Post originally by Daniel Strain at 2004-06-17 12:41:01
Converted from Phorums BB System

Frank,

Just thought of some other points that might be interesting...

When we look at games like Talisman, or even Smugglers, I think what they are trying to achieve is quite different than, say, Settlers or even Risk.

To highlight the difference, consider a person who makes up a character in Dungeons & Dragons, or Star Wars the Roleplaying Game. Everyone thinks, "this will be my general approach to life", but no one makes up his/her character and even thinks they'll be able to make a long term strategy on what they will do over the course of the entire campaign. They have no idea what will be around the next bend in the road, but they have a general idea of their approach to things, and they make strategic decisions as events come up.

Sure, we're talking about board games and not roleplaying games, but I think unpredictability is an important aspect to "adventure", and that's what games like Talisman try to create (and in the opinion of many, they are incredible fun). Our goal has been to make an "adventure" board game that captures a roleplaying feeling. As such you still have a general tactic and make strategic decisions on particular components, but I think if you were able to look over the board and plan out a whole strategic plan for your entire game, with some random quirks simply thrown in for spice, it would create a whole different feel than it should.

To get back to your notes on the placement of random events with respect to player decision. I think this is relative to the feel and effect the game is going for. Sometimes I'm in an Axis & Allies mood and sometimes I'm in a Talisman mood, but I like both for different wholely reasons. Calling them both board games almost seems wrong.