Board Game Designers Forum

Thoughts about some game-related topics that are not long enough for separate blog posts.
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As I read the rules for the 2013 Game Chef contest, the "self-plagiarism" component of this one struck me as bizarre:
"Rule on Previous Work
You may draw on concepts you have thought about or worked on before the contest, but everything you submit must be new work, not existing material. Plagiarism or self-plagiarism will get your game disqualified."

It reminded me of the education community, where "self-plagiarism" is regarded as wrong, and many teachers will flunk a student for doing it.

Occasionally I hear about a game that gives victory points (VP) for fighting a battle (not even just for winning, just for fighting).

Why would you do that? From a modeling point of view, what’s the virtue of fighting a battle, especially one that you do not win?

The Game Crafter is pleased to announce our new Large Pro Box. It is made of a cardstock that is nearly double the thickness of our previous Large Game Box. It has seamless corners, and will hold up to quite a bit more stress than our original box. It still has the same dimensions as our old Large Game Box so the box wraps you’ve designed will continue to work as normal. It sells for $1.99, and all games with the old Large Game Box have been upgraded to the Large Pro Box automatically.

Hello respected BGDF community,
My name is Tobias (Fhizban) and I am active on BGDF since several years now. Although I dont talk much, i post a comment every now and then and provide my own designs to gather some feedback. After years of hobbyist boardgame design, I finally managed to build a website to host all my projects.

I would like to know what your thoughts are on intellectual property theft of the board game Monopoly from my game Peace Of War. My game is similar but I do not think I am committing intellectual property theft. How can I be sure so I don't get sued? My game play like this: You move around the board buying pieces of land with your unique character with special powers . After you buy land you can build your army up and even fight each other with your armies and with your special characters.

One

"There's a way through, over here." Your companion's voice fails to illicit a response as your mind focuses on the endless void repelling your flashlight's brilliance.

"Hand me your shovel!" the voice demands. You break free of your trance, and rush over to aid your friend. You hand over your shovel, and in no time, dirt begins sailing through the air.

A short time passes, carried by the constant digging. Again you focus on the long tunnel, the route not taken. Suddenly, the digging stops.

Flushed

You open your eyes to reveal the putrid labyrinth before you. Your brain writhes against your skull, grasping at the fleeting thoughts that are your memories. Furiously, you try to reclaim your memories, but each attempt is met with splitting pain.

Cold steel touches your wrist, as you find a rusty crowbar, hiding under the corpse of something... almost human. Dragging the tool out, you are frozen by the sudden presence of a gun barrel against your back. A quick, quiet voice tells you to stand. Not wanting to explore your own intestines, you comply.

Haven't been on in awhile.

I was thinking about my RTS board game the other day and came up with the idea of putting a seventh option on the card--a unit and building option. This way you can decide to put them down from your hand after you buy them.

The board will also look different.

(While I begin by talking about RPGs, I am later going to generalize to all kinds of tabletop and video games - “sit-down games”.)

When I used to write lots of articles about RPGs for White Dwarf, Dragon, and other magazines three decades ago, I mostly wrote two kinds of things: game rules, and advice about how to play and especially how to referee Dungeons & Dragons successfully. I rarely wrote settings; and only occasionally in the magazines did I write adventures, which are a combination of rules and setting/story.

So, I found a pile of coins and a box of matches on my desk about an hour ago. I started playing around with them, and I think I've happened upon a really simple abstract game. It doesn't feel like one player is destined to win, and if there is any of that sort of brokenness, it feels like it would be easily fixed by adding more coins.

I was originally thinking about it as a space exploitation game (1X) with the coins being planets or asteroids and the matches being rockets, but your mileage may vary.