Hi!
Just a quick photo of one of the playtesting sessions of the GRAVETIDES game rules.
For mere mortals like us (we are not professional game designers) writing a decent game is a long and convoluted process made of continuous changes and adjustments to elements that were considered definitive until they were actually playtested on the gaming table.
Even some of the component and play aids you see in the photo has been changed due to the results of the very playtesting session represented.
As any rules writer worth his/her salt we are trying to create a simple but not simplicistic fun game with a lot of tactical options with an engaging background: a really daunting task if there is one…
Generally speaking here follows some of the main points that the GRAVETIDES rules are striving to achieve:
- have many different fantasy races with highly characterized ships and fighting styles
- use D6 only (no polyhedral or special dice) as they are very common and cheap
- use a single template for ship manuevering and firing
- one template to check sailing ship attitude to the wind and to help determining the side (bow, stern, board, starboard) hit by enemy fire
- simple basic rules with specific special rules for each race or ship
- game divided in turns in which players alternate in activating single ships or squadrons
- a “data” card for each ship to record damage and other effects (e.g. fire, critical damage)
- damage differentiated on the basis of the ship side hit (bow, stern, board, starboard)
We are finally near to a draft that we could consider stable and we hope to publish soon a first beta draft in order to collect impressions and feedbacks.
In the meantime…our best SEASON GREETINGS!!