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Interviewing Cosmic/Dune guys, any questions you have?
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- Erik Twice
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From what I've heard at BGG it was a different project for West End games. They made a prototype and when asked about it, Olotka looked for it but it has been lost. Apparently it was never published because of rights issues.Shellhead wrote: I have heard that Eberle and Olotka were working on an Amber boardgame back in the '70s, but it somehow became a Dune boardgame. If so, I would be interested in any comments they want to make about that Amber design, especially the board.
I do plan to ask them about Amber, though.
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- Michael Barnes
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Oh wait, didn't see that it was about specific games. Let me think about that.
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What are your favorite house rules/variants? In particular, to make Fremen faction more powerful & attractive for alliances?.
Do you feel that "Sietch blocking" (ie, preventing a faction moving into a sietch by arranging a fake battle in it) is an important part of design?
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Some games tend to have very tight mechanism to control the outcome, others may rely more on the "people component" (Cosmic probably being very near toward the end of the spectrum of people component).
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Vlad wrote: Dune:
What are your favorite house rules/variants? In particular, to make Fremen faction more powerful & attractive for alliances?.
Do you feel that "Sietch blocking" (ie, preventing a faction moving into a sietch by arranging a fake battle in it) is an important part of design?
They will likely not comment on house rules/stuff if they are consistent with what they have said before. They did not design even the advanced rules nor even the "optional rules" ie. faction stuff that make the factions so unique and in the past have not had much to say about them.
Dune/Rex - I think I read somewhere that this was first designed around the idea of a Roman Triumvirate type theme (or something like that). Considering Dune is considered by fans to be one of if not the greatest board game tied to theme of all time, do they feel that a retheme like Rex has potential to be successful or did the design process inherently link the game so tightly to the Dune universe that any separation automatically weakens the design?
Where many other good game play mechanics have been re-implemented or borrowed by modern designs for games that were successful before them. Why is it there doesn't seem to be many systems similar or have built upon the (ultra fun and amazing - editor's opinion ) battle wheel combat resolution in Dune? Alternatively do they believe a certain game type or mechanic has come from the roots seeded in the Dune game?
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- Erik Twice
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This is true. Notably, Bene Gesserit coexistence is an optional rule which to me is a massive change. All other changes (Kwisatz Haderach, Karama Powers) are minor, no more different than adding reinforcements or kickers to Cosmic.Da Bid Dabid wrote: They will likely not comment on house rules/stuff if they are consistent with what they have said before. They did not design even the advanced rules nor even the "optional rules" ie. faction stuff that make the factions so unique and in the past have not had much to say about them.
I'm also told that Fremen being weak is a result of Avalon Hill's advanced rules (Double spice blow, paying spice to bid on the wheel). The guys at the WBC managed to balance things out by maing Fremen bid for free, as they would in the basic rules. Still, they made the claim that the BG has 1 too many powers and I agree.
There is something I want to ask them about, though: Did they design the game to include Bribery (binding negotiation) or is it an Avalon Hill addition? The Emperor has no actual alliance power if everyone can give other players spice.
I plan to ask them about this as I know Olotka was involved in the redesign of Rex to some degree.Dune/Rex - I think I read somewhere that this was first designed around the idea of a Roman Triumvirate type theme (or something like that). Considering Dune is considered by fans to be one of if not the greatest board game tied to theme of all time, do they feel that a retheme like Rex has potential to be successful or did the design process inherently link the game so tightly to the Dune universe that any separation automatically weakens the design?
[quote[Where many other good game play mechanics have been re-implemented or borrowed by modern designs for games that were successful before them. Why is it there doesn't seem to be many systems similar or have built upon the (ultra fun and amazing - editor's opinion ) battle wheel combat resolution in Dune? [/quote]
I've heard many eurogames and euro designers were actually inspired by the combat wheel. It's just that they have simple auctions instead of double-blind-lost-bid ones so it's not as apparent.
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Michael Barnes wrote: Probably not a question for the EON gang...but is Mike Chapel the only person left who still owns Tempus...and does he play it?
It's actually not a bad game. I do enjoy it. I think when people stopped looking for the perfect 90 minute Civ, which it was not, and start looking at it as a pretty cool logistics game, Tempus starts to shine. Minus some turtling issues.
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