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[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.
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<blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 3498994" data-attributes="member: 10201"><p>The relevant info actually did make it into the book, just not anywhere super-obvious: it's in the [brief] appendix on alternatives to Jenga. Anyway, in our experience, the tower is generally good for 35-55 pulls before it falls. With beginning groups (and, thus, most convention games), it'll be near the bottom of that range. I've sometimes counted either how many pulls when it fell, or how many had been made at the end of the game (if the tower was still standing), and it's usually around 35 at con games. But when just the 4 of us that designed it (and have thus played it tons) play--especially if Eppy is the host [he has the poorest motor skills--no offense, Eppy]--getting 50+ pulls has become the norm, though far from guaranteed.</p><p></p><p>But, here's the secret: even knowing this, it becomes nerve-wracking for me around 25 pulls. Because, even while i know that i can generally make another pull from a tower that's "about this rickety", i never know for sure, and if i'm wrong, or i screw up, i'm out of the game.</p><p></p><p>And, depending on the group, that point can come much earlier. I've run games for groups that were getting seriously afraid of the tower as little as a dozen or 15 pulls into the game. In some cases, due to injudicious pulls earlier, they were right to be nervous. But, in plenty of other cases, my experienced eye could tell that they likely were in no real danger of toppling the tower for another dozen. But play with that tension! It still needs to feel to the players like they're taking risks, whether or not they are, every time they pull. To that end, making a bigger deal out of wobbles and bumps than is actually warranted is also par for the course when i'm hosting. Maybe. Then again, maybe i'm giving a very realistic assessment of the tower. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> And, of course, no matter how good you are, no pull is <strong>ever</strong> a "sure thing". I've certainly been overly-cocky and taken the tower down on what i thought was an 'easy' pull on more than one occasion. </p><p></p><p>So, you get a wide range at which the tower will "likely" fall (~35-~55), but with no hard boundary on either end of that range (IIRC, the theoretical absolute limit of pulls is something like 101, and the probabilities someone posted a link to predict a more-realistic ceiling of 67), combined with an even wider range of when it "might" fall (while theoretically at any point, it generally is neither in any real danger of falling except through clutziness, nor is the group particularly worried about it falling, at less than about 20 pulls), all emphasized by the simple knowledge on the part of the players that, no matter how easy a pull is now, it's still getting them a step closer to that pull they can't successfully make. </p><p></p><p>Or, to answer a question we get sometimes, to the point where there are no pulls left to make, no matter how deft or dextrous you might be--i came within 2 pulls of that point once in a game. It doesn't matter why you don't pull, and that's a feature, not a bug--no free passes, just because you've used up the tower. It just means you know for certain that the next time you try something that requires a pull, you're failing or dying--take your pick. As opposed to the near-certainty that a very rickety tower can provide.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="woodelf, post: 3498994, member: 10201"] The relevant info actually did make it into the book, just not anywhere super-obvious: it's in the [brief] appendix on alternatives to Jenga. Anyway, in our experience, the tower is generally good for 35-55 pulls before it falls. With beginning groups (and, thus, most convention games), it'll be near the bottom of that range. I've sometimes counted either how many pulls when it fell, or how many had been made at the end of the game (if the tower was still standing), and it's usually around 35 at con games. But when just the 4 of us that designed it (and have thus played it tons) play--especially if Eppy is the host [he has the poorest motor skills--no offense, Eppy]--getting 50+ pulls has become the norm, though far from guaranteed. But, here's the secret: even knowing this, it becomes nerve-wracking for me around 25 pulls. Because, even while i know that i can generally make another pull from a tower that's "about this rickety", i never know for sure, and if i'm wrong, or i screw up, i'm out of the game. And, depending on the group, that point can come much earlier. I've run games for groups that were getting seriously afraid of the tower as little as a dozen or 15 pulls into the game. In some cases, due to injudicious pulls earlier, they were right to be nervous. But, in plenty of other cases, my experienced eye could tell that they likely were in no real danger of toppling the tower for another dozen. But play with that tension! It still needs to feel to the players like they're taking risks, whether or not they are, every time they pull. To that end, making a bigger deal out of wobbles and bumps than is actually warranted is also par for the course when i'm hosting. Maybe. Then again, maybe i'm giving a very realistic assessment of the tower. ;) And, of course, no matter how good you are, no pull is [b]ever[/b] a "sure thing". I've certainly been overly-cocky and taken the tower down on what i thought was an 'easy' pull on more than one occasion. So, you get a wide range at which the tower will "likely" fall (~35-~55), but with no hard boundary on either end of that range (IIRC, the theoretical absolute limit of pulls is something like 101, and the probabilities someone posted a link to predict a more-realistic ceiling of 67), combined with an even wider range of when it "might" fall (while theoretically at any point, it generally is neither in any real danger of falling except through clutziness, nor is the group particularly worried about it falling, at less than about 20 pulls), all emphasized by the simple knowledge on the part of the players that, no matter how easy a pull is now, it's still getting them a step closer to that pull they can't successfully make. Or, to answer a question we get sometimes, to the point where there are no pulls left to make, no matter how deft or dextrous you might be--i came within 2 pulls of that point once in a game. It doesn't matter why you don't pull, and that's a feature, not a bug--no free passes, just because you've used up the tower. It just means you know for certain that the next time you try something that requires a pull, you're failing or dying--take your pick. As opposed to the near-certainty that a very rickety tower can provide. [/QUOTE]
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