Clouds & Babies

A game where you’re simultaneously moving storks trying to deliver the right babies to the right place.

1. Setup

Each player …

Chooses a color/shape
Grabs the stork in their chosen color.
Grabs the 3 zone boundaries in their chosen color and places them in a rectangle, with an open side pointing at yourself. At least one side of your rectangle should be adjacent to another zone.
Grabs their starting tile and places it anywhere inside their zone, but not on a boundary. (Use the A-side for the first few missions.)

Tip: allow newer or younger players to use boundaries with the lowest numbers. They have slightly fewer responsibilities.

Prepare all the pouches. Also shuffle all the tiles (for your current mission) and place them in a face-down pile within everyone’s reach.

Lastly, place all the trait cubes (for your current mission) in easy-to-reach piles on the table, sorted by color. Mission 1 does not use traits.

2. Objective

Each round lasts 5 minutes. Objectives change per mission, but in general are of the form “at least X babies must be delivered (when the time is up)”

3. Gameplay

Go to the website, enter your preferences, and click “Start!”

Play happens simultaneously and in real-time. There are no turns. You don’t need to wait for someone else or publicly discuss your next action, just go go go!

Tip: Communication is key. If you need something, ask it aloud. If you drop an item at someone else’s border, tell them about it.

Life of a Wish

This is the general “flow” of the game:

You create pouches (usually in Fabric Factories)
Move them across loads of tiles, perhaps picking up extra content along the way.
And then arrive at their destination to score points (usually Wish Tiles)

As long as you keep this in mind, all other tiles and rules will fall into place.

Zones

All players have their own “zone”.

GOLDEN RULE: Players may only take actions within their own zone.

The shared boundaries of each zone count as “being in both zones”. Therefore, you must use these locations to give and receive things from other players.

Any boundaries that are not shared (i.e. they are only half a tile), have no in-game function. They serve to keep the board clean and remind you of the dimensions of your zone.

The inside of each zone always has the maximum dimension of 3x3 (three rows, three columns). You must place tiles within that space or on a shared boundary.

Remark: the boundary location with the heart is used for keeping track of score. If it’s part of a shared boundary, that location cannot contain a tile. (as the icon indicates).

Actions

It’s really simple.

GOLDEN RULE: To do anything, place your stork on a tile (within your zone) and execute its action (see Appendix A. Tiles)
GOLDEN RULE: You can’t use the same tile twice in a row.
GOLDEN RULE: Each tile can only hold one stork.

Again, there is no limit on how quickly you can take actions or how many you take.

Refresh Event

Every 30 seconds, the website will sound an alarm and flash red. This indicates the so-called Refresh Event, which is used by many tiles in the game. (Tap the screen, or press any key, to stop this alarm.)

You are responsible for refreshing tiles in your zone. On a shared boundary, the player with the highest number on their boundary is responsible for the refresh.

It’s okay if you forget this once in a while … but it will simply make the game harder for you. All refresh actions are “good”, which means you never want to miss a single one.

That’s it! Now you can start the campaign.

Visual Design

Wish Tiles

All the “I” cards should only show an “empty pouch” (and they are no-entry)
All the “II” cards should only show a single soul cube, with no rewards or special elements.
All the “III” cards should show any combination of soul and talent cubes.
All the “IV” cards should already add slightly more diverse orders
All the “V” cards should add rewards and even more diverse orders.
All the “VI” cards should add all those personality traits we added

Tiles

Create clear icons for No-Entry, Max-Limit, Refresh, Exhausting, One-Time
Add the “I”, “II”, “III”, … markers to the tiles.
They have no backside.
Many of them have paths, even when they don’t (first and foremost) do something with moving pouches.

Player Boundaries

Player boundaries should have a color and shape, and half of a tile. (So when they combine, a single tile appears at the boundary.)

They should also have one specific tile marked as the “scoring location”.
And a number, for determining who handles the refresh.
They are double-sided: the backside is used in later games, as they provide special actions when placing stuff there.

Remarks & Details

Not the final title, just a working title.

Alternative themes (for this kind of game): working a factory/machine, working a delivery service.

Another game idea (inspired by the Last Week Tonight episode, which explained most diseases come from animals/bats, and that’s also our fault, because we remove their habitat and bring them into our homes. In a sense, other animals and space are our best protection against these diseases) => In general, I want to make more nature and climate themed games.

A cooperative, real-time game where you play the storks who, as we all know, deliver babies.

The game has a campaign. Each mission, new elements and rules are added, and the objective might change.

0. Material

These are the exact contents for this game (in full):

Player Pawns: 12 (two for each color)
Zone Boundaries: 24 (three per player, six for shared space, double-sided)
Pouches: 15 (five different colors, three each)
Tiles: 6 starting tiles (double-sided) + X tiles

This amounts to X pages to print, if you want the full game at the full player count. It’s only 4 pages for the first mission, 3 players max.

The rules are Z pages for the full game. Only A pages for the first mission.

