Two Rex Makes #5 - Everything but the kitchen sink

I have since read that there is a tendency for new designers to throw a lot of different ideas into their early games through an abundance of creativity and a lack of experience! We certainly fit that bill!

Our first draft had way too much going on but we did like the theme and the idea of dice representing multiple versions of the same time traveller. After some quick virtual play test sessions we simplified the layout of the shared dice placement board. A circular loop split into 3 eras of time that allowed the players to collect resources. These resources are then spent to claim Time Machine cards, 3 cards are needed to build a complete machine.

The era that your dice ended up claiming resources from dictates what part of the player sheet you move your dice ‘travellers’ on to. The dice select actions and also represent time spent in an era to complete an activity. The more dice you send to one era, the stronger the action!

We were toying with the idea of having faintly drawn objects related to each time period that you trace over in a ‘dot to dot’ sort of thing. The example in this blog is a Roman scroll showing plans for a new Triumphal Arch. You fill in the dots and draw a line up to the next one. As soon as you complete a section of this drawing you unlock the bonus item marked inside which gives you a little boost action.

The rolling, collecting and then placing was fun and the dot to dot drawing idea felt like something new for a roll & write, but we were worried about lack of variability between games, the thing we enjoyed most about games that involved a pen or pencil was creating something different each time, Cartographers, Voyages and Railroad Inc. being great examples. It was satisfying looking at your new little creation at the end of the game! Time for some new ideas…