Post by jdesmond on Jul 20, 2016 20:49:40 GMT
Salutations, gentlefolk !
The GELIDIS (Greater East Lansdowne Invitational DBA Instructional Seminar) DBA rules
- Why I Did This, What the Heck, some Infrequently Asked Questions, and other thoughts
Mr. Barker, in the introduction to DBA 3.0 says "The best way to learn to play is from a kindly experienced opponent". I would say that is like fighting warbands, "knight's work, if you can get it".
This may well be a transatlantic difference - British rule writers often assume that the guys from the club in West Ham will visit the club in East Ham, and The Word Of Mouth on How To Play will thus spread from Lands End ta John O'Groats.
American rules writers envision three friends from way out in the boondocks who acquire a rules booklet at Historicon, and play it among themselves, and no one else, until next Historicon. Having them enter the tourney, and finding they've been misinterpreting a crucial clause all year, is Not A Good Outcome.
In his Design Philosophy, Mr. Barker advises players to think "of elements as bodies of troops rather than playing pieces". A few years back I had some good friends living in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania (1), and I lived about 50 yards across the Upper Darby border (thus 'Greater'). They were avid gamers - 1830, Power Grid, Puerto Rico... - but adamantly resistant to battling with miniatures.
So, one hot August day (thus the strained acronym meaning 'cold water' in Latin), I thought, "If I get the terrain set up, the Alans and the Franks ready to move onto the board when Alan and Frank arrive, and pare the rules down to "What You Need To Play The Game, Only What You Need To Play The Game, and Everything Repeated In All The Places They'd Look For It", maybe they'd give it a try.
Also, I thought, that using typography, white space, line breaks and indentation might make Mr. Barker's long sentences and multilayer subordinate clauses more understandable (2).
It ended up being in two parts, one on 'How to Play', the second on the 'rock paper scissors' interactions of the various troop types.
So I shall try to upload the PDF files (3) to our Wiki, and you, I hope, will peruse them and post here your opinion of them.
Yours, John Desmond
(1) East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, is a borough of about 2500 inhabitants, and 1/2 a square kilometer in area. It's about 5 miles WSW of downtown Philadelphia, along Baltimore Avenue, and another 5 miles of 'urbanized area' before you reach 'countryside'... 'Greater East Lansdowne' is an oxymoron
.
(2) With thanks to the Sisters who taught me sentence diagramming, back in 5th and 6th grades - 'twould have been useful to have been able to have called for their advice here...
(3) These date from 2009 or so. If anyone needs .doc files of them, let me know. Hope to have a 3.0 version Real Soon Now.
The GELIDIS (Greater East Lansdowne Invitational DBA Instructional Seminar) DBA rules
- Why I Did This, What the Heck, some Infrequently Asked Questions, and other thoughts
Mr. Barker, in the introduction to DBA 3.0 says "The best way to learn to play is from a kindly experienced opponent". I would say that is like fighting warbands, "knight's work, if you can get it".
This may well be a transatlantic difference - British rule writers often assume that the guys from the club in West Ham will visit the club in East Ham, and The Word Of Mouth on How To Play will thus spread from Lands End ta John O'Groats.
American rules writers envision three friends from way out in the boondocks who acquire a rules booklet at Historicon, and play it among themselves, and no one else, until next Historicon. Having them enter the tourney, and finding they've been misinterpreting a crucial clause all year, is Not A Good Outcome.
In his Design Philosophy, Mr. Barker advises players to think "of elements as bodies of troops rather than playing pieces". A few years back I had some good friends living in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania (1), and I lived about 50 yards across the Upper Darby border (thus 'Greater'). They were avid gamers - 1830, Power Grid, Puerto Rico... - but adamantly resistant to battling with miniatures.
So, one hot August day (thus the strained acronym meaning 'cold water' in Latin), I thought, "If I get the terrain set up, the Alans and the Franks ready to move onto the board when Alan and Frank arrive, and pare the rules down to "What You Need To Play The Game, Only What You Need To Play The Game, and Everything Repeated In All The Places They'd Look For It", maybe they'd give it a try.
Also, I thought, that using typography, white space, line breaks and indentation might make Mr. Barker's long sentences and multilayer subordinate clauses more understandable (2).
It ended up being in two parts, one on 'How to Play', the second on the 'rock paper scissors' interactions of the various troop types.
So I shall try to upload the PDF files (3) to our Wiki, and you, I hope, will peruse them and post here your opinion of them.
Yours, John Desmond
(1) East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, is a borough of about 2500 inhabitants, and 1/2 a square kilometer in area. It's about 5 miles WSW of downtown Philadelphia, along Baltimore Avenue, and another 5 miles of 'urbanized area' before you reach 'countryside'... 'Greater East Lansdowne' is an oxymoron
.
(2) With thanks to the Sisters who taught me sentence diagramming, back in 5th and 6th grades - 'twould have been useful to have been able to have called for their advice here...
(3) These date from 2009 or so. If anyone needs .doc files of them, let me know. Hope to have a 3.0 version Real Soon Now.