BGDFers, it pains me greatly to report that not only did I not design the winning game, but that I did not even submit an entry. MarkJindra designed "Grave Robbers and Body Snatchers" and deserves unending praise for winning the May GDS. Congrats to MarkJindra!

I can only assume that my name is so closely associated with game design greatness that Rich naturally assumed that I had made the winning entry.

-Werhner

Thanks Guys. I really appreciate it.

I am so humbled to win against so many other extremely creative entries.

The Black Bag concept struck me as a game mechanic that I would simply love to see more of in games and I look forward to the critiques.

I really enjoyed creating this submission. Although I'm not sure what that says about me ;)

=M=

Grave Robbers & Body Snatchers

The year is 1751 and universities all around London are in need of cadavers. You have made a decent living selling the corpses of the recently deceased. But now Parliament is about to pass a law that will grant universities the cadavers of executed criminals. So you have started looking for the more well off dead to try and pad your coin-purse a bit before the good times come to an end.

My Goals

So my goal with this game idea was to create a relatively short game (30-45 mins). The game would probably be between 8 and 12 turns in length. It is likely that the game would have a Day and Night phase where different actions were taken by players on those phases and possibly some simple administration phase after all players have taken the primary phases.

I am also trying to focus on the coffins with the multiple compartments as the focal point of the game and keeping them in mind as I begin to formulate the actual mechanics for how the economy will work. I have 14 four compartment (or maybe they are five compartment) pill boxes that I picked up super cheap to help inspire me as I work on the basic rules.

I think that having (tombstone) clue cards that give hints to the players about the value of what is in the coffins and possibly the freshness of the bodies will bring in an element to the day phase as players investigate what graves they want to target for the night. And having some simple graves that do not have the plastic coffins and do not contain any real valuables, but could contain a surprise, would allow the players to gain resources quickly so that they can do the research they need for the big score.

Additionally I would like a small, maybe 15 cards "encounter" type of deck that worked not only as a way to bring a small amount of "chaos" to the stability of a standard economy driven euro but would also allow for a slight deck construction/deconstruction mechanic where some cards would be one-shot and others might be added based on actions players take so as to vary the possible end of the game to go with the theme of time running out before Parliament passes the Murder Act.

Grave Robbery

Grave robbery, tomb robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a tomb or crypt to steal artifacts or personal effects.

Body Snatching

Body snatching is the secret disinterment of corpses from graveyards. A common purpose of body snatching was to sell the corpses for dissection or anatomy lectures in medical schools. Those who practiced body snatching were often called "resurrectionists" or "resurrection-men".

Murder Act 1751

The Act included the provision "for better preventing the horrid crime of murder" "that some further terror and peculiar mark of infamy be added to the punishment", and that "in no case whatsoever shall the body of any murderer be suffered to be buried", by mandating either public dissection or "hanging in chains" of the cadaver.

This also provided for corpses for dissection or anatomy lectures in medical schools which surely cut into the business of both Grave Robbers and Body Snatchers.

I hope that my ideas on where I might want to go with the game should I choose to create some actual rules for it give you a little insight into what I was thinking as I wrote the entry.

I look forward into any insights you may have and would love to hear about any mechanics you think would be a great fit for this game.

Thanks,

=M=

I did not vote for this one, but of course that doesn't mean it's without merit. For example, I really like the idea of having to choose how much cheese you eat to start the round. My biggest issue is that I didn't feel like the bidding element really fit the theme. Also I'm not sure what the boxes of unknown amounts of cheese would represent. I feel like the mice should be running around trying to get cheese out of traps. I also feel like there needs to be a cat in there. Maybe one player could be the cat setting traps and chasing the mice, while the other players are mice picking up gyzmos to help them try and get the cheese from the traps.

Congratulations. I voted Gold for Graverobbers. I thought this was the most fun concept that themed the case in a great way. I liked the idea that you can try and hold on to the values and see if you can get a set. I did not really understand why it should be fun to choose one case over another. (I see now that you thought about checking cards during daytime). I still think the use of the coffins could be explored more. But when I voted I realised that this goes for many of the entries.

I voted Silver for Mice. Mainly because I think you made a good use of the case-theme and I could really see how the betting /cheating element could be fun. When a player plays his point card on a box does he do i secretly or open?

Bronze went to misdirection, which I noted "great idea". It was a close race. I really liked the idea of playing rounds and trying to mislead the interceptors. I wish for the game not to end when the case is grabbed. And how about that the case locations are secret at start - perhaps with face-down counters and interceptors must use equipment to reveal where the cases are.

