Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East Design Background and Differences from Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Part 2: Playing Your Role

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Introduction by Fred Schachter: Part 1 of this series provided General Background regarding GMT’s upcoming Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME).

Now that the stage has begun being set; how should players’ attitude be when they consider playing ACME? We all assume a role when playing a game and this installment conveys what perspective an ACME player is encouraged to take to fully appreciate this game’s somewhat unusual design perspective.

To best enjoy this series of articles, some knowledge of ACIS is helpful. GMT has a wealth of information regarding ACIS in its site for the game: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-624-ancient-civilizations-of-the-inner-sea.aspx .

Playing Your Role as a Royal Conduit to the Gods: Or Disasters are Not Player-Controlled “Smart Weapons” – but the Wrath of Their God.

When players take control of any of the Civilizations in the game, it may help to think of whom they actually represent. The kings of the age were not mere heads of state, but were thought of, even by themselves, as conduits to the gods.  

Thus, whenever a player inflicts an Earthquake or Flood or similar apocalyptic event of Biblical proportion upon another, think of this as if your prayer to those on high had been answered – while your opponent’s prayers fell on deaf ears. Or, in Biblical terms, think of yourselves as the various sowers described in the parable of the same name in Mark 4:5.

“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

So when you draw ACME cards such as a Plague of Locusts (#64), an Earthquake (#67), or a Biblical Earthquake (#68): it is not actually you who are directing this event – but the god whom you have pleased that has seen fit to answer thy prayers to smite thine foe.

Game Developer Note: These are the sample ACME Playtest Fate Cards cited by this article. Mark McLaughlin went to the effort of finding an appropriate biblical quote for every card in the game. For added drama before inflicting a particularly nasty card, a play tester, in as thunderous a “basso profundo” voice possible, will rise from his chair, point an accusing finger at the card recipient, and read the quote aloud… to the vast amusement of all players gathered around the table (even the victim). Yeah, this adds to playing time, but what fun!

Furthermore, the cards and the chaos they create simulate the historic times these civilizations had to endure. To ignore them is to create a bucolic world which did not exist. Of course, as gamers, we can modify the games we play to make them less random, but if you want to experience the historical challenges and the occasional outright horror of living during the times of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East, play the game as designed. The player who best survives this environment will triumph.

Next Part: “The Differences Between ACME and ACIS”

Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East Design Background and Differences from Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Part 1: General Background

Fred Schachter
Author: Fred Schachter

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4 thoughts on “Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East Design Background and Differences from Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Part 2: Playing Your Role”

  1. I love the entire concept of reading aloud the quotes before you mete out a bit of carnage on your fellow players — it’s like you’re giving them a chance to work out what disaster is about to befall them before it actuary does… Lol

    Reply

    • Yup, that’s one of the fun parts of a multi-player ACME game… oh, the gnashing of teeth and implorations to avoid the fate about to be inflicted. Ah, but there’s always the possibility of payback… sooner or later.

      Reply

  2. Hi, excited about the gamedesign, but concerned about just one thing. The idea to ge an biblical quote for these cards is for me a killer. Almost none of these civilizations in this game had something to do with cristianity. There were a vast and diverse religions among these civs. I really really would love to see that the flavour texts are inspired by this gigantic amount of recources of knowledge about these civs.

    Reply

    • Hi Ayhan,

      ACME Designer Mark McLaughlin responds to your above post by sharing that “90 percent and more of the quotes are from the Old Testament. Each is applicable to the action on the card (flood, earthquake, revolt, etc.). Furthermore, the game ends before Christ was born.”

      So ACME’s Fate card quotes are not civilization related, but represent Mark’s Old Testament research of finding an appropriate quote for what the card DOES and he did a fine job there as the design/development team and our play testers attest.

      However, the quotes associated with each of the sixteen Civilization Displays are sourced from perspective of the particular civilization. See each of the “Meet the Civilizations” pieces appearing within InsideGMT (3 done to date with 13 more to come).

      Thanks for sharing our Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East enthusiasm!

      Reply