God Plays Dice

Done! Here's the new print-n-play game I created. You can find it here: God Plays Dice.  First 100 downloads are free. The second 100 cost double.

Of course the game titles paraphrases Einstein's famous quote. And indeed, there is a method to my madness. The game is about the Big Bang (and quantum things) and happens to require lots of dice. Here's the full write-up:

It is a millisecond second after the Big Bang. Now is your chance to guide the creation of particles, fundamental forces, and the physical laws of the rapidly expanding universe and use them to your advantage. Through judicious planning and aggressive maneuvering, you will be able to guide the creation of stars, solar systems, and even galaxies.

God Plays Dice is a micro-style game of managing and manipulating probabilities. By collecting and rolling dice you can gain control of cards that have special powers that allow you to better collect and roll dice, and to score victory points. Sometimes you will be at the mercy of the dice, but sometimes the other players will be at the mercy of you.

The game has been mentions in Chris Hansens excellent pnp blog. Check it out here.

Dark Energy

Been busy moving across the country. But I hope to start adding more to my blog now that I'm nearly settled. As an easy re-introduction, here's a card I designed for my upcoming God Plays Dice game -- a game where you get to manipulate the Big Bang.

Banana Spider

I've been working on multiple projects -- a sci-fi crime book, a fantasy novella, and then there's a third draft of a book waiting for me to get back to, and on and on and on. But at moment I'd like to tell you about a side, side project. I've designed another game, but before I put it out, this time I want to add more of personal artistic touch to the thing. I can't tell you much about the game yet, but there are a lot of spiders are involved, and so, when I'm able, I sit down and draw another spider.

I have three down and about 15 to go. Here's my latest:

Other spiders (and artwork) can be found here.
My self-published games are here.

Fantastiqa arrived

All my 'professional' board game credits are accidental so far, meaning I didn't seek out to get noticed in a professional way, but somehow it happened anyway. A while back I made an expansion for Fantastiqa, just for fun (found here), and the designer of the original game saw it, liked it, and asked it he could modify it into a real product.

The final version is the "Castle in the Air" found in Fantastiqa Landscapes. It arrived at my door a few days ago, and I'm eager to try it out.

Youtube instruction video for Perhaps She'll Die

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCF6_Hn9_lH6b049XQostnVMwUFKlrJwN

Variant made official!

My Goat King variant has been adapted into an official expansion for Fantastiqa. (Changed to become Castle in the Air).

Take a look here: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1126059/new-fantastiqa-expansion-fantastiqal-landscapes

I predicted that Magritte's Castle of the Pyrenees would serve as the artwork for the tile, but apparently the licensing fees for it was too expense. The artwork they went with in the end, though, works nicely in any case.

Variant for Fantastiqa

Created a variant Region for the Fantastiqa game:

Rules:

Place the Goat King next to the board and place a randomly drawn quest on him. The quest must be a 2-point quest or greater (discard and replace any 1-point quests). A player may travel to the Goat King from any Region by playing a Flying Carpet, but may only go to him if the player is able to complete the quest. A player completes the quest by playing the symbols required for the quest (disregard the text saying what Region you should be in to normally complete the quest). Completing the quest is a turn action. When the quest is completed, the player does not gain gems or points, but instead draws one card from the Beast Bazaar, the Artifact Tower, and the Quest Chest. He keeps all three cards. He does not pay for the Beast and Artifact cards. He must keep the Quest Card. If the player plays an ‘extra card’ symbol, he may draw an additional card from any of the decks, but must pay for the card (if payment is needed) if he wants to keep it.

On his next turn, the player must move away from the Goat King and may go to any Region on the board. This is a Free Action. Once the Goat King is vacant again, place a new non-1pt quest on him.

Perhaps She'll Die -- trick-taking game overview

My new trick-taking game is now available for print-n-play:  http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/152266/perhaps-shell-die

There was an old Lady who swallowed a fly... This trick-taking game is themed on the popular children’s song. The object is to take tricks by playing the highest-ranked animal card. Problem is, when an animal card is played, its rank changes and usually for the worse.

Before each round, ranking cards are placed on the table in a row in order of rank: fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, goat, cow, horse. The fly is the lowest ranked at the start, and the horse is the highest. The animal cards are shuffled and dealt. The start player plays a card, and the corresponding card in the rank row is shifted down one space. If an animal is already the lowest ranked animal, it is moved to the furthest space on the right and becomes the highest ranked animal.

Play proceeds clockwise. In turn, each player plays a card. A player must follow suit if possible, otherwise he may play any card. Each played card causes the corresponding card in the rank row to shift down as described above.

After everyone has played, the player whose card matches the currently highest ranked animal wins the trick (regardless of suit). If two or more players have played the same ‘winning’ card, the player who played first wins the trick.

This is a 3-4 player game. Partnership rules are included as well.

---Here are what some of the cards look like:

Pictorial for Invasive Species game

And now here's a pictorial of my game Invasive Speicies: The Game: http://boardgamegeek.com/article/13915471#13915471

Pictorial guide for Nine Circles of Hell

I put together a pictorial overview of my "Hell" game. Take a look here:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1064598/pictorial-overview-of-hell