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Ah, makes much more sense!  Thanks for the clarification ;-)

Congrats on winning the theme category!

Fair enough!  I like the dilemma, so I hope you find a solution that keeps the decision tight and the tensions high! 

As of right now, loot can be removed in battle; whatever doesn't take damage gets transferred to the attacking faction.  I am considering changing that, though, since it's more fun when the points stay on the map.

I'll think about the ship-to-map move (something like "Embark/Disembark"?), but since you always rule the clearing with the ship, I don't think there would be a problem.   They'd still be stopped by the Corvid's Snare, but it's nice to let other factions have their fun ;-)

The balance is certainly the biggest issue going forward.  I've avoided the board wipe in my multi handed play testing, but I can see how it might happen.  Not sure how "thematic" this is, but the Pirates actually want to Parlay (to generate loot) more than they want to destroy everyone else.  Might need to reduce the number of warriors or tweak some mechanics, but hoping that the faction gives players a new way to approach the game.  

Thanks for taking a look; I really appreciate having another set of eyes taking a look at everything!

Thanks for the feedback!

1.  Correct, the ship can't turn back and eventually needs to leave the map.  I was trying to force the ship to more through the map instead of just showing up, turning around and leaving (plus, how easy is it to turn around a pirate ship in a river?).  I thought I had looked at all the maps, but realizing now that the Mountain and Gorge maps only require 3 movement to leave.  You are right that "Helm" and "Main Sails" are essentially redundant; I might look at changing one of those actions, or removing one altogether.

2.  I like the idea of the ship being a pawn.  It hadn't crossed my mind when I was designing, but it would certainly stand out better on the map.  The only hangup was that I did intend the ship to be considered defenceless if there weren't Pirates in the clearing itself.  If all the Pirates are in the Crew's Quarters, they aren't prepared to defend the ship.  

3.  It's all good; I took some big swings with some aspects of this faction, and I might need to review how it's presented on the board.  Hopefully the following helps clear up some of the basics:

Warriors: Yes, you have that correct: warriors can be moved between the Crew's Quarters and the map (similar to the Duchy's Burrow).  When the ship arrives in the Woodland, it's carrying a bunch of Pirates that can either be used to trigger actions (on the Upper Deck, in Daylight) OR moved to the map to rule/move/battle etc.  You don't have a true Recruit action, so what you start with is all you get.  

Points: Unfortunately, this was a mechanic I was cooking up that doesn't really fit on the board (you'll see why in a minute).  It's explained in more detail in my Law of Root, but I didn't get that finished before the deadline.  It's posted on Discord if you want to take a look, but I'll try to summarize it here:

When playing with the Pirates, a new mechanic is introduced for the whole table: loot tokens.  On any player's turn, they can "convert" one of their Victory Points into a loot token and give it to the faction that rules a clearing (giving loses one point, receiving gains one point).  In exchange, the giving faction gets to act as if they rule that clearing for the rest of the turn.  You're essentially bribing the rulers to let you do what you want on your turn.  The loot token remains on the map (tucked underneath a warrior to show who it belongs to) and can be moved, battled, removed, or given in a future bribe.   If a faction loses all of their warriors in a clearing but still has loot tokens on the board, those are transferred to the attacking player.

The Pirates can also generate loot using two actions:

- "Plunder" (in Daylight): spend a card, create a loot token, and gain a point (need to fix that last bit on the board).  This is supposed to be the Pirates extorting the denizens of the Woodland directly, instead of the other factions.

- "Parlay"  (in Evening): In each clearing they rule, the Pirates choose one faction with pieces there and make a demand: give me [a warrior, two cards from hand, or a crafted card] or a loot token.  The generation of loot is very dependent on other players, but I hope that the tradeoff makes people think twice.

