can spam all their Moves within a few minutes of the Race starting, but are also given incentives not to, still gives an advantage to the players who are online enough and in the right timezone to exercise that choice.