This one got my gold. I thought it did the best job of using the opaque container. I like how the cases are moving around and always have stuff going in and out of them. I like how you're sort of working together, but not really. I like how you have to remember what's going on and try to predict what everyone else is doing. I would have liked to hear a little more about how the movement works and how you know when the heists are going to happen. Also, I wasn't sure if it assumed that every heist is successful or if you have to do something to complete it? I did like the way the police was setup. I think you've got a good balance of enough going on without over complicating it. Great job.

Sorry, I'm a few days behind. Congratulations to Mark for winning this month's contest. I learned a great deal from reading other people's entries and hope to make a better showing next month. Maybe on my critique day someone could tell me how tags work for headers and such :)

Grave Robbers & Body Snatchers - I think that this was probably the best thematically conceived game. The description of the game mechanics was brief and that's probably for the best. The idea of using a pill case was very interesting.

Mice DIY - I had a difficult time following the gameplay of this one. I thought the theme was interesting enough. I think the pitch needed a more broad overview of the gameplay mechanics.

Space Swap - I thought the game sounded interesting as a pickup and deliver type game but I was a little put off by the theme. The mechanics didn't really match a space game. Otherwise I thought this could be a fun game and I liked the idea of using briefcases.

I know this doesn't belong in the critique thread but I think it may help the authors next month to create really good looking entries. And debiant asked about it.

While you can find info about html and markdown formatting by clicking the input format link at the bottom of the "comment" field the here are a few tips about the basics of the markdown for formatting entries

##Double## = Headline (play with one # or three ### for size)

BACON!

BACON!

BACON!

**Double** = Strong/Bold text

Bacon ipsum dolor amet kevin boudin picanha sausage

*Single asterisks* = Emphasis/Itallics

Bacon ipsum dolor amet kevin boudin picanha sausage, pork belly biltong ham prosciutto leberkas. Bacon ham hock ham doner. Spare ribs porchetta jerky tri-tip pig rump, drumstick turducken leberkas pork chop pork belly.

Double return = Paragraph

Bacon ipsum dolor amet kevin boudin picanha sausage, pork belly biltong ham prosciutto leberkas. Bacon ham hock ham doner. Spare ribs porchetta jerky tri-tip pig rump, drumstick turducken leberkas pork chop pork belly.

Pork belly pancetta short loin hamburger t-bone sirloin. Kielbasa shankle salami ball tip bacon filet mignon hamburger shank meatball rump sausage chicken venison.

5 spaces at the beginning makes the following text a quote ... just like this

hope that helps

=M=

I thought this was a well thought out design that suffered from a lack of theme explanation. I really didn't get a sense of why I was doing what I was doing (except to gain victory points). I wish it had a brief synopsis of who I am, where I am, and why I'm trying to do what I'm trying to do would have helped this entry a great deal.

There were also no headings which made it difficult to parse the entry.

Do we need another area control game themed around medieval/renaissance Europe. My opinion is probably not. Do we need good ideas for bag-building/bag-destruction games. I would say yes.

I am quite intrigued by the idea of taking things that would be in a card game or in a worker placement game and making them part of this bag concept. I like that the bag doesn't just grow.

Small World is a great example of taking an idea that was very good from Vinci and giving it a creative theme that make it blossom into something beyond a standard Euro.

=M=

Well, the design is a sketch. I intentionally didn't add any additional mechanics and didn't go into the theme much.

Things can be added on top of this general idea. You can add worker placement, were limited set of tokens would branch into multiple actions, you can simply have more different tokens, the buying of more than one die/selling can be done through technology cards or whatnot.

This one missed out on a medal for me mostly because I didn't think that having player elimination fit with this type of game. I also wasn't clear on how you move around. I like the choice between having a fast or strong messenger. I like the option of opening the envelope to see if you care.

I like the concept. I think it would be a good team bluffing game and it's a clever use of a standard deck of cards. I like the use of tax and bills. It missed out on a vote for me because the bag is unnecessary.

I fell behind on my TableTop watching and haven't played SoN but after watching that episode I can totally see a resemblance between SoN and I/E.

I do see a difference in that you pass the cards to your left so that all players are engaged rather than having only one player each turn be the inspector. I also see a difference in that you have a partner in the game.

Sounded like a fun pick up and deliver to me. I worried about the player with the briefcases having much more fun than the other player because they got to play with the briefcases.

I wonder if both players had briefcases if that would be more interesting. At that point you would be trying to pickup your drops while intercepting your opponents.