Discover: Lands Unknown (new FFG “unique” game)

Every game is unique. How can you buy more if you're not sure the next game you buy will be very different or just 1 card different?

I'm just interested on seeing how this is executed. It's a supply chain/logistical nightmare. How do buyers know they have the correct components? How will parts replacement works?

Color me intrigued.

I'll wait until someone uniquely describes how it doesn't suck.

Gary Sax wrote: I guess... I guess I like Arkham Horror a lot more than you guys maybe? It's largely randomly constructed in terms of narrative.

except this is Arkham where the characters/GOOs/monsters are randomly spread across multiple boxes, and there's no way to know what you get in each box. one of the positives of the arkham model is the variability from game to game. When it needs some new content, buy an expansion of choice. Instead, limit the variability in the base box by spreading it around randomly. When you get tired of your base, buy a new box and it might have half the same stuff?

I think the game itself sounds fine. Always interested in seeing what Corey K will do.

Keyforge interested me, except for the stupid keyword thing I've also heard about from a friend who came back from GenCon.

Eh, who cares about this when THIS is coming in Orktober!

Michael Barnes wrote: Eh, who cares about this when THIS is coming in Orktober!

Yeah yeah. That's talk from a game reviewer though, and since none of you reviewers are going to play my version of the game, there's no way I can believe anything you say about it.

So when you design something like this, you come up with 500 or 600 cards, and then you select the best 80-100 to include in the game. Those are the cards that really make it work, really shine and provide a great playing experience. The rest you throw away.

Unless you don't.

Looks like more info on these "unique" (ugh) games is coming in a stream later this week. You guys still haven't dampened my curiosity and interest.

I think this is super exciting. Not because of the game itself which - since every game is a stand-alone product - I can't see benifiting much from being unique. It's not like Keyforge where the uniqueness is an integral part of the way not only your game is, but the entire play experience. But when looking at it as a story, it's very interesting. Of course it all depends on how different the stories end up being, but if your copy feels very different from mine and plays out in a very different way, then I believe that has value in itself.

This is not going to change the way we make board games. But it's a fun an interesting experiment and I'm pretty sure Corey is going to get something good out of it.

It sort of reminds me of Friese's 504. Yes, it would probably be a better game if he had chosen the one combination that would create the best game, but that was not the point. Of course the difference is that you would get all the content in that game, but honestly I don't give a shit if I can't get everything for a game. If what's in the box works, then I'm happy.

I'm a professional idea-breaker in my day job.

Let me tell you a story.

BGG completionists start posting the entire contents of their sets. (not unusual there)
People start proxying their cards to include neat-looking stuff from someone else's set (because it's random, so you can't buy a hero card that you want to play).
Asmodee Legal goes apeshit at roughly Games Workshop levels and sues them.
Game component pictures become banned.

Sounds like fun already!

The game is moderately interesting, Sax is right on about the underserved target demographics. Barnes' joke about the Ork hotrod is also pretty telling in itself. Maybe the game is good.

The unique thing is a goddamn gimmick, though. Nobody is excited by that but the FFG sales staff.

Not Sure wrote:
BGG completionists start posting the entire contents of their sets. (not unusual there)
People start proxying their cards to include neat-looking stuff from someone else's set (because it's random, so you can't buy a hero card that you want to play).
Asmodee Legal goes apeshit at roughly Games Workshop levels and sues them.

More likely people will start selling singles on eBay.

ChristopherMD wrote:

Not Sure wrote:
BGG completionists start posting the entire contents of their sets. (not unusual there)
People start proxying their cards to include neat-looking stuff from someone else's set (because it's random, so you can't buy a hero card that you want to play).
Asmodee Legal goes apeshit at roughly Games Workshop levels and sues them.

More likely people will start selling singles on eBay.

If there is an aftermarket for singles then that would be telling....either the next nerd culture thing, or a glorious 1 year trajectory that everyone wants to never be reminded of (pogs)

ChristopherMD wrote:

Not Sure wrote:
BGG completionists start posting the entire contents of their sets. (not unusual there)
People start proxying their cards to include neat-looking stuff from someone else's set (because it's random, so you can't buy a hero card that you want to play).
Asmodee Legal goes apeshit at roughly Games Workshop levels and sues them.

More likely people will start selling singles on eBay.

Until a (mostly) complete index is crowdsourced, I don't see that happening. I know what site that crowdsourcing will happen on.

Better yet, just start forging cards. "I totally got this in my set..." Unless FFG wants to publish their own index, who can say?

But realistically I think none of this will even matter, and you'll be able to get as many sets as you want for $15 each in the next FFG Holiday Sale.

I just saw the KeyForge one.

Each deck has its own name, which is unique and procedurally/randomly generated. And then, each card, has the unique name printed on the card, even if the card is pulled from a common pool. Each deck also comes with its list of cards.

That's quite crazy.

www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2018/9/25/deadly-encounters/

New preview. Combat who cares to me. I hope they keep it to a minimum, it would be a big fail if it was a combat heavy game. Which this is the first preview so ugh.

But those entries at the bottom with the Robinson Crusoe style inventions... so potentially exciting with major, major worries they've missed the point. This is like one of my spouse and I's favorite mechanics ever, and this is a game whose theme my spouse and I would be WAY into... but it is butting up against the random nature of the game. Will the bow and arrow invention in my set be useful in the set of dangers and challenges I've drawn in my box? Maybe not. And if the way the inventions are used isn't unique in any way (a bunch of +1 in a combat stuff) and they all have a concrete generic mechanical advantage like the bow and arrow, a lot of the magic of the RC system (which calls for *specific* inventions and if you have them you get new options) is gone.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this still. I plan on tackling this one from the unique angle of playing through two separate boxes and comparing my experience. Really curious how far the two sets will diverge from one another.

I simply see no game value on this. How does it make the game more interesting or fun? I guess there's a personal angle, but I think the best personal angle are the actions you take in a game and how the people you are playing with shape it, not a few random items.