 The goal of the Pirates is to come to the Woodland, gather this loot, throw it in their Cargo Hold, and sail back to wherever they came from.  Because they are so dependent on the volatile loot tokens for scoring, they need to be able to sail off the map to secure their score.  Otherwise, they accumulate a bunch of wealth and become a target for the other factions.

Sorry for the long response, but you asked some good questions!  Let me know if there's anything else I can clear up.

Ah, that makes a lot of sense.  Thanks for the clarifications!

No worries; thanks for explaining your thought process!  Resourceful is a powerful attribute, but it'd be a shame if it was so necessary that it became an automatic selection (reduces the number of combinations that can be made).  See how it goes as you continue play testing your faction!  

Ok, I think I got it now.  Sorry for the confusion; I was a little unsure where the Omen cards were being placed and how they were moving around.  I thought the current Omens were being placed on the track at the top, since that's where other factions tend to put their "active" cards (e.g. Eyrie, Keepers).  It seems like it's just there to help players keep track of how many Omens have been fulfilled this turn, but it might be just as easy for the Daylight step to say "Repeat up to 3 times"?  I don't see a reason Fulfilled Omens need to sit on the track for a full turn (since Omens you score this turn won't be discarded until the start of the next Fulfillment step).

But that's just my initial impressions; I'm sure it would work fine if I had it on the table in front of me!  Thanks for indulging my questions ;-)

Would love to see what you come up with!

No worries; I've definitely made the same mistake before!  It's really easy to gloss over something when you're looking at it for the hundredth time ;-)

When Omens are fulfilled, are they immediately replaced, or can that only be done in the "Fulfillment" step in Daylight?  Or is "Fulfillment" more for getting that extra 3rd Omen in play?

That makes a lot of sense; thanks!  I like the stricter condition; it works the same way with regular clearings, and it forces factions to be deliberate in pursuing the library.  This might be the loudest and most chaotic library that I've ever been to, but I'm all here for it!

No worries about it!  I assumed that might be the case, but just wanted to confirm ;-).  Good luck in your future play testing!

It took me a while to get my head around this faction, but I think that's a good thing!  You've developed something that really goes "off script" of a typical Root faction.  I think "Knowledge Devotion" is a really interesting way to do the reverse of the Woodland's "Guerrilla War", where you actually want others to deal more hits to you (to a certain extent).  The Omens really change up the traditional battle mechanics, which could help or hurt someone's plans!

Is the "Oracle" an old name for the Prophet?  I saw it mentioned in the faction setup (step 1), but didn't see it anywhere else on the board.  

Also, are there any rules on how to choose new Omens?  Does a player need to cycle through all the Omens before they can be used again, or can discarded Fulfilled Omens be chosen again right away?

Really creative faction!  I'm glad to see someone taking on the challenge of Ruins.  In games without the Vagabond or Hundreds, I completely forget they exist.  Turning destroyed buildings into more Ruins makes a lot of sense thematically, and is a great way to keep this faction engaged with the board after the original 4 Ruins are removed.  I think they'd have a really interesting gameplay loop with the terrace/Ruin interactions.

Is there a way to remove cards in the Demands columns?  From what I could see, cards get added through Serve or Beseech, but I didn't see a way for them to be removed.  That makes it seem like you could get a huge number of actions on a single turn (e.g. on turn 10, do I have 10 cards in each column from Serving, plus whatever I've Beseeched throughout the game?).  For most factions, I'd be afraid that this would overwhelm the board, but I'm actually more concerned that the Hosts won't be able to do most of these actions and suffer significant penalties.  But maybe I missed something with how the Demands are handled?

Got it; thanks for the clarifications!  Sounds like a really good time; hope you're able to get some good play tests in!

Ooh, the bird card makes it more exciting than what I had in mind.  Keep up the great work!

Thanks Tin!  Looking forward to seeing how they progress with play testing!

Ok, that makes sense.  Are they just there to penalize you for not spreading out (i.e. make it easier for other factions to take out a big group)?  I imagine it would be pretty easy to avoid them altogether by capping your warriors in each clearing at 4? 

