SotSS: Game Mechanics
Issachar, on host 143.127.131.4
Thursday, July 24, 2003, at 09:06:38
The Sinbad of the Seven Seas Board Game Thread posted by Issachar on Thursday, July 24, 2003, at 08:51:59:
*** RESOURCES *** Sinbad has 4 resources: Muscle, Friends, Dumb Luck, Antics Jaffar has 4 resources: Magic, Mind Control, Supplication (to the Powers of Darkness), Histrionics
Use a standard deck of playing cards for each character. Clubs = Muscle (Sinbad) = Magic (Jaffar) Hearts = Friends (Sinbad) = Mind Control (Jaffar) Diamonds = Dumb Luck (Sinbad) = Supplication (Jaffar) Spades = Antics (Sinbad) = Histrionics (Jaffar) *** SLEEP METER *** In the top left area of the board is the Sleep Meter. At the beginning of the game, the Sleep marker rests on the top notch of the 10-point scale. When the Sleep marker reaches the bottom of the scale, the Badly Dubbed Girl falls asleep and the game ends.
The Sleep marker moves down 1 notch every time Sinbad fails to play a card on his turn (ie, he takes the Draw or Trade action, or loses his turn). Certain events and Budge cards may move the Sleep marker either up or down. When an Antics or Histrionics card is played, the sleep meter moves up 1 notch. *** SCOREBOARD *** In the top right area of the board is the Winning/Losing Scoreboard. The marker on the Scoreboard is always in one of two states: Left state: I'M WINNING!!!!! Right state: You're losing your power, Jaffar.....and you know that!
Whenever Sinbad overcomes a challenge, Jaffar is Losing. Move the Scoreboard marker to Losing at the end of the turn on which Sinbad overcomes the challenge.
Whenever Sinbad takes more than two turns to overcome a challenge, Jaffar is Winning. Move the marker to Winning at the beginning of the third turn Sinbad remains facing a challenge. *** CHALLENGE PATHS *** In the middle of the board is an area reserved for playing sequences of resource cards to overcome challenges. *** STARTING THE GAME *** 1. Shuffle Jaffar's deck and place it face-down on the left side of the board. 2. Take 2 cards of each suit from Sinbad's deck and place them face-up on the right side of the board. These cards form the Bank. 3. Shuffle Sinbad's deck and deal the top eight cards to Sinbad. Place the remainder of his deck face-down on the right side of the board. 4. Place the first Scenario on the board. Give the Budge cards for the scenario to Sinbad. 5. Begin the first turn of play. *** ORDER OF PLAY *** Each turn, play proceeds as follows: Scenario Events (if any) --> Jaffar's turn --> Sinbad's turn
_Jaffar's Turn_ 1. Take the Play Cards action. 2. Resolve the effects of the action, if any.
_Sinbad's Turn_ 1. Play a Budge card, if beginning a Challenge. 2. Take one of the available actions. 3. Resolve the effects of the action, if any.
* Jaffar's Turn * On his turn, Jaffar always plays cards into a stack separate from his deck, facing up. If there is no human player for Jaffar, play cards from the top of Jaffar's face-down deck. If there is a human player, the player may decide which of Jaffar's cards to play.
When Jaffar is Winning, he may play 2 cards each turn. When Jaffar is Losing, he may only play 1 card each turn.
_Effects of Jaffar's Cards_ Magic - If the last card Sinbad played is a Muscle card, remove it. Mind Control - If the last card Sinbad played is a Friends card, remove it. Supplication - If the last card Sinbad played is a Dumb Luck card, remove it. Histrionics - Move the Sleep marker up one notch.
* Sinbad's Turn * On his turn, Sinbad may take any action available to him; these actions are dependent on whether the Scoreboard shows that Jaffar is Winning or Losing.
_Jaffar is Losing_ Draw 2 cards Play 2 cards Trade 1 card for another Draw 1 card and Play 1 card
_Jaffar is Winning_ Draw 1 card Play 1 card Trade 1 card for another
_Effects of Sinbad's Cards_ Muscle - Use strength to help overcome a challenge. Friends - Use allies to help overcome a challenge. Dumb Luck - Stumble across part of the key to overcoming a challenge. Antics - Move the Sleep marker up one notch.
Except for Antics cards, which are always played into the bank, Sinbad plays all his cards onto a Challenge Path. When Sinbad overcomes a challenge, the cards he played are put into the bank.
If Sinbad exhausts all the cards in his draw pile, reduce the bank to its starting configuration (two cards of each suit) and shuffle the excess cards to form a new draw pile. *** SCENARIOS *** Scenarios provide the content of each game. A typical scenario contains a series of events and challenges that Sinbad must overcome to complete the scenario and proceed to the next one.
Each scenario has a number of Budge cards equal to the number of challenges in the scenario. Some Budge cards have negative effects and others have positive effects. When Sinbad begins a scenario, he receives all its Budge cards. Sinbad must play a Budge card at the beginning of every challenge in the scenario.
* Events * The normal order of play is suspended while an event is resolved. Events cause effects such as the acquisition or loss of resource cards, movement of the Sleep marker, or a change in the Scoreboard. Some events may offer shortcuts for overcoming the next challenge. When a scenario begins with an event, resolve that event before beginning play on the scenario.
* Challenges * Turns are resolved normally while Sinbad attempts to overcome a challenge. Each challenge provides one or more paths for overcoming the challenge and progressing in the scenario. Normally these paths are expressed as a sequence of resource cards of a particular type that Sinbad must play, such as "2 Muscle cards, 3 Friends cards, or 3 Dumb Luck cards." Scenario authors are encouraged to write flavor text describing each step along the path to overcoming a challenge.
Example: To defeat the challenge of the Amazon Queen, Sinbad must play 2 Friends cards, 3 Dumb Luck cards, or 4 Muscle cards. The flavor text for the Friends path would closely follow the movie: Poochie and the Bald Cook set out to find Sinbad (1st card), and Poochie pours the potion on Sinbad (2nd card).
For the other paths, more creativity is required. The Dumb Luck path might end with a ritual in which a back-flipping Amazon accidentally collides with her Queen, knocking the Gem from the queen's hand. The Muscle path, which is even more difficult, might end with Sinbad showing off a manly display of strength and inadvertently knocking the Queen unconscious with one flex of his mighty pectorals. *** WINNING THE GAME *** Sinbad wins the game by completing the final scenario.
Jaffar wins the game by hindering Sinbad from completing the scenarios before the Sleep Meter hits zero. However, Jaffar *only* wins if the Scoreboard shows that he is winning at the time the Sleep Meter hits zero. If the Scoreboard shows that he is losing his power when the Sleep Meter hits zero, the game is a draw. It is therefore to Jaffar's advantage to prevent the Sleep Meter from reaching zero until he is sure of winning.
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