Shortly after the last post and the comment about having a bean bag chair made of dice, I got a shipment of 200 dice delivered to my doorstep. This summer we're releasing the next wave of the WEGS Kreator Kit, which will include 5 dice per set. Dice are all stamped "Fabulous Las Vegas", appropriate for a night of WEGS-ing it up! The new Kreator Kit is pretty slick with an upgraded carrying case and heavier poker chips. It contains everything we use for our con games (pawns, markers) and will instantly let folks start playing along at home! It's everything a Kreator needs to get the game started in a jiff (and it's pretty handy for use with any adventure game). Folks might even just use the kit for their home poker games...
Play WEGS!
Showing posts with label Craps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Craps. Show all posts
Friday, June 5, 2009
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Real Thing...
Last weekend, I was on my way back to Jersey from Virginia, and stopped by one of those slot parlours in Delaware. Slots is not my casino game of choice, though I often make machine time for video poker. Machine time, keep that in mind. Lately, the slot parlours (don't call them casinos), have been adding video table games such as blackjack, poker and let it ride. These tables have a huge upright video screen on which the simulated dealer (sim) is projected. The players sit side-by-side before the screen and have individual video monitors on the console before them to place their bets, etc. Back to the sims. The sims have the creepy ability to make eye contact with the passerbys. The damn eyes follow you! Kinda like one of those haunted house portraits... The sim dealers are buff or buxom models, sometimes clad in bathing suits (if the background is an island casino, etc). The sim video loops between them looking at the passerbys (while they wait for the players to place bets), shuffling and dealing. Kinda clever, all in all. But it's not real.
I sat down at a $2 Let It Ride table. Can't find $2 tables out in Vegas, so this seemed like a good deal. All the components you would expect were there: Bonus Bet, Three Card Bonus, etc. It was the game as it should be. But it's not real. By the third deal, I was getting bad vibes. First off, I didn't have poker chips to play with. I had no tangible sense of the game. Sure I could look at the video and see my remaining balance, but that was too much like banking. Numbers on a computer screen is Excel to me. It's work. And, what's worse, it's reality. Poker chips have some type of charge to them. The weight. The softness. It just works psychological wonders.
The other thing that was missing was the cards. In the table game, three cards are dealt face down. You pick them up and look at them. You shuffle them as you want. You use them to scratch the table to indicate a bet should be taken down. The sound of a playing card scratching the table felt, it's almost religious. With the sim, all I had was a button to take down my bet. Lastly, the comradery of your fellow players and the dealer was gone. You can't replicate that. Generally, the dealers give you some consolation if the cards are against you. They react to the odds and the gods in the game. With the sims, you get nothing. No sympathy. No humor. No consolation. Just console.
After a few more hands I had to bolt. The sim was starting to make me realize how money-guzzling stupid the game is, especially when you strip away all the physical components: cards, poker chips, banter. Losing against a computer, any game, makes a person feel dumb. Add losing money to that equation and you feel like a flippin' moron.
Sometimes it is about the game pieces...
I sat down at a $2 Let It Ride table. Can't find $2 tables out in Vegas, so this seemed like a good deal. All the components you would expect were there: Bonus Bet, Three Card Bonus, etc. It was the game as it should be. But it's not real. By the third deal, I was getting bad vibes. First off, I didn't have poker chips to play with. I had no tangible sense of the game. Sure I could look at the video and see my remaining balance, but that was too much like banking. Numbers on a computer screen is Excel to me. It's work. And, what's worse, it's reality. Poker chips have some type of charge to them. The weight. The softness. It just works psychological wonders.
The other thing that was missing was the cards. In the table game, three cards are dealt face down. You pick them up and look at them. You shuffle them as you want. You use them to scratch the table to indicate a bet should be taken down. The sound of a playing card scratching the table felt, it's almost religious. With the sim, all I had was a button to take down my bet. Lastly, the comradery of your fellow players and the dealer was gone. You can't replicate that. Generally, the dealers give you some consolation if the cards are against you. They react to the odds and the gods in the game. With the sims, you get nothing. No sympathy. No humor. No consolation. Just console.