Tin, you've done it again!  I love the flavour of this faction, which fully supported by your fabulous artwork.  Of the three Counsellors, I trust the Guard Captain the least; I just know he's going to sell me out the moment he gets the chance!

The Election is a really fascinating way to engage other players.  Unlike some player interaction, it doesn't cost enemy factions anything to cast their ballot (in fact, the card cycling might even help them!).  I would think this would encourage everyone to be a part of this "democracy".  And yet, even with the whole table conspiring against you, the Mustelid player can probably rig the election and still be able to do what they want on their turn.  Nicely done!

I'm curious how you've found the warrior-for-action tradeoff.  In theory, I really like the idea: give players more actions, but for a cost!  It seems like this might be challenging to pull off for this faction, since other factions could remove your warriors on their turns and your recruitment only takes place in Evening.  Curious what your experience has been like when play testing?

Wow!  I'm blown away by this faction.  The player interaction is brilliant and really emphasizes the "VIP" theme for this RootJam!  Who wouldn't love more berry abilities?  Well, maybe an Unjust, Vain, Craven Fool, but they brought it on themselves! ;-)

Since the ownership of the Library is determined by ruling adjacent clearings, it seems like an insurgent faction could get stuck with a limiting ability and be unable to shake it.  Do they just need to persuade the rest of the table to target someone else?  Also, is there a rule to break ties in the Revisionist History step, or does it just get skipped if there's no single ruler?

This is a really unique faction!  I can imagine so many factions trying to take advantage of the free movement of the Tortoise.  I don't think I've ever seen a faction use materials that weren't cardboard or wood, but I can totally see the blue ribbon representing newly dug canals.  The options this opens seem endless!

I was a little confused about the structure of the Canals, though I think it's something that would make a lot more sense with an in-person demonstration.  The berry ability says that you place a blue ribbon and a "wood", but I'm not sure what that is?

Bravo!  This is what I'm looking in a Root faction!  Fun mechanisms (love the wheel in the wheel!), engaging player interaction (who doesn't love free actions?), clean design (only 6 steps?), and a whole lot of juicy decisions.  The depth-to-complexity ratio seems off the charts.  I think it would be so satisfying to manipulate that action wheel to maximize your benefit (whether that's better actions or points).  I really want to see this one in action!

If I understand "Too Good to Turn Down" correctly, each opponent has the option to 1) move to the next Agreement and take the action OR 2) move ahead two agreements and not take the action.  Is that correct?  They can't move 2 spaces and take the action?

Also, I think "Market Dominance" is missing a word in the last sentence.  I assume it's supposed to say "take a card from the discard pile"?

This is a really slick faction.  Everything seems to flow together and each decision informs the next.  Prosperity leads to more Workers, which means more work gets done by the Guilds, which encourages expansion and more Prosperity, etc.  Sounds like a growing City to me!

Are shanties considered Guilds for the purpose of scoring?  I think they are (since they're in the same list as the other Guild tokens), but just wanted to mark sure.  Seems like it would make an interesting decision for the other players: attack a large group of combatants (and potentially suffer loses) or let them score a free point!

Wow, thanks so much!  Really glad you liked them.

Unfortunately, I'm not an artist, but I have a friend who said they'd take a crack at some artwork.  If that doesn't work out, I might come knocking your way ;-)

Yep, you got both rules right!  In an ideal scenario, the Pirates are able to arrive in the Woodland with a big force, gather some loot, put it on the ship, and then sail off the edge of the map to secure their stolen treasure.  They could get hampered by heavy losses in battle, but the warriors that stay on the ship for your Daylight actions are never "in" the clearing (i.e. they wouldn't be removed in battle) and should be able to sail the ship to safety (and reinforcements).  I haven't had them fail in play testing, but I'd be curious what a new player tried to do with them.

