Excerpts from Manual
"Rest โ sit out your turn to sober up, removing one hangover token. The party carries on without you."
Rest is an action during the entertainment, not the morning after. On your turn you could stay in and drink with people to win their favour โ or step outside, clear your head, and sit this one out.
It's a more honest version of "pass": even doing nothing is something the night asks of you. And the party does not wait.
๐๐
๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น
"English Exit โ end your participation in the entertainment and move to the front of the initiative track."
Leaving the ball early, no goodbyes, puts you first on the initiative track next round.
Every country renames it: in Polish you leave "po angielsku," the English say French leave, the French answer "filer ร l'anglaise," and in parts of Germany it's a "einen polnischen Abgang machen." It circles back.
๐๐
๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น
In Vienna 1814, the first two women drawn fill the Palm Palace โ opposite wings of one building, where no male character can be placed.
Not an abstraction: at the real Congress, the negotiating happened in the salons as much as at the table, and the salons were run by women. The wings are real too โ two rival hostesses shared that palace, opposite sides. Their story at some point.
Following up on yesterday's note about the rulebook getting lighter โ here's the concrete version. Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations went from 39 pages (v3.4) to 23 (v3.5). Not by removing the game, but by removing exceptions and making the key choices easier to see.
The next version of Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations is, above all, the result of honest feedback I got at Designer Camp three months ago.
I cut three subsystems and a lot of small rules โ still amazed how many "ifs" and "in cases" were hiding in there. Some I'll miss (outfits especially, which may return in another form). Others were just clutter around the core.
This weekend I finished the rewrite: shorter and more focused.
Over the next few days I am refining and updating the manual for Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations. It is moving to Markdown โ basically plain text โ which feels fitting for a game about 1814: pages and pages of pure text, almost like 200 years ago. In a way. :)
Over the next few days I am refining and updating the manual for Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations. It is moving to Markdown โ basically plain text โ which feels fitting for a game about 1814: pages and pages of pure text, almost like 200 years ago. In a way. :)
Wandering Pine