In this blog we will take a look at the changes that were made for prototype 4.2, discuss how each of the weaknesses from 4.1 were addressed, and review the results of the 4.2 playtest.
Changes
The changes for 4.2 were about iterating on the weaknesses of 4.1 while maintaining its strengths. In particular, the changes had to do with reducing the number of rules, incentivizing discovery, and incentivizing exploration. 4.2 included the following changes:
1. Removal of traps
2. Combined discovery and exploration – When a player discovers a new tile they roll for the number of secrets and then get to look at those secrets before collecting them or placing them on the board.
3. Picking up secrets is free with discovery and exploration
4. Battle rules consolidated – Players roll a die for their side and a die for the enemy side, then add modifiers, the largest value wins the battle.
5. Stealing rules consolidated – Players roll a die to determine if 0, 1, or 2 secrets are stolen.
6. Enemy camps combined – All enemy camps attempt to steal secrets from the nearest player camp but deal damage if there are no secrets to steal.
7. War results simplified – Winning a war destroys the enemy camp and the ally camp becomes a player camp.
8. Roaming gang no longer a quest – The roaming gang is in all games, beginning on a cool-down of 10, and goes on cool-down if subdued by the players.
9. Factory removed, one included with the main camp
10. Renamed exploration, discovery, and pickup – Exploration was renamed to discovery, discovery was renamed to search, and pickup was renamed to collect.
Discussion
Two of the critical weaknesses of 4.1 were that players avoided discovery and were discouraged from exploring. Basically, players had too much risk for the reward of discovering new secrets. This in turn made exploring new tiles a waste of time. Changes 1 through 3 were about reducing the risk and increasing the rewards of discovery thereby providing incentive for players to discover and explore. Traps were removed from the game in order to reduce the risk of discovery. With the main source of risk removed, discovery and exploration were then combined to provide more reward when exploring. Finally, the risk was further reduced by including the free pickup of secrets with exploration and discovery.
The other key weakness of 4.1 was that it had too many rules. Changes 4 through 9 each targeted a particular system of the game which players struggled to understand and simplified the rules of that system. For example, the rules of battle have been consolidated into one system that can be used in multiple situations; this replaces different battle systems for different situations. Change 10 adjusts the terminology of the game to reflect how players naturally speak about the game. I consider this a simplification of the rules because it reduces the cognitive load on players.
Results
The changes for prototype 4.2 resulted in a more fun and engaging game for players. A few quick statistics about 4.2:
4 players
2 hours of gameplay
14 rounds
37 of 44 tiles discovered
4 of 4 minor quests won, won game
Discovery and exploration had much more reward for players and much less risk. This is most evidenced by the number of buffs that players accumulated. In 4.1 each player ended the game with 1 buff, but in 4.2 each player had the maximum of 3 buffs and some players switched out buffs during the game. Players also used many more supplies, kits, and other secrets to give them advantages throughout the game. These behaviors indicate that the risk and reward of exploration and discovery were in a much better place for 4.2 than 4.1 because players had access to more secrets. However, many secrets were still underwhelming meaning that players had little reason and/or desire to discover and explore once all of the quests had been discovered.
The rules of 4.2 were much more accessible than before. Players engaged with new strategies, such as switching between active quests, to help them win the game. With these simplified rules came easier accessibility to rules which were still too complex. Chief among these were the rules around carry capacity which were simply ignored for most of the game. Other problematic rules include secret collection, cool-downs, the roaming gang, buffs, player camps, and one-off secrets.
Conclusion
The changes for 4.2 significantly improved upon the weaknesses of 4.1. Players learned the rules and engaged with them at a deeper level which revealed more rules that needed to be simplified. Discovery and exploration had a stronger balance of risk and reward but many secrets were still too underwhelming to be worth using. 4.3 will further improve upon the progress made in these areas. In the next blog we will take a look at the changes for prototype 4.3 and the results of playtesting them.