Thursday, May 5, 2011
Players: Marc, Caroline, Ben

With only three gamers able to attend, we opted to take a new game for a spin: Conquer The Horizon. A somewhat crunchy game of new world exploration, discovery, and exploitation, we only really got the hang of it by the last few turns. But it was a fun adventure, and I think we all enjoyed the experience. The system requires us to build an old world and a new world, and then assume various roles (sort of like character classes) as we venture forth, each of us trying to attain a certain class-based goal.

The world we left behind was Atlantis, a grand island kingdom with super-advanced science, no religion, and psychic powers. The Atlantians themselves were tall, beautiful figures, with skin in various metallic shades and pure white eyes. They believed in the power of science and discovery. Thus, when the Archons (king and queen) learned that their nation was sinking, they sent explorers out to find a new home.

Enter our three characters:

Lagos (The Anthropologist) - The son of a wealthy family, Lagos's interest in anthropology was driven by hobby and intrigue alone; were he to desire so, he could return to the family estate and live in luxury without ever needing to work. But he decided to accompany the expedition and learn what he could of the new cultures they met. His skills included Cartography, Vivisection, and looking down on any culture that believed in a higher power.

Anglessa (The Governor) - A steadfast, determined captain working under the employ of the Archons, it was Anglessa's goal to find her people a suitable new home. She was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen, be it making peace with natives or enslaving them. Her skills included Engineering, Soldiering, and sweet-talking her way into bringing more soldiers over from Atlantis.

Hafsah al-Rashid (The Native Guide) - The expedition picked up Hafsah floating out at sea, and brought her on as a native guide. This headstrong young woman, though an exile from her tribe, still worked hard to keep the peace between the natives of her homeland and these new adventurers. Her skills included Animal Whispering, Calligraphy, and convenient moments of translation error.

Our new world palette included "natives descended from aliens", "terraforming", and "megafauna". This place, which we dubbed "Terra", had many wonders, including:
-desolate, dusty plains that were rocked by violent, unpredictable storms
-sheets of hail falling like walls from the sky
-an overgrown labyrinth that contained a codex translating all the world's languages
-instructions for how to make life grow from nothing
-labyrinth guardian tribes that make delcious pudding
-myths of the "creators" who built this land and placed all its people upon it
-the Rana, giant, docile buffalo/lion creatures with their heads in the clouds
-a fortress with a strange landing pad in the center
-a device that could control the weather, first employed by Hafsah's tribe and later used by the Atlantians

In the end, the Atlantians took command of this new realm and bent it to their will. They militarized Hafsah's people and used them (and their terraforming technology) to conquer other parts of Terra.

Favorite moments:
-Hafsah: "No guys, it's cool. They're friendly. It's cool."
-Anarchy was struck from the palette for Atlantis, so they became extremely anti-anarchy instead
-The revelation that Hafsah was exiled from her tribe because she believed in a people from across the sea, only to return with said people
-A final moment in which Hafsah, her people scattered to the winds, looks to the skies and sees a brilliant dot of light growing larger

Thanks for a good game. Chip in with details as you wish.

Our fiction rocked, but I think we were only partially engaged with the rules. It falls in the "we would have had more fun playing that game with a different system" category.

But to be fair, I think Conquer the Horizon wasn't helping us because we weren't playing Conquer the Horizon-style. We were playing Shock-style: there was a central world concept that we were building and unraveling, instead of focusing on discoveries and how we (the colonizers) could take advantage of them. I can't really blame the system for that.

Like we talked about about during the game, the Native Guide role is a potential game breaker, because that character has knowledge none of the other characters has, which undermines the entire dynamic of discovery. I think it needs a big warning label that says that the Native Guide is from this land, but the lands you're exploring now are new territory foreign even to the Native Guide. Or better yet, just leave it out entirely. That would put all the "intruders" on the same footing, which would make their interactions and conflicts a lot more interesting (just like ours got at the end, once we got up to speed).

Favorite moments:
-Hafsah: "No guys, it's cool. They're friendly. It's cool."

That was hilarious.

The "whole terraformed land / alien spawned natives but who are actually normal people and Atlanteans are the strange ones / returning aliens" world we whipped up was very cool. Like Caroline said about our Space Gods Capes game, I'd totally play it again with a different system that matched the play style we chose better.