Hey, we’re about to send the new Super Story War rule sheet off to the printers! We’re still making a few final tweaks, but we wanted y’all to check it out!
One thing that’s unfortunate about making a mass produced print game, as opposed to a digital game, is there is no going back when it comes to the rules. Though the old rules convey the concept of Story War well enough that most people are able to play the game as it was intended to be played, there are occasional instances where some players don’t “get” it.
Hardcore Story War fans (like for example, Matt, who has blogged about this in the past) will get around this by introducing the rules in a slightly different way. For example, it helps to play down victory points and play up the judge’s infallibility. Now that we get a chance to re-print the rules for Story War, we’ve decided to make a few minor but important tweaks that should improve the overall experience for everyone:
The biggest change in terms of actual mechanics is that the judge can now declare a new victory condition at any time. This is something that players tend to do anyway, so we decided to canonize it. It also helps to more clearly set up the goal of the game before you jump into battle, as most people tend to read the rules as they execute them.
The back side of the rules has been broken up by fan art. We realized when people unpackaged the rules they’d unfold the whole thing, look at a two sided rule sheet, and get immediately frustrated. We got around that by cleaning up the FAQ section (and splitting it into a new ‘tips’ section) and pacing them with big chunks of art. You now don’t feel like you have to read the back side until after you’ve started playing.
The “tips” section now includes less rulesy-sounding advice on how to have more fun. This advice is both for judges and the players. Since the rules are so mechanical, we wanted there to be a little more straight forward explanation of the kind of vibe we’re going for.
The last page no longer says “VICTORY” and instead it says “THE END” - the step where you count your victory cards has been entirely removed. Now, the game simply ends. Hopefully this will help with obnoxiously competitive players. Victory cards are looked at, and you pick your favorite, and you put them in the middle of the table and tell a final story where everybody wins. This step can, of course, be skipped. But it’s similar to the “haiku” step in Cards Against Humanity and acts as a fun palate cleanser.
The Credits page now does a better job of emphasizing Story War as a multimedia experience, and even has a pretty visible plug for the cartoon.
Hopefully these new rules will make Story War just slightly more fun each time you play it with new people. We’re going to retrofit these rules onto the next reprinting of volume 1, as well as provide a printable version that you can slip in to your existing game if you like.
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