Anyone want to help thrash out campaign rules??

[Broadsword56]

Fred, thank you so much for making this excellent CDG for campaigns.
After looking over your rules and map, I think it's very nearly there. It looks easy and fun to play.
Lots of good suggestions by others, above -- but my only one would be this:

While I appreciate the CDG type of wargame, I feel very strongly that players should be in the role of the human commander, not God or Neptune. So the player should only be able to play cards that represent things somewhat under his or her control. For example, Fair Winds cards can represent putting up more sail or taking a better attitude to the wind. Sharp Lookout represents a skillful crew, and a Blockade is a command decision. Trapped Against a Lee Shore is OK with me because while it can just be bad luck, it can also represent superior maneuvering on the part of the enemy to trap the opponent there. And even Fog Bank is OK because it can represent the tactical choice to evade by darting into the fog. But IMHO there's no place in a historical wargame for "inflicting" a typhoon or becalmed winds on the opponent, or for inflicting things like the enemy's rotting cargo or his low supplies, which are not subject to your control. To me, that's akin to casting spells and D&D type stuff. Those are good and realistic events, but they should be in a separate category of Random Events and have a separate deck of their own, and which could affect either player depending on the circumstances.
To borrow from Daveshoe's Lord of The Lakes rules, how about inserting a Random Events check phase, just after both players have passed and before the turn ends. Roll a D10, and on a 1 or 2 a Random Event occurs. Some events could affect both sides, while others only affect one side (red player if the roll was 1 and blue player if the roll was 2). And there could be lots more types of those random events, too: For example, a fever outbreak that reduces crew strength/ability, storms, ship mishaps. Events outside the scope of the player/commander's purview could be random events too, like the Admiralty requisitioning one of a player's ships and transferring it out of the theatre, or an unexpected reinforcement arriving.

P.S. -- I'm going to make a Cyberboard module for the card campaign game. That will let people play it by e-mail, and eliminate the need to have printed components for those who prefer the PC to administer things. Once I have the gamebox made, I'd like to make two scenarios for it: One would be Fred's fictional campaign scenario, and the other would be a historical Lake Ontario 1813 scenario that would use the same system but have its own subset of rules, special cards, named ships, etc.

[fredmiracle]

Fred, thank you so much for making this excellent CDG for campaigns.
After looking over your rules and map, I think it's very nearly there. It looks easy and fun to play.

thanks!! I'm eager to work some more on it, although time just hasn't been on my side. I haven't even had time to finish thinking about Ozeriig's thoughtful comments. The bit we played over Christmas seems promising, but also like significant testing and tweaking is needed to perfect it.

I feel very strongly that players should be in the role of the human commander, not God or Neptune. So the player should only be able to play cards that represent things somewhat under his or her control.

I can understand that perspective. Personally I don't mind it being somewhat 'gamey'--I kind of like the idea of sticking a typhoon on your opponent. I guess because it is the Aubrey/Hornblower genre that inspired it, and because those guys are undeniably pretty lucky as well as skillful (and in a sense their skill often appears as creating good luck for themselves--Hornblower would sense from the froth on the waves that a typhoon was over the horizon) it fits my sensibilities.

But I'm not hung up on it, and can see the possibility of having a separate random events deck. Exactly how that fits into the gameplay (i.e. how do the right cards get chosen to interject themselves into a chase sequence as opposed to disrupting a blockade) would definitely need some thought. Also I have so-far resisted multiple decks (like one for "fair winds" and one for "special events") just because I like the simplicity of one deck and one basic mechanism.

P.S. -- I'm going to make a Cyberboard module for the card campaign game. That will let people play it by e-mail, and eliminate the need to have printed components for those who prefer the PC to administer things. Once I have the gamebox made, I'd like to make two scenarios for it: One would be Fred's fictional campaign scenario, and the other would be a historical Lake Ontario 1813 scenario that would use the same system but have its own subset of rules, special cards, named ships, etc.

that would be amazing. what it really needs right now is playtesting, so if it could be done in our virtual community that would greatly expedite the progress we could make.

[Broadsword56]

Fred,
Check your inbox. I sent you download links for the Cyberboard gamebox + scenario I made for the CDG.
Hope you enjoy it!