How to assemble

Simply print and cut out the player pawns, boundaries, tiles and wish cards. (You can save time by only printing/cutting what you need for now. The materials indicate when they come into play.)

Print the boundaries double-sided, or connect side A and side B to each other with Scotch tape.
Same for the starting tiles

Then assemble the pouches. After cutting them out, gently bring all three corners together at the top into a single point. Now connect them however you like: a paperclip, stapler, Scotch tape, …

For the “player traits” (different colored cubes), you can use anything of which you have 5-10, all in roughly the same color. If nothing is available, also print the player traits and cut those.

Tiles

Mission 1

Starting Tile

Can hold two storks.

When entered via the “explore” action, you may pick a one-time special ability: either destroy a tile, rotate a tile or move a pouch one space in the same zone. If you choose a special action, however, you must remove the starting tile afterwards.

Remark: yes, this is the only tile that still triggers an action when visited by another player.

Fabric Factory (refresh)

Refresh: if a stork is on this tile when the event triggers, create a new pouch.

After creation, it immediately leaves the factory through one of the exits: place it on an adjacent tile in the direction of one of the arrows (shown on the tile).

If there is no such adjacent tile, you can’t create new pouches.

Remark: this only holds if the stork is there when the alarm starts, not if you place it there while it’s still ringing! That’s cheating!

Tornado (refresh, no-entry)

Refresh: move each pouch on this tile to any adjacent tile. (Different pouches can move to different tiles.)

Wish (Regular) (no-entry)

Whenever a pouch arrives here, check if it matches the wishes displayed on the tile. If so:

Congratulations! The baby is delivered!
Empty the pouch and remove it from the board.
Remove this tile from your zone and place it on your scoring location (the heart icon on your boundary)

Jumper

Pick one of the indicated directions.

If there exists another Jumper in that direction, not necessarily adjacent, move all contents to that tile. (Yes, this can cross gaps or move things to another zone.)
If not, move all contents one step in that direction, even if there is no tile there. (At some later point, for example, you could place a tile underneath this pouch to feed it back into the system.)

Mission 2

Wish (Timed) (refresh)

When visited by you, remove all time markers from this tile. Every wish has a time symbol with a number (X). If the tile ever has X+ time markers, it times out: remove this tile and X others from your zone.

Refresh: place a time marker on this tile.

New Wish Requirement

Some wishes now also require a certain number of time cubes. (Because, well, it takes time to make a baby.)
QUESTION: Can you automatically add cubes anytime a pouch lands on a tile that has them? Or is that a separate action which needs different tiles? => I think automatically adding is much simpler, more streamlined, and friendlier to players

Wishing Well (exhausting)

Look through the deck. Grab the first wish tile you find and place it. Now reshuffle the deck.

Post Office

Used for sending love letters.

Grab the first three cards from the deck. Pick one to give to another player. => HOW TO LIMIT THESE? (So it doesn’t become a “better” explore action?)

IDEA: Something that can move any pouch you want, to any adjacent space … but only if it’s currently on a non-refresh space. (Or for any other cost?)

Soul Server

Grab a soul cube and place it on this tile. Whenever a pouch arrives here, put one soul cube (from this tile) into to the pouch.

Note the word “arrives”. If there is no soul cube available upon entry, you’ve missed your chance and nothing happens!

Max Limit (symbol): indicates how many soul cubes you can store.

Mission 3

Talent Tester (exhausting, destroyer)

Destroy X tiles in your zone, to gain X talent cubes. Whenever a pouch arrives, all talent cubes (stored on the tile) must be placed inside it.

Max Limit (symbol): indicates how many talent cubes it can store.

Winds

Refresh (symbol): move all contents in the direction indicated on the tile (over the paths, as usual). If there are multiple directions, you must choose one and apply it to all contents.

Skipper (exhausting)

Execute two refresh actions immediately, on tiles within your own zone.

Mission 4

Cooperation Channel (one-time)

Define X as the number of players who have their stork on a cooperation channel at the same time. If X = 1, nothing happens. Otherwise:

Pick (X-1) traits ( = cubes) of any type and place them in any pouch(es) you want.

Superstork

Refresh (symbol): teleport all pouches on this location to any other superstork.

If the target tile is in a different zone, place the pouch on the boundary of that zone, in the same row or column as the target tile.
If no other superstork exists, you can’t use it.
TO DO: Can you teleport to the middle? Is there a special rule for that?

Baby Booster (exhausting)

Move a single pouch 3 spaces, or 3 pouches a single space. Of course, you need to follow the paths laid out in your zone, and can’t go further than your boundary.

Rotation

Rotate any tile within your zone, in the way described upon the tile.

Mission 5

TO DO: Something that diversifies orders?

But not something with cubes, that will come in the next mission.

