Rick Thornquist: Where have I been? / Caylus Magna Carta

I know, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here on BGN.  Actually, I haven’t posted much of anything online since I gave up the reins of the site!  I have gotten a number of emails asking where the heck I’ve been.  Well, for those that are interested, I’m going to tell you!  I’m also going to tell you about the upcoming game Caylus Magna Carta, which I’ve had a chance to play.

During the months before Essen the site kept me extremely busy and I was pretty burnt out by the time I came back from Germany.  After handing over the reins of the site to Eric I decided that I would lay low, relax, and decide what to do next. 

I thought about a few projects before settling on one I’ve wanted to do for a long time.  I’ve decided I’m going to write a book about the old computer game company Infocom.  Remember those computer text adventure games in the 80s - games like Zork, Deadline, and Planetfall?  Those games were huge in their day and Infocom was the company that brought out the best games in the text adventure genre.  The company doesn’t exist anymore, but their games are still considered classics.  There are short histories of the company on the web, but I’m looking to do an in-depth history with information on each of their games plus lots of interesting extras.

Writing a book is a new thing for me and I have lots to learn.  I have been spending a fair amount of time learning about writing, graphics, book design and publishing.  I intend to do video interviews with as many of the Infocom people as I can - that requires me to learn about lighting, shooting, editing, etc (I’m looking to shoot in high definition and include the interviews on a DVD with the book).  I expect the book will take most of this year, depending on how things go.

P.S.  I’m looking to get a hold of as many Infocom games as possible so I can photograph them for the book.  If any of you have any old Infocom games sitting in your basement that you want to get rid of (and are in good condition), I’d love to take them off your hands. Contact me at rickthornquist followed by the at sign and then gmail.com.

Games Played
Though I’m working on the book, I’ve still been gaming once or twice a week.  I’ve mostly been playing the Essen games - those are the ones most people want to play.  Probably the ones that have impressed people the most have been R-ECO, Die Saulen der Erde (The Pillers of Rome), and Through the Ages - though there are many other of the Essen games that people enjoy as well.

Caylus Magna Carta
With the Nuremberg Toy Fair now over, we will soon be deluged with an entirely new crop of games.  I’m not really in the new game news loop anymore, but Cyril Demaegd of Ystari Games sent me the rules and files for their upcoming game Caylus Magna Carta so I could give the rules a proofread.  I put together a prototype and got a chance to play the game a couple of times.  I know that people are interested in this one so I thought I’d post a quick description of it.

This is basically a card game version of Caylus.  The major changes involve using cards for the buildings instead of a board and tiles, simplifying the rules, and shortening the playing time.

In Caylus Magna Carta, each player gets their own deck of building cards.  You start with three in your hand.  A couple of neutral buildings cards start on the table to start the road - the rest of the buildings will be built from the player’s hands.  On your turn, instead of placing a worker, you can draw another building card, exchange all of your building cards for new ones, or build a building by playing one from your hand to the table at the end of the road. 

One neat new thing is when another player uses one of your buildings, you get a secondary effect which is sort of a lesser version of the primary effect of the building (in regular Caylus you just get a victory point if someone uses your building).  For example, if someone plays a worker on your gold mine they get a gold cube - you then may exchange one of your other cubes for a gold cube. This addition adds another little layer of strategy.

The rules have been simplified somewhat.  Turn order is now just clockwise, the building of the castle is simplified and there are no favors (the player who builds the most in the castle just gets a gold cube).  Some of the more esoteric buildings have also been dropped to simplify things.

Like Caylus, you get victory points for the buildings you built, building castle sections, and stuff you have left at the end of the game.  Unlike Caylus, there is no score track - you simply total up your points at the end of the game and whoever has the most wins.

One other difference is that the playing time has been shortened considerably.  I played two games with four players and the games clocked in at 75 minutes each.

It might be useful to make a comparison to some other games that have card game versions.  For example, I found Caylus and Caylus Magna Carta much closer to each other than Puerto Rico and San Juan are.  To me, Puerto Rico and San Juan are obviously based on the same game but play fairly differently.  Caylus and Caylus Magna Carta play fairly similarly, but they are not as close to each other as, say, Euphrates & Tigris and the E&T card game. 

I think this would be a good game for those who want shorter, simpler version of Caylus.  I would prefer to play Caylus, but if I was pressed for time I would be quite happy to play Caylus Magna Carta.

That’s it for this time!  I’ll be off to the Gathering of Friends at the end of March and expect to play quite a few new games then.  You may see more columns from me then!

© 2007 Rick Thornquist

---

Comments:

You must register with BGN in order to comment. Registration is free!

