Balance tweaks have come to Nine Muses!
After a few playtests, some problems arose:
• Some players noted that it was difficult to see some iconography due to a lack of contrast between icons and background art
• There were some instances where a Muse couldn’t be released as players couldn’t get the proper resource
• There wasn’t enough distinction between resources (Why do I care about craft vs science vs ethics?)
• There was at least one instance where I had accidentally created an “infinite loop” of stealing that could only be broken by players doing something that wasn’t to their benefit to break the loop for everyone
• Some Muses were too highly favored over others due to their market gains
• It was missing a certain “je ne sais quoi?” that could take it from a good game to a great game
So how did I solve these issues?
• Special abilities! Poetesses don’t just give you victory points! Each Poetess has one unique ability that players can take advantage of as long as they have the Science
• I carved out some mechanical importance for each resource: Craft is best for changing the board up but VP turn in is low; Science is the only way to use Poetess abilities and has decent VP turn in, but it’s harder to hold on to; Ethics is the rarest resource but has a HIGH VP turn in compared to the others.
• I added a white stroke to the icons to make them stand out more against the background
• Slight tweaks to each Muse’s marketplace to ensure that players can get Craft with every Muse
Both the PnP & Digital have been updated. Let me know how these changes fare as you call upon the muses!
