I'm working on a board game based around 17th century trading ships, and I would like some opinions from the community at large about the selection of trade goods and the valuation thereof.
First, some background on the mechanics:
Each player has a fleet of ships which they sail around the world trading at ports to earn money.
I have tried to narrow the range of 17th century trade goods down to a small enough number to handle in a board game. I'm doing initial playtesting with dummy goods (A, B, C) to get the mechanics sorted out, but next I need to decide which historical goods fit the theme.
Each trade good is rated as "Low", "Medium" or "High" value, which corresponds to a value of 1, 2, and 3 respectively.
Ports that produce a trade good sell it at base value; ports that demand a trade good buy it at 2x base value.
The trade goods I have so far are:
LOW VALUE:
Wood (ebony, mahogany, cedar, etc)
Fish (smoked or salted for transport)
Grain (includes wheat, barley, rice, corn, etc)
Slaves
Crafts (everything from beads to paintings to statuettes)
Alcohol (includes wine, beer, rum, sake, vodka, etc)
MEDIUM VALUE:
Metalwork
Textiles (includes wool, silk, cotton and the articles made thereof)
Furs
Tobacco
Ivory
Beverages (includes tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar)
HIGH VALUE:
Gemstones (includes jewelry and decorative items made thereof)
Spices (includes pepper, cinnamon, etc)
(Note: Gold and Silver are treated as Coins in the game, not as a trade good per se)
So, my questions are thus:
1) Have I missed anything obvious that was a major trade good in the 17th century? Note that the map covers the whole world, but is limited to maritime trade.
2) Are there some trade goods that I have included which could safely be omitted? The list above is bordering on too large. For the purposes of game mechanics, I'd be happy to have less types of trade goods but I'm not sure which ones to cut.
3) Have I made any obvious blunders in categorising the relative value of the goods? Note that this is the value of a "ship-full" of goods (e.g. comparing the value of a ship full of grain vs a ship full of ivory). For the purpose of game mechanics, I'd be happy to bump a couple of the "medium values" up to "high values" to even up the numbers in each category.
Regards,
kos
I agree that the slave trade is both reprehensible and historically accurate, which creates a dilemma when creating any game based on historical trade. I have flip-flopped in my own mind several times on whether to include it or not, so I welcome opinions from others on the subject.
I've done quite a bit of research on historical trade goods and trade routes, which includes the slave trade. The thing that shocked me as I read more into it was just how widespread it was, not just limited to the well-publicised taking of slaves from Africa to the Americas. In just one example amongst many, for centuries the Europeans sold their fellow Europeans as slaves to the Arabs (because their religion banned a Christian from having Christian slaves), while at the same time the Arabs sold their fellow Arabs as slaves to the Europeans (because their religion banned a Muslim from having Muslim slaves). To a modern thinker the hypocrisy is astounding, but apparently at the time it seemed perfectly acceptable to both groups.
Back to the game, a component of the game is "Enlightenment" cards, which players can purchase to get victory points (rather like the Development cards in Settlers of Catan) and each of which applies special rules to the player who played it. One such proposed card would be "Abolition of slavery", which gives the player victory points and also bans all their ports and ships from buying/selling slaves.
So my follow up question is: Would you still recommend not including the slave trade in a board game, given that (a) as a player you can simply choose to trade other goods, and (b) the game mechanics reward you for banning the slave trade?
The alternative is that I can substitute other goods at those ports that historically sold slaves, to avoid the subject altogether.
Regards,
kos