It's always been hard to know which game I like and which game I am more skilled to design. I could set aside certain game mechanics (Ex: I hate auction and worker placement game) or use certain criteria ( Ex: Games with few players and solo options). But even then I end up with games I dislike or with design ideas that reaches dead end.
Now there is new criteria I have discovered lately that is the notion of unique or special abilities. Games have a different level of unique abilities, normally expressed as text, but that can also be expressed as icons (ex: Race for the galaxy). How the ability is expressed is irrelevant. Some games has few abilities which are reused very often, this is what I call common abilities. They are in between both extremes. This is why a scale could be made to determine the uniqueness of the abilities. Here is an example of scale using games from my collection that people are most likely to know.
1. Carcasonne: there is really no special powers. Expansions can add new mechanics, but there is rarely unique abilities.
2. Settlers of catan: The development cards have common abilities: Most of them are knight and victory points, plus 3-4 other ability cards which is easy to remember.
3. Puerto Rico: There are common ability production buildings, and many optional unique violet buildings. After a few games, you will know them, but a new player could be overwhelmed.
4. Elder Sign: There is a lot of special outcome and abilities, but many cards like assets have standardized effects: add a red die, yellow die, lock X dices, etc.
5. Mage Wars Academy: Every player have unique cards with abilities of their own.
Now, when browsing my game ratings, I realized that for all games I rated 7+, 2/3 of games had little special abilities (rating 1 and 2 on the scale above). And if I had to dispose/trade certain games, I would more likely do it for games in the 3-5 rating on the scale above.
So I have been wondering if unique abilities could actually be a problem. Maybe I should try to avoid games with special abilities in both game purchase and game design. Unique abilities are "attractive" and it makes you feel special when you have it. But it could be a game designer's nightmare and could potentially hide an unbalanced or broken game play.
Here are the possible problems I could foresee for the designer and the player:
A) Problems for the designer
* It's difficult to see the interaction between game elements. Unique abilities are not goin to occur often, so it's very likely to be bugged or that some ability combination could not be anticipated.
* It's hard to balance unique abilities with each other. It's very difficult to determine the value of an ability if they are very different in nature and have no mathematical content.
* It's difficult to see the possibility space that can be covered by those abilities. Unique abilities either modifies rules or the status of the game. Game status can be covered relatively well by listing all possible game elements that can be modified and picking from the list. On the other hand, for game rules, it's hard to see all possible permutations which can leave holes in the abilities you could have been designed.
B) Problems for the players
* It takes more time to understand how the game works. For example, in Battle Star Galactica, I did not know that a deck of cards, only had cards that depleted fuel. It took be a few turns to realize that.
* There could be more confusion or misunderstanding in the unique ability. For example, a single word like "must" vs "may" could change the whole meaning of the text ability.
* It more complicated to make variants or expansions without breaking a unique rule. I like making variant, when a game have special cards, either you must ensure compatibility or remove game components.
* The game is less fluid unless the players are experienced with the game. According to the box, Mage Wars Academy takes 30 min to play. When I played my first game with my friend who never played, it took us 3 hours.
Do you share my idea that games with unique abilities are more complex to play and design?
Do you see other issues with such games?
Do you try to avoid those games, or do you love unique ability games?
If you design games, do you try to avoid special abilities?
Games can still be asymmetric and not have unique abilities. For example, having various combinations of stats.
I also want to take re-playability into consideration. Games like chess could be annoying after some time. But just giving the player 1 special unique ability for the whole game could change the game play for the player. You don't need tons of them.
In dungeons and dragons, it's less an issue because you are playing against the dungeon master who does not want to win. So if your special powers are too abusive, the game master will be frustrated at most. It also applies to single player and coop games, if a power is too abusive, it will make the game too easy, but it just ruin your own experience, it is not unfair.
It's more problematic in multi-player game, if a player get an abusive power, it kick out all other players from the race to victory.
You remind me of Arkham Horror 2nd ed., where I did a quick play test with my game by removing all the equipment, combat, rolls, etc, and just focused on the core mechanics. I realized that the game is just about moving in a gate, survive and close the gate. The core mechanic itself was pretty boring, but the chrome was added to hide those core mechanics.