The Epic
In this game, it is the goal of the bard to get the patrons drunk and happy enough to tip him as much as possible. Ultimately the patrons want to get distracted and tip him as little as possible. There is one bard and all other players are patrons.
When the cards I drawn, the Bard and the players alternate between draws. The bard draws, then a patron, the bard goes again and then the second patron and so on. Patrons are always in the same order.
Bard Rules:
The bard has a deck of the number of patrons +1. If there are 5 patrons, the bard holds 6 cards.
When the bard begins his planning phase, he sets out as many cards as there are patrons. His goal is to make the value of his cards played as high as possible. His turn must have a Beginning card (marked with a B) at the start, his stories middle portions must all be M's and it must end with an E. Failure to comply is -2 to his score.
Patron Rules:
The patrons may not communicate about what cards they will play. Patrons may have two cards at a time, and draw new ones at the end of the round. Each patron places his card face down. They are drawn one by one as the bard draws his cards. There are no specific rules on the order of cards to be played.
Card descriptions:
If a card gives business for multiple players it is indicated with (2+: 1 per card). This means that if there's 2 or more players, it's 1 per player).
1, +1 for each player would mean that each card of that type placed gives the value of 1, and then if there are 2 cards placed, you get a bonus of 2 for a total of 4. 3 cards placed would be 6.
Winning:
There are 30 interested patrons in the room at the beginning. Whoever gets the higher score in a round adds the amount that it won the round by to the number of patrons (if you're the bard) or subtracts it from the number (if you're the patrons). Whenever the number of patrons is reduced to the number of participating patrons, the patrons win. If the Bard brings the number of patrons to 45, the bard wins.
First, I'd like to say sorry for being annoying about reading the rules. That said, the game was awesome. I liked the idea of heckling the bard to failure. Some of the cards could use some modifications. The bar fight is awesome, but getting eveyone, especially in a big group to use the card on the same round is hard. Still, this is deffinately a game I'd be willing to play again.
ReplyDeleteKarl,
ReplyDeleteThis game was really awesome. As a medievalist who studied Old English epic poetry like Beowulf, this was a lot of fun to be the Bard! (though we'd call him the Scop, from 'shaper') In this regard, I think the game reflects the combinatory nature of oral literature through the play of the bard, and so could be a nice exploration of narratology.
The biggest improvement I think would be to have cards divided into 'beginning, middle, and end' piles and have the Bard draw two beginnings and two ends and then a number of middle cards equal to the number of patrons +1. Either that, or find a way for the Bard to use his dead beginning and end cards (perhaps he could have two stories back-to-back?).
The ruling should also be more clear about the number of cards the Bard has to play each turn (equal to the number of patrons?). There was also no rule of what happens when the Bard deck runs out (I shuffled the discard pile and added those cards beneath rather than just flipping the pile). Also, a rule for how quickly the Bard has to react and place a card. Time-based rules would obviously be more flexible than absolute (see Munchkin), but would create a more realistic and reactionary situation for the Bard.
I can't speak for the patrons, so I don't know how much choice they had in the matter. Perhaps some of the patron cards could allow for the patrons to interact, and the outcome of the interaction would determine how many people stayed or left.
We also didn't finish the game, so I don't know how easy it is for the Bard to win. This will depend on the numbers that can be generated through card combos by the Bard and the number of ways in which the Bard can be screwed up. The net outcome will depend on skill of the Bard as much as luck of the draw.
You could have a lot of fun by illustrating the final cards with cartoons representing the actions. Again, I'm thinking Munchkin-style drawings!
Great game! Let me know when you finish it so I can get a copy!
Devin Monnens
I had lots of fun with this game- it's a great party game! I think mixing up what order patrons go in, in a predictable manner, so that they can play their cards strategically.
ReplyDeleteI liked this game, but I felt that there was more that could have been done. It's hard for me to put my finger on... A little too linear maybe? I don't know. It was enjoyable and is a pretty good party game, so I'd say success.
ReplyDeleteAwesome game, seemed the bard had a bit to much power though. I don't remember who won the first time we played out in the hallway, but I thought it was the bard.
ReplyDeleteI did like how you removed the rules for if the bard doesn't have a start, middle, and end, then he loses 2 patrons. That would have been brutal to work with!