Hello everybody, first i want to say that i have only recently joined the site but have lurked here a long time and you folks have helped me in my own game designs immensely! Thank you! And now to the meat of my request..... (see topic). I am creating a game called the boss of burgheim that is about trying to get elected mayor of burgheim. players campaign for 3 months prior to the actual election and through out that time will get to play certain "campaign strategies" cards which include things like proposals and devious doings which can affect other campaigns. these cards are all earned and drawn simultaneously during the game but come play time certain cards played could affect other players hands, so if everyone is playing the cards simultaneously too, then that card being played would be safe from any cards that another player could play to say steal one of their cards. How do i creat some way to determine who plays their campaign cards first?
need a mechanic for determining player turn order
You could put a priority number on each card, then even though cards are played simultaneously, they are resolved in priority order. Therefore a card like the one you mention would have a higher priority than the steal card/action.
It won't work for your game, probably, but in general you can do a heck of a lot worse than ripping off Twilight Imperium for turn order stuff. It's a simple, brilliant mechanic. Each player selects a strategy card at the start of the round, which gives them a special action. Each strategy card is numbered, with 1 being on the worst strategy (generally, each strategy has a purpose) and 8 being on the best. You play from lowest number to highest. It virtually guarantees a varied turn order, does a bit to balance the game, and stops anybody feeling like they've been screwed over.
Yet another option might be to have whoever is in first (or last) place resolve/play first.
(Assuming we have some way to indicate who might have the most political pull at any given point).
It is indeed, and one which the designer freely admits he took from Puerto Rico.
I used it recently for a strategy game based on the history of Russia, and it works really well.
To get back to the original question, numbers on the cards is definitely the most elegant and easiest option, but here are some other thoughts which might work depending on your game mechanics:
- You could hold an auction for turn order, in which players sacrifice something needed for victory (VPs, votes, money) for strategic advantage.
- You could give the advantage to whoever is last or first - depending on how you want the game balance to work.
- It sounds like this isn't a turn-based game, so I suspect you can't base it on who's turn it is.
- You could create additional cards which give you turn order advantage.
- Since it's an election game, you could link it to each candidate's popularity with the electorate.
Have fun,
M<
Thats a good idea. I could try that out in playtest and see if it comes out right. Thank you