#474155
In this topic, interest was shown in the question: how do you manage MP games within your environment?
This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for awhile. Time to get it out, although it's not nearly as finished as I'd have liked it to be. It won't be, in the forseeable future; but I promised to post it, so here goes.
For this to be a (possibly) valuable resource, it may be a good idea to refrain from discussions, at least initially; instead, dumping your rules stacks, so that interested players can read a few complete systems, and work with them.
That would've been nice, if not my own rules dump would've been streamlined. It's not, due to time constraints, and the fact that in practice, these rules have (paradoxally) worked far better and intuitive than 'on paper' / below.
So excuse the mess, take it as-is, and feel free to discuss.
For the record: I've played only 5 MP games (4x 3-way, 1x 4-way) so far. The first one was (and felt like) a trial, but after the first I sat at the drawing board for a long time, and the next 4 got progressively more structured. (Even though they were always played with at least 1 person who was a 1e novice.) These fairly positive results actually really surprised me, given the (non-documented, but chaotic) MP efforts that I experienced in the 90ies.
For us, it's like this (fairly raw dump of 'house rules bible' follows; coloured emphasis for newer parts):
This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for awhile. Time to get it out, although it's not nearly as finished as I'd have liked it to be. It won't be, in the forseeable future; but I promised to post it, so here goes.
That would've been nice, if not my own rules dump would've been streamlined. It's not, due to time constraints, and the fact that in practice, these rules have (paradoxally) worked far better and intuitive than 'on paper' / below.
So excuse the mess, take it as-is, and feel free to discuss.
For the record: I've played only 5 MP games (4x 3-way, 1x 4-way) so far. The first one was (and felt like) a trial, but after the first I sat at the drawing board for a long time, and the next 4 got progressively more structured. (Even though they were always played with at least 1 person who was a 1e novice.) These fairly positive results actually really surprised me, given the (non-documented, but chaotic) MP efforts that I experienced in the 90ies.
For us, it's like this (fairly raw dump of 'house rules bible' follows; coloured emphasis for newer parts):
Suden's 'house rules bible' wrote:HR#6 All rules apply to single & multiplayer games.
Unless otherwise stated (meaning, stated elsewhere in these house rules and/or other rules documents as defined under HR#1, HR#15 and HR#18), and unless logically and undeniably exclusive to single player games, any (house) rule that applies to two-player games also applies to multiplayer games.
HR#10 Multiplayer game basics.
For multiplayer games, see p237; except for space line arrangement. For space line arrangement, see HR#11; and also, see page 256 onwards in the book ‘Official Players Guide’ (see p324 for details on the book itself).
Borg Ship will start towards center of spaceline grid; then will enter first clockwise spoke; bounce off its end (and return inward); and from center, traverse next clockwise spoke, etc., eventually leaving spaceline as usual when it has reached end of the last spoke before the one that it entered play on. I.e., there will be only one part of same-quadrant spaceline not visited: the 'beginning' of the spoke where the movement started.
MISs that are completed are not slid “towards the solver” as usual (because that would be confusing or even difficult to accomplish). Instead, they are rotated 90degs, indicating they are no longer attemptable. (Not sure if the previous is needed/practical.) (HR#26 governs score-keeping.)
In case of DIL game text requiring an 'opponent' to take an action that is unrelated to any in-play aspect - such as making a choice or capture a PER - this refers to the opponent that seeded the DIL. (Refer, if possible, to ownership markings: e.g. opaque card sleeve colour.) However, if a DIL requires an opponent to provide a game element, such as 'Tal Shiar (for Flaxian Assassin) or Treachery or Security PER (Extraction?), these requirements may be met by any one opponent. (What to do w/ Scout Encounter?)
180914; forum, still to be incorporated as full rulings text:At forum, I wrote:additional rules are very simple:HR#11 Spaceline arrangement in multiplayer games.
- Seed spaceline in an X-form (or Y-form, when 3 players) without any additions*.
- Players take turns clockwise (CW).
- During seeding, you seed dilemmas only under 'next' (CW) player's missions (and, possibly, your own).
- During play, the 'previous' player (i.e., counter-CW; the owner of the dilemma), facilitates dilemmas for current player (e.g. selections, choices, downloads).
- "Other spaceline end" rules: if movement / relocation by own choice / own card (e.g., Lakanta, WNOHGB): choose any end. If required / automatic / dictated by opponent card OR any dilemma, usefactual opposite end'bouncing' rules stated above, concerning Borg Ship dilemma.
All(?) other things, like adding additional quadrants, or concepts of "farthest planet", can be logically deduced from the official rules.
In multiplayer games of X players, the space line is arranged outward from an empty centre spot. From that spot, X spokes (of 6 mission cards each) are laid out. See page 256 onwards of aforementioned book ‘Official Players Guide’. As usual, missions are shuffled first and laid out in random order; and players take turns laying out missions – adding to the previously laid cards.
No universal Nebula mission card is used as centre; no cards are laid out in a ‘wheel’ circumference; and the ‘Space...’ mission card is not banned (but, as usual, two must be used, for ‘Space...’ counts as only ½ card. As stated in the Glossary, both must be seeded as usual and cannot normally be played later).
The cards are arranged on a virtual grid or matrix: in right (90deg) angles. As such, effectively, the center MISs are seeded as a block. (Not sure if this is needed/practical.)
Multiple quadrants will constitute 'breaks' somewhere between the center and a spoke, similar to a usual 2-player spaceline.
HR#22 Multiplayer dilemma seeding.
Dilemma seeding in multiplayer games is generally done under the missions of the ‘next’ player (the player whose turn follows the current player’s; see p238). Only if a dilemma specifically targets another player’s affiliation AND NOT the ‘next’ player’s affiliation, or if a dilemma CANNOT legally be seeded under any of the ‘next’ player’s missions, may it be seeded at another player’s mission. (Verification of this can be made by identifying the ownership of the dilemma when it is encountered, via its distinguishable sleeve, HR#4.)
When playing – in order to further speed up the seeding phase – with pre-arranged DIL ‘stacks’ (as defined under ‘typical dilemma distributions’ in the ‘deck bible’ for most deck variants), it may happen that players have too few SPA DIL stacks. Players then (and ONLY then) may blindly trade (face-down) stacks or otherwise make sure that each MIS is hampered by an appropriate stack.
Last edited by SudenKapala on Sun Mar 01, 2020 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.