Hey, I tried the game and some situations/rules are unclear to me.
"A die becomes sealed if [...] an action causes its value to
become equal to a neighboring die" ; let's say I have the line of dice
* * * 2 4 *
and I reroll the "2" and get a "4"
* * * 4 4 *,
is the rolled "4" the only one that gets sealed, or both "4" get sealed?
Is there a way to mitigate unwinable rounds, e.g. what happens if we get the following line:
* * * 2 4 *
where the "2" and the "4" are both sealed due to previous actions, as it can no more create a prefect spell?
"winning by disrupting your opponent or ignoring sealing is
considered unsportsmagelike." ; I'm not sure to follow, is it only a flavour text, a call for not playing with the goal of distrupting the opponent, shall we avoid some actions?
Die Sealing - Correct, only the re-rolled 4 is sealed. The rule on sealing only ever touches the singular die that is the target of the action. “A die”. This is also why actions which result in multiple dice being rolled require you to roll them one at a time. That way you always know if an individual die seals after it is rerolled.
Unwinnable States - There are no ways to win or correct for an unwinnable line. This is part of the strategy in Gentlemages is protecting your dice from getting in such a state. When a line becomes unwinnable, you are free to play out the round. This is where (contrary to answer #3) you might engage in destructive behavior towards your opponent, trying to get them into an unwinnable state and pushing the round. Otherwise they are playing to get as high a score for that round as possible in the case you are playing for a cumulative, multi-round score.
“Unsportsmagelike” - This is primarily flavor text meant to codify the nature of these magic duels. They are “courtly”, in that you should be more interested in showing off your own spell rather than disrupting your opponent’s. It is also a gentle nudge away from attack-style gameplay since, in our playtesting, that usually resulted in negative game states. You would either be so focused on making your opponent fail that you would never win, or both lines would become unwinnable and the round was moot. By focusing on your own perfect spell (and only occasionally disrupting your opponent) it keeps the game moving.
Hopefully these answers are helpful. Thank you for playing the game and for your feedback!
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Hey, I tried the game and some situations/rules are unclear to me.
* * * 2 4 *
and I reroll the "2" and get a "4"
* * * 4 4 *,
is the rolled "4" the only one that gets sealed, or both "4" get sealed?
* * * 2 4 *
where the "2" and the "4" are both sealed due to previous actions, as it can no more create a prefect spell?
Thank you already for the clarifications!
Great questions! Here are the answers in order:
Die Sealing - Correct, only the re-rolled 4 is sealed. The rule on sealing only ever touches the singular die that is the target of the action. “A die”. This is also why actions which result in multiple dice being rolled require you to roll them one at a time. That way you always know if an individual die seals after it is rerolled.
Unwinnable States - There are no ways to win or correct for an unwinnable line. This is part of the strategy in Gentlemages is protecting your dice from getting in such a state. When a line becomes unwinnable, you are free to play out the round. This is where (contrary to answer #3) you might engage in destructive behavior towards your opponent, trying to get them into an unwinnable state and pushing the round. Otherwise they are playing to get as high a score for that round as possible in the case you are playing for a cumulative, multi-round score.
“Unsportsmagelike” - This is primarily flavor text meant to codify the nature of these magic duels. They are “courtly”, in that you should be more interested in showing off your own spell rather than disrupting your opponent’s. It is also a gentle nudge away from attack-style gameplay since, in our playtesting, that usually resulted in negative game states. You would either be so focused on making your opponent fail that you would never win, or both lines would become unwinnable and the round was moot. By focusing on your own perfect spell (and only occasionally disrupting your opponent) it keeps the game moving.
Hopefully these answers are helpful. Thank you for playing the game and for your feedback!
Yes, it did help. Thank you!