As discussed previously, the "neutral" equipment cards have been culled as, while they could be of some use, the perception of players is that they do nothing at all and in practice only get played as a last resort. They clearly do not add to the fun and thus had to go.
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| Basically the same pic as last time, but now with the new card style. |
The magical equipment had to change as well. The rules I had for them required repeated explanation in any group (always a bad sign for a lightweight game), and the fact that they took the place of more useful equipment just didn't fit with the rest of the game. As a result, I have removed all that but, as the concept of mischievously swapping equipment around was popular, I have introduced magical scrolls that allow you to muck about a bit. There are only two each of two types of scroll at the moment, but they should be enough to shake things up.
I have now replaced all the art for body parts with my simple cartoony characters, though there is repetition of parts; I would prefer more unique stuff, but I'll live with that for now. I still need to do something new with the accessories, but maybe I'll get somewhere with that for the next version. Similarly, there should really be a load of different art pieces for the various types of challenges so they can be recognised and differentiated more easily, but that will be for another day.
One of my biggest concerns at the moment is that the Kit Inspection cards sometimes cause confusion: "Do I play this now?" The idea of these is to ensure that every now and then (in practice, usually about three or four times per game) somebody automatically scores something, making the game tick towards an end just a little faster. I'll need to watch this aspect closely as, if it continues to bemuse people, this is something that may have to be axed. That said, it is entirely possible that it is my explanation and/or the card design that is at fault, and by improving these we could deal effectively with the whole issue.
I am also pondering the possibility of providing some sort of bonus for anyone who manages to put together a matching set of equipment. The cards would need some sort of identification to make it easy to figure out, but that's not a big deal. The reward could be a bonus in challenges, or there could be a third type of inspection, giving prestige for the "best turned out" or something.
See, I've only just sorted out this version and I'm already working on the next. Need data first...
If you are interested in taking a look (and if you do, I would love to hear any thoughts you have on the game), download links for the latest version are here...
Boogie Knights v0.3 rules on Dropbox
Boogie Knights v0.3 cards on Dropbox
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