Possible Edits, Notes, And Querries.

[ScrewedUpDice]

A few things spring to mind ahead of everything else, so here they are first...

• Are we going to be able to see the Tutorial Games rules as well, as these will be as vital to learning the game and getting people interested as the main rules themselves.
  
• No Definitions Section - This was an important reference in the first version of the game, and certainly needs to be included in some form in Unstitched, possibly even moved to the front portion of the rules so people are reader as intended rather than filling in meanings by inference.
  
• There's no word either way on attacking friendly models. Is it allowed and is it going to be necessary?
  
• There is no ruling on if the text on a card overrules the rules as written in the book. I'd assume that they do, but it's the stuff arguments are made of.
  
• Can we have separate activation trackers for each player, as trying to keep things straight with even only two players and changing activation priority needed head space that'd be better occupied with the game. For 3 or 4 players it's a headache for everyone.
  

Before my thoughts on the rules, there are a few issues with the Cards as presented on the site at the moment

• The Executioner is listed as a Death Marshal, while much of the rest of the Guild models have become "Crime Fighters" instead.
  
• The details for the Rotten Belle are blank
  
• The abilities for the Ronin are missing.
  

On the subject of cards, it's a shame to see things so cut down, on the Masters especially as the reduction of rules for other Puppets would seem to open space in the game to remain as complex as in the first edition. Not to mention the disappearance of many Puppets.

After reading through the rules without playing through a game, here are my thoughts and suggestions. I've tried to split things by section, and where I've used numbered points it's to match the points in the rules rather than number my own musings.

Edits, Notes, and Queries

Game Overview

This would benefit from giving a more clinical breakdown of the way a game turn works, proceeded by the more flavourful description, in order to provide a framework for the more detailed explanation of the rules to build upon.

Elements Of War

The suggested layout for the battlefield and surrounding area does not include provision for anywhere to place cards in play while making an action or animation cards. It might also help to mention the Control Hand at this point. In addition a diagram might be of use here, rather than relying on "to the right of" etc.

1. Battlefield There is no mention of using a board with squares on, such as the Terraclips terrain, which, to be fair, was alluded to in the Pattern Book last time. Talking of the Pattern Book is this the place to mention it.

6. Puppet Deck. Should this point to the "Meet Your Deck" section, and mention the need for a shuffled deck?

8. Out of Play. There is no specific area set aside for this, and it seems an offhand mention given the big role it plays in the mechanics of Upgrades etc.

Battlefield Spaces

Starting Work Bench

The wording to this entry is different in style to the others in the section, which throws off the reading. It is far more of a rules piece than a description of the playing space if that makes sense.

There needs to be a page number added here to point to the section on Work Benches, and possibly the addition of a line saying that this is where a Master is placed adjacent to when starting a game, and that they are marked with a coloured token chosen by the player.

Impassable Spaces

The first line should read "Place an Impassable Token (Black)" to match the style of the Neutral Work Benches entry.

Understanding The Battlefield

Splitting the definition of Adjacent and Range 1 into two separate points would be of help when flicking through the rulebook to clarify this, or simply highlighting Range 1, as it doesn't stand out as Range 2, and Range 3 do.

I Can See You! Line OF Sight (LoS)

While it may be an issue of the links in this section, the style/layout is different to the presentation elsewhere.

While it is implicit a line about models not having a facing and having a 360° range of vision might help players coming from games systems where a limited field of view is taken for granted.

For much the same reasons as the above it would seem wise to make clear that the LoS is taken from the space, not the model in it, by changing "From the acting model" in the first paragraph to " From the space occupied by the acting model"

Meet Your Puppet Deck

The introduction could be fleshed out saying there are 13 cards to each suit and that Jokers are included. To be a real pedant, it's not true that "Each card in the Puppet Deck has a Numerical Value and a Suit Value" as the Black Joker has no Suit Value, and it could be argued the Red Joker doesn't have one either.

It'd be good to see the suits as printed in the font matched with the suits as shown on the Puppet Wars cards.

