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Interviews
Success of First Edition Designer Interview
On the 19th of December 2004 I asked Roberto Di Meglio, one of the designers (together with Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello) of War of the Ring, to answer some questions about the now released game.
The game had been recived well and several rumors about an expansion had begun circulating.
On to the interview...
Kristofer: What miniature designs were abandoned during the process?
Roberto: Not many. The Dunland Man, replaced by the Uruk-Hai, as Isengard
Regular; and the Hobbit, replaced by the North Archer, as the North Regular.
Kristofer: What was your initial reaction to seeing the finished version of the
game?
Roberto: A mix of excitement and relief - but mostly relief, for me! The game
really was the way we imagined it - however I did not have a true "it's done"
reaction, as the actual production process spanned 4 months from august
to december, not without problems (I shortly had to address the problem of
the collation problem in the plastic bags, for example).
(I should mention that the first time I saw a complete copy of the game
was at GenCon, and it was the English language edition)
Kristofer: Are there any thing(s) in the game play area that you think could
have been improved even more?
Roberto: Personally, after 4 months, still I would not change the way the game
works in any way. The feedback was almost completely positive; there were a
few negative comments (e.g. the game is too long), but I think that most of
them are very much in the realm of personal taste and I'd not change
anything in the game to go in those directions. Possibly a better
approach to the introductory rules and/or a tutorial, but that's more a problem
about how the game is presented than the gameplay itself (I see the
Intro rules as a step towards the complete game, more than a game in
themselves).
Kristofer: What are your thoughts of the finished design of the game and the
components such as the miniatures, cards and the board?
Roberto: As I am very much directly responsible of the way these things are, I
am not really the best person to make an objective comment about them.
I think that the problem about the font size in the cards is very real
for some people and this was something we did not fully realize. This is
the most likely change to happen if we will have a "second edition" in the
future. The other thing I'd like to have (which was not included just
for cost reason) is plastic disks which stack better than replacement
counters, but I think this is a lesser problem. I'd like to have an even larger
board, but then finding a table to play the game could be tough!
Kristofer: What were the reactions to the game when you showed the first copies
at GenCon?
Roberto: Very positive. Francesco and Marco worked hard to teach the game, this
is not an easy game for show.
Kristofer: Several questions have appeared about the rules and the Event cards,
many are simply the result of players not reading the rules right or
of players trying to find holes in the rules or about situations hardly
ever appearing and didn't do so in the testing. There are however some
questions that are the result of ambiguities in the Event cards,
especially how they might affect each other. Do you think an extensive player aid
(emphasizing the importance of when an effect "kicks in") for the cards should
have been a good thing in hindsight?
Roberto: I think it would have been an unnecessary complication to the rules
which would not be useful for most players. A certain level of nit-picking
rightly belong to the FAQ more than the rules. Most players will be
happy just to decide this kind of things among themselves. And anyway 99% of
the rulings are just based on a strict reading of the rules and/or the
cards, there are very few instances where the rulings would be necessary if
just people were more trustful about the fact that the rules mean what they
say!
Kristofer: As a playtester I know that there was a Shadow City in South Rhun at
the end of the playtesting, this was later removed before
production, why?
Roberto: We think that a Free People Military victory rightly belong to a
secondary path to victory, and wanted to keep it this way. The city in South Rhun
was somehow in contradiction with this approach. Anyway this is an easy
"house rule" for people who want to make life easier for the Free Peoples!
Kristofer: Can you comment on the rumour of a possible expansion to the game?
Roberto: Yes, we will have an expansion. We plan to release it in fall 2005. It
is a little bit early to say much more as most of it is not finalized. I can
only say that this set will do more than just "add on" the existing
gameplay... and of course many new figures people are wanting will be
there!
Kristofer: Thank you very much Roberto for taking the time from your busy schedule to answer these questions.
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