Dungeon Delvers Twelve Core Concept

Have I actually Addressed this, as a Blog? No? Well, lets address it.

What is the point of DD12 as a system, why publish it?

At its core, I wanted more control as a gamesmaster, and that meant not being controlled by the rules and in turn rules layers.

Players can bring up their knowledge of a troll, fire, acid, don't hack it up, it'll just regenerate. But a Rock troll? Its made of rock, fire and acid do next to nothing, for that matter neither does a sword. Yet if this was written down in a book, that players can access, then session two or three, when the rock troll makes its first appearance, the rules lawyer lets everyone know what's up, and how to defeat it.

So, I figured, creatures that every common peasant knows, would be in the rules, but behind that would be a set of basic mechanics to allow a gamesmaster to build his own saturday night special.

Players wouldn't know, until they knew, and even if they 'knew' it in someone elses game, they wouldn't know it in yours, so it all became "new" again

It became some of the most basic concepts, broken down into lego blocks so any gamesmaster can pick up the blocks, and put them together in their own way.

Not just world lore, but rules as well.

If you talked to 10 different roleplay groups about why they love the system they love, they'll talk about how they all like and or hate different things. How Warhammers careers system is great or how DnDs completeness exists, or how clean it is to run Fate.

When I've run my game for some players, the magic was too complex, and no-one wanted to be a mage anyway, or the health system was over the top or the skills system was too involved.

Thats why I took DungeonWorld and simplified it into DD12. Yet I felt for my core audience I went too far. Introducing the DD12 rules to some people was too complex, for others, too simple. So I gauged my audience, asked questions and those who were both new to all forms of roleplay, I go with pure DD12. if they have some RP background, I use the DW combat and maybe stealth. At a later point, when players start to get into their characters more, I introduce the other mechanics, IF they want them.

So its not just a custom world build of lego blocks, its custom rules too.

It's not there yet, but my 3rd part, is to allow 2 players at the same table, the ability to use both sets of rules. lets see how that pans out.

[Board Games] A Different way to classify.

I have a half decent collection of board games, I'm also a Kickstarter super backer of board games, I like to vote on my games on BBG, but something recently sprung to mind, that the out of 10 system does not really help me with.

How could we classify Board games better

1. Price? 

Board games come and go, you might like a board game the first time you play, but never play it again, if you paid $100 for such a game, was it worth it? Often the person who buys the board game, invites his/her friends to come play it, at their house even, so often the owner of the game puts out a bit more cost than the players. Be it drinks, snacks, cleaning time before and after, and house products consumed by guests. How does this compare?

If I invite my friends to the movies, I want to go see terminator, so I say, Who wants to come watch Terminator with me, they all buy their own tickets, parking fees, drinks, popcorn, and the ticket price includes the cleaning of the theatre and toilets.. so we each pay $20 (or so), yet for the same 2-3 hour experience, I pay $100 + extra expenses?

The Argument could be, I choose the movie, I pay for my friends, $20 each it'd be $100 for my 4 other friends and me to either A) play a board game or B) go to the movies, and next time, my friends would choose the movie (or buy a board game) and they'd pay..

Well, that might be true for people who buy many board games...

For now, the only argument I have close to this, is, I get to play it more often, because I'm the one that owns it, so I get better at it.. I'm not playing WITH friends.. I'm playing AGAINST friends, so I can attain some skills that I want, in this genre of board games.. maybe.. 

I chart my board games with Price / Times Played, and I record its potential sale price -5% per play in a spreadsheet, and it gives me a fair idea of how "much" each play through cost me.. also, gives me an idea of what game I should play next.. so I get more worth from my costs.

2. Time?

All games have a time value on the side(or back) of the box.. usually its like 1.5 hours, or 2hrs, some games say 30mins per player, which is often closer to the truth, the bugger problem is, they don't list set up and pack up time.. 

People who play games often, know that the first time you play a game, with new players, you double the play time listed.. this gives you a fair feel of how long its going to take. 

My house rule is.. Evening Games: No more than 1 hour listed time, this allows for rules clarification (since we might forget how to play since last time) average setup/pack up and distractions from kids not sleeping well, going down late, being tired from the end of the day, etc.

Lunch Games, With kids: 1-2 hours, not that I'm talking playing with the kids.. that's different, I mean that the kids are a distraction, so while you thought you were going to play in 2 hours.. it takes 3, because of said distractions..

Lunch Games, without kids.. My preferred games, because I like a good meaty 3 hour game. Which often takes 6. as long as the distractions are at a minimum, I'm good.

All Day Games.. sigh.. I've almost forgotten what they feel like.. friends arrive at 8:30am, game was set up the night before, everyone is in, notes are taken, game play is full of thought and discussion and each turn takes a lifetime, and before you realize it, its midnight and you've been holding your bladder the whole time.. such fun.. Haven't done that since I was a teenager/early twenties.. sigh.

3. Complexity?

Another one that's so wrong. 1) because the designers can't list 8yrs old anymore without going through rigorous testing, getting certified, all to avoid potential legal costs. Parents.. why can't you judge for yourself. If the game says 2 hours.. surely your kid won't have the attention span at 6yrs to play for 2 hours. 

I have played games that say 13+ that needed a PHD to understand, and others that my 3yr old grasped the concept of in minutes. The "age" classification is just wrong on all counts. Maybe like Movies have those PG & M rated values (D)rug use, (V)iolence, board games should have (M)aths, (P)hysics, (WP) worker-placement, (2T) 2 turn forward thinking strategy (R)andom events.. people will quickly learn that (R) games can be over quickly, while a (3T)(P) game will require some thinking.

4. Players

This one is likely an issue with Kickstarter games more than most, In order to get the most backers, you need to make sure your game can cope with the demographic of as many people as possible. so often a 2 player game, that can be 2vs2 gets some kind of halfway mixed up rules to make a 1v1v1 or 2v2v1 game. What works great for 5 players gets balanced poorly for 3 players, but they're not going to tell you.. no.. you need to find out for yourself..

Also, the Solo Player. A byproduct of computer games in the 80s & 90s has left several 20 somethings without a lot of friends, let alone board game playing ones. Its hard enough to meet new people as it is, finding board game playing ones is daunting. So they buy board games that have a Solo variant.

Sure, the game will more likely see the table, if you'd alone, bored on .. any night of the week and you decide to break out Solo Star Wars battles, or Kingdom Death.. Personally, I only have fun, when I see other people playing the game that I love.. I guess that's what I'm paying for.. the enjoyment of watching the enjoyment of others.

Still, I'd like to see a "best" number on the board.. like 1-6(2).. meaning, we gave you all the components to play between one and six players, but originally, we designed it for 2, so most of the theme and mechanics are for 2 players, or 2vs2, so if you're a couple, that likes to play board games together, then this game will likely suit you.