The term Flipped is introduced in the Joker rules without having been previously mentioned, which is going to mean reading ahead in the rules for some people to find out when it does what it does.

Discard Pile

The wording of this section could do with being reworked to explicitly leave out cards in play (such as while making an attack action) and card in the Control Hand. Is it worth making clear that this can be done at any time, when the deck runs out? I also think that "Cut them" could be dropped from the list, as it falls under shuffling, but that's just me.

The caveat about no player being able to look through the Discard Pile could be moved to a separate line, as it's an important point.

Control Hand Size

The first line explaining how the size of the Control Hand is generate deserves a line of its own, and "At the start of each Turn" and "At the end of each Turn" could do with being highlighted to make them stand out when skimming the rules.

With the mechanics of how Control Hand Size is managed dealt with, the example would benefit from an example in which the player gains or losses work benches during the turn and can/needs to draw/discard cards because of this. Does there need to be a prevision for Puppets granting extra Control Cards?Using Cards

While the flip, draw and play sections cover what each term means the language could do with beefing up to make these terms less interchangeable.

Unless I missed it on a Puppet Card, Recycle has yet to be mentioned.

Does the Random determination box out want to go elsewhere, as it's the go to method for dispute resolution and is a bit lost in the card section. An example of the mechanic, while mostly redundant, would serve to reinforce the use of the lowest card as the winning number, which feels counter-intuitive.

Your Puppet Army

What Makes A Puppet

Given the role they play it'd be worth making clear from the outset that Master have different cards.

Animation Requirement

In a similar vein to the above, it might be worth adding here that some Masters alter the animation cost of friendly puppets.

Characteristics (Ch)

While it may just be a quirk of being used to other games, there doesn't seem to be a split between Characteristics (e.g. being a Metal Puppet) and what I'd think of as a Stats line of Df, Cb, UL, etc.

The inclusion of the army building restrictions on Masters, Sidekicks and Pawns seems out of place here, being more suited to the "Fighting The War Section".

Stitches - Rips and Being Torn Apart.

It takes a very long time for the rules to truly lay out the mechanics of stitches and being Torn Apart, and this could do with being moved to an earlier section, as for much of the first read through it just sounds like Torn Apart is being used as a Puppety euphemism for being killed rather than being a specific and nuanced effect in and of itself.

Your Master Puppet

2. Change the wording of "...at the start of play and begins the game In Play" to "...at the start of the game..." to differentiate between play and In Play.

3. What additional Standard Actions do Masters have? Either I've missed them, either in the rules or on the Master's cards, or they do not exist. Also, if these Standard Actions are only used by Masters, then they are, by their own definition, not Standard Actions.

The Statistic Card (Upgrade Side)

Does this want to be before the section dealing with Masters?

Being a pedant again, there's no mention of the art work.

Stitches Although it is mentioned later, could the fact that stitches are removed from the Puppet then the Upgrade be written in here as well.

Fighting The War

Setting Up A Puppet War

I understand that it might be hard to include, but could we see a time estimate for the various sizes of game?

A change to the wording of the different levels to clarify that the numbers are in addition to the Masters would be a very good thing to add, as would working the limits to the numbers of sidekicks at each set tier.

The "Remember!" box needs to have the restriction of only having 3 of the same Pawn added in, as it's going to be a rule that gets forgotten, or missed while scanning the book otherwise.

Step 5. The mechanic for setting up from a map then swapping out Starting Work Benches for those selected by a certain player seems clunky. If there was an additional counter or token for starting benches, then this could be placed while laying out the battlefield, then swapped out or left as appropriate, rather than the faffing that could take place with the written way of doing things. Obviously this is only going to really be an issue with multiple starting positions and multiple players, so I'll hold my hand up to overcomplicating things myself here.

The above aside, there could really do with being an additional step added for placing the Master on the board, or at least a splitting of the paragraph to make it clear how you place the all important first model on the battlefield, as at the moment it is lost amid the larger list.

Step 6: The direction to move to playing Puppet Wars seems to be unnecessary, as it's the next section.

The Note box out would be better moved to under Step 2.

Playing Puppet Wars

This section really needs to open with a summary of the games steps/turn order.

1. Would it be worth noting that at the start of most games for most players that this will be 5. It's an exercise in redundancy, but it's probably worth making crystal clear.

2. The note about playing 5 complete animations breaks up the flow of the rules, especially as the sub steps are all written with the implied lead in of "..all players do the following in order..."

Having been mentioned Animation Round is never strictly defined, and it really needs to be made clear for the game to work as intended, as it ties directly into how Exhaustion and the Control Hand work.

"First: Animation Cards" seems to lead nowhere.

The list needs to stick with using Control Hand rather than shortening it down.

The Animation Card is mentioned then abandoned in the rules. Does it stay in the play area? While it is mentioned in step 6 as being discard this could do with being separated out into a separate point.

There is no mention of what happens if you don't have an Animation Card high enough to activate any Puppets, which could be added in as a box out.

2.7 The wording here gets itself tangled up. A possible change would be "...move a number of spaces equal to its movement value..." rather than have the word times in there. A page reference for the Actions would be a good edition in the physical copy as well.

Does a step 8 need to be added in to essentially say wash, rinse, repeat?

3.1 "..in this Turn", not "on this Turn"

I'll mention this elsewhere (either at the top or the bottom of the post, so apologies for either repeating myself here, or below), but keeping track of animation is difficult with only the one tracker and altering turn order, as it can't just be left with one player to move the counter at the end of their activation, as that leads to confusion. Each player need their own tracker.

The "A Turn I Puppet Wars" box out really needs to open this section, to provide a structure for the first read through.

Losing and Winning A Puppet War

From a purely wishy washy positive game experience side of things, I'd put how to win before how to lose. It seems to put the emphasis on the loser making a hash of things rather than the winner playing well. It'd be nice to see a bit of flavour in this bit about tearing them apart next time.

The Tools Of Animated Puppets

Animation Details

The first paragraph here feels redundant, as its unrelated to what's about to be covered. A section about how Puppets are bought onto the board might be better, as at the moment the player only has a Master on the board, and no idea what is happening with the rest of his Puppets.

Animating Puppets

There seems to be no explicit restriction included here to the effect that you can't activate someone else's Puppets.

What Animated Puppets Do

Once again the phrasing seems to be tangled, and it'd be more readable to drop time entirely and have it as "An Animated Puppet may move a number of spaces equal to its movement value)..."

A line break before "Additional effects..." in this paragraph would help this section stand out, as would re wording to read "Additional effects on your Puppet can increase of decrease its allowed number of Moves or Actions during its Animation."

Animating Puppets Currently In Your Toy Box

This can be reads as though the Puppet animates from its Stats card rather than from on the board. The sentences just need swapping around to read differently.

Exhausted Puppets

This section feels as though it is in the wrong place and would fit in better placed under the section dealing with Actions rather than here.

There also the feeling that Exhaustion tokens might stack on a model, something which could do with being denied explicitly in this section.

Effects that Change AR

This box out should be moved to go below the "Puppet Animation Requirement" section.

Taking Control of a Work Bench

The Mine! Action says Enemy Work Benches says that you can change them to either Friendly or Neutral. This entry makes no mention of changing it to a Neutral Work Bench.

Movement

Harking back to the LoS section and 360° fields of vision, is might be worth spelling out that models can move in any direction.

There is no mention of movement values in this section which seems to be a serious omission.

Actions

It's mentioned somewhere above, but there are no Master Only actions here. There is also no mention that Actions may be modified by Abilities, which, while it comes up later, is worth preparing people for.

Performing an Action Example

"Your total is based on the highest Numerical Value.." is there no cheating down in Puppet Wars?

Cb and Attacking

While it is mentioned that a model with Cb 0 may still attack it would be nice to see it explicitly stated that the player is able to use cards from the Control Hand with them.

Action Value

The addition of a sentence about Dodging chancing this, or the box out being moved to sit below it would be good, as it effects how the mechanic works in a fairly major way.

Resolving a Successful Attack

The specifics of Rips and being Torn Apart have still not been laid out at this point, and a page reference in the physical edition would point to these being more than just interchangeable words for wounded and killed.

Scrounge

The Scrounge action is repeated here, after being identically written up in the Actions section.

There is no explanation of what the Special cost of Scrounge is, unless I'm miss reading things, as it is surely a (0) action as written?

I Need This

While it can't be an action, as it happens after a successful attack I Need This seems in a limbo between being the next step to an attack action or being something in its own right. Clarity is needed here.

Rips And Tearing Apart Puppets

I've said in the above that this section needs to referred to, and getting to it I'm not sure it's in the right place, but nor am I sure where it would go instead.

The big issue that comes to my mind in this section is this...

What happens if an Attached Upgrade with extra stitches is removed from a Puppet that has lost all its own stitches? Is that Puppet automatically killed?

When a Puppet is Torn Apart, do the following:

For the sake of keeping things on the board utterly clear, would it be easier to transpose steps 1 and 4 so the model is only removed from the board at the last possibly juncture to aid with placing Counters etc.

When as effect specifically Tears Apart an Upgrade

While I can see that 1 allows players to reclaim their own upgrades from the enemy if they have the ability to tear them apart the use of 2 eludes me, as why would a Puppet be in play at the same time as its upgrade?

And thankfully for your eyes and my hands, that's all I've got. Hopefully it's all of use rather than the overlong ramblings of a Malifool.

I can't wait to see Unstitched on the shelves and to lead the Puppets to War. May your Jokers always flip red.

[Justin]

You may have missed this section:

http://www.puppet-wars.com/rules.php?Page=Definitions&Section=FullPage

[Mach_5]

I missed it too... I think it could use a link at the top of the site in addition to the one in the Contents page.

---------- Post added at 04:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------

On that note, there's a link to "Free Actions" under the "Tools of Animated Puppets" menu, but that section has been removed. Aside from those two things I think the Contents page and the rules menu bar are the same (as they should be).

[ScrewedUpDice]

I have indeed missed that section (insert swear). On my browsers (Firefox and iPhone) there is no heading for Definitions appearing in the top navigation bar when looking at the rules either, hence their absence.

Clearly certain parts of the opening post become irrelevant, but I hope the majority is still pertinent.

Having gone on above, I probably ought to do the job properly and work through what I missed.

Important Definitions

The first thing would be that this section ought to come, in some form, ahead of the rules, following the overview section, so everyone is working with the same understanding of terms used in the game, and can go backwards to check things rather than skipping ahead to find out what a term means (or more likely plough ahead thinking they know what it means).

It seems to be a catch all section, and there are elements that deserve their own dedicated segment rather than being lumped in amongst other things. I'm thinking mainly of Counters, and examples thereof, and items that'd be more suited to sitting under a General Rules heading rather than at the back, such as Rounding, Friendly, Enemy etc.

The entries for Counters and Stacking Effects seems to talk over each other with "...Counters ALWAYS stack with other Counters..." and "Only certain Effects stack..." It doesn't make for a clear first read through.

There could be some expansion in the number of entries, adding Rips, Stitches, and Torn Apart and the like as the main rules for these are over-long when looking through for reference. This would be an especially useful addition if the section was moved to an earlier point in the rules. I suppose this hinges on if the Tutorial Games are going to be used as the "Read/Play This First" material, as they would have to introduce definitions of terms at an earlier stage. Two arguments for moving Definitions in the main rules would be 1) Players who have the 1st Edition are going to skip the tutorials and go straight to the rules, and will need things laid out clearly to avoid carrying over things from the previous version and 2) It makes sense to have the Main Rules and the Tutorials laid out in the same manner.