Pulsipher Game Design

I am so busy with teaching that I haven't played a game solo in months, but I do sometimes manage to get people together for playtest sessions. Viking Gold (TM), Battle of Hastings, and Law & Chaos (TM) are what is usually played.

Recently I've . . . planned, I guess you might call it, three new games. "Planned" nowadays means I have made a map (usually on computer), figured out the basic structures (combat system, economy, etc.), and am close to ready to play the game solo. I find that as I get more experience I can do more of this, and do it more effectively, before first play than I could in the past. One game is an ancient Near Eastern Brit-like game, another is a game "something like Risk, Vinci, History of the World, and Britannia crossed" on a map of Eurasia. The third is something I've avoided for a long time, but it just hit me one day and "arrived" in a couple hours: a shorter, no-dice expansion for B2, using many of the ideas I use in Brit-Lite. The difference is that BLite cannot be published while B2 is in print, practically speaking, while an expansion may be.

I talked with an editor recently about a textbook "How to Design Games" and I'm creating a proposal according to their specifications. No telling what will come of it.