Got to finally draft Conspiracy Complete last night. A few notes, entirely for my own sake as I iterate.

Games were fun, but one went stupid long. The game moved, but it would have been more fun if it were quicker so we could play more games - Goad and Monarch did good work in helping people attack, but we could have used even more incentive.

• I didn’t expect to like gold commons, but they did a good job offering cards that were generous for their relative cost at common.
  
• I weakened some of the less interactable ways to win: Vent Sentinel, Intangible Virtue/Favorable Winds, Guttersnipe. That might have gone too far.
  
• Could have used another Pyroclasm or two to clear out little chump blockers.
  
• Possibly needed a few more tap or stun effects to help push through attacks. Maybe Alchemist’s Vial?
  
• Too much lifegain at black uncommon.
  
• Possibly was a little too much total draw - particularly in blue and green.
• The myr are definitely coming out. Common lands (probably BFZ ETB ones) might be appropriate since they don’t desaturate threats in your deck and some (flying, vigilance) encourage attacking.
  

I increased the total common count to aid with replayability, but I think it desaturated the volume of Conspiracy-specific fun (particularly voting) a little too much.

Not sure how to best address this yet. A few possible directions:

• I could decrease the total count again to increase the saturation, but I think the reasons for it remaining high were good. Otoh, fewer cards would have powered hidden agendas up.
  
• Decrease the number of copies of gold commons relative to other commons.
  
• Increase the number of certain individual commons that have healthy play patterns.
• Put 9 commons in a booster, possibly 4 uncommons, possibly not.

Deck variety was good - I was GWu with too many myrs and lots of Parley (wish there were some explicit rewards for filling hands - I added Wolfcaller’s Howl late, but that’s rare), someone built BG sacrifice with Homicidal Seclusion, a U/R spells and Goad, WB pillow fort-y voting/monarch, chaos R/G, Weight Advantage control.

Simultaneous voting was a lot more work to execute, but was really fun and created some dramatic moments. Definitely want to continue with that.

Bring pens next time, Shawn. Also, create some Goaded tokens.

Second test notes (11/19/17)

Changes from before:

• Cut myr
  
• Reduced gold commons to 3 instead of 5.
  

Games were good. Lots of action. Monarch does great work for creating attacks and keeping everyone relatively even. Our game got a little bit bogged down at the end and no one could act without opening themselves to a game-ending counterattack. We needed a bomb or two to finish things.

To do for future:

• Not enough expensive cards that can end games.
  
• Common green needs an elf (now that myr are gone).
  
• Common green (and maybe red) a little boring and choices too marginal.
  
• Need to make goad tokens.
  

Context: OK, so here’s a little Magic project I’ve been working on. I was recently introducing some new friends to Conspiracy and struggled with the decision of whether to use Conspiracy 1 or 2. I think 1 is a tighter package overall, but 2 has some really great stuff in it (especially Monarch). Ultimately OG Conspiracy was the correct choice, but it made me want to build a draft set that combined the best parts of both.

More context: This is a personal project. I was a Wizard for 6 years and lead the design for both Conspiracy sets, but I recently left Wizards (amicably) and this is in no way connected to or endorsed by WotC.

Even more context: I haven’t done much balance work yet. It should be very playable in this state, but I’ll probably be tweaking it a lot as I get more experience with it.

Setup

Once fully built, the set is just shy of 900 cards. There’s four groupings of cards.

• 5 copies of each common: 
  http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/88713
  
• 3 of each uncommon: 
  http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/89246
  
• 1 of each rare/mythic: 
  http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/89198
  
• The conspiracy/draft list uses its own frequency scheme with 1-3 copies of each, shown on the list: 
  http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/88992
  

Build 15 card boosters with 10 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare/mythic, and 1 conspiracy/draft card. Draft and play like you would in a normal Conspiracy game. Pods of 4 players are ideal, but other configurations work too.

