Kickstarter's Impact on Board Gaming

As with other industries, Kickstarter has left it's mark on the gaming community. Through Kickstarter, emerging game designers and games are given a chance to be published and circulated among a wide audience.

What impresses me the most about these Kickstarter games is the quality and professionalism of the product. I would have never known games like D Day Dice and Carnival were Kickstarter games by looking at them. These are real professional games, not some half-assed attempt. The rules are well thought out and thoroughly play-tested. The pieces, cards, boards, etc. are made out of quality materials and feature great artwork.

Thanks to Kickstarter, anyone with a good game idea can fund its publishing.

Not Playing By The Rules

Have you ever modified the rules, or made up new ones for a game? I am not talking minor modified rules, or House Rules, but significantly changed or brand new ones.

I just created a new solo version of Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small (ACBS) & it's expansion All Buildings Big & Small (ABBS). Why make up a solo version when Agricola has a solo version? Per my previous post I have, let's call them issues with regular Agricola. Plus I don't own regular Agricola.

Any ways as you can see below I assigned each spot on the board a number based on the roll of three six-sided dice, since I don't have have a D20 (I know I'm a bad gamer!). I decided it would be most annoying if the easiest rolls to make (9-12) should be on the animals. Animals are the point (and worth the most points) of ACBS, so it makes sense.

Each round the player with the start goes first. Yes the "other player" (aka Dirk) can go first. On my turn I take it as normal; pick a space and take the stuff/ do the action. On Dirk's turn I roll the dice and take the stuff/ do the action unless the action has already been taken. Then I re-roll. Refill & Repeat for the usual 8 rounds, with 3 actions per round.

The solo version is better than the first that I first created. That one is play the 8 round game with 3 actions each round. Because there was no competition the resources and animals would easily build up, making the game easier. But that first solo version was a great introduction to how to play Agricola (all flavors) well by conserving actions.

The addition of ABBS did not really change either solo version that much, since there are still only 4 special buildings still available (2 from ACBS & 2 ABBS; all randomly chosen).

Expansions

Back in the day games didn’t have expansions. There was just the game. Sure you could modify the rules, make your own cards, etc. but there was nothing official. The game maker may even have a theme to their games, but the game was what it was.

In more recent times (starting with perhaps Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne?), expansions have basically become a requirement.   Sure for some games this can be good, but in the end there are always expansions that seem half-assed, too outrageous, break the game, etc.

One good example of this would be St. Petersburg, specifically the Banquet mini-expansion more so than the New Society.   The Banquet added special powers to the game, which I think broke the game. St. Petersburg did not need special powers. This modifies the game too much. At least the New Society’s additional cards attempted to fix some broken elements of the base game by replacing some of the cards like the Mistress.  Allowing for a fifth player was unnecessary though.

On the flip side, I love the Small World expansions… mostly.  (Partly I love the expansions, because I love the game itself so much.) The expansions with the new Races and Powers, like Be Not Afraid, Cursed! And the Grand Dames, are fantastic.  Tales and Legends were interesting, but adding event cards added a new element to the game that was unnecessary.

My theory on game expansions is they should expand, but not over extend the original game.  Expansions should also be limiting. A new game with a similar theme should be created.

Yes all game maker want to create an empire, but endless expansions are over done.  Case in point is Dominion.  There have been so many expansions, so quickly. It’s too much.  Then again I wouldn’t mind more Small World expansions, but maybe that’s just because I love the game.

What are your views on expansions?