The Greatest Game Never Played.

Ok this thread could go in several directions: Games you love but never get to the table, Games you want to try but are too scarce, Games that you think are so underated that they are spurned. But I'm bringing up great prototypes that I've played that never see the light of published day.

I love trying out prototypes and new games. Since I hang with some hard core collectors, I get to often try the Hot New Game(tm) as well as the occasional ultra rare classic. Every once in a while I even get to try out a prototype or two. Seeing the Z-man thread reminded me of a few great games that have gone overlooked.

Top of my list is "Battle beyond Space" by Frank Branham
It is the fasted deadliest space game I have ever played with the exception of Light Speed. Unlike light speed you have to plan and really think about how to manuver you ships but no matter what- there will be horrific amounts of destruction. Frank's prototype is gorgeous with tons of ships, giant asteroids smashing things and a beautifully painted felt board. If the game ever gets published I'll be 1st in line to buy it though I may not be able to possibly wait that long.

second is "Defender of the Realm" by Richard Launius
Richard can't leave any game alone. He will take every game he finds and tweak it with powers, influence chits and dice based chaos. AND I LOVE IT!! I thought I was the original Scion of Chaos but Richard takes a close second. The original game may have been Pandemic but he's altered it so dramatically that it is actually fun (OMG!)
instead of diseases, Humanoid generals spread destruction as they roam. Their spawn spring up in fell places across the board and each player races to quell them. Quests add advantages to the players and each has a class specific power. There is a bit more to the game but the game play is compelling and tense. Finally there is a thematic co-op game that is actually fun to play.

Third "Marvel Smackdown" by Richard Launius
MS is a card game where Good and evil factions vie for control over battle sites. the first side to capture 3 wins. Each site has different victory conditions to claim it but the game play consists of playing a card to a site and resolving the action there.
Each hero/villain can attack or heal a wounded compatriot at the site. The powers are many and varied and makes for some very exciting game play (juggernaut plowing through a whole row of heroes and decimating them. Storm raining down lightning bolts across the board.) Richard is fanatical about presentation (he used to be an art director) and there is little difference between his prototypes and a published game.

Fourth is "Flophouse Fire" by Dan Baden
Or as we like to call it "Flaming Firemen." Each fireman races to get as many victims out of conflagration before the building collapses. The board is three tiers and each players' fireman only has so many actions to move and put out fires. You have secret locations where victims may be found and the higher up they are, the more prestige(VP) you earn rescuing them. Fires start randomly but each turn players must add to the fires as they grow. Its sounds simple but makes for some great screwage and hard choices. Hang back and try to cook off those guys that are going for the roof? Go for one last victim and hope you can get back out?
Each game I've played has been tons of fun as fireman get trapped, or manage to wade through impossible amounts of damage to win free.

There have also been many, many prototypes that never quite make it but these four I sincerely hope get published. I look forward to hearing about prototypes you may have tried that are equally deserving.

Steve"GamesCrusader"Avery

FYI Edited to correct "A time for Heroes" to the correct name of "Defenders of the Realm"

WHOA! Steve Avery! You are totally GAME Z'ing these people!

That being said, BATTLE BEYOND SPACE is fucking incredible. There is no excuse why this game should not be published and available to everyone. It is the tactical space battle game you have always wanted. Simple, extremely fast, and ruthlessly deadly.

MARVEL TEAM UP (not "smackdown") is the best superhero game. FLOPHOUSE FIRE would be a really cool Zoch-style game.

It sounds like A TIME FOR HEROES has changed...I didn't play his PANDEMIC re-design, but the original ATFH was an awesome card game. Best Launius game? ASSAULT OF THE DARK LORD. It's the best co-op game I've ever played.

Oh, and it's "influence _chits_", not "influence _shits_". That's something else altogether.

Much like the rules, I can never get the titles right :P:P

However, the pandemic redesign is much much better than pandemic and only the spawning mechanic is the same. I forget the correct title but its better than "A Time for heroes." That was a pretty good prototype but this one blows it out of the water.

Steve"GameCrusader"Avery

WHOA! Steve Avery! You are totally GAME Z'ing these people!

Whoops. I guess I am. In my defense though (1) I am hoping some one will pick up these awesome games and (2) I am interested in hearing about other people's prototypes (particuliarly adventure games) Sorry for the hype with no payoff. Its exactly like hollow and empty promises of certain gamers I know...

:D:D

Steve"GameTease"Avery

Gah! That Marvel one is killing me. I just don't think there has ever been a good super-hero game ... not once, ever. But it sounds as if RL might be on to something. And, of course, it's not actually scheduled for publication. *Sigh*

Someone send me a PDF of the rules ... I'll PayPal you $1. No, $2!!

