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The True Believers's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity/Uniqueness | #16 | 3.847 | 3.947 |
| Clarity of Rules/Mechanics | #26 | 2.668 | 2.737 |
| Use of This Year's Theme | #27 | 2.565 | 2.632 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Includes Law of Root?
Yes
Includes PnP?
Yes
Includes TTS files?
No
TTS File URL (If you've uploaded to Steam Workshop)
http://No
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Comments
The time is right for a Hanabi faction
Really cool idea! I like the theme of the sheep believing blindly and not being able to see their hand.
I think it would help to put "Score for Enlightenment" or something in the evening section, just as a reminder. Since they have to set aside 3-5 cards for their actions does that mean that they only get 2 actions per turn?
They do, but the thing is that they get a lot of free recruits (every time any faction, including themselves, uses a Consecrated Path, they get to place a number of warriors on that path) and free (if somewhat uncontrollable and weird) movement, and if you get a bunch of paths out, it reduces the card cost of all actions by 1!
Wow you've found a ton of design space to work with here, super cool! Between the use of a pawn, the use of paths, and even holding your hand backwards haha. I kept having questions like "but how will they craft, since it's such a big part of the game". But then on reading further I think you've found an elegant solution to that problem. Super creative!
I do think their scoring mechanism SHOULD be located under their evening phase instead of its own spot though. My IRL games we sometimes forget to score for rats etc anyways, it might be easier to forget if it's not with your normal actions and phases :p
Thanks! The scoring mechanism being there is because the day's actions are a bit too wordy/cluttered for it to fit without making them too tiny, it's not perfect but it's as good as I can get it.
This has some really interesting concepts and ideas! I like that your faction uses paths in a way no other faction does. I like (in theory) that it doesn't have the usual limit of 5 cards in hand. I like the scoring of a group of connected clearings. And using revealed cards as crafting pieces for other revealed cards is really unique as well! So again, some very nice ideas in there, congratulations on those!
I do think some streamlining might be required - consecrated paths in particular is very wordy, perhaps Charity might break the flow of the game a bit (not sure). I'd be curious to see how a 30 warrior faction that seems rather limited on actions fits in the design space. And I imagine a guaranteed draw to 8 cards every turn would really affect the speed at which you go through the deck (and hoard cards from other players), so that could be something to keep an eye on. There are also some inconsistencies in the terminology between law and faction board, which I don't really mind and are very understandable, what with the time pressure of the contest, just wanted to point it out :)
Other that that, well done and some neat notions!
Thanks!
Consecrated Paths is definitely incredibly wordy, but at the same time it's interacting with the game in weird ways so it needs to have more text to explain things.
As for the limited actions, it's because your main actions all have recruitment tied together with the actual action taken, and placing paths in the right locations (like WA sympathy) can net you a lot of free troops, but it's probably a fair bit more fragile since path tokens can be hit in both clearings.
The 8 cards is deliberate to provide super high deck churning when combined with having to spend cards to take actions, so Charity is there to give other players some interaction with the mechanic rather than just watch a ton of cards get thrown away for no reason.
It could beak the flow if other players get AP, but maybe adding a "If a player can't choose, then the Believers choose which card to give them" to the Law could help.
Very interesting faction - love the uniqueness of utilising paths, the Emerge action, the look of your Meeples and the clever way you use your cards.
Like Sparky, I need a little clarity on the crafting side of things. As I understand it, like Lizards, the crafting suit means that you can only craft cards that use one suit. The only instance you would be able to craft a card that, for example, cost 1 mouse, fox and rabbit crafting piece, is when the Will was bird suited.
