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Ignacy Trzewiczek's Blog - Boardgames that tell stories
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Fashion

Ultra fans

11 stycznia, 2016 by Ignacy Trzewiczek Brak komentarzy

Hunt_for_Decimator___GenConHaul__SundayWithSon

It came out of nowhere. I was in the kitchen making dinner for the kids and he just began to talk. I mean my son, a 12-year-old kid. A hardcore X-Wing nerd. It was about 10- or 15-minute-long monologue without a single break. He managed to explain to me in detail all the ships from the new wave, pointed out in which movie (a Star Wars Rebels show) one of these ships is present, what skills it has in the movie and then what it means for the X-Wing rules. He told me what we should expect from this ship when we buy it. He also mentioned what other ships he expected in the next wave – all of that based on the movies, shows and a pretty detailed analysis of the FFG releases so far.

I didn’t understand a word of it.

I was terrified. Not because my son is going to kick my ass in the next 100 X-Wing games. Not because he visits the FFG page more often than the Portal Games’s site. Not because making dinner for four kids is a quite a task.

I was terrified because he showed me what true hardcore fans of a game look like. And without a doubt there are hardcore fans of Imperial Settlers there somewhere. Some hardcore fans of Robinson Crusoe. And of Stronghold…

It may be the case that at some point they will know more about the game than I do. Admit it. A terrifying feeling, huh? 😉

edited by Piotr, thank you!

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Fashion

Thank you for 2015

31 grudnia, 2015 by Ignacy Trzewiczek Jeden komentarz

This is it. 2015 has come to an end. Many months ago I posted on my blog an article called After the battle. Basically, I was convincing you that 2015 would be freaking awesome.

Don’t want to brag, but hell, was I right!

Let me just name three games. Pandemic: Legacy. Blood Rage. TIME Stories. Some pretty nice additions to our hobby.

And I tell you this – I strongly believe that 2015 will be a year we will mention a lot in the future. The year when a very strong accent was put on storytelling in board games. We had these ideas floating around for a while: we had Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective that was some sort of an interactive story. We had Tales of Arabian Nights that were a crazy interactive story. We had the Voyage of the Beagle expansion which is basically some sort of a Robinson Crusoe Legacy game that everybody asked me for.

We had these ideas but they were not ready, not well laid out, not well presented, not well executed. If I can say so, there was Tragedy Looper but we were still waiting for something. We were waiting for TIME Stories.

Now these ideas are well laid out. Now other designers can be inspired. Now our worldwide brainstorming is taking place. Now our hobby is taking a deep breath and tries to discover new possibilities, ideas, directions.

2015 has added a lot of new items to the set of tools we designers have [at our disposal?].

We have new toys to play with.

Having some behind-the-curtain knowledge, knowing a little little little bit about what my friends – designers – are working on now, and knowing what I am working on myself, I can tell you this – I promise you: 2016 will be great.

Happy New Year, my friends. It’s gonna be awesome.

Edited by Piotr

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Books and movies, Fashion

Here is an idea…

21 grudnia, 2015 by Ignacy Trzewiczek Jeden komentarz

pobrany plik

I am reading Troll Slayer by William King. This is an old Games Workshop novel, or rather a collection of short stories, dedicated to one of the most iconic characters of the Warhammer Fantasy world.

Let’s face it – the book is rather stupid. It’s just Gotrek and Felix marching and killing everything they meet.

The Polish translation is rather poor. As in most such cases, it was probably done by some young fan of Warhammer who did it for the lowest rate possible.

I know. There is like a million better books out there.

And yet, I am enjoying it entirely. I devour each page with a smile on my face. I feel my skin tingle after each of these short stories comes to an end.

How’s that possible?

Warhammer was my high school love. I discovered this dark fantasy world when I was a 15-year-old kid and I felt for it with my whole heart. I was running Warhammer RPG sessions, I was playing Warhammer Battle, I was really one hardcore fan. Years later I debuted in a Polish RPG magazine with a Warhammer scenario. Years later I founded Portal Games and Wthe arhammer section was a highlight of every issue of the magazine.

Today I make board games, but the fact is – I’ve lived with Warhammer for most of my life.

Next year I will turn 40. I might be getting sentimental during this holiday season, but I’m telling you this – reading about adventures of Gotrek is freaking awesome.

So here is my idea, folks. Take a book you loved when you were in high school. Buy a DVD with a movie you loved in your teens (yes, I am talking about Willow, mate) and treat yourself to the best Christmas ever. Magic works. Trust me.

 

edited by Piotr

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gdj

I challenge you!

17 grudnia, 2015 by Ignacy Trzewiczek 7 komentarzy

I challenge you! Honest publisher manifesto!Grant Rodiek in his recent interview said: “You can make a game that is functional. It is relatively easy to make a game that works and is balanced.”

These are the most honest and true words about game designing I’ve heard in a long time. Let us talk about submitted prototypes today.

***

I have my reputation. The Trash Guy. The Delete Man. The Mad Man. The guy who will play your prototype and tear it to pieces in no time. That guy.

