Difference between revisions of "Drafting Spreads"

Revision as of 09:11, 25 August 2011

Open displays of drafting choices.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

Ticket to Ride

Small World

Showmanager

Atlantic Star

Dominant Species

Thunderstone

Using the pattern

Drafting Spreads is a way of supporting Drafting, and relevant options for the pattern is where the elements should be taken from, how many elements should be displayed, and how the spreads should be replenished.

While all relevant elements present in a game may initially be part of a Drafting Spread, it is most common to build them from a part of Drawing Stacks or through using Discard Piles as the Drafting Spreads - basic Rummy uses this in a limited sense (only the last played Card can be taken) but a common variant is to use the entire Discard Pile as a Drafting Spread.

The number of elements displayed is mainly a way of regulating how much Freedom of Choice players should have, but the more elements displayed also increase the amount of Predictable Consequences in a game.

Drafting Spreads can cause First Player Advantages since these are more likely to have good choices than later players (no other players have already had the chance to take the best elements). This can be regulated through having an additional cost for accessing elements further down in the spreads as a Balancing Effects; Showmanager and Small World has this through requiring Money to be spent (and in Small World this Money is placed on the skipped races and can be collected in later drafts) while Thunderstone imposes "darkness penalties" for attacking Enemies deeper down in the dungeon. While these types of Balancing Effects are really only needed in the beginning of games, most games that introduce them have them throughout gameplay as a way of requiring players to make Trade-Offs.

Consequences

Drafting Spreads is a way of supporting Freedom of Choice in Drafting, possibly by using Discard Piles or by modifying Drawing Stacks. Since players have a choice of selecting from several often random options, Drafting Spreads modulates Randomness. The number of elements in the spreads affects not only the degree of Freedom of Choice present but also the degree of Predictable Consequences regarding these choices.

They may however also cause First Player Advantages. When rules requiring "newer" elements or those "deeper" in the spreads to have additional costs, the pattern also supports Trade-Offs.

Relations

Can Instantiate

First Player Advantages. Freedom of Choice, Predictable Consequences, Trade-Offs

Can Modulate

Drafting, Drawing Stacks, Randomness

Can Be Instantiated By

Discard Piles

Can Be Modulated By

Balancing Effects

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

New pattern created in this wiki.

References

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Acknowledgements

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