Voting: I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m going to attempt to do simultaneous secret ballots for voting. In the original design, we avoided this due to cards like Council’s Judgment that require a lot of pointing. I liked the spotlight moment on each player that happened from casting votes one at a time around the table, but I’m excited to see if we get more chaotic mind games (and generally stronger voting cards) with secret ballots.

Design Intent

Keep things accessible: This is more complex than a typical Magic set (and more complex than Conspiracy 1), but I wanted to keep this at a level where I could still introduce new players to it. This why, for example, I didn’t try to mix and match voting cards.

Replayability: I debated the set size a lot. Ultimately, I wanted to be able to play it repeatedly and the best way to achieve that is through increased variety. That’s why there are 99 commons (instead of Conspiracy’s 80) and a really high rare count.

Group activity: You’ll notice a lot of cards from Commander, particularly ones that force players to interact in unusual ways. I enjoy games most when players relate with each other as human beings and have emotional experiences rather than simply strategic ones. Sometimes these interactions need to be encouraged through gameplay.

(I’m also probably biased towards cards I haven’t played with much before.)

Push action over inaction: In multiplayer, turtling is powerful. It’s easy for players to get punished for sticking their necks out. Turtling, however, is boring, so overwhelmingly card choices encourage attacking, encourage moving the action along and discourage players from sitting back.

Will of the Council vs Council’s Dilemna: I went back and forth a lot on which voting cards to use. I asked players to vote on which voting they liked better. There were big pluses and minuses to each version, but ultimately, I decided that I liked that Conspiracy 1′s voting cards were more of a group activity where everyone (generally) is invested in the outcome.

Season to taste: I built this for myself and my friends because I love draft and I love multiplayer. I’m sharing it because others seemed interested, but by all means make it your own! Swap out rares for ones that you own, add more conspiracies, switch up themes for ones you find more fun, Change everything and turn it into postmodern poetry! And if you do, let me know, I’d love to hear how it goes.

@shawnmain​

/blows the dust off this tumblr that’s barely been used in the last 6 years
/wipes down the surfaces
/rereads old entries and wonders if this is something I should really link anyone to
/shrugs and figures this is as good a place as any to drop some random musings from the night

Oxenfree

As a game designer I’m trying to get better at reflecting on my experiences especially when they’re stemming from game genres I don’t personally work in. Oxenfree was very intriguing - I left the game wanting to keep talking about it, so I wrote a short Steam review (here), but I was thinking back today and really wanted to catalogue my learnings from the design of the game. I’m bad at developing habits, but maybe this is something I should do for more games.

Design takeaways

• 3 is almost always the right amount of choices.
  
• The choice of who you want to spend your time with is a really fantastic one.
  
• Dialogue choices don’t need to be starkly moral - the decision about whether to be private or honest or sarcastic is itself powerful.
  
• If I only have one option and I take it, I’ll have the illusion of agency and that decision will still feel meaningful, but if I try not to take the option and realize I’m being railroaded, I’ll be frustrated and my immersion will be broken.
  
• Having a simple time pressure to act (in this case pick a dialogue option) is powerful for keeping me invested and not ruminating on my choices or wandering off to figure out the best one.
• Telegraph the parts of the game I can interact with.
  
• Dialogue is a fantastic backdrop to wandering through a beautiful world.
  
• Conversely, moving through a beautiful world can feel like busywork if I don’t have other things to occupy me.
  
• Don’t give me paths if there isn’t anything at the ends of them - it doesn’t need to be much, a bit of dialogue or animation, but I’ll be annoyed if my effort feels in vain.
  
• This is an old puzzle-design truism, but show me the lock before you give me the key. I’m sure there are ways to turn this principle on its head, but I shouldn’t trip over solutions to problems I don’t know I have yet.
  
• Fantasy is a beautiful excuse to explore character in new ways.
  

Spoiler (in a very minor way)

• The mechanic of leaving a message for a future player is amazing and deserves further exploration in games. It’s such a small part of Oxenfree, but the revelation and the decision was startling in how much I cared and how much it impacted my total experience.
  