How did I  get myself* this reputation? I receive prototypes every single week. Every single week I find in my Inbox new messages from designers who  have a prototype and are looking for a publisher.

It’s 50+ prototypes a year.

It’s 50+ designers looking for their chance.

It’s 50+ authors who contacted me and got a ‘Thank you, we are not interested’ reply.

It’s 50+ prototypes I throw in the bin every year.

Sounds drastic, huh? Well, I prefer to put it this way – it’s 50+ prototypes that failed me. Prototypes that were functional, balanced and boring as hell, prototypes that introduced nothing new to our hobby. They worked and that’s all I can say about them. There was no reason why I’d choose these prototypes over playing Bohnanza (published in 1997), Tikal (published in 1999), Tigris & Euphrates (published in 1997), Race for the Galaxy (released in 2007), Dominion (released in 2008)…

Among all prototypes sent to me in 2012 I found only one that was good enough. It was called Nobles of Paris and it was released in 2013 as Legacy: testament of duke de Crecy.

Among all prototypes sent to me in 2013 I found only one that was interesting enough. It was called Battle of York and it will be released in 2016 as Cry Havoc.

Among all prototypes sent to me in 2014 I found only one that was freaking good. It was called Tides of Time and it was released in 2015 as Tides of Time.

I looked into 50+ designs and most of them were functional. Most of them were balanced. Most of them worked. None of them had anything to offer.

***

Stop doing functional prototypes.

It’s not f… enough.

I challenge you. Surprise me. Deliver something exceptional. I want your best. I want your prototype to make my skin tingle. Give me more than a functional prototype.

Or leave my Inbox alone.

edited by Piotr, thanks!

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Fashion

Let’s talk about replayability

12 listopada, 2015 by Ignacy Trzewiczek 6 komentarzy

I am obsessed with replayability in my designs. You probably know it pretty well from Robinson Crusoe – 300 different cards with events and adventures, 6 different scenarios in the box, 3 more scenarios as a free expansions downloadable from our website… You buy Robinson and I promise that you’ll have like 100 hours of fun. This is me designing games. The same is true for Stronghold, Imperial Settlers, for all the games I make. Replayability is the king.

But!

Even though my design philosophy is all about putting in the box so much content that you will never get bored, I actually agree with Tom Vasel who once said in his podcast that if he play a game and have a great gaming night with his friends, the game would already be worth buying and it might have the replayability value of 0 (zero!) and he would still be happy.

Probably most of you now think that this is dumbest thing you’ve ever read on this blog.

Believe it or not, but I am with Tom on this one.

Let me explain.

Grab your 3 friends and go to the cinema to see Spectre. 4 x 20 = 80 usd
Grab your wife and 2 kids and go to the ZOO. 4 x 20 = 80 usd
Grab your girlfriend and take her to a concert. 2 x 50 = 100 usd
Grab your friends and buy and play Robinson Crusoe. 1 x 70 usd

OMG, I would never buy Robinson if I could play it only once!!! Well, really? How about giving it a second thought, huh?

***

I am writing about this because Rob Daviau and Matt Leacock did something extraordinary. They convinced you to buy a game that has a limited replaybility. You’ll play about 12 games of Pandemic Legacy and that’s it. You are done with it.

(yeah, I know, the first step was made with Rob’s Risk Legacy)

And yet the players are not complaining.
The players are happy like a kid who just got his Sphero BB-8 Droid.
The players praise it to be a great game.
The players value the experience they had, just as they would do with watching an amazing movie or reading an amazing book.

The players are witnessing a revolution, even though they might not be recognizing that yet.

***

Back to Tom Vasel statement – the question we might ask today is if we are ready to pay 60 or 80 usd for an amazing one-time experience, just like we pay for a cinema ticket, a Rolling Stones concert or a visit to the ZOO.

I think we are not there yet. But the wall has been breached. Pandemic Legacy has showed us that there is a new world out there.

I am very curious what’s next. Are you?

edited by Piotr, thank you!

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Kindle Edition

MY DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

I strongly believe that good board game is the one that tells a good story. You play it and suddenly you are sucked into it, you feel chills on the skin. Emotions grow. In a moment you defend castle. You hear roar of warriors. You smell boiling oil. You are into it. That's how I design my games. I always want to tell a good story. I want players to be into it. As deep as possible.

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We are publisher of Detective, Robinson Crusoe, Imperial Settlers, and many other great Board Games That Tell Stories

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We’re thrilled to announce that the Gamefound campaign for Thorgal is set to launch on April 11th!

We’re excited to share all of the progress we’ve made on the game and all details about the game and its components!

https://portalgames.pl/en/thorgal-update-15-save-the-date/

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You think your club got too big for Eleven? You really think that much of yourself? Then maybe it’s time for a bigger stadium. Let’s take a look at the stadium expansion.

https://portalgames.pl/en/game-designers-journal-stadium-expansion/

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Yesterday me and my daughter took part in Arkham Horror LCG tournament! Had a blast!

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Epic Sunday with War of the Ring! #boardgames

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