As for Bribing, you do give someone 1 of your points.  My hope was that factions would do it to take advantage of the rule (e.g. maybe the Eyrie doesn't rule a clearing to Build, but they can pay off another faction to let them continue their Decree).  Plus, the token doesn't ever go away, which just means there's a "floating" point available to take back on another turn.  It's definitely a player-dependent mechanic that I'll want to work on with other people at the table.

Neat ideas!  The Possums sound very deadly, but very helpful at the same time!  It seems like this is a pretty infectious disease, so it'd be interesting to see how other players planned around it.

When you act with "each pair of revealed cards", I take that to mean you use the cards in every possible combination (e.g. if you have 3 cards, ABC, you would take actions for the pairs AB, AC, and BC)?  With a maximum of 5 cards in hand, I assume that only using each card in a single pairing would be too limiting in actions.

I did find the board a little busy, partly because of the slight differences before and after finding the Cure.  I wonder if it would make sense for the Action Glossary and the Action lists to be put on double-sided cards?  They would start on the "Searching for Cure Actions" side and explain all the steps about Evidence.  Then, when the Cure is found, both cards could get flipped to the "Cure if Found" side that explains how to develop and distribute the Cure.  You could probably get rid of the Cure tracker too, since the cards would indicate the state of the game.  Not sure if it's important to see all of the possibilities at all times, but just a suggestion.

It's time for a party!  I like the layout of your faction board: it's clear, clean, and concise.  It's really easy to envision what it would be like to play this faction; well done!

I am curious if you had any ideas on how the Carnivals could affect other factions?  At the moment, it sounds like a party only needs peacocks around to get going.  Which is great, but I'm sure the other Woodlanders would like to join too ;-)

Some really interesting ideas here.  It's fascinating that some many of the faction's Daylight actions can be taken any number of times, but they're laid out in such a way that still limits them.  The backwards battle resolution of Platonic Guardians is also tricky, since you can protect your warriors (which are might be more important than tokens in Daylight) at the cost of your crafting resources.  But then you get them back anyway next turn!

I am a little concerned on how engaging this faction would be to play.  If I followed correctly, the game starts with 7 warriors spread across 4 clearings.  At the end of turn 1, you should have at least 4 Justice tokens (one in each of your 4 starting clearings) and 11 warriors (recruited one at each Justice token).  There might be a couple moves to grab a couple more clearings, but the faction can just kinda sit there until they draw enough cards to fill the Bank and start scoring points.  You could battle, but that requires spending a card from the Bank and potentially reducing your points.  But maybe I've missed something; what's been your experience while playing?

Yeah, the Corvid comparison makes sense.  Good luck with your future playtests!

That makes sense; no need to make it too complicated.  Thanks!

Thanks for taking a look!  Glad you enjoy the theme :-)

Yes, you can choose how many warriors go on from the Crew's Quarters to the Upper Deck.  The tradeoff is that those same warriors are also the only ones you can put on the map, since there is no Recruit action (you can try with Parlay, but it's easily defended by the other factions).  You have to have some kind of balance between warriors pillaging the Woodland and those working on the ship.  Arriving with 15 warriors might sound like a lot at first, but they get divided between the tasks pretty quickly.

Fair enough!  Experience will always trump passive judgement.  Your analogy to the Woodland Alliance makes a lot of sense.  Hope you get lots of fun out of your faction!

Thanks for the explanation!  Good luck with your continued playtesting!

Ah, that makes more sense!  I was just misreading the cards.  I should've been paying more attention to the bullet points to denote the actions.  Maybe removing the line break before the "Then" statement would make the Achieve action read as one block of text instead of two?  Otherwise, this seems like the kind of clarification that could be written in the Law of Root rather than on the cards themselves.

I also read past the step that says "Repeat [placing a feat on the Tome] once per Renown on the map".  The growing (or shrinking) book should make the Push-Your-Luck mechanism much more dynamic.  Would love to see this in action!