I don’t usually link to my Magic work here, but maybe that’s something I should get better at doing?

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/293

Aphasia.
By Shawn Main.

Vijaya and Susanna. Vijaya paints, while Susanna lounges on a couch reading from something like a biology textbook. Maybe they both sip from wine glasses. Silence for a time.

Vijaya: It’s looking good.

Susanna: How are my bones?

Vijaya: What?

Susanna: My bones, my bones. How’s my skeleton?

Vijaya: Pretty good.

Susanna gets up to examine the painting. Vijaya hangs on Susanna as she examines it.

Vijaya: So?

Susanna: I don’t know.

Vijaya: What do you think of it?

Susanna: Fuck.

Vijaya: Do you not like it?

Susanna: It’s not me.

Vijaya: It is.

Susanna: Her arms are too long.

Vijaya: It’s art! It’s an interpretation.

Susanna: She’s too pretty.

Vijaya: Ohhh. Now don’t be like that.

Susanna: It’s not me.

Vijaya: You’re so self critical!

Susanna pulls away.

Susanna: It’s very nice.

Vijaya makes a face.

Susanna: It’s very nice. What do you call it?

Vijaya: My muse!

Susanna: Gross. Don’t call it that. Do you want some tea?

Vijaya: More wine?

Susanna exits. Vijaya slumps, studies the painting.

Vijaya: Do you hate it?

Susanna (offstage): No, I don’t hate it, Vee. It’s very nice.

There’s a knock at the door. Vijaya answers it.

Vijaya: Hello?

Francisca (offstage): I was in the garden and I shook all the morning. So many fires for Zana zana zana.

Vijaya: I’m sorry. Are you looking for Susanna?

Francisca: See? So quick you’re out of space. Zana used to have the cause as it comes in the window.

Vijaya: I’m sorry. You’re going to need to leave.

Francisca: Zana! I didn’t meet the daylight all the way through the time. I washed the river all night.

Vijaya: I’m sorry, maam. I don’t understand.

Francisca: You don’t? Underneath we used to be all the way and I was so wishwash with the garden.

Susanna (reentering): Mom?

Francsica: Zana! There’s so many snakes. I fished all the light and zoop! All days, all gone gone gone zoomed through.

Vijaya: Suzy? Do you know what’s going on here?

Susanna: Mom, you’re not making any sense. I haven’t seen you in nine years. You can’t just show up here.

Francisca: Show up here? I washed the night right through the space. I know the weight is all so rainy.

Susanna: I haven’t seen you in nine fucking years and you show up at my apartment drunk or high or brain dead?

Vijaya: I think she’s in real trouble, Suz.

Francisca: Zana! I never got the mountain up the way. It’s was always down and zoop and through always. I want the frame back through the way down.

Susanna: Mother! You’re not making any sense. You can’t be here. You can’t just show up–

Francisca: You can’t just show up up up through the way and the dog was always in the fumble. I need to wash the night. You need to sand a face over night.

Francisca pulls out an envelope and pushes it toward Susanna.

Susanna: What?

Vijaya: Can I call someone for you?

Francisca: I… just… Zana Zana Zana… wish wash the daylight. I was never in the garden. Would you jump the dead?

Francisca tries to push the envelope into Susanna’s hands. She refuses.

Susanna: Whatever it is, I don’t want it. Whatever brought you here - or whereever you’ve been, I really just don’t care. I don’t care what you have to tell me.

The tea kettle whistles off stage.

Susanna: Vee, will you get her out of here?

Susanna exits. Francisca turns her attention to Vijaya.

Francisca: Zana Zana Zoop all the long and never the circles.

Vijaya: Why don’t you sit down?

Francisca: Why don’t? Zana Zana. Sip the sunshine.

Vijaya: Is there someone I can call?

Francisca: Zana Zana Zana.

Vijaya: An ambulence?

Francisca: Zana can turn the garden. She just is the catcher.

