The last few posts of my previous thread got some attention. I don't want to accidentally bury a good discussion in another topic, so I am posting it all separately here.
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Let me ask one more question...currently each player has his own player power(s). Should they be exclusive powers...like ONLY PLAYER 1 MAKES ABC? Or should it be more of a DISCOUNT Power...everyone can make ABC, but they use 2 things instead of Player 1 who only needs one.
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ruy343
Pandemic
I would look no farther than the masterworks by Matt Leacock to give advice for that one. In games like Pandemic, there are many things that can be done better by a specific role. For example, the Operations expert doesn't have to spend a matching city card to build a research station, and the medic can treat as though they up to 3 cubes at a time instead of one. Those roles are improvements on what can be normally done.
However, the Archivist can take cards from the discard pile with restrictions. That role can do something that no one else can, but it's carefully weighed so that it's not overpowered.
In short, you can do both. Analyze every aspect of the game that there is to interact with, and see what can be done to make that a role. In Pandemic, it's treatment rate, moving for other players, helping with logistics, trading cards, requiring less to cure, pulling cards from discard pile, and previewing the nastiness that's coming.
However, it's far easier to make something unbalanced when it's something that other player's can't do at all. Just be careful to balance test it.
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LordBrand
I'm sure it goes without
I'm sure it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyways: If it's something that only one person can do, and you have more "roles" than you have players, make certain that something isn't a lynch-pin for winning the game.
Example: In Pandemic, playing on 6-epidemic hard mode, certain roles feel REQUIRED to win, rather than a cool feature of differentiation. On the easier modes, they are pretty interchangeable, and add a nice element of randomness to the game.
Just consider your own game, and how pivotal those special powers will be.
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Zag24
Dissenting opinion
I disagree that the different roles is a good idea in a cooperative game. I think it is part of what contributes to the alpha player issue. The knowledgeable player knows what the best approach is -- the doctor should do this, the scientist should do this, the military guy should do this, and we'll manage that outbreak. (Sorry, I don't know Pandemic well enough to know if they are actual roles, but you get the idea.) If anyone deviates from the script, it will fail, and it IS the best approach, but it left all the other players as minions to the alpha.
Dissenting opinion
I disagree that the different roles is a good idea in a cooperative game. I think it is part of what contributes to the alpha player issue. The knowledgeable player knows what the best approach is -- the doctor should do this, the scientist should do this, the military guy should do this, and we'll manage that outbreak. (Sorry, I don't know Pandemic well enough to know if they are actual roles, but you get the idea.) If anyone deviates from the script, it will fail, and it IS the best approach, but it left all the other players as minions to the alpha.
Well...that depends on whether the cooperative game requires consensus decision-making. Cooperative doesn't have to mean that you discuss and agree. It just means you aren't actively competing to beat the other players. For example, in my game, it would "thematic" not to discuss and agree unless the players were in the same battle. Similarly, even in Pandemic, you could play that way...no discussion unless you are in a city together. However, that doesn't mean they cannot try to compare the other player's needs versus their own for the ultimate goal of the game.
That being said, having discounted powers tends to expand options for players and increases competition for resources. If I think I need 2 units of ABC, and I need to spend 2 resources from the communal supply, that might prevent the other player who can make 3 units from 2 resources, but I might need to do that to help us win the game. Exclusive powers for players limit, intentionally or unintentionally, their options. In many instances, you may feel compelled to use the power to a fault. Part of the game is know when you can and when you cannot. That is where choosing mechanics to suit either option would be important. Hence my having to think this through a bit.