After a few more hands I had to bolt. The sim was starting to make me realize how money-guzzling stupid the game is, especially when you strip away all the physical components: cards, poker chips, banter. Losing against a computer, any game, makes a person feel dumb. Add losing money to that equation and you feel like a flippin' moron.
Sometimes it is about the game pieces...
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Speed Of Play...
As noted earlier, one of the amazing things during our Krystal Keep / WittCon games was the speed of play. These games, jammed with 12 players each, did not suffer from much mechanic-lag. A big part of this was that about a quarter of the players all did some WEGS-ing with us before, and these folks were coaching their friends and other players. A lot of the rules explanations were being handled by them, instead of us. It was great to watch somebody else explain the rules to a new player. It allowed me and Willy the 2 to focus more on our side of the table. Good stuff.
This also had a big impact on the "split table counter-rotational" minion mastering that we were attempting (see notes below). It drew a line in the sand between the players and us (the house). They weren't relying on us for the help with the rules, they were relying on the senior players. It galvanized the players as a team, which was great to see. Another great thing, which we're seeing more and more of, is players coaching each other on skill use. As folks become more familiar with the rules, the level of strategy is rising. It might just be me, but Level 88s ain't so tough any more...
Time to break out the Double 88s!
This also had a big impact on the "split table counter-rotational" minion mastering that we were attempting (see notes below). It drew a line in the sand between the players and us (the house). They weren't relying on us for the help with the rules, they were relying on the senior players. It galvanized the players as a team, which was great to see. Another great thing, which we're seeing more and more of, is players coaching each other on skill use. As folks become more familiar with the rules, the level of strategy is rising. It might just be me, but Level 88s ain't so tough any more...
Time to break out the Double 88s!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
What Happened In Vegas, Part 2
In May 2007, I blogged about how the concept of WEGS was born early one morning after a late-night stint at a craps table in Vegas. Many times that feeling I set to recreate with WEGS reverberates down the dice. When WEGS is at its hottest, it's like a huge craps game with folks shouting, feverishly throwing down spoints and bringing the game to life. Another key part is walking away cheerfully exhausted right down to your wallet (god, that's true on so many levels in the game publishing business!). This feeling happened twice at our recent Wittcon weekend: the first at Krystal Keep and the second at WittCon. Both of these games ran about four hours - and could've gone a little longer if both places hadn't closed at midnite! In both instances I had Vegas flashbacks. And it was good.
A few blogs back I mentioned that there was a down-side to running the larger games (8 players+). It's not the same game from a player's standpoint. This was apparent at Cold Wars when we first stumbled upon the "split table counter-rotational" method of dual Minion Masters. (this method warrants its own post!), but basically two minion masters split the table into two mini-games, running clockwise/counter clockwise around the players. The Minion Masters work in concert with each other well, but from a player's perspective the right side often doesn't know what the left side is doing.
This works incredibly well for mass-combat scenarios and our Yawl games and actually increases the crazed/frenetic spirit of those games. For games with story elements, it's not the best. Wegs Wife I (WW1) was playing in the first game where this occured and she complained afterward that she didn't have a clue what the other side of the table was doing. I voiced my concerns with Willy The 2 that it was our fault for not keeping the game together. There was more to it, though - the noise in the room was ungodly. Our game was in the middle of a huge ballroom surrounded by table after table of shouting war-gamers. We were on the event horizon, as it were, about to be sucked into nothingness. Thus, it was our survival instinct that lead us down the path of the "split table counter-rotational" method. The simple fact was one central Minion Master could not hear everyone at the table. So, we split the table into audible areas and, thus, we stumbled upon a new method for running bigger games.
Who's the muther of invention?
(More details to follow on this thread. Far too long at this point!)
A few blogs back I mentioned that there was a down-side to running the larger games (8 players+). It's not the same game from a player's standpoint. This was apparent at Cold Wars when we first stumbled upon the "split table counter-rotational" method of dual Minion Masters. (this method warrants its own post!), but basically two minion masters split the table into two mini-games, running clockwise/counter clockwise around the players. The Minion Masters work in concert with each other well, but from a player's perspective the right side often doesn't know what the left side is doing.
