For what it's worth, I believe that the rules need some major revisions (in
the way they are written) and clarifications. Several are misleading,
unclear, or uninformative.
Inclusion of strategy or more information would really help new players,
although I agree that brevity is required, otherwise few will bother to read
them.
As an example: Reveal Pop Center
There are actually two actions that occur with this order. The first is to
determine whether there is a hidden pop at the hex specified. The success of
this action appears to be based on casting rank as modified by artifacts.
The second action is to actually "unhide" the pop and appears to be based on
straight mage rank without the aid of artifacts. Thus, the player may get
the message that hex xxxx has been revealed as a hidden pop, but in reality
the pop is still hidden. In other words, the order failed since (most of the
time anyway) you already knew there was a hidden pop present and you wanted
it unhidden. The rule is not very clear on this at all and I have seen even
experienced players who have never used the spell ask "what happened?"
Another example:
There is no sample naval combat, although there is one for armies and
personal challenge. I have been playing MEPBM for over ten years and I
recently asked a question of teammates in preparation for a new game: "Does
morale and/or terrain/climate play a role in combat calc for naval battles
or is it just command rank? Is command rank the full modifier or is it given
just 25% or 33% weight?"
The answer to this question has a rather large impact on naval battles and
strategy of those using fleets. The rulebook does not mention anything
beyond command rank and there is no sample combat.Nobody knew the answer and
we probably have well over 200 games under our belts as a group.
Several concepts which are needed for successful and rewarding play are
either missing from or just glossed over in the rulebook. If a new player
gets pasted early in a game, he is unlikely to play again. Things like camp
limits, attention to one's economy and season changes, looking two or three
turns ahead, and teamwork should be stressed for the new players especially.
So, Harly could just try and rewrite the rules for clarity and then try a
separate "strategy guide & FAQ" or they could try an all-in-one deal.
Another possiblity could be to include limited strategy discussion on key
orders or game processes, with a separate more lenthy book or series of
articles.
I think a key factor is the ease with which a player can find required info
(ie index or table of contents). Poorly motivated players won't pursue a
topic if it takes too long to find it. Also, length or too much detail will
discourage some players, so brevity AND clarity are both important.
Personally, I find information in tabular form to be both concise and
informative and I think this should be used as often as possible. It is
underemployed at present and could be better organized.
As a final comment I would like to mention that the original game designers
DELIBERATELY made the rulebook vague in places so that the players would
have to try to explore the nuances of the game. This is in spirit with the
encounters and riddles. Originally, maps of all known pops and specific info
on riddles, arties, and dragons were not available. In my first game (#22),
I blundered around for several turns before teammates started sending me
info. If I hadn't gotten this info, I doubt I would have played another
game. I believe it makes for a much better gaming experience if all the
players in the game start with equal knowledge. Knowledge of how to USE the
rules strategically is gained by playing, but the rules themselves should be
clear and fair to everyone.
Tom MacCabe