Vijaya: Why don’t I call you an ambulence… Ms. Marin? I’m sorry, I don’t know your name. Suzy’s never really told me anything about you or about home. My name’s Vijaya, Ms. Marin.

Francisca: Vijvij?

Vijaya: Vijaya. Suzy calls me Vee.

Francisca: Vijvij. Can you sell the kisses with Zana?

Francisca pushes the enevelope towards Vijaya.

Vijaya: Is this for Suzy?

Francisca: Vijvij.

Vijaya opens it. Photographs fall out.

Vijaya: What are these?

Francisca: Sell Zana. Seed her the doctor. You understand?

Vijaya: Do I understand? No. I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.

Francisca: Tell me? Shit. I fell the garden and she walks always so close to the light.

Vijaya: Who are these people? Is this you? Is this Suzy? I’ve never seen her look so happy. I’ve never seen a picture of her so young.

Francisca: So so so.

Vijaya: I’ve known her, what, three years now and she’s sweet, but she’s all scowls. She’s a closed book. I’ve never seen her look so open.

Susanna reenters.

Francisca: Trouble the space again. We need the business.

Susanna: Vee, I want her gone. I can’t deal…

Vijaya: Suzy, do you know what these are?

Susanna: I can’t…

Vijaya: Suzy!

Susanna takes the photos and looks through them.

Susanna: Old photos. The house before she left. Mom, are you returning these to me? I don’t want them.

She stops at one.

Susanna: Mom, who is this? I don’t recognize any of these people. This doesn’t look like home.

Francisca: Zana zana zana.

Susanna keeps going, studying them more carefully now.

Susanna: Is this where you went? Where is this? Arizona? Mexico? Dad always assumed it was another man. Is it this guy? The one with the moustache in this shithole bar? Or was it this woman with the anchor tattoo? Did you run away together?

Francisca: Zana zana zana.

Susanna: All these lonely places.

Francisca: Zana zana zana.

Susanna sets down the pictures.

Susanna: Where did you go? This isn’t your life. I don’t recognize you in these pictures. I don’t recognize you there sitting on my couch, hair turning gray, same nervous hands. You’re a memory. I’m sure I’m supposed to have so many things to say to you right now, but I don’t know what they are. I don’t have any words for you.

Silence.

Vijaya: Is there someone I can call for you, Ms. Marin?

Susanna: Francisca. Her name is Francisca… And we should take her to the hospital. It could’ve been a stroke. Could’ve been a lot of things. I’ll get my coat.

Vijaya: Get mine too.

Susanna exits.

Francisca: Is this your word?

Vijaya: My word? My painting? It is.

Francisca gets up and looks at it.

Francisca: Oh, it’s Zana! What a secret forest. Just a little.

Susanna reenters.

Susanna: Let’s go. (stops) It’s a lovely painting, Vee. Thank you.

Blackout.

Her shoe tapped to an invisible rhythm. I looked to see if she had earbuds in. You know, trying to look without making it obvious you’re trying to look. Five silver hoops piercing her left ear, one thin barbell. No earbuds. The music was locked away inside her.

She held a worn volume in her hands. The spine was ragged, pages taped desperately together with the cover torn away. I wanted to lean in and ask her what the book was. Ask her why it made it her smile. Ask her how she could concentrate under the harsh neon lights. Ask her where she found her peace.

I kept quiet. This was not the place to make small talk with a pretty stranger.

The plastic of my chair made me rock from one ass cheek to the other. I wondered why I never brought a book with me. These things always take longer than you expect.

I wondered why the waiting room always smelled so sickly clean.

On the bus ride home, I watched the rain streak like tears down the window. Cars with bright daytime headlights honked and splashed water at one another. The bus creaked with every turn.

“Hey,” said a voice. It was the girl from the waiting room, sitting across from me. She leaned in like we had a secret. “How’d it go?”

“Oh, you know.” I shrugged. “I can’t understand a fucking word that doctor says.”

She laughed. A big laugh where she squeezed her eyes shut and sucked in breath and let it out in short gasps. I could see all her teeth. Other passengers eyed us like we were crazy people.