This works incredibly well for mass-combat scenarios and our Yawl games and actually increases the crazed/frenetic spirit of those games. For games with story elements, it's not the best. Wegs Wife I (WW1) was playing in the first game where this occured and she complained afterward that she didn't have a clue what the other side of the table was doing. I voiced my concerns with Willy The 2 that it was our fault for not keeping the game together. There was more to it, though - the noise in the room was ungodly. Our game was in the middle of a huge ballroom surrounded by table after table of shouting war-gamers. We were on the event horizon, as it were, about to be sucked into nothingness. Thus, it was our survival instinct that lead us down the path of the "split table counter-rotational" method. The simple fact was one central Minion Master could not hear everyone at the table. So, we split the table into audible areas and, thus, we stumbled upon a new method for running bigger games.
Who's the muther of invention?
(More details to follow on this thread. Far too long at this point!)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
7... 11...
07 / 11
WEGS 101 is done.
Sweetness, indeed.
Should be back from printer by month's end - unless something goes awry with the final proof.
In craps, 7 and 11 pay the line...
How poetic...
WEGS 101 is done.
Sweetness, indeed.
Should be back from printer by month's end - unless something goes awry with the final proof.
In craps, 7 and 11 pay the line...
How poetic...
Monday, May 14, 2007
Spoints...
In Craps, the player's cash is the game's currency. The fluctuation of this amount adds a great deal of stress and pleasure to the enjoyment of the game.
In WEGS, spoints are the game's currency. Each player starts with a certain number based on their scores. Spoints, which stands for spell points, are represented via poker chips in the game. Spoints are spent by the players whenever they want to do a special action (kinda like paying a fee). Spoints are also used to maximize a player's chance for success.
During the game, spoints are thrown into a central pot where they amass until the end of an encounter. You can tell how much an encounter meant to the players by the amount of chips at the end.
Spoints are one of the coolest mechanics in WEGS. They truly bring a Las Vegas game of chance feeling to the adventure. Plus these set a limit to how much a player can do - it prevents folks from doing everything all the time. It causes players to maintain the cautious edge in their heroic actions.
Unlike craps, once a players is out of spoints, they still continue to play. From that point forward, the player will be limited as to what they can do and/or how well they can do it.
So once they bust the spoint bank, the player's fate pretty much relies on the whim of the dice...
In WEGS, spoints are the game's currency. Each player starts with a certain number based on their scores. Spoints, which stands for spell points, are represented via poker chips in the game. Spoints are spent by the players whenever they want to do a special action (kinda like paying a fee). Spoints are also used to maximize a player's chance for success.
During the game, spoints are thrown into a central pot where they amass until the end of an encounter. You can tell how much an encounter meant to the players by the amount of chips at the end.
Spoints are one of the coolest mechanics in WEGS. They truly bring a Las Vegas game of chance feeling to the adventure. Plus these set a limit to how much a player can do - it prevents folks from doing everything all the time. It causes players to maintain the cautious edge in their heroic actions.
Unlike craps, once a players is out of spoints, they still continue to play. From that point forward, the player will be limited as to what they can do and/or how well they can do it.
So once they bust the spoint bank, the player's fate pretty much relies on the whim of the dice...
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Verities And Balderdash...
The more types of dice you have in play, the slower the game.
Casino craps rocks with only 2 six side dice. You can't beat the sheer simplicity of it. That game can move as fast as the pit people can pay the players. When that game is the slowest, the players are the happiest (unless you're one of those folks who bet with the dice).
Dungeons & Dragons utilizes many dice types - four sided, six sided, eight sided, ten sided, twelve sided and, of course, twenty sided (which is now the crux of their system). The weird D&D dice were a big part of the game's initial success. It was a very cool game gimmick and a fascinating branding point.
WEGS uses two types - six side and ten sided. Players are armed with a pair of each. That's 2D6 and 2D10 for insiders. The game play is definately brisk. It flies when folks have a comfort level with the rules, too. What we lose in cool, we make up for in speed.
There's rumblings that we might include D4 in a future version...
So much excitement in one short post.