I've playtested games by several local designers. My favorites, in order:

1. The Thirties Game, by Erik Olsrud, who also designed Gangsters, Gun Molls & G-Men. (GameID 4188 at BGG) It actually has a better name than that, but everybody always calls it this. Basically, each player creates a character using a point buy system, acquiring languages, skills, and special advantages. Then they travel around the world during the 1930s, having adventures and acquiring victory points. There is a lot of card-drawing and dice-rolling, but all of the events and characters encountered in the game are based on the actual history of the period.

The Thirties Game has an even stronger sense of narrative than even Arkham Horror, though it's possibly even more random than AH. The first time I played, I was a fascist Italian-American gangster who fought in the Spanish Civil War, then joined the Jehovah's Witnesses. That game was won by a guy playing a professional sports writer.

2. Flemish Wenches Going For Baroque, also by Erik Olsrud. Silly title aside, this is a EuroGame that I actually enjoy. The board is a basic map of a small renaissance era inn, with food and alcohol served in the mainroom, and prostitution conducted on the side in the bedrooms upstairs. Basically, it's a role selection game that is rich in chrome and detail. Each player is jockeying to place their serving wench in the most lucrative spot each hour (which is not necessarily upstairs). Each wench has a distinctive picture and bonus for a certain activity, like singing or "entertaining patrons upstairs."

Each hour that the inn is open, a random number of patrons show up, each with a unique name and picture, and specific preferences in food, liquor, music and/or wenches. Following a dynamic initiative system, wenches select serving wine/ale/food, singing or playing an instrument on stage, or perhaps taking one of the two beds upstairs. The least desirable job is washing dishes in the kitchen, but that puts you at the top of the initiative for the next turn. Next turn, some patrons automatically leave, while others may stay longer, then some new random patrons arrive at the inn. I know it sounds dry, but the period artwork by various Dutch masters was nice, and the ebb and flow of the customers seemed very realistic. This is probably the brownest game that I've ever liked.

3. I cannot remember the name of another favorite, because I only played it once, and that was a couple of years ago... but it's based on some web comic that I'm not familiar with. Designed by Stuart Gorman, the designer of Dirty Deutsch, the game that teaches you how to swear in German (GameID 35237 at BGG). I vaguely remember the characters had vaguely mouse-like features and one was named Ray, another Molly, and there was some kind of robot. Anyway, the game is about a party where a group of friends and enablers try to get each other to degrade themselves by participating in various acts like drinking too much or shouting out "penis!"

Each turn, players would secretly bid for control of a specific character, then manuever their characters into specific rooms on a simple apartment map. Then each player plays a card on their chosen character, racking up bonus points if certain other characters are present, especially if that character's specific enabler is present. I guess it was a Euro of sorts, but the circulation and activities of the party guests seemed very authentic, despite being controlled by the players.

4. Sky Pirates of Jupiter (or something like that), by Darrell Hardy, designer of Runebound and Innsmouth Escape. It's a pickup and delivery game with the potential for pirate attacks. I hate rail games, but this was somewhat better due to the inclusion of ship-to-ship combat, plus a novel economic mechanic or two involving value of goods. The prototype that we played was an abstract point-to-point map, but it's easy to imagine that the finished game would have lush retro-science fiction pulpy goodness, like Flash Gordon on black velvet.

The gangster game sounds rocking. I would love to see that re-tooled to make an Indiana Jones Pulp game. We are sooo needing more pulp games.

Going for Baroque sounds fun too. I could see the same sort of humor generated as Liebe and intrigue. Is there any take that in there or is it all "take the best resources"?

Steve"InquiringMind"Avery

Battle beyond space, huh?

Gary Sax wrote:

Battle beyond space, huh?

Seriously. what's the deal with this thing not getting published? as far as I can tell it has winner written all over it: fast playing, simple rules masking an underlying complexity, and oodles of things going "BOOM!" every turn-- what's the hang-up?

Stephen Avery wrote:

Going for Baroque sounds fun too. I could see the same sort of humor generated as Liebe and intrigue. Is there any take that in there or is it all "take the best resources"?

There is one take-that element, in that one of the roles you can select allows you to attempt to steal from one of the other wenches. Otherwise, there is no direct interaction between the players, just competition to select the most favorable roles each turn.

I generally avoid prototypes (unless its my own). I have little enough gaming time nowadays and prefer to spend it enjoying a finished product. Not that some finished products couldn't have used more playtesting. Anyways, I'd have to say that I wish more people had the chance to play Game Z. Its truly an excellent game that deserves far more attention than its been getting lately.

While I've not played a board game prototype (I've playtested some academic games in the Reacting to the Past series touching upon the French Revolution, though), the most interesting I've heard about in the last several years is the one adventure game set in the 1930s pulp comics era. I can't remember the name or the guy--but he had posted on BGG about it a couple of years ago. It looked interesting---curious to see if anything comes of it.

Rules are on the 'Geek for Battle Beyond Space.

...and I'm a terrible salesman. A couple of people have interest, but they have some very full plates.

I like how it turned out, but it is very different from how these kinds of games normally work.