For those interested, here is a cross-post from Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea and Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East Co-Designer Mark McLaughlin’s blog where he shares an audio recording of the account from Pharoh Rameses III describing his victory over the Sea Peoples. In this article, Mark also discusses the Sea Peoples as they appear in both of his ancient world games. You can also read this article on his blog here. Enjoy!
Introduction: By Game Developer, Fred Schachter – Players desiring a bit more complexity to their games of ACIS and/or ACME (once published, of course) in exchange for adding development of culture to their respective Civilizations should appreciate this offering by designers Chris and Mark. This responds to some ACIS players lamenting the game’s absence of a “Culture Arc”.
When play-testing these rules; we found the added complexity acceptable. What’s nice is that with exception of military-oriented developments, advancing a Civilization’s culture does not entail direct overt aggression towards another player… a nice touch in my opinion to a game which already has plenty of “take that!” opportunities.
What these rules entail is another path to achieving your Civilization’s victory and a new aspect to the fascinating resource allocation “puzzle” the designers provide. When trying this option with Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea, please feel free to tinker with these rules to achieve what your gamer group believes provides the best alternatives. Above all… have fun!
With that, here’s what Chris and Mark offer…
For the first time in my 40+ years of game design I was invited to a convention as an Industry Guest – all expenses paid (they even gave me food and beer). I had never been to TotalCon, even though I live in New England and it is 90 minutes from home. Thanks to podcaster Jonathan Reinhart, who interviewed me last year, however, the invite came and I accepted – and I am so glad I did!
Introduction by ACIS Developer Fred Schachter: The Designers, Mark McLaughlin and Chris Vorder Bruegge, as well as myself, would like as many of our fellow hobbyists as possible to enjoy playing ACIS. We appreciate some gamers sharing how they’ve mitigated the game’s chaos through a variety of house rules and it is grand learning how those customized changes result in more folks having fun with the game and consequently playing it repeatedly.
Upon reading of gamers modifying ACIS, Mark responded… “If they are playing the game and are happy, I am happy… if they are playing the game and making it their own, I am even happier.”
These positive developments inspired Designer Chris Vorder Bruegge to make recommendations of his own, recommendations which mitigate Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea’s chaotic game environment with a menu of choices. For those interested in experiencing this different ACIS milieu, a more merciful environment than the game as published offers, we hope you’ll appreciate and enjoy Chris’ offerings…
Introduction by Fred Schachter: Part 1 of this series provided General Background regarding GMT’s upcoming Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME). Part 2 covered a recommended player attitude when engaged in a game of ACME (to best get into the spirit of the game and have a grand fun time): Playing Your Role.
This Part 3 is intended to address the curiosity of folks who wonder how ACME differs from the first game of the series: Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS).
To best appreciate 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 .
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 .
There are no shortage of civilization building games out there. Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea, however, is MORE than just another Civilization BUILDING game – it is a Civilization SURVIVAL game – and one with an elegantly built-in, if subtle, TECH TREE.
The Civilization building part is easy. Much like other games you build a Civilization by creating cities and spreading camps and settlements across the map. These help you gain more disks that allow you to create even more cities and take over more territory. Now comes the hard part: holding on to the civilization you have created, and holding on to it in the face of opposing civilizations (any or all of which can be played either by other gamers or the Solitaire Rules for NPCs- Non-Player Civilizations). These civilizations will put you to the test by hurling cards at you that include everything from natural disasters to civil wars and massive invasions. They will also try to bring you down by more direct methods – war (or, as the game calls it, “Competition” – which represents a clash of civilizations through cultural, religious, commercial, political and, of course, military conflict.
Introduction by Fred Schachter: I’m having a Game Developer’s blast working with Designers Chris Vorder Bruegge and Mark McLaughlin on Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS)’s successor, Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME… yeah, we’re aware of the Coyote/Road Runner cartoon alliteration, seems worth a guffaw or two, eh?).
The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, to provide background regarding the historical environment players will experience playing ACME (and why the game contains certain design elements) as well as explain, at least on an overview basis, the differences between ACIS and ACME.
To best appreciate this article, some knowledge of ACIS is helpful. GMT has a wealth of information regarding ACIS on the game page.
As noted on page 55 of the Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Playbook, players can choose the length of their game. Players need not play all four Epochs nor commence play with Epoch I (to enable experiencing Epoch IV’s “Imperial Rome”). Any game of any length is a “complete” game.
