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From: db@cstvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.games.board
Subject: Re: Cosmic Encounter
Message-ID: <86@cstvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 25-Mar-86 11:26:30 EST
Article-I.D.: cstvax.86
Posted: Tue Mar 25 11:26:30 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 29-Mar-86 16:22:46 EST
References: <185@altos86.UUCP> <167@sandia.UUCP> <165@cosivax.UUCP>
Reply-To: db@cstvax.UUCP (Dave Berry)
Distribution: net.games.board
Organization: Comp. Sc., Edinburgh Univ., Scotland
Lines: 31

In article <165@cosivax.UUCP> rec@cosivax.UUCP (Rick Cobb) writes:
>	Rules lawyers can be a big pain, but if I remember right, there's 
>	a flare in expansion set 5 that deals with them....

I often find that "rules lawyers" are simply people who are used to playing
a game with a different set of conventions from yourself.  This is particularly
noticeable in a game like Cosmic Encounter (or Talisman, or ...) since the
rules are virtually nonexistent and there are *lots* of events that interact
with each other, usually in undefined ways.  I consider this bad design, or at 
least bad playtesting.  I still think CE is a great game though.

The guy who used to organise the games I played in had changed many of the
powers and flares to make the game more balanced or less ambiguous; most of
these changes were preety good ideas.  He also discarded 20 or so of the moons
and one or two of the powers which were fun to read but a pain (or impossible)
to play with.  The result was not just good fun, but a tightly fought game too.

Before I moved to Edinburgh I dreamed up a tighter sequence of play to 
eliminate some of the arguments on timing we always got when someone new
joined our game - unfortunately I never got the chance to test it!

Maybe I'm what you call a rules lawyer???  Don't worry, I don't insist on
doing things this way.  It's just my personal preference.

>In addition, Eon has just repackaged the game; 

Oh good - maybe I'll be able to get a copy at last!

-- 
	Dave Berry. CS postgrad, Univ. of Edinburgh		
					...mcvax!ukc!cstvax!db