Carcassonne Central

I'm really experimenting with ideas at present. Stocks started as an idea about hindering one's opponent (putting them in the stocks) with a medieval theme (perhaps not historically accurate in the region of Carcassonne, but one that everyone can identify with). In what way can one hinder an opponent? Missing a turn! A mechanic that is missing from the current game. Now, it might well be missing for a good reason. Novelty's point about opponents being able to lay multiple tiles before the 'missing a turn' player gets to draw again was a situation that I had not thought about. I still like the idea of the missing a turn mechanic, but how to implement without the builder problem raising its head? ??? Perhaps there is a better way to hinder someone? Hanging someone, via that gallows is completely different to hindering someones progress. Hinderance is temporary, hanging is permanent, and so the Gallows merits its own inclusion as a mini-expansion. I was amused that Scott and I were thinking along the same lines though ;)

Playing with the mechanics that you've got already in a game is somewhat limiting, and as you know, difficult. For instance, I love the Goldmines mechanic, where the feature is scored until complete and loses points for its occupier should it remain incomplete. That is clever. But it is now used and difficult to tweak in another form. The white meeples of Treasure Hunt... absolutely brilliant idea, but again, difficult to re-implement (but very useful, and i've no doubt that it will be used again). Jousting Tournament uses just the Knights to gain a victory, ignoring other followers occupying the city, but as soon as it's re-implemented you would know... ahhhh, Jousting Tournament! Invasion of Catharism. Simple idea, use 'redundant' tiles in a different way. Allows the replacing of a tile to suit a different purpose than that of the originally drawn one.

You will notice that I am also toying with mini-expansions at present (as opposed to major expansions, such as Forests). This is on purpose.

Now, there are others that browse this forum, and have ideas that they are not posting. I would encourage them to get your ideas out in the open, so we can all think about them. Need help understanding the 'what if' questions that multiple expansions raise regarding your idea? ...we can all help. Not good at designing tiles?... we have people that will do that for you! Can't write rules?... others will do that for you! We are not variant/expansion hogs and will give you the credit when your idea is used. This site is a community and should not be limited to just the handful of people posting their comments and ideas. In this way we get to have the best variants available for the entire Carcassonne community.

Totally agree with the above post.
I love fiddling around in Photoshop but my english just isn't good enough to write some decent rules.
So if you have some ideas to work with, I can try to realize some tiles ;:-)

There is an older thread in this forum where people could post ideas they weren't able to develop themselves (or weren't planning to).

I'm not going to claim any brilliance on my part on coming up with stuff. Some ideas had been brewing in my head a long time. I don't mind sharing my thought process for trying to inspire myself. To come up with an expansion idea, I think about other games (not just board games) and what mechanics they have. The idea for gold mines stemmed from a desire to implement natural resources (found in Settlers of Catan, and in the various Age of Empires games on the computer). I also try to think about medieval times and things that were around back then. For coming up with scoring mechanisms, it sometimes automatically stems from the tile type. For example, forests was based on cities, so it is scored like cities but worth less per tile. Gold mines was based on cloisters, but shrines already added another cloister tile. Again the natural resources idea inspired me (and a board game called Exploration), and I got the idea to turn the scoring mechanism around/backwards. What other scoring mechanisms can be turned around? Or turned sideways? That might not make much sense, but that's how new ideas are discovered. Also look at scoring mechanisms from other games, particularly the other Carc games. What features were added to the newer Carc games that haven't been duplicated by an expansion? Huts from H&G?

I've always thought there's a use for double-sided tiles.  Sure, if you are using the tower to draw tiles from, you could uncover a double-sided tile, but that's just the luck of the draw. Gives a player double the opportunity to use the tile, kind of a bonus without specifically giving/removing points or turns.

That is similar in concept of my Invasion of Catharism variant. Having a choice of two tiles to lay. Do you besige someone elses city or do you extend your own. Of course, with my version you cannot 'move the wood' onto the Cathar tile (should you choose to play it), so perhaps a double sided tile that allows placement of the wood, would be interesting. Maybe, a mirror image of the front on the reverse?

I've always thought the bag provides more randomness anyway. The reverse side of the Siege tiles would indeed be a good place for my homemade Cathar stickers.

Although having a second tile on had that represents the second side (ala Invasion of Catharism) does the trick without tipping off what tile is being drawn.

The problem I'm having with tile-changing rules is the physical act of changing out the tile. Trying to pull one from the middle a Carc game is just begging for a disaster.

Here's some good places to start for inspiration for a new variant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_folklore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_folklore)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_literature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_literature)

Invasion of Catharism dispenses with this problem, in that you must decide if you will besiege the city before laying the drawn tile. You cannot change it after the fact.

Yep, I saw and recognized that distinction as one of the things that makes "Invasion" playable. :)Sure would like to figure out an effective way of changing tiles later on, though...