Maybe a specific requirement as to which Cloud Station the baby should end?
Or more general requirements like: “at least 3 cubes” or “no two cubes of the same type”?
Or maybe I can add square and triangle pouches. (Well, then it’s perhaps easier to just add differently colored pouches, right?
I’d like to do something like “must have passed all players”, but you can’t really keep track of that? Unless … there’s a specific tile associated with it, that must be flipped?
YES! Someone must add their own stork to the pouch!
OR! It must pass a certain tile, after which that tile is thrown into the pouch as well!

TO DO: Something …

That allows you to take out cubes. (Which aren’t needed, or which you’d like to store until another pouch comes along.)

TO DO: Something that allows skipping empty spaces

Currently, you must build everything adjacent to each other, and adjacent to your boundary. Otherwise things are literally useless and unreachable.

So … what if there was a way to skip empty spaces? Or jump between rows/columns? Or maybe you get bonuses for playing adjacent sometimes, and penalties for playing adjacent other times.

TO DO: Special actions that are printed on the player boundaries?

And by choosing a certain color, you get different special stuff, creating a more varied/asymmetric game.

Mission 6

Personality Press

Creates a new personality trait. Whenever a pouch arrives here, you may add these traits to it.

This tile has an arrow, which you should point towards a neighboring zone (= zone B). The type of trait you make is determined by the current color of the life lab in zone B.

If they have multiple life labs, you may choose one. If they have none, this tile does nothing.

For example: the arrow points to the player on your right. Their Life Lab is currently blue, so you grab a blue cube and place it on the tile.

Life Lab

Determines the type of trait being made by the personality press (in another zone).

TO DO: what’s a good idea, with the theme, for this life lab?

Mission 7

Baby Buddy (one-time)

Grab an extra stork.

(TO DO: Is this a good idea? It would require multiple storks per color, might be overpowered.)

GREAT IDEA: This is also a wish! When you deliver the correct pouch here, you get a second stork. (These are somewhat easier, to tempt players to go for it? And they also score you a point, because that streamlines the rules again.)

Rain Storm

If you have multiple storks, you lose one. If a pouch enters this location, and it exceeds the limit on the number of traits, it’s immediately lost.

(TO DO: To compensate, this one has really nice paths and some other properties?)

IDEA: Some babies give you rewards (like coins, new stuff, upgrades, etc.) when delivered. So you’d want to do those first!

IDEA: The Destroyer is nice, because it forces players to look where they place your stork (after you’ve explored). Can we do MORE of this type? => We already do, actually, because of the “exhausting” tiles.

IDEA: How to expand on this with the later missions?

IDEA: How to make “stronger” tiles appear later in the game?

IDEA: Later missions can have a longer timer. This would essentially turn the game more into a little engine builder.

IDEA: Tiles that must be placed in a certain location. For example: bottom row, next to a boundary, adjacent to at least two tiles, … (Especially nice on these delivery tiles.)

IDEA: An icon on tiles that shows they do not refresh when played in shared space!

IDEA: A “shared space” in the middle? Where you might control other storks, or place special tiles? Or which you simply need to cross to get somewhere.

I think this would work best as a single straight row (or column). This would then be squished between boundaries, and will change a lot during a game.
However, to be able to place/destroy/use the middle, it would require some sort of sacrifice? Because it’s the most important space?

Cloud Station (no-entry) => Deprecated

Whenever a pouch arrives here, check if there is a matching open “wish card” somewhere.

Yes? Congratulations! The baby is delivered!
No? The pouch can not go to this tile. (And its effects are therefore not executed.)

Remove the pouch from the tile. Grab the corresponding wish card and place it face-down on the scoring location of your boundary.

Campaign

It’s highly recommended to play the campaign in order, as each mission builds on the last, adding new rules, mechanics and components. The very first mission is called “training” and was designed to be extremely easy, so players can learn the game. But after that … you’d better be a good team.

1. Training (5:00)

Setup

Tiles: Only include tiles marked with a “I” symbol: Fabric Factory, Tornado, Wish (Regular) and Jumper. Read their description (see Appendix A. Tiles).

Objective

Deliver 6 babies. It doesn’t matter who delivers them.

New Rule: Exploration

Whenever you boldly place your stork on a tile in a neighbor zone, you “explore”.

Do not execute the default action on that tile. (You’re merely “blocking” that tile with your stork.)
Then grab a new tile from the deck and add it to your zone.
The only way to get your stork back, is if the other player gives it back by placing it on a tile within your zone.
They are responsible for executing the action on the tile they chose.

Reminder: you can place tiles on your shared boundaries, as that’s also “your zone”. For the same reason, placing your stork on a shared boundary does not count as exploring.

You cannot place a tile on top of other tiles, although you can place it underneath loose components. If all possible locations are full, you cannot do the explore action.

And no, you can’t just replace or move existing tiles in your zone to make space.

New Icon: Refresh

If a tile has the refresh icon, it means you must do something with it when the refresh event happens.

IDEA: Any elements (pouches, traits) that are loose when a refresh happens, will fall down, to another empty space in the row below. If they can