Somerset (new game), Halloween party (new costumes), and Dominion (new cards)

Last week I had a week off of school. During this week I cleaned the apartment like a mad boss. I did all the laundry, cleaned all the dishes, floors, put stuff away, and generally made the apartment look super awesome.

It also had time to create a prototype of a new game that I've had the idea for for quite a while.  So far the working title is Somerset, which is the country that John Leland in 1542 considered to be the place where Camelot resided. I didn't want to call the game Camelot because I'm pretty sure there's already a game out there called that, and my game doesn't have Merlin or Arthur or any other Camelot-like things, so I didn't want people to buy the game expecting that and then be disappointed. Anyway, if any of you have thoughts for what the game should be called, please leave a comment below!

The premise of the game is this: Each player starts with two workers, a peasant and a knight. The peasant can move only one spot, the knight can move two.  You start in a the city made up of 12-18 hexagon tiles that are placed onto the table in a randomized layout. Each starting tile is an action you can do, such as collect brick, collect wood, hire a new peasant, upgrade your people, build a new hex, move up on the government track, and so forth. You start by placing your two guys down one at a time onto one of the tiles, taking that action. In future turns, you move a guy and then take the action he landed on. Your peasants then move slowly one tile at a time, taking the action of each tile they step on. Knights are a little more fast, moving two tiles and taking the action of that second one. Later in the game once you collect enough resources you can upgrade your knights into Wizards. Wizards move three spaces, and also allow you to use Magic to cast spells.  Throughout the game players are constantly buying new tiles, which give more actions. So as the countryside outside the city increases, the number of actions available also does.

Sample layout for a two player game

Sample layout for a three player game 

Sample layout for a four player game

Think of it like this: It's like Agricola, but instead of a new action coming out once each round, the players themselves are buying and putting out those actions. And instead of you getting all your guys back at the end of the round to start fresh, they're stuck on their spots and came only move a certain number, so you need to plan out how far away the actions you want are so that you can set up your meeples' positions.

Question: Why would I want to build a new tile?  Answer: Every time another player uses it, you get a point. Yay points! It's kind of like how the game Caylus does it, if you've ever heard of that game.

Question: Does the position of the tiles matter? Answer: Yes, each hex will have five sides that lead to roads, with its sixth side not giving you access to the tile next to it. So often you will have to go the long way around in order to access the tile with the action you want on it. You can only go from one tile to the next if both of the sides are roads connecting.

The government track

Prices for certain tiles as I have them now

Actions you can take

Some of the same tiles that you can buy

That's the basic premise. Tiles you build will allow you to do different things, such as: build roads, get instant points, get Magic, cast spells, get new cards (building cards allow you to build individual buildings that help only you), upgrade guys cheaper than the starting tile does, get more resources than the starting tiles provide, copy the action of a tile next to it, and so forth.

Like I said, if you can think of a better name for it let me know.

Last Saturday was our ward Halloween party! Heather, Henry and I went and we had a great time. Heather was Snow White, Henry was Calvin AND Hobbes, and I was Ash Ketchum. See picture below.

Also, random picture of Henry because he's cute

In other news, I was looking at the Dominion wiki for ideas for names I could call some of my tiles and cards, and found out that Donald X. (the creator of Dominion) came out with a second edition of both the base set and Intrigue. The new edition not only fixes up some cards (Throne Room now says "you may" on it!) but also replaces a lot of crappy cards (goodbye Scout and Woodcutter) with brand spanking new cards!  Check them out here and here to have your mind blown with awesomeness!