Planning Political Plots

[teucer]

Put me on the top of the list for beta testing this, Drew!  If you want my qualifications, PM me.  I'm also a writer, so if you need someone to help out with color, let me know.

I suddenly felt the need to clarify.  This project sounds extremely interesting and I found myself getting very excited by the prospect of playing it.  Anything I can do to help it reach a playable and/or publishable state, I will be happy to do (within reason (I won't be assassinating anyone, for example)).  So, if you find yourself thinking, "if only I had an objective critical opinion," or, "I wish I had time to write content that feels historically accurate, clear, and enteraining," I would be honored if my name came to mind and you contacted me.

Yeah, same here.

I've never seen so elegant an implementation of the massive plotting and scheming needed for a decent political plotline. Frankly, this sounds like a cross between a traditional tabletop game and Diplomacy.

I think I want to have your baby.

[Drew Stevens]

Thanks for the encouragement :)

But you actually touched on one of the points I fear to tread.  Is Touche becoming too much like a boardgame?

What is the distinguishing line between roleplaying game and boardgame, anyways?

[M. J. Young]

But you actually touched on one of the points I fear to tread.  Is Touche becoming too much like a boardgame?

What is the distinguishing line between roleplaying game and boardgame, anyways?

I read this, closed the thread, and then said no, I have to answer that.

The answer is, who really cares? If you've got an idea for a game that people will love to play, design it. Make it work the way that will make it the most fun for whatever people are most likely to enjoy it. Don't worry about whether it's going to be called a board game or a role playing game, at least until you're looking for how to package it. If you design the first role playing game that has a game board in the box, or the first board game in which actions are resolved through role playing, you may be defining the edges between the two forms yourself.

So don't answer that question; at this point, don't even ask it. Design the game, test play it, and decide what you think it is once you've seen it in action.

--M. J. Young

[contracycle]

One of the best boardgames I have ever played was KREMLIN.  I just found this remark made on it:

"For a game with many phases and possible actions, Kremlin's board does an excellent job of summarizing what to do at each stage. Phases are color coded, and tasks, turn order, and who is affected are all displayed on the board in the appropriate color. "

Exactly: the board is a prop; it's purpose is exactly the same as a rules text, which is to communicate what is possible, and how to carry out the process of acheiveing those possible things.

I think this is especially pertinent to politically themed games in the service of something similar to genre emulation.  That is, like any specialised behaviour, many concerns and issues are not visible to non-afficianados.  For game purposes, this potential confusion needs to be cleared by direct assertion of the limits, goals and methods of the game.  A salient example is Kremlins use of age as currency.

BoardgameGeek has an excellent page including pictures overe here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/196
The web grognards link contains a good summary of play:
http://grognard.com/reviews/kremlin.txt