Post originally by Rich Bennett at 2004-02-12 17:25:02
Converted from Phorums BB System

I agree that the Gangland! rule book has many problems and I helped design it. On reflection, it wasn't one of my finer efforts (design wise), but then again, you should have seen the first draft of the rules.

The problems that exist with the first (and only) edition of Gangland! became evident after we brought it to market. Even during the production process of the final rule book I had misgivings on how we were presenting the rules. If I ever get a chance to do it over, I would rewrite the rules and put them into a much more logical format - with an index! We did consider having an index, but at the time we thought the table of contents would be sufficient.

With any game featuring the level of complexity that Gangland! has, there are bound to be problems with the rule book in the first printing. We hoped to correct these in future editions. Unfortunately, our capital ran out before we could produce a second edition.

All in all, for a first effort, I think Gangland! was a success on many levels. The vast majority of reviews were very positive and we received a 4 Star rating from InQuest Magazine - which was no small feat at the time. Those guys were hard butts! Many of Magic's expansions received much lower scores.

It has been nearly a decade since I was involved with the production of Gangland! It was a labor of love for me and it I was really quite depressed when the venture failed. It makes me proud to see the artwork continue to receive positive reviews. The fact that people are still playing Gangland! and getting enjoyment from it makes it all worth it.

I have toyed around with the thought of starting up a Gangland! website where we could post revised "2nd Edition" rules and such. Perhaps I might speak with Bruce Quade and see if he's up to it.