Well done!  I know the Hero is supposed to be the VIP, but I just want to read that book!  It sounds like a really thematic way to tell the story (pun intended) of this faction in the Woodland.  Plus, your art is adorable!

Just a couple questions about how the book works:

1.  When I take a feat action, the bottom of the card says to turn the page.  This usually reveals another feat card, which I can then use as another action, correct?  So, assuming you had the perfect storybook, you could do up to 12 actions in one turn (3 from the faction board, and 9 from Feats)?  Probably not likely to happen, but theoretically possible?

2.  The first step of Evening talks about the Denouement being face down, which triggers  a penalty of renown/points.  However, the Feat cards always give an option to flip the whole Tome, which would mean that the Denouement is face up.  Is there ever a reason you wouldn't want to "finish the book"?  At some point, I would imagine you see that your Hero isn't going to be able to do many more actions and you would choose to "skip to the end" instead of turning the page?  

Nice work!  "From the Trees" brings to mind Lady Amber from Mossflower (if you haven't read it and enjoy the theme of Root, would definitely recommend).  This seems like a tricky lot to maneuver against, but someone's got to take out that Stash!

I was a little confused when the board said that you craft using the Stash.  Does that mean you only have one crafting resource?  Is there a way to craft bigger cards?

Also, are traps placed face up or face down?  The board doesn't say, so I assume it's face up, but I think it would make sense if a faction had no idea what trap they might be heading into.

Neat ideas here!  Having a faction that almost exclusively relies on crafting to score is difficult, but I like how you've doubled up on the crafted cards when Producing Honey to make it doubly satisfying.  

If I understand correctly, the Queen can't come out before turn 3?  I assume the beginning of the game looks like this:

1. Turn 1: Craft a card.  The Queen is honey side up, so she doesn't get Crowned.  Move and build a hive.
2. Turn 2: Craft a card.  The Queen is still honey side up, so she doesn't get Crowned.  In evening, spend the two crafted cards to Produce Honey and remove the Queen token from the Honey track.
3. Turn 3: The symbol for the Queen is now revealed, so she will get crowned.

Is that correct?  It seems like a slow start to the game, and could be even slower with a bad card draw (e.g. all cards with multiple crafting symbols, poor clearing access, etc.).  After that, the benefits of the Queen would really pick up and the faction is off to the races.  Curious on how it's felt to start games?

My co-worker always says "Be specific, be terrific!".   Being extra clear isn't a bad thing; just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something ;-).  Thanks for the submission!

This faction feels really ominous.  They do a lot of redirection that could shape the conflict of the Woodland.  Great theme!

I like how the tremor tokens become a resource that you manage with each separate faction.  There's a balance between limiting other players' tokens (and limiting their ability to Unearth) and maximizing the use for yourself.  It would be interesting to puzzle out!

I am curious how the Ruins interactions work for Nodes (specifically for the Vagabond or the Hundreds).  The berry abilities say that the Nodes always count as Ruins.  When a faction reveals a Ruins token and takes the Item underneath, the Ruin is discarded from the game.  I assume you're still allowed to place nodes back on the building slots marked for Ruins?  And what happens if all those slots in a Ruins clearing are taken by other factions?  I know it should be a pretty rare edge case, but was curious how it all worked.

Very cute faction!  I would definitely not want to attack those spiky hedgehogs.  Then again, I'm not sure if I want a bear whacking me either!

I am curious how you've found the generation of blackberry tokens.  It makes thematic sense that they grow where other blackberries are, but if the bear had a sudden surge of hunger and was able to gobble up multiple clearings in between your turns, does it become difficult to get grew new berries?

This faction is hilarious!  I'm just imagining a drunken Cat stumbling about and following the Snakes instead of their commanding officer.  Great idea!

I saw throughout your board that it was very clear you were counting addicted enemy warriors.  There isn't a way for the Tycoon warriors to get addicted themselves, is there? ;-)