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Battle Rocks

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wombat929
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Hi All,

We've got a small game design collaborative near Chicago where we've been working on a number of games in playtest. We've decided that the first we should push toward distribution would be BATTLE ROCKS. We're nearing the point of releasing our print-n-play, having playtested quite a bit (both open and blind), and refined the rules and so on.

But we thought with the knowledge base here, it would be helpful to run the rules by y'all to see what, if any, advice you had.

Thanks in advance!

Rattlebox Games
Brendan (wombat929) and Rob (Rob Huber) and Angela

ps> This is a preview of the rulebook, so pretty much none of the links work, and we don't have a gameplay video yet, for instance.

Soulfinger
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Sadly, I couldn't get past my

Sadly, I couldn't get past my initial disappointment that this was not a game about battling rocks. I was psyched about the Sedimentary versus the Igneous, wondering what the stats would be for limestone or granite. Instead, yet another druid game. I hate druids like Indy hates snakes.

Here's the game I want: http://i.imgur.com/jTabfzt.jpg

wombat929
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Thanks anyway

Well, thanks for looking anyway.

Rob Huber
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I am with Wombat...

Any thoughts on any aspect of our current rulebook would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance to anyone who chooses to give such input.

Your turn,
Rob.

Rob Huber
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.

.

Tbone
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Cool Mechanics

I will have to agree... It would have been cool to have rocks battle it out hahahaha.

Does everyone have there own set up in front of them? Ex. Druid and the eighth stones.

wombat929
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Each have their own circle

Yep, each person has their own circle that they're using to generate their dice, and is being slowly whittled away by enemy attacks.

wombat929
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Nudge

I'm just nudging this thread again to see if we can get some feedback on our rules document.

thanks!

chris_mancini
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I'll give it a look-over...

I'll give it a look-over...

Rob Huber
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Look-over

Thanks Chris!

Soulfinger
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It really does need a new

It really does need a new name. "Battle Rocks" is the sort of name for a dice game or something fast-paced with a silly theme that would have the tagline, "Battle Rocks: Get Your Rocks Off!" It doesn't convey the right tone for what you have created or target the proper demographic.

wombat929
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It IS a dice game

It IS a dice game, but point taken. Thanks.

Soulfinger
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wombat929 wrote:It IS a dice

wombat929 wrote:
It IS a dice game, but point taken. Thanks.

Sorry, I meant it categorically, like Dragon Dice, Zombie Dice, or Farkle; not games that incorporate dice alongside cards and other components, which would be most.

wombat929
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New name

We spent some time at our meeting today discussing this and have decided to change our name.

As you suggested, the grammar and shape of our old name suggested a different game than we're making.

So we found ourselves stuck -- we don't like any of the constructions that use the name of the wizards/druids/mages like Druid War or Mage Battle or whatever. We did find a term that means "stone circle," which is at the heart of our game. It also has the "mostly a word people don't know" aspect which can be a turn off but can also mean we fill in the meaning. People won't come to our game with expectations to be disappointed (like Battle Rocks seemed to do).

So we're thinking

CROMLECH

It means, literally, a circle of stones on a hill. (It can also mean tomb, but c'est la vie.)

chris_mancini
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How about:"Druids of Draig"

How about:

"Druids of Draig" - Literal without being too generic, like "Druid Wars." Alliteration is always nice, too!

"Henge"- Like "Cromlech," but with a more familiar term.

"Thronehenge" - Just sounds cool and speaks to the core theme of a battle to become king...yeah, that one.

wombat929
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chris_mancini wrote:How

chris_mancini wrote:
How about:
"Druids of Draig" - Literal without being too generic, like "Druid Wars." Alliteration is always nice, too!

"Henge"- Like "Cromlech," but with a more familiar term.

"Thronehenge" - Just sounds cool and speaks to the core theme of a battle to become king...yeah, that one.

We considered those first two and aren't super keen on them (in part because of the previous games that use Druids, where the more innovative thing about our game is the build-your-circle mechanism.

We also discussed "Henge" and variations on it for a while, but "Henge" really just means "Hill." "Cromlech" will have meaning for some people, but for most it will be an empty word whose meaning we can fill with "awesome dice game," we hope. What about using a subtitle?

Cromlech: War of the Druids
Cromlech: the Druids of Draig
Cromlech: it means stone circle

Soulfinger
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I really like Cromlech. It is

I really like Cromlech. It is catchy, sticks in the head, and paired with some good box art could really set the tone for the game. It has a nice Robert E. Howard, Frank Frazetta vibe to it. The only hangup I can see is that it has a similar sound to games like Kryomek, but then again, that's what box art is for. Please, please don't do "War of the Druids" as a tagline though. There are so many War of X and X-Wars games right now.

In fact, I would say this name is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NEbe_brJAQ

wombat929
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Conan

Thanks!

We've decided to go without a subtitle -- if for no other reason, then we have to come up with a convention for when we have to write it with the subtitle and when we don't.

I made the connection to Conan too. During our discussion, I suggested we put Conan on the cover, but that was vetoed. :D

Soulfinger
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wombat929 wrote:Thanks! We've

wombat929 wrote:
Thanks!

We've decided to go without a subtitle -- if for no other reason, then we have to come up with a convention for when we have to write it with the subtitle and when we don't.

I made the connection to Conan too. During our discussion, I suggested we put Conan on the cover, but that was vetoed. :D

It's more the feel of his world than the character himself. You may want to check out the comic, Skadi. The artist, Katie Rice, would be an excellent choice for an illustrator and would bring a fan following along that would push up your sales figures.

DarkDream
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Looked over Rule Book

Hi,

I went ahead and looked over the rule book and tried to digest it as much as possible.

Here is some feedback:

- In general, I felt there was mixing up of higher level concepts with too much detail at some points when it wasn't strictly needed. As an example, while the "Understanding Elements" part was useful the entire section, "Alignment affects gameplay as follows," could have been postponed to later in the rulebook where it then makes more sense.
- In the "Year one stone placement cycle" diagram you show a face up druid in the center. I was overall confused as to when the druid entered play. It seems the druid appears in Step 3, but the diagram indicates otherwise. It is also not clear to me where the druid goes. In year one, the rules mention everyone simultaneously revealing their druid. Ok, but where does the druid go? In the center of the stones?
- You have each druid's major power is indicated by a yellow highlight. In the diagrams I had a hard time seeing this highlight. Instead of a highlight I think it would be a good idea to have some sort of symbol of line accentuation or something besides relying on a color. Same thing with the eyes by relying on a color. A significant part of the population has forms of color blindness.
- I did not like the cards in the fact if I had to understand whether it was fire or air I had to either turn my head or guess what fire looked like backwards depending how the card was placed. Why not write the word, "Fire," "Air" and so on in all directions on the card, so regardless of what direction the card is facing, I will be able to read at a glance what it it?
- Same thing with the lintels. I will have to turn my head or read upside down. See if it is possible to have the text rotated in all directions or something.
- In the glossary, the key words you are trying to explain should be in bold so as to stand out (makes it easier to read).

Look like an interesting game. But I would obviously, have to play it to give any feedback on that.

--DarkDream

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