| Drafter | Claims | Plan Link |
|---|---|---|
| ais523 | - | |
| Clucky | 10, 12, 15 | Fat Bear Draft |
| Darknight | - | - |
| DoomedIdeas | 10, 12, 15, 42 | DoomedIdeas' Dynasty Draft |
| JonathanDark | 10, 12, 15, 42 | Investigations Draft |
| Josh | 10, 12, 15, 42 | Container Draft |
| Kevan | 10, 12, 15, 42 | Dungeon Dynasty Draft |
| lendunistus | 10, 12, 15 | Monster/Slasher Draft |
| Trapdoorspyder | 10, 12, 15, 42 | Shopping Spree Draft |
| Verba | 10, 12, 15, 42 | Museum Dynasty Draft |
| Desire | Strikes |
|---|---|
| - | 0 |
| Selfish | Clucky, Darknight |
|---|
Please complete ballots horizontally - i.e. find your name in the leftmost column then input your ballot scores against the other Drafters from left to right.
| Ballots | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clucky | Darknight | DoomedIdeas | JonathanDark | Josh | Kevan | lendunistus | Trapdoorspyder | Verba | |
| Clucky | x | x | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - |
| Darknight | - | x | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| DoomedIdeas | 7 | x | x | 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| JonathanDark | 7 | x | 3 | x | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Josh | 7 | x | 1 | 5 | x | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| Kevan | 6 | x | 1 | 7 | 2 | x | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| lendunistus | 7 | x | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 | x | 5 | 4 |
| Trapdoorspyder | 7 | x | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | x | 6 |
| Verba | 5 | x | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | x |
| Winning Plan | - |
|---|
Lendunistus: "I feel like you can definitely build on this a lot, but in its current form, it's way too underdeveloped in my opinion (as well as leaning a bit too much towards the side of being a grind). The luck isn't too much of a concern to me given that we can always change it, but as said, I'd prefer to see the gameplay loop be a little bit more fleshed out."
DoomedIdeas: "I'm concerned about the luck requirements in this Draft. 2/3 of the proposed rules rely on luck, and so do the suggested locations. I'd rather no players win or lose a Dynasty due to 20% strategy and 80% dice rolls. I do like fat bears, though!"
ais523: "There's a lot more skill in this than it looks, although randomness may well still have a large effect. It could be very punishing to players who miss a day, though, depending on how many actions per week is optimal (I think it's somewhat more than 5). I think a fruitful direction would be for different territories to favour different types of reward, so you had some control over what you got."
Josh: "There is something here, although at the moment I think it's a little thin. The theme is great, the mechanics aren't strong, and I would personally have to think about how to propose into this set of opening rules beyond adding more of the same."
JonathanDark: "I like the theme, but not as much of a fan of the dice rolling for the effect of a terrain. I'd rather see dice rolling for the next type of terrain explored, if there's going to be dice rolling at all, and then how much fish you catch or whether you get injured would be a function of your stats or traits, which you could improve in some way. "
Kevan: "Very strong base theme, as an occasional viewer of the Katmai webcams, although I'm not so sure about glory, shame and magic. Bluffing fights have potential, but the random lookup table for gaining Fat doesn't appeal to me as a foundation mechanic."
Trapdoorspyder "The biggest issue for me with this is that it feels like it might take a substantial amount of work to get a functional game up and running from this baseline. It could take a sizable chunk of the dynasty before gameplay feels notably relevent. Aside from that, the luck isn't as concerning to me as it is to others, and the theme seems middle-of-the-road to me."
Verba "An interesting and somewhat minimalist theme with some interesting possibilities. Largely randomized, leaving the players to 'flesh out the forest,' so to speak, which could be interesting, depending on what types of proposals are made. I would like to see an initial conflict that leads the players to begin slinging proposals with those claws."
Lendunistus: "The new theme is actually pretty interesting in my opinion and unlike Ais, I think we can figure out ways to use it in gameplay. However, as Ais also said, this would be a very high-effort dynasty to play - might want to play it, might not (also, the mechanics feel just a tiny bit too plain to me - would like some kind of other hook to be added).
Kevan: "I like the idea of finding and focusing on particular items, that was one of the most enjoyable parts of the Second Photography dynasty and it'd be good to see what else we could do with it. The narrative angle seems promising."
JonathanDark: "This idea pulls from some of the best parts of the second photography-based dynasty and gives some structure to it. The theme is borrowed from that photography dynasty but with its own unique twist, and it is original in the concept of challenges and the engagement with the players, which is key to a successful dynasty."
ais523: "This seems like a good iteration on a theme that's been done a couple of times before. I'm neutral on the changes to the theming – they're unlikely to have a significant impact on how the dynasty plays out. The dynasty does seem very time-consuming, though, and I doubt I would play it."
Josh: "This is cute, I like it a lot. I will ding it a point for being a bit of a reskin of earlier dynasties that iterates the theme rather than substantially pushing the mechanics forward, but in general that is fine, maybe even advisable for newer Emperors. In this case you have chosen a mechanic that works well."