Casino craps rocks with only 2 six side dice. You can't beat the sheer simplicity of it. That game can move as fast as the pit people can pay the players. When that game is the slowest, the players are the happiest (unless you're one of those folks who bet with the dice).
Dungeons & Dragons utilizes many dice types - four sided, six sided, eight sided, ten sided, twelve sided and, of course, twenty sided (which is now the crux of their system). The weird D&D dice were a big part of the game's initial success. It was a very cool game gimmick and a fascinating branding point.
WEGS uses two types - six side and ten sided. Players are armed with a pair of each. That's 2D6 and 2D10 for insiders. The game play is definately brisk. It flies when folks have a comfort level with the rules, too. What we lose in cool, we make up for in speed.
There's rumblings that we might include D4 in a future version...
So much excitement in one short post.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
What Happened In Vegas...
One of the aforementioned points of origin for WEGS was in Las Vegas.
It was the fall of 1999. Such a long time ago...
Maybe it was the spring.
It was definately around 3a.m.
I was just coming off a three hour stand on a craps table that was smoking. I mean smoking. Now, this doesn't mean that I walked off with scads of cash. A great craps game for me is one where the action lasts for more than an hour and a half and my initial dinero stays afloat the entire time. Sometimes craps ain't about making money. It's a game of thrills, intense drama and suspense. Just like baseball. Just like character driven adventure games.
In craps, I don't need to make a killing. I need to play and I need the play to be action-packed. I need to be surrounded by cool tourists, vibrant casino vets, dice fools. I need the folks running the game to carefully hedge the excitement and casually guide the action. There needs to be moments of disappointed silence to counter the reckless shouts for petty victories. And I need to hit "boxcars" at least twice sometime in that hour and half go.
This particular game had all those elements. I walked away with a buzz knowing that on that particualr night the planets had aligned over that one craps table just for me.
As I walked back to my room, I suddenly realized that the buzz I was feeling was the same as the one I get after an amazing session of a role-playing game (Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, etc). It is a feeling of utter satisfaction knowing that you were a part of something out of the ordinary. You transcended something.
One thing that defines this feeling the strongest was that I NEEDED TO TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THE GAME.
But at 3a.m. in Vegas I doubt any one would listen. Besides, a few folks were walking around in the same state. Like the couple that was just married by Elvis. They transcended something I'm sure...
It was at this moment that I realized many things about the nature of gaming, and I knew that I had to marry the elements of casino games of chance and adventure games.
If I didn't do it - who would?
Big Elvis?
It was the fall of 1999. Such a long time ago...
Maybe it was the spring.
It was definately around 3a.m.
I was just coming off a three hour stand on a craps table that was smoking. I mean smoking. Now, this doesn't mean that I walked off with scads of cash. A great craps game for me is one where the action lasts for more than an hour and a half and my initial dinero stays afloat the entire time. Sometimes craps ain't about making money. It's a game of thrills, intense drama and suspense. Just like baseball. Just like character driven adventure games.
In craps, I don't need to make a killing. I need to play and I need the play to be action-packed. I need to be surrounded by cool tourists, vibrant casino vets, dice fools. I need the folks running the game to carefully hedge the excitement and casually guide the action. There needs to be moments of disappointed silence to counter the reckless shouts for petty victories. And I need to hit "boxcars" at least twice sometime in that hour and half go.
This particular game had all those elements. I walked away with a buzz knowing that on that particualr night the planets had aligned over that one craps table just for me.
As I walked back to my room, I suddenly realized that the buzz I was feeling was the same as the one I get after an amazing session of a role-playing game (Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, etc). It is a feeling of utter satisfaction knowing that you were a part of something out of the ordinary. You transcended something.
One thing that defines this feeling the strongest was that I NEEDED TO TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THE GAME.
But at 3a.m. in Vegas I doubt any one would listen. Besides, a few folks were walking around in the same state. Like the couple that was just married by Elvis. They transcended something I'm sure...
It was at this moment that I realized many things about the nature of gaming, and I knew that I had to marry the elements of casino games of chance and adventure games.
If I didn't do it - who would?
Big Elvis?
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