[Mars Colony] The corporations will be our doom
Tim C Koppang:
iluxan,
I see now what you mean about the rules, and using them as a reference during play. You're right, the rules were written in more conversational style (rather than a reference style). But point well taken. Thank you.
Quote from: iluxan on November 11, 2010, 07:50:16 PM
One more thing I found (slightly) confusing:
* The word "Guide" for political parties. I guess you suggest that to mean "name of similar political party". For us we chose actual names for the parties ("Free Mars", "Mars Party", etc). So the "Guide" could be better called "description" or "characteristics" or something. Again, minor choice-of-word thing. (And I'd personally add a "Name" field and encourage players to get creative with them. Clever silly party names are always easier to remember than "Yellow" and "Green". The colors should stay too, though.)
The Guide is the name of a real-life political party (Democrat, Republican, Green, Labor, etc.). You generate these during Preparation Stage 2. The name "Guide" is supposed to imply that the real-life party should serve as the inspirational basis for the fictional party on Mars.
In one of the early drafts of the game, I had the players come up with fictional names for the parties as well. It was fun. I switched to colors to keep things a bit more abstract and to cut down an the preparation time. But I have no objection to making up fictional names in play. I like the ones you came up with.
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Finally the Deception rule that we got wrong - that you only add the sum of the rolls before the 1 role. As far as I can see that particular rule is only in the "Example" in the Deception section. (Well, it does say "if he hadn’t rolled a 1", but I guess I didn't interpret it quite right. Maybe better "if he stopped before rolling a 1"?)
I don't want to beat a dead horse, but just for the sake of anyone else reading along, I was referring to the sentence that reads, "The Savior gains no points from the roll that actually included the 1." Perhaps that could be a bit clearer though.
Anyway, I'm glad that you are so excited, and that MC could help you along. I'll check out the thread on Story Games to see what everyone else is suggesting.
iluxan:
Quote from: Tim C Koppang on November 11, 2010, 09:18:37 PM
I don't want to beat a dead horse, but just for the sake of anyone else reading along, I was referring to the sentence that reads, "The Savior gains no points from the roll that actually included the 1." Perhaps that could be a bit clearer though.
Yeah, ok. I just misread, is all :) Horse is now good and dead.
Out of curiosity, are you planning on potentially revising/augmenting Mars Colony? Actively working on any other projects currently?
Bloomfield:
So I completely missed the "or" in this sentence about Opposition Scenes: "An Opposition Scene must involve Colony politics or the lead-up to a direct threat against Colony stability." I thought every opposition scene had to directly lead to a threat against Colony stability by setting up a progress scene. (The rules do say that every opposition scene is followed by a Progress scene, as soon as Kelly starts to take action during an Opposition scene.) That was my only struggle with Opposition scenes during Kelly's spectacularly bad run of luck: I thought I had to keep pouring it on setting up a new direct threat in each opposition scene (but the only one that felt a bit forced was the collapse of Dome 3, although that proved very thematic and fruitful for Kelly's descent into mad failure. I might have just stuck with Colony policy and deepened existing threats. Question: can the Savior go into a Progress scene after a Personal scene, or may Progress scenes only follow Opposition scenes?
Thanks for the clarification - although we didn't let it get in our way and the misunderstandings didn't detract from the game.
I like the suggestion to highlight certain key rules (like I originally missed when additional fear cards get revealed). And I really appreciated the brevity of the rules. Still, I think brief examples of scenes would be great.
Another variant to consider for the "this game is too damn hard" document: Use d8 instead of d6, leave everything else the same. :)
Tim C Koppang:
Quote from: Bloomfield on November 11, 2010, 10:51:30 PM
(The rules do say that every opposition scene is followed by a Progress scene, as soon as Kelly starts to take action during an Opposition scene.) That was my only struggle with Opposition scenes during Kelly's spectacularly bad run of luck: I thought I had to keep pouring it on setting up a new direct threat in each opposition scene...
Ah, I see where the confusion is now. Opposition scenes do not have to always lead into a Progress Scenes. Likewise, Progress Scenes do not need to be preceded by an Opposition Scene. I think the rule that is causing this confusion is this one:
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Opposition Scenes only set the stage for Kelly to take action. As soon as the Savior begins to narrate what Kelly is doing to solve a Colony problem, the Opposition Scene should end and a Progress Scene should begin.
Upon re-reading, I can see how you might interpret that as meaning Opposition Scenes are always followed by a Progress Scene. On page 21, I say that "[scenes] may occur in any order during play." Nonetheless, the rule in question should still probably read: "If the Savior begins to narrate what Kelly is doing to solve a Colony problem, the Opposition Scene should end and a Progress Scene should begin."
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Question: can the Savior go into a Progress scene after a Personal scene, or may Progress scenes only follow Opposition scenes?
Scenes can follow in any order. The only restriction is that the Governor is the only one allowed to frame an Opposition Scene, and the Savior is the only one allowed to frame a Progress Scene.
Tim C Koppang:
Quote from: iluxan on November 11, 2010, 10:34:53 PM
Out of curiosity, are you planning on potentially revising/augmenting Mars Colony? Actively working on any other projects currently?
At most, I'll include some clarifications if and when I order a re-print of Mars Colony books. I want to give the game some time in open release before committing to any changes. Discussions like this one are most helpful. I'm confident that the game is solid as is, but there is always a better way to explain the trickier concepts.
As for other projects, I have ideas... and that's all I'll say.
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