I'm feeling the desire to go ahead with another expansion. I have a couple ideas I am tossing around, but with that said, I could use a few more. So, here's what I'm asking...!  I want some thematic ideas. General ideas that you might find interesting or feel might have a place in the world of Carcassonne! Sometimes just the slightest idea will lead me to some big ideas. Soooo, if anyone's willing, I'd like to hear some thoughts. Help get my mind rolling!   ;D

So you want Thematic suggestions huh?  Well lets see some of what you've done already to help those who might not be familiar with your work thus far (these are summaries of the most basic kind and I encourage everyone to look into these with more detail if you really want to know what its about)...

Influence of the Church: Thematically adds religious zeal that influences follower placement and increases cloister potential
New Discoveries: Thematically adds exploration and “staking a claim” by introducing tiles disconnected from the main play area
Forest Fire: Thematically introduces natural disaster into the Forests expansion.
Windmills and Bakeries: Thematically self explanatory, adds a new feature to claim and complete
Witches and Wizards: Thematically self explanatory, adds competing magical influence over the play area
Fortune Teller: Thematically self explanatory, adds increased chances of getting tiles you need/want
Seasons: Thematically introduces time into the game by adding bonuses and penalties throughout the seasons of the year.
The Lake: Thematically adds a race to the game through the mechanics of manning a lighthouse.
Chariot Racing: Thematically adds betting on the races
(I didn’t realize how long this list was gonna be before I started!)
By Order of the King: Thematically introduces structural challenges in the tile layout through means of cards.
Barbarian Horde: Thematically introduces invasion and defense (with a semi cooperative feel) through introduction of neutral invaders and new options to spend points to build defenses against them.
Catapult Extra Token: Thematically adds invaders attacking unclaimed features for the right to claim it.
Roman Road and Temple: Thematically adds roman influence to the game (this was a collaborative work with some other CC designers I believe)

Did I miss anything?  So now the question is what hasn’t he already done!
 ;D

An idea popped into my head that I might throw out there.  What about something thematically that had to do with the influence and power of the Knights Templar.  I don't know anything historically about their presence in Carcassonne, but they were a widespread power in all of Europe.  Templars were symbols of many things over their history.  They are connected to the story of the Holy Grail, they developed ideas that became banking, they were viewed by some as Christian heroes and by some as Pagans (possibly connecting to cults somehow?).  There could be many mechanics that fit thematically here.

That could be cool.  Use the Ark from Ark of the Covenant...move it through the countryside...

I've wondered about something like that anyway.  I Roving band of knights...maybe evil ones to do something...I dunno. 

tied to the smoke eater tiles (blue/gray) cities already on BGG

Ha! That was the idea that got me thinking of the Knights Templar theme.


Do you have a link for these?  I'm not sure I know what you are refering to.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/19347/invasion-zip

Some other thematic ideas...

Grimms Fairy Tales (I know this has been done to some degree but not extensively)

Something using the other two pennants you created for chariot race that aren't alread the family fued pennants

I'm a big fan of fantasy so the additon of more fantasy elements/creatures is fun to me.  I love the dragon and fan made giant that is being developed.  Maybe other fantastic creatures?  Werewolves, demons, vampires, ghosts...

I'm just brainstorming...I love to see what the creative people on this site can come up with.

I could see harvesting Roc eggs in the mountains as a 'fantasy" idea

and still like bridge trolls taking thief tolls

Paint some tower pieces green and call it Jack and the Beanstalk.

That would be an interesting twist.  Maybe that can work with the giant expansion somehow.  It never has been written up finalized and has gone through multiple variations.

around the time of the renaissance, in middle europe there were many new innovations / scientific advances. military, agricultural, engineering and nautical. if the game started as normal and during the game some key moment or tile drawn err, and then an advance was made, different advances in different games i think might be better than the same ones in different orders, dunno. and then something was different?

like the tredmill crane was invented in 12.. something and it made city construction easier.

or the stirrup or high backed saddle made knights more effective / powerfull.

the plow and horse collar

pobably some road construction technique or other

no idea about monks, but there again religeon has had expansions recently anyway, nod n' wink.

Gun powder started making its way into Europe in the 1200's. That might affect thieves and/or knights.

What about Arabian Nights and the tales told by Sherherazade?  It might fit better with Ark of the covenant, though, being in the correct geographical location as opposed to France. 

Also, the Legend of the Templars could work very well, if tied in with the legend/backstory from The Da Vinci Code - the legends that the Holy Grail once made it to France. 

Or, you could do something involving the Crusades, such a tile (or something) that triggers an event that causes all knights to leave their incompleted cities to fight in the Crusades. 

The guys in our group have recently discussed the idea of an expansion to counter the spread of the plague - something like a rat-catcher perhaps?? We've just not got the creative flair to actually make this into an actual expansion!

oh the rat catcher is kewl