“There is evidence of increased central lucency, consistent with central necrosis,” I repeated.

“What does that mean?” she said and wiped her eyes.

“I have no idea,” I said. She laughed again and I couldn’t help but laugh with her.

There was glitter on his hands.

“I should punch you in the mouth,” I said. I didn’t know if he would hear me. Television. 3 am. Beer.

Outside rain hit the pavement with a hiss.

“Oh, yeah?” he said. He had beautiful, big eyes. He aimed them at me, but they didn’t quite focus.

“Yeah,” I said. I took a swig of my beer. “Yeah, I should beat you senseless.”

“Yeah?” he said. He let his head loll back against the couch. Those big eyes closed. The couch was the color of puke.

“Yeah. I’ll drag you into that bedroom and I’ll swat your ass til it’s red and covered in welts.”

He shook his head lazily from side to side.

“Why do you want to cover me in welts?” He was having trouble focusing. “There are much better things we could do in the bedroom.”

“It’s my fetish,” I told him.

“Yeah?” he said. I don’t think any of the conversation was registering in his brain.

“And you couldn’t do anything else in that bedroom right now,” I said.

“Probably,” he said. He scratched at his crotch with one hand. The glitter around his fingernails shimmered.

“So who is she?” I asked. I finished my beer and set it on the floor. I slid my foot up his leg and kicked his hand out of the way. I could feel his dick through his jeans, through his boxers. I nudged it with my toes. “Some little slut?”

“Yeah,” he whispered. “Some little slut.”

“Oh?” I ground my heel into his thigh. “And do you like to bone?”

His big eyes opened. He looked around and squinted at the light. I couldn’t tell whether he recognized the place. The television was on too loud so we could hear it over the rain. I wasn’t paying attention to the television. I was thinking about that first night when he held my hand under the table at the diner. Like we were sharing a secret.

“We should go to bed,” he said.

“Yeah,” I said.

He fixed his gaze on me, trying to keep his eyelids up. “I like you,” he said.

“Yeah?” I said.

He closed his eyes. The floor was littered with empty bottles. I turned off the TV. I didn’t know how much I’d remember in the morning.

“Bill,” I said. He made a noise, but I’m sure he was asleep. “I like the magical moments better than the sober ones.”

Rose was slowly taking shape on the canvas. She had a chin, but no nose. She had breasts, but no nipples. She had ears, but they were too, too delicate- mere nubs of color. She had hands and she had fingers, which were splayed like bursts of paint. Her neck had the right arch. Her body the correct line. Her skin its true hue.

Eric’s water was muddy with color. His wine glass was nearly empty. There was red paint smeared on his jeans.

“It’s looking good,” he said, tracing the shadow along Rose’s inner thigh.

“What?” asked Rose- the real Rose, who shifted in her seat and looked up from her text book. “Is it ready?”

“It needs more detail,” said Eric.

“Are you going to finish it?” asked Rose.

“Probably not tonight,” said Eric.

She stood and stretched- balanced on her tip toes, her arms wide, her mouth contorting in a yawn. Eric shaded and her hips had form. Rose pressed herself against his side. Her body was warm against him.

“She doesn’t have eyes or a mouth,” said Rose.

“I’ll get to them,” said Eric.

“It’s like she’s made of glass,” said Rose.

Eric set down the brush and wrapped his arms around her. She reached out her hand and carressed the painting’s face, catching the wet colors on the pads of her fingers.

“Any first impressions?” asked Eric. He pressed his lips against the bony part of her shoulder.

Rose was silent. She shrugged and pulled away. She stepped lightly across the room and poured herself a glass of wine. Eventually, she said, “You have such primitive tools.”

“You’re melodramatic,” he said.

“You’re melodramatic,” she said.

“You’re my muse,” he said.

“Don’t call me that,” she said and took a chug of her wine. Eric continued to paint his way along Rose’s ribs. “Such fucking primitive tools.”