Table talk rules
Anthony Minkoff
What do you think of "Table talk"? E.g., telling other players
what's in your hand, makind unofficial deals, giving other players
strategic advice, etc...
The first group with which I played was much too cutthroat for
this to be a problem. Nobody trusted anybody enough even to bother
to listen.
With the next group I played with, it was a bit of a problem.
First of all, many of these players were much too honest to even
consider a double-cross (such as saying "I'll play a Compromise if
you play a Compromise," and then playing an Attack). As a result, a
lot of suspense was taken out of the game.
Also, things like the Pirate Flare got annoying when the player
who hid a treasure told everybody where it was so they would find it
faster.
Furthermore, the veterans would dominate the rookies. When the
rookies were having trouble with a strategic concept, the veterans
would tell them what the should do, and they would do it. Again,
lots of suspense gone.
Now, along comes the Mayfair version, and says this sort of
thing is encouraged.
How do you play?
Tony Minkoff
The Resource, Poet-Magician of Quality
> What do you think of "Table talk"? E.g., telling other players
>what's in your hand, makind unofficial deals, giving other players
>strategic advice, etc...
I guess I fell that telling other players things that are supposed to
be secret, like the contents of your hand, is against the rules.
Unofficial deals and strategic advice is fine, but the rules don't
provide any protection if such deals are broken or such advice is
faulty.
> Now, along comes the Mayfair version, and says this sort of
>thing is encouraged.
Really? Where does it say that?
--
Brian Charles Kohn AT&T Bell Laboratories Quality Process Center
ISO Standards Assessor E-MAIL: att!hoqax!bicker (bic...@hoqax.ATT.COM)
Poet-Magician of Quality PHONE: (908) 949-5850 FAX: (908) 949-7724
'Hope, not fear, is the most positive advocate of action.' - S.R. Lawhead
Jeremy Louis Billones
There are several powers whose sole advantage is that they learn things
about people's hands that other players don't know (like Mind). And
that kind of privileged information is a useful thing to trade. When
you allow that kind of table talk, you can thuroughly hose down
some players, and destroy any semblance of skill.
BTW - Helping rookies to learn the game is a separate case.
Jeremy Billones bil...@rpi.edu or jbil...@jarthur.claremont.edu
He waded through the ankle-deep debris and shreds of crumpled paper on the
table on which Saavik was curled asleep, clutching a mangled page in her
hand. The words were malformed, torturously carved, but they were legible
and correctly spelled: SPOCK NOTGO MY NAME IS SAAVIK.
Zed
information, eg the contents of hands. My group plays pretty fast and
loose with this -- we play that it is usually in poor taste to
exchange such information.
"In a compromising position?" is considered perfectly acceptable as
one embarks on a challenge. Purposefully backstabbing after informally
agreeing to compromise would then be considered obnoxious, but always
considered within the realm of possibility. You'd just probably have
to offer something really nice before the backstabbee would consider
doing anything nice for you again.
The Mind or someone playing Finder _could_ read off the contents of
someone's hand, but this is considered in extremely poor taste.
Sweeping comments as to whether the hand was good or bad wouldn't be
considered remarkable.
Where the wild pirate treasure is would be completely off-limits, but
telling someone who's flipped your color "landing on this moon might
prove good" would be okay. Likewise, while moons' contents aren't
revealed, descriptions of good, bad, or entertaining are freely given
out.
I've seen some groups who are real sticklers for "no private
information". I can't recall having seen any more lax about it than
the people I've done most of my CEing with. I'd say just find
something your group's happy with.
Zed
--
z...@silver.lcs.mit.edu PO Box 698 Piscataway, NJ 08855 compulsive ruminator
Martin Snow
>
> Also, things like the Pirate Flare got annoying when the player
>who hid a treasure told everybody where it was so they would find it
>faster.
I think that table-talk such as this is clearly outside the spirit of the
rules, even if not specifically outside the letter. What's the point
of having the player "write it down" rather than just announce the location
to the other players if it's not supposed to remain a secret?
We used to play with someone who would say "there can be peace in our time"
before playing a challenge card to indicate that he wanted to deal. There
were a few double-crosses, but not many. I considered this table-talk,
but not everyone agreed with me.
The only time the exchange of such information would be acceptable is DURING
a deal situation. Certainly, you can show someone a card from your hand if
you are offering it as part of the deal, so you should be able to show it as
part of the negotiations. As for telling other secrets during a deal, I'm
not all in favor of it, but I don't think it's too bad.
The other sort of table-talk, giving strategic advice, seems ok to me. If
you prevent it, you must also eliminate threats, pleas, etc. which are
part of the fun of playing.
Martin Snow
sn...@lyrae.dnet.nasa.gov
sn...@cololasp.bitnet
msnow%cyg...@vaxf.colorado.edu
Ben Fulton
>It's against the letter of the Eon rules to exchange private
>information, eg the contents of hands. My group plays pretty fast and
>loose with this -- we play that it is usually in poor taste to
>exchange such information.
That's pretty much what we do, too. We generally allow table talk if it
is in general terms ("Wow! Great cards!") but giving specifics is frowned
upon.
ben
ful...@copper.ucs.indiana.edu
who is John Galt?