Things that I would like to make

Another set of little half-ideas for games/things. None of which will actually happen:

1) A parliamentary politics board/card game. It allows for: 1) non-zero sum player interaction, 2) Power differentials which still allow for weaker players to influence the course of the game (to make a government, you need 50%, so you can have dominant parties beholden to smaller ones), 3) Dynamic rules! 4) Meta-games which aren't "gang up on the leader"

2) Some sort of a counterinsurgency war game. I know there's a GWOT game out by GMT, but it's not quite what I'm looking for... you'd have to do it as a computer game, or have some really nifty ways of handing assymetric information, as well as a way to overcome the "HA HA" problem.

3) A fun little 3/4-player wargame set during/after the death of Jan Huss. It's at a great period in time, the early part of the gunpowder era, and you have such great factions!

4) A thorough analysis of the evolution of empire from the economic perspective.

5) Magic button which accomplishes thesis work and/or gives me infinite time to sleeeeeep

6) MORE BLOG POSTS! THE POSTS MUST FLOW!

Aristotle, Drama, and Games

So, I've been trying to beat Psychonauts* recently, instead of rocking some Revolution Under Siege, which was originally going to be the topic of a post. This is mostly because Revolution Under Siege, despite being a fascinating turn-based wargame in which I can order Trotsky around like a good little academic Pinko, is basically impossible to understand. I exaggerate, but only slightly. I think I've just about got the first real scenario figured out*, but I find it extremely non-intuitive, thanks mostly to the fact that there's a LOT of weird stuff going on that only makes sense if you read all the political updates, and then THINK about them, and sometimes I'm bad about thinking**.

Speaking of being bad about thinking, this post is the nexus of several observations:
1)I'm having a hard time bringing myself to play a lot of hard-core strategy games, instead, opting for the simple pleasures of Minecraft or Psychonauts

2)It's (much much) harder to write up a game of Dominions than a game of BSG, and, moreover, a game of Dominions is a lot less fufilling than a game of BSG

3) I am sick to death of Operation Barbarossa. Also- Operation Barbarossa is everywhere.


The link that ties these three threads together? The problems of the dramatic arc of the strategy game. We'll take a look at how strategy games can actually have a narrative arc below the jump, true believer!

"Politicians talk, men of action.... go to prision"! A Battlestar Galactica Battle Report

So, I play board games sometimes. I also read a fair number of SA "Let's Play"s, so I have delusions that people will want to read about my own board games adventures. Therefore, prepare yourself for a thrilling tale of betrayal and politics aboard the Galactica, the last, best hope for humanity against the vile Cylons*. 

Hearts of Iron, Men of Cardboard

I have, in general, nothing but praise* for Paradox games, for example, Europa Universalis (EU) III and Victoria (Vicky) II have absorbed far more of my life than I would care to admit, with Sword of the Stars (SotS) acting as an occasional distraction. Therefore, Hearts of Iron (HOI) III seemed like another dose of the same sweet, sweet, hyper-detailed, poorly documented, overwhelming, quasi-historical empire building. However, I've found HOI to be.... less than fully engaging.  This isn't to say that I'm not going to try to take USSR to victory** in the Great Patriotic War***, but I doubt that I'll lose many weekends to it. So, is it Nazi fatigue, or is there something more at work?