In terms of activating cards to craft, am I right in my thinking in this following example? - The Will is Fox. You have set aside 6 cards after taking your Daylight actions - you have 1 fox, 2 mouse, 1 rabbit and 2 bird cards. - You want to craft a rabbit suited card that costs 2 fox crafting pieces. The fact that the card you wish to craft is rabbit suited is irrelevant as the Will is Fox. The important thing is the rabbit suited card can be crafted as the 2 fox crafting pieces match the Will's suit. - To craft this card, you activate your fox card, discarding it. You don't have a second fox card so you activate one of your 2 bird cards, discarding that too. You can now craft the rabbit card with 2 fox crafting pieces, getting whatever reward it states and discarding or keeping the card accordingly. - You now have 2 mouse cards and 1 bird card. Other players, from current loser to current winner, take turns picking those cards if they want and any leftovers are discarded.
If this is correct, I wonder if the term 'activate' complicates things unnecessarily. If the act of activating essentially means spending/discarding that card as if it is a crafting piece, maybe it's just worth using the term 'discard'. Something like 'Craft by discarding cards that match the Will's suit.'
Regardless, I find this a very intriguing faction and I think the loop of consecrating and emerging is particularly inspired. Great job!
Oh, one last thing - on the manifest, the beacon is rectangular and I assumed it was a card. Which I was very curious about as I wondered how a single card could function. Then I saw the 10 suited cards below and assumed they were the backs to the beacon card. So could be worth adding the x10 Will cards to the manifest and making it clear the Beacon is a piece or landmark or whatever you intend it to be. Is the idea that it would be wooden?
Oh it's a Landmark, I just didn't have the thought to make it look like one but it's reiterated in the Law! Initially, I had it say "The Beacon is a landmark unique to your faction" on the player board, but it took up a lot of words so I cut it.
As for the crafting example, that's more or less spot on for both examples! The only little wrinkle is that you don't have to start with a card that has a suit matching the Will, you effectively simply ignore the suit printed on the card and treat all cards as crafting pieces of the Will's suit.
From what I could glean from the seiyria site, all crafting is done by specifically activating your faction's crafting pieces, so I stuck with what was there for overall consistency. Just saying "discard" also has the baggage of "well, can I use the cards in my hand as crafting pieces?" and the answer there would be no, you can't.
I doubt I'd ever come to a clean answer though, every choice has its pros and cons and the likeliest way to know would be to just blind test the game and see what the most obvious interpretation is.
Thanks for clarifying.
I think you're right to cut the Beacon text on the faction board - like you say, you don't really need it. I think just in the component manifest having the landmark labelled X1 Beacon landmark and adding the cards with X10 Will cards makes it nice and clear.
Ah, I didn't know the term 'activating' was already used in the Law. Although off the top of my head, I can't think of an instance of it on a faction board. If there's not one, I'd still plump for something like 'discard' as 'activating' a card in this case simply means discarding it (as I understand it). And to avoid confusion over cards in your hand, 'Craft by activating face up cards' would just change to 'Craft by discarding face up cards'.
I really enjoy the utilization of the paths. Not many factions do this and its something ive really been wanting to try to make some time. Points for creativity!
Thanks! According to some behind-the-scenes Leder development stuff, path interaction has never really been able to make it to the real game for many reasons, so this it's a fun exercise to see where the failure points are (e.g. how do tokens/warriors on paths interact with the rest of the game?) and possible ways to address them:
I don't think it's perfect, and I certainly haven't actually tested the thing outside of running simulations in my head and looking at the board, but it's a fun exercise nonetheless!
This faction takes so many unique elements and rolls them all into one cohesive plan. Paths are one of the easily forgotten features of the Root map, but I feel like you've done a great job providing something new while making it accessible (no need for a bunch of special rules about how to interact with paths). I like how you've included some positive interaction with Charity, which both makes other players feel good and mitigates the fact that you're churning through the deck.
I was a little confused on how crafting worked. After I've set aside my cards, I flip them over and see what I can craft. The board says I activate cards to craft other cards (which I read as "activate a bunny card to craft a boot"), but the Law says that the crafting piece suit always matches the Will (in which case, I can only craft cards that match the Will). Which is correct?
It would be the latter, your crafting suit is based on the Will, not the actual suit of the card! I could've probably added a line like "Note: The suit of the card does not matter, only the suit of the Will", but it didn't cross my mind.