❖ Version History ❖

October, 2021
By now… there have been so many rule changes and iterations of the Dragon Mechanic that it is starting to get hard to keep track. First it just existed as a rule, then it was a rule that had to be activated, then it was a rule that had to be modified, then the modification ended up being too complicated, and we’ve almost entirely circled back to the original ruling all over again.

The long and short of it is that the Dragon Rule as a concept in this game is a bit complex. Some people really like it, some people really hate it. Some say that it makes the game better, some say it makes the game worse. No matter what gets said, one thing is certain: the rule has not found its proper home in this game yet… and it should. The idea behind it and its purpose is good… but the function is stuck in flux.

So, of course, lets take some time to recap where the rule has been, why we want it here, and try out yet another idea behind how it will exist in Phoenix Farm moving forward! For a quick recap, here are all of our dragon doodles from the start of time to now:

If you’ve been following along so far in this journey, you may have a rough idea behind what we’ve been thinking with the dragon mechanic so far, but in case you need a recap, there is one major role that the dragon has: to poison the ‘1’ outcome on the dice roll, and have this be an extra bad result for the player (putting their whole farm at risk).

Functionally, this has served a good purpose. It allows players to add in the option to have the game be harder than it normally is, because anyone at any time might suffer from these rules, which has the chance of stopping a player who’s in the lead, and aiding a person who has fallen behind.

There were some major errors regarding how bad this could be for players though. Some players who were already winning might benefit from this rule, and vice versa, players who were already losing might be losing even more because of the dragon as well.

This originally led us in the direction of making the “Bait” card. The original bait did something special: the Dragon Rule would be off from the start of the game, and a player had to make the conscious decision to buy and use dragon bait in order to turn the rules for the dragon mechanic on. Once the rule was activated, it would never turn off. The game would always run the risks now.. no matter who it might punish.

This first idea behind the bait card made things slightly better… but it still didn’t feel like enough, so we came back to revisit it again. It was already time for me to consider new card designs once more, so why not make another new dragon at this point in time too! After an interesting round of brainstorming, we came up with an idea:

What if… the dragon bait acted as a toggle to turn the Dragon Rules on AND off? So, rather than having a player who feels frustrated about losing change the game for everyone else permanently, there is the option to have anyone turn the rule on or turn the rule off? This could theoretically fix many issues:

1. A player who is losing can acquire the bait for cheap, and put every other player after them for the current turn at risk.

2. A player who is winning will need to waste money and turn time buying the dragon bait and rolling to turn the rules off (putting them at risk of getting attacked anyway!)

3. The losing player also possess the option to turn the rule back off if they feel as though it has served its purpose for the time being in helping them catch up in the game again!

4. For people who like the game with the rule, they can play that way, and for those who don’t, the game never needs to have the rule active, it can exist purely as a peaceful game.

5. For players who love the dragon rule, it can be the first choice in the game.

But just having a basic card with “Bait” as the artwork felt empty… there needed to be something else to represent this dragon. We had originally thought to have it be its own card design, but then I was at the game store one day and saw this beautiful little dragon figurine for Warhammer, and I could not resist taking it home. Now, this obviously won’t be the final piece design… but adding this little piece to the game kit made it feel all the more threatening, real, and cool:

Including the little figurine to pair with the dragon bait was great. When we first played with this, we kept it on the card in the store somewhat like the “Robber” from Catan… patiently waiting for its opportunity to strike down upon a poor player’s Phoenix Farm.

Ironically, the first few times that we played the game with this being the rule, no one even felt the need to use the dragon mechanic. This was good. The idea is that it should be scary to everyone, as, no one is safe when the dragon is free.

Then a game finally came along where the rule was “needed”. A player was falling behind, they turned the rule on, another player who was winning felt the need to turn it off, and it backfired against them! All in all, it isn’t perfect in how it works… but it was better than it was, and we were happy with it again. It’s almost certainly going to be the case that this rule changes again before the time this game is finished, but at least progress, play testing, and iterating is constantly continuing to happen. Hopefully, when we are done here, this rule will work perfectly and everyone will love it!

Be sure to tune back in again soon as we discuss more about this look of Iteration #4. Phoenix Farm was getting redrawn during this time again, and this prototype was really making great strides toward a more finished feel! ~ Till then my friends!