Propaganda Update -- Rev3 Playtesting Notes

So far, Propaganda has been mostly centered around its single player mode, which is a hard thing to design a board game to do, even though it is an overwhelmingly requested feature you see come up in every board game kickstarter. And I personally really enjoy the single player mode, since I can enjoy a game by myself just fine. 

But,Propaganda is also a multiplayer game, where several people can be playing within their own little player vs game bubbles, and reaching across the aisle to trade, form alliances, engage in espionage, and engage in warfare. That part is where the additional themes really kick in, and the social aspect can shine.

Finally, at the end, there is a thermonuclear war to end the game if someone hasn't reached a peaceful ending.

The strengths of Rev3 are:

#1 -- The theme is rock solid. You absolutely feel like a dear leader ruling a sinister empire, manipulating events to your liking. It is fun and interesting. You think about the game long after you play it and think of what can be done differently next time you play, and just recalling the feeling of the setting. Which is a win, that's exactly what we want. 

#2 -- The diversity of Dear Leader abilities creates very diverse experiences each time you play, with no two strategies being identical. Switching leaders mid game can be very powerful as well.

#3 -- The scale of the card decks mean no two games are identical, and the huge number of cards really sells the themes and gives lots of opportunities to players to create winning strategies.

#4 -- The Events and Actions system is simple to learn, easy to understand, feels good on a loop, and the mix of rewards and punishments keeps things interesting. 

It's weaknesses are:

#1 -- Initially the game feels like you are playing by yourself, with other people present. Part of this is that players aren't aware they can interact until they know the game, a kind of social anxiety first time players may feel is in the game instead of in their heads. There's no overt mechanic pushing players to interact anywhere, making interaction voluntary.  The cards that do encourage interaction are more rare than cards that react to or modify the game for yourself. 

#2 -- The Rulebook needs to be printed. Yeah there's a pdf but it's harder to share at a table. The quickstart guide is also in that book. Should probably be moved to the Counter Card in front of each player, if I can fit it in there. (Maybe on the back?)

#3 -- The Counter Cards absolutely need custom tooling to make your cubes/pegs stay in position. The card gets knocked around at the table and that makes for a bad time. In testing I had to use push pins, but if you're on a hardwood table, maybe don't stick sharp tacs into the nice wood. :p To fix this will require a new top-layer overlayed on the bottom layer and glued. This way the cubes will fit into a handy slot and be less likely to escape. 

#4 -- The Events and Actions are random, and in that randomness is the likelihood that you get nothing but negative events that fuck you early on, and hold your head under water. Obviously, that's not desirable in any game, and I need to strategize more on how to fix that.

#5 -- There is no Initiative at the end of the game that determines turn order at Doomsday. Because of that it's a free for all as players hammer each other with nukes, trying to retaliate or close the gap. Adding a mechanic that allows players to gain that initiative, and use it to either acquire Action cards they want from the deck, and also end the game in their desired position, is important to add. Whoever has that initiative should go first. The next most the second, etc.

#6 -- We need a discrete way to signal that players are in an Upkeep phase, then an Event phase, then an Action phase, and an Administration phase. In what order is best is really hard to say for sure. And then, finally, a Social Phase, then, end their turn.

Right now you may tabulate in any order, and also do social acts like trade cards and engage in warfare, in any order as the Round continues. Formalizing that as discrete Phase of play each Round is important to structuring the game. 

I think we'll go: Action -> Upkeep -> Administration -> Event -> Social.

That way we keep the simultaneous turns happening every round, which is great and very necessary, we can structure it a bit better. That should also reduce the "new game anxiety," and reduce the confusion of coming up with your own system of record keeping on the fly. 

The issue of preventing any one player from getting shoved in a corner and brutalized is a big one. Finding a way to prevent Events from doing this is solving a Randomness problem. If there are negative events, no matter how rare, eventually someone will just hit a streak of bad luck. 

That happened to Bob the other night, while we were playtesting at Tucson Games and Gadget's Short rest Tavern. 

Bob played as Lucille.

Normally, Lucille has a great advantage as her figureheads become corrupt. The more corrupt, the better her economy performs. 

But... he never received any revelations, nor did he draw a figurehead. 

Bob got nothing but negative events that tanked his population, economy, and trust, with high fear and high rebellion. BUT -- he managed to build a thermonuclear bomb project that sent his defense at the end skyrocketing, and had a powerful disinformation campaign going, likely run by the one shoddy old PC in his shanty goat village of poor starving people. This let him draw Trust away from Josh's Dear Leader to himself. 

He lost at -21 points in the end, despite getting a Blue Shell in the bomb project that almost put him in a position to defend himself, and lower the scores of his opponents (he got ganged up on in the disorganized nuclear exchange fracas.)  

Meanwhile, The Empire of Douzbagistan, was in the corner using Yuri's skills to continually attack rebels or other players, played by Chris. 

This allowed Chris to keep up pressure while gaining more defense, which he felt was cheesing, but it was actually working as intended. 

Chris also successfully sold other players with greater economy on his new crypto currency, DouzCoin, using Scammed Foreign Inverters, helping him keep his economy going despite the ongoing war efforts. :p  

Which I think we'll make an Edict, so it plays every turn til economies are equal or the other player kills that scammer.

He also had his citizens living in an Alternative Media Reality which prevented any trust gained or lost, so long as no other media events or actions were played -- which in his case never occurred. 

Making these feel like they are not cheesing will be important -- they're working as intended. I think the rule should be clear that Yuri's power only kicks in ONCE per turn. It's still possible to lose using this strategy, so it isn't cheesy at all. 

In addition to this, he completed the Mass Population Project and declared a Free Economy edict, which combined with the alternate media reality drove his economy and population skyrocketing each turn, further fueling defense. 

That defense gambit did however result in other players retaliating against him hard with attacks of their own. (He was in 2nd place with 17 points at the end.)

There was also a moment where his Minister of War gathered significant corruption, and Yuri ultimately had him executed. 

Josh meanwhile started as Ota Basura and managed to make a Regime Change in the middle of the game, switching to Ferrah.

Josh had 4 Figureheads at that point with no corruption, and was using them to farm a point at a time. The regime change to Ferrah allowed him to gain +1 Trust/turn for each of those 4 figureheads. 

He then enhanced it with Total Media Blitz:

This allowed Ferrah to gain 2 trust per uncorrupt figurehead, for a total of 6 after he executed a Fringe Economist who was more trouble than he was worth. This let Ferrah build an uncorrupt Trust based utopia, lowering fear and encouraging a strong economy. 

His other plays included clever uses of false flag operations with nuclear subs, gaining defense and reversing fear to add even more trust.

The strong economy allowed Josh to build up a bold defense at the end, and with the help of Raj, take down Chris's defense engine. Josh won in first place at 40 points.

Finally, Raj played as Camoda, and had several cards out to promote population growth and his economy, such as the Family Planning Edict and the Agricultural Minister. 

Raj was also on the rough path as the events were hitting him pretty hard, and he largely coasted to a 3rd place at the end game. Forming alliances with Josh to trade and forming a mutual defense pact to take down Chris's Yuri, ultimately served to ensure Chris lost and Josh won.

He used Scapegoat and Incite Foreign Agitators to keep Chris at bay.

While Raj cane in at 12 points, it was still a good play.

Overall, the game is close. 

Minor balance adjustments on a per card basis, and a discrete system of Phases of Play per turn, and an Initiative system at the end game, will help.

Formalizing the per-turn costs of Events, Projects, and Edicts as "upkeep" with distinct iconography of Chevrons /\ and \/ will also help.

I'll make those adjustments in Rev 4!