Exciting Project ~ Wode Ridge

It's Wed, and I've completed my third playtest and have worked on the ruleset over the past few days. Here's a primer on what goes on behind the scenes at Professor's Lab...

Playtesting: Depending on the client, I'll spend a few hours to play through their game once or twice or I'll play for one-hour...not with an eye toward finishing the game, but focusing on the elements deemed important enough by the designer. In the case of Wode Ridge I did a bit of both.

I played through three complete games as each game took 25-30 minutes. In addition, I focused my attention on the Boss Fight at the end to determine if it's too strong or too weak (the Goldilocks test). While I won't share my findings here, I highly recommend that you take the time and check out Gabe's HUNTED series.

Proofreading: As a professional editor, I earn a decent living simply because many people struggle with the written word. For designers out here, I strongly suggest finding an editor if you're at all uncomfortable penning a ruleset. Some things that I find ALL the time might help you draft your initial set of rules. Here's my Top 5 list of Rules Errors:

5. Different perspectives ~ pick first or third person, but don't attempt to write both ways as you'll only confuse the reader.

4. Do not ever use acronyms! I come from a wargame background and that genre is understandably notorious for acronyms. In modern Euros, it's wholly unnecessary.

3. Numbers ~ spell them out if they are 9 (or less) and you may use the digit for 10+. I can't tell you how many times I see digits and the numbers spelled out in the same line, especially when it violates the rule (i.e. pick 2 cards and add them to your hand of five cards)

2. Use bullets or lists versus burying items in paragraphs. It makes it much cleaner and neater than a wall of text.

1. Active vs. passive voice! First, it's more concise; second, there leaves (almost) no room for error.

As JoCat (Crap Guides to D&D) would say, "and that's how you become a better rules writer...you're welcome!"

Cheers,
Joe

As a gamer, I love a good board, especially one where you can "store" pieces. Last week, I opened a game from my shelf-of-shame, The King's Abbey, an excellent multiplayer or solo experience, in which you're building parts of a great abbey (think Pillars of the Earth). The art is gorgeous and there's a place for each of the wheat, stone, wood, and sand components.

In a similar manner, Gabe's Player Mat (more than the Board) has a place for each of the card decks, the HUNTED row where you reveal cards during the game, a place for an Inventory, and another location for all of the tokens. This makes playing the game much more enjoyable and provides a defined, confined space.

For the designers out here, I offer to you the following. When designing, what do you take into consideration to make it easier for your players? Have you used a Player Mat/Board as a gamer? If so, what are your thoughts? If not, why not?

As always, I'm curious to hear your thoughts. I ask you to post them here instead of PMing me so that others may engage in he conversation.

Cheers,
Joe
Professor's Lab

Hello, designers!

Today, I'll discuss the Adventure Book in Wode Ridge.

Like Ryan Laukat's Red Raven Games or Awaken Realms, the idea of a narrative-driven story is more than a decade old in gaming (and arguably has been around much, much longer). In Wode Ridge, you're team of kids racing around the town will have encounters which provide a decision point. Sometimes it's worth the risk, sometimes it's best to retain your precious resources.

The stories are well-written (admittedly, I did not QC this part of the game) and brings life to the characters. I greatly enjoyed my plays of the game and the Adventure Book significantly contributed to my overall positive impression.

Have you played a game with an Adventure Book or a narrative-driven game? What did you like? How was the experience?

Cheers,
Joe
Professor's Lab

Among the games in y library, the lion's share of them have cards...and for many games, there are a lot of cards: more than 1,800 for my entire Arkham Horror game, with all of the expansions; Nemo's War; Race for the Galaxy; and my newest love affair, Terraforming Mars, Ares Expedition.

Cards have played a huge role in my life, having learned a great many games from my mother's family, especially my grandmother and my great uncle, including Spite & Malice, Consecutive, and a host of other titles which we played around the kitchen table. She would have no idea the ubiquity of cards in games decades later.

In Wode Ridge, designer Gabe Barrett hasn't broken any new ground, but he uses the idea of cards to move the narrative forward in a clever way. The larger poker-sized cards can be used for their icons to advance the characters in a particular direction, provide additional equipment or clues, or gain access to allies. The smaller cards serve as equipment or allies which aid the characters on their quest to determine the monster lurking around the town. In addition, the card , depending on which side is face-up, presents the characters in the real world or the "upside down."

Overall, the use of cards is great for designers a you they are an inexpensive medium with which you can provide a ton of content for your games.

Have you used cards in your game design? How did you use them? Why did you use them? If you haven't why not?

Cheers,
Joe

Hello, BGDF Fans!

Today, I'll spend a few moments on the Dice & Tokens for Wode Ridge. I enjoy dice...period. s a 35+ year RPGer and a legendary DM, I absolutely love throwing bones. Now, if you add icons to dice you've effectively turned it up to 11! In Wode Ridge, you need to make checks to satisfy certain requirements...think Elder Sign or a host of other dice games where the icons really, really matter. But, to the rescue are a series of tokens which allow you to use them instead of generating that perfect set of symbols or in the case of the reroll, giving it one more shot.

Overall, the inclusion of the tokens was a must...and as a developer for this game, I thoroughly embraced their inclusion. Without them, it would prove much harder of a game and may cause even greater frustration.

With Dice & Tokens now discussed, we end my thread on Wode Ridge, but I'll be back in the not-too-distant future to discuss other games for which I've served as a developer. As always, I enjoy the questions and comments, here on BGDF, over at BGG for the past two years on my blog, or in PMs wherever you can find The Professor.

Cheers,
Joe