Exploring action drafting, worker placement, and worker placement with dice workers in The White Castle, and how it creates tough choices in a tight game.
This made me think of one of my favorite uses of dice in a game, even though it's not action selection. Quantum uses dice as starships! When you roll your dice into your fleet, the result determines what kind of ship a die is (each ship has different speed and ability). Diceships get deployed on a map to roam around to control and defend territory. And when a ship is destroyed, the die comes back and eventually gets rolled again, potentially becoming something new. There are also ways to transform a ship into a different kind of ship using resources. Now I want to play Quantum.
at first purely since it involves "placing" dice on 'outcome cards', but reading the article made me realise the concepts might actually be more similar in other ways too, like different results for different numbers on the dice, and giving a lot of player agency - there's even optional rules where dice colour (or size!) could be use for special dice :) though there are obvious differences, like rolling dice vs drafting them, board game and ttrpg, still super interesting to think about!
I wasn't familiar with that system, but I like it! Pre-rolling the dice combined with cards (that serve as worker/action spaces) sounds very much like a dice placement system to me.
Been kicking around a game where dice drafting is the entire game. Like if White Castle were Sushi Go. I agree that dice by themselves are able to store quite a bit of info.
They really do store a lot! Beyond the obvious pips and color, position can be used in unique ways. I haven't had a chance to play it, but Space Gits uses dice stacking as a light dexterity element that somehow seems quite thematic. I heard about it via the SVWAG podcast.
Even though it's a video game, Citizen Sleeper uses dice placement in a really engaging way. It's a great game too, so definitely recommended if you also like video games, RPGs, and sci-fi/cyber punk themes.
Thank you! It's available on Board Game Arena if you'd like to try it before purchase. I played a few games on there before deciding to pull the trigger on the physical copy.
I was surprised to find how large the board was given how small the box is! Lots of unfolding! :)
This made me think of one of my favorite uses of dice in a game, even though it's not action selection. Quantum uses dice as starships! When you roll your dice into your fleet, the result determines what kind of ship a die is (each ship has different speed and ability). Diceships get deployed on a map to roam around to control and defend territory. And when a ship is destroyed, the die comes back and eventually gets rolled again, potentially becoming something new. There are also ways to transform a ship into a different kind of ship using resources. Now I want to play Quantum.
while a quite different thing than dice placement per se, this still made me think of Otherkind Dice: https://lumpley.games/2022/03/14/otherkind-dice/
at first purely since it involves "placing" dice on 'outcome cards', but reading the article made me realise the concepts might actually be more similar in other ways too, like different results for different numbers on the dice, and giving a lot of player agency - there's even optional rules where dice colour (or size!) could be use for special dice :) though there are obvious differences, like rolling dice vs drafting them, board game and ttrpg, still super interesting to think about!
I wasn't familiar with that system, but I like it! Pre-rolling the dice combined with cards (that serve as worker/action spaces) sounds very much like a dice placement system to me.
Thanks for pointing this out!
Been kicking around a game where dice drafting is the entire game. Like if White Castle were Sushi Go. I agree that dice by themselves are able to store quite a bit of info.
They really do store a lot! Beyond the obvious pips and color, position can be used in unique ways. I haven't had a chance to play it, but Space Gits uses dice stacking as a light dexterity element that somehow seems quite thematic. I heard about it via the SVWAG podcast.
Even though it's a video game, Citizen Sleeper uses dice placement in a really engaging way. It's a great game too, so definitely recommended if you also like video games, RPGs, and sci-fi/cyber punk themes.
I really need to try that game at some point. It’s been recommended to me so many times!
the white castle looks like an interesting game to pick up. I hadn't heard of it before. Thank you for your insights
Thank you! It's available on Board Game Arena if you'd like to try it before purchase. I played a few games on there before deciding to pull the trigger on the physical copy.
I was surprised to find how large the board was given how small the box is! Lots of unfolding! :)