Welcome back Rick! It’s nice to know that you are still playing around somewhere. I hope the new Captain and all the crew is shipping your BGN boat in the direction you was dreaming! good play Liga Posted by Andrea Liga Ligabue on Feb 13, 2007 at 07:40 AM | #

Hello Rick, Good luck with the book, as a fan of the old Infocom games I’m looking forward to reading it. It is good to hear you are getting to play games occasionally and Caylus Magna Carta sounds well worth picking up. Posted by Kevin Bender on Feb 13, 2007 at 08:12 AM | #

Good luck with the book Rick.  I’ll certainly buy the book once it’s published.  A history of Infocom and of the Infocom games would be a very interesting read.  Do you have a publisher yet? Posted by Kim Beattie on Feb 13, 2007 at 09:20 AM | #

Hi Rick!  I recently read Nick Montfort’s _Twisty Little Passages_ but was disappointed.  It gives an overview of the history of interactive fiction, with a chapter on Infocom, but its main focus is more of an academic study of the form so it doesn’t really do justice to the history.  I’d love to see you improve on that book. Posted by Doug Orleans on Feb 13, 2007 at 09:32 AM | #

Hey buddy!  Like the rest of the world, I was wondering where the hell you’d gone to!  Good to hear that you’re alive and well and excited about a new project.  After all, there is a considerable public interest in keeping you off the streets!  I’m REALLY glad to hear that you’ll be in Columbus this year.  It’ll be great to see you and any other members of the Canadian Mafia who also decide to attend.  See you then! Posted by Larry Levy on Feb 13, 2007 at 09:34 AM | #

So, I assume this new game would probably be more portable than the original Caylus?  (ie. it sounds more card based, so is a smaller game...) Always a plus for me if I’m flying somewhere to visit. Oh, and a minor quibble… in Caylus you get a prestige/victory point (not denari/money) if someone uses your building. Posted by Matt J. Carlson on Feb 13, 2007 at 10:39 AM | #

Liga - Eric has been doing a great job.  I’m very grateful to him for continuing the voyage of the good ship BGN. Kim - I don’t have a publisher for the book yet.  I’m likely going to be self-publishing, at least for the first print run.  After that we’ll see what happens. Doug - I have read Twisty Little Passages as well.  Like you, I found it more of a scholarly work which skipped over much of the interesting history of the genre.  Reading that book was one of the things that pushed me into doing a more in-depth history of Infocom. Larry - You will indeed see me in Columbus.  Looking forward to it! Matt - Caylus Magna Carta is indeed more portable than Caylus - a plus. You are correct, in Caylus you do get a victory point, not money, if someone uses your building.  A silly mistake on my part which I not completely sure about when I wrote, thought I should check it, and the promptly forgot.  I’ve fixed it, thanks! - Rick Posted by Rick Thornquist on Feb 13, 2007 at 01:18 PM | #

Rick, that’s great that you’re working on that book! I read Twisty Little Passages, too, and enjoyed it especially as my mom worked at BBN in the 70s and I got to play Adventure when it first got out and around (on a Decwriter printer terminal). All the Infocom games and scans of the materials seem to be available on the internet. My kids (ages 9 and 11) have tried Planetfall, Hitchhiker’s, and Zork but found them frustrating. But my daughter is now playing Seastalker and is really enjoying it, including its cool package of maps and other printed mission materials. Do you think you’ll include any info on modern hobbyist ‘interactive fiction’ in your book? My daughter wrote a game using the poorly-documented TADS3 development system for a school project last year, and now she’s working on a game using the new Inform7 system, which has a very nicely done developer’s environment. Posted by Joe Czapski on Feb 13, 2007 at 06:44 PM | #

Joe - Seastalker is definitely the game to start with - especially for kids.  Wishbringer is also a good one as is Moonmist. I intend to include a short ‘Legacy’ chapter on the developments of interactive fiction since Infocom, but that’s about it.  I could write quite a bit about that subject and the book already looks to be too big! Inform 7 is quite neat (for those who don’t know, Inform is a program that enables you to create Infocom-like adventure games).  I’ve dabbled with it and recommend it for anyone who wants to create their own adventures. - Rick Posted by Rick Thornquist on Feb 13, 2007 at 09:10 PM | #

For those interested in text adventures, Infocom or otherwise, there is a great authoring language system called Inform to be downloaded from http://www.inform-fiction.org/I7/Welcome.html - it’s great to write stuff like “The kitchen is a room. It is west of the dining room.” and know that you just defined two rooms and one exit from each of them. Plus it can produce Z-code to run in an “Infocom engine”! Infocom’s importance in the field is so great that it will fill a whole book; the other genre companies like Level 9, Rainbird, Scott Adams’ company, Melbourne House etc. - well, a few of them would perhaps be interesting as well. In case you need something to write about after you finish this one… Posted by Tor Iver Wilhelmsen on Feb 14, 2007 at 12:32 PM | #

< Back Home