Trapdoorspyder "This seems like a really interesting framework to start a dynasty on! The nature of pictures means that there is a lot of depth that can be explored, but it may be difficult to keep the game balanced due to both region, stage of life players are in, and the level of access one might have to any given object. The theme is decently interesting (I can't speak to past photography dynasties having not been part of them)."
Verba "There is an inherent mystic quality to this theme which I enjoy; attempting to scour the local world for uniquely joined images in order to exorcise the demons. it reminds of the early days of the internet. Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, this is largely a physical scavenger hunt and less a Nomic game to me, so I would likely sit such a dynasty out. Very fun idea; but not possible currently."
DoomedIdeas: "I'm a big fan of Mastermind, so this kind of logic-puzzle Dynasty seems great. Your changes have also completely taken care of the timing issue. A tiebreaker might be needed for who gets what Lead, but that isn't necessary to have in the Draft. The theme seems interesting as well- I like the idea of the Emperor literally being the Crime Scene! I also like the ideas for growth as well."
ais523: "This new version is mechanically sound, but seems to be only slightly about logical deduction, slightly about negotiating for the lead type that's most useful, and primarily about pooling information and guess actions. As such it'll need a lot of thought about how the win condition will interact with pooling attempts, as the dynasty is likely to critically depend on that."
Josh: "It has become more Clue and less Mastermind, which I'm not against. It may be set up more as a solitaire race where move efficiency is key, which is less to my taste. The odds of someone alpha-striking the answer on day 1 is 1 in 1296, which might not be long enough for safety."
Trapdoorspyder "The 'guessing game' style of this draft is intriguing to me! I admit however, there may need to be a failsafe for the possibility of a lucky guess cutting the dynasty short, or alternatives so that finding the 'irrefutable' combo is not the end-all for the dynasty. The theme seems decent enough to me, so no complaints there!"
Kevan: This now feels like a very close retread of the Detective dynasty, both mechanically and thematically. I appreciate you say that you're open to players "changing the format completely", but there's always a lot of inertia from the opening proposals.
Verba "An initial murder mystery with the possibility of becoming an adventurous detective noir. I enjoy a good deduction theme and this has some excellent possibility. As an aside, considering the others' feedback, perhaps there is no immediate solution, but the investigators themselves must 'create' the solution through proposals and actions; similar to the Android board game."
JonathanDark: "I'm a big fan of dynasties involving manipulating the ruleset itself, because it's very Nomic. We tend to focus more on boardgame-like dynasties, and I'm just as guilty of that as the next person, so ruleset manipulation is always refreshing to see. There probably needs to be an International Waters ruleset to allow boats to function, but other than that, the mechanics look pretty solid."
Kevan: "Much stronger theme with the rules concept as Tenets! Curious to see how the hours-and-days idle game mechanic would play out in practice."
DoomedIdeas: "This does seem very Nomic, and very interesting! I like the options you've provided between rule shipping or simply goods and territory. The Manifest seems very helpful, but can still cause issues based on the timing at which the Capital City posts it. Overall, an intriguing Dynasty!"
ais523: "The key to making this work is going to be in the nature of the traded rules – your changes to add random Tenet generation seem like a step in the right direction. I wonder whether this would work better as a sequence of fixed-length rounds."
Trapdoorspyder "The premise of this looks very intriguing! The shifting rulesets and portable rules sound like a very fun idea, and one that I believe that I would enjoy engaging with. However, I think that there could be a higher potential for various scams than average if it's not done very very carefully. The theme seems like an enjoyable and conceptually sound backdrop to the action!"
Verba "A fascinating mix of Patrician, Pirates and Nomic on an inland sea. Hard to starboard, drop the sails and let's set sail on these tides. Filled with possibility, fantastic theme, and an interesting economic element wherein reality itself is being shipped between harbors. Bring me the horizon!"
DoomedIdeas: "I believe this is the first Dynasty I reviewed, and I rated it far too low when I did. The mechanics are fun, the suggestion of manipulating your personal pool of rooms is smart, the two phases seem greatly enjoyable, and the gameplay hooks you in quickly! The theme is also very clever. I'm happy to give you 5 stars in each category."
JonathanDark: "I love roll-and-write games, and this reminds me of some of the cartography-based board games. The biggest difficulty is in providing mechanics to describe each room and their orientation, which I think is important to be able to classify the use of the rooms in each player's map. You also want to be able to identify each room uniquely to open up additional rules for placing objects or effects."
ais523: "This seems like an interesting core idea, but I think the heart of the dynasty will be the actions in rooms and those aren't really fleshed out in the draft – it may well be hard to make a good set that requires skill to play, and it's the sort of ruleset where one innocent-seeming addition could completely break things."
Josh: "An interesting set-up. Would need to mitigate luck and last-mover advantages. Posting hand-drawn maps to the blog is a great hooky idea."
Trapdoorspyder "The baseline for this seems very interesting and engaging for me! Building and then trekking through dungeons sounds like a good time. Mechanically this seems fun but not extraordinary, although sometimes it just works. Thematically, something 'dungeon' was essentially a must but I personally feel that it could use a bit more in order to provide a propelling direction."
Verba "The murky depths of stone hallways call forth our names. I like the relatively minimal setup, though I think it would be even more interesting to see us all delve into a single cave together, exploring as an expedition...until we're not. You've provided good tools and groundwork with a simple premise that could lead to a mad scramble for treasure or our lives."
ais523: I don't think we've had a 1-player-versus-everyone Dynasty in ages (ever?), and agree that the "1 player" would have to be the Emperor (or at least to have a veto) to make it work. In a way this would turn into a tension between players trying to beat each other to victory points and players trying to ensure the Monster loses – trying to balance that could be very hard. I fear the proposal system wouldn't work well in a game this unbalanced.
Josh: We've definitely done 1vE before - Josh 8, Keitalia 1, JonathanDark 1 are all reference points, although it is rare. I don't love the theme, I'm not a big horror fan, but I think the mechanics could make up for it. Nice to see an AP system proposed. I am reassured that the putative Emperor has run a dynasty as this would be an intensive one to run.
JonathanDark: I actually like the theme and the mechanics. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to allow Survivors to control the Monster in some way, either making it go away from their position or towards a specific position, so that a Survivor can improve their odds of winning by reducing the pool of living Survivors and get the Monster to go after them. Maybe that's against the theme of cooperative survival?
Kevan: The Boss Fight dynasty is also a relevant touchstone here, where players took turns as the monster each round. I'm not sure that the Emperor would be that good a person to run an antagonist character, with nothing at stake for them and no reward for prolonging their own survival. But maybe there's a way to solve that.
Trapdoorspyder: The mechanics seem interesting! The theme also looks enjoyable. It seems like it would be very action-based, so I would be curious what could be added for additional mechanical depth during the dynasty.
Verba "A Nomic in which players play with reality while being chased by a beast has great possibility. I appreciate the amount of effort you've put into making this an interesting board gameesque setup, though I do lean more towards the battle of arguments rather than slasher villains. An interesting possibility and a good framework on which to begin."
DoomedIdeas: "I love the idea, and using charts for pixel art is very fun! The example items are very good, and while my suitcase-stacking suggestion was a joke, I'm very happy to see it incorporated. I can absolutely see this becoming a grand, chaotic Dynasty. You've made a great Draft!"
Kevan: "Packing objects into a confined space and travelling onwards seem like strong base mechanics. The example items are a little odd, though."
JonathanDark: "A unique idea, and the base mechanics are sound and provide opening for more interesting actions involving inventory space, item values, and income generation."
ais523: "This looks like a solid set of basic mechanics now. Although the dynasty would eventually need more complexity in order to prevent the optimal strategy from being obvious, that would likely naturally happen through proposals during play. I think this could easily evolve into a pretty good dynasty if the Emperor keeps up with the updates."
Josh: "I like the packing mechanic. This seems to have turned into more of an engine-builder, which I like better than it was before. I think revving cars muddies the theme a little for me. "
Verba "I agree with others, this is a unique take, but I must say that the initial theme doesn't thrill me for a Nomic, nor does the packing of objects in confined spaces with intricate euroish rules. I'm not much of a eurogame player, myself, so I suspect I'm biased, but, since it is a Nomic, the game could become something else very quickly. A light initial setup, which is good, as I'd like to see some wildly new mechanics thrown into the mix."
Josh: "I like big chunks of this. I like the adversarial emperor, much as I do with lendunistus' draft, and I like the cooperative engine building. Two mechanical notes: having the Emperor term ('Rival Curator') fully include the player term ('Curator') has the potential to be messy, so could use a synonym; and the Emperor would not be able to declare Victory."
ais523: "This looks like the sort of dynasty that could go off the rails very easily, especially when the core rules start to be overridden (it seems unwise to rely on things like "the Emperor can't declare victory" remaining intact at the end of the dynasty). That said, the gameplay is more likely to become about being socially well-connected and having a powerful pool behind you than it is to be about making use of the objects."
JonathanDark: "An interesting idea, to allow the free-form creation of Objects and their Effects. I wonder what sort of guidance, if any, would be implemented for the Objects' Effects. It could be anything from altering purchase tokens to overriding core rules. I'd also be curious how strongly the adversarial Emperor would be played."
DoomedIdeas: "This is very interesting! I'd love to see some hypothetical Objects and Effects as examples. I do worry that the win condition for the Emperor encourages them to make the game unplayable for a week straight, and combined with the fact that the Emperor is the one creating the Objects, that could go south very quickly. Other than that, I love this idea! The theme is also very fun- a museum of magical artifacts!"
Kevan: The tokens and timings will need to be shaken out a bit, but there's strong potential here in the basic structure of game objects that reward the players who supported the proposals that brought them into play.
Ais523: "Undo revision 30239 by [[Special:Contributions/Ais523|Ais523]] ([[User talk:Ais523|talk]]) – undoing an Atomic Action after an impossible step was (possibly) reached"