Rather than joining in this game I would be given the chance to act as the mediator and rules instructor. Seeing as no one in my group had ever played this game It was the perfect chance for me to to have a chance at direct observation of a session rather than through participation.
Setup was fairly simple as I explained the conditions of victory. Reach 20 victory points, or be the last monster standing. Rolling the dice as a means to heal, punch, or score your way to victory. Along with punching and healing and scoring, players are able to purchase power up cards to increase their chances of victory.
The first round of dice rolling was a basic learning of rules for all the players and the true personalities of each players started to show. As they each took their turns rolling they slowly began to learn the rules of the game and slowly started developing their own strategies.
Unfortunately there was a huge cog that commonly disrupted the immersion of the game play. Because this session, was an assignment there were two types of players, those interested and those being forced to play the game. In this sample group of 6 players I had 5 from the class and 1 outsider who joined on a whim.
In this session report I will go over the player types and strategies that were observed
The first type of player was "Headstrong" type. This person play style is based on a lack of understanding of the rules and objective. This person resorts to often high risk plays with no thought or strategy whatsoever. This player was also the first to be eliminated.
The second type of player is the "Thinker" type. This person is the kind of person who asks about rules and was generally interested in the game. They develop strategies as they begin to learn the rules and often ask questions pertaining to the limits of what they can and can't do. They often gave advice to the other players and considered the design of the game and the decisions behind the rules of the game. Because this archetype is able to gain some understanding of the rules quickly they immediately became the target of elimination. This player became the second to be eliminated. The most unfortunate part about this is that this person was the one who was not part of the class.
The third type is the "Bystander" type. This person has a general understanding of the rules is able to play along to an extent. But unfortunately becomes the bystander of the aggression when the "Thinker" type personality emerges. In the end this person was eliminated along with the "Thinker" type and his campaign for conquest ended.
Once these three were eliminated from the bout the game came down to the remaining three archetypes.
The fourth type is the "Passive" type. This person lets things happen as they happen. Their decisions are based on what other people tell them to do as they try to learn the rules. Plays were often defensive and personal strategies were only formed when there was no input from others or when at risk of losing.
the fifth type is the "Pacifist" type. This person has a firm grasp of the rules but their play style revolves around making neutral plays rather than aggressive ones. This person focused more on staying safe rather than on winning.
the final type observed was the "Distracted" type. This person at first was more focused on the assignment than on the game itself often forgetting turn order and forgetting rules. As the game progressed however this person slowly started getting more into the game, noticing more details, as they went along. Their strategy was based on situational analysis and slowly began asking more questions and reading the fine print as the game went along.
In the end the winning strategy belonged to the "Distracted" archetype. As the game progressed this person was the one who adapted best to the rules and to the conditions of wining.While the others were slowly focusing on surviving this person began noticing small details within the power up cards and began amassing several abilities that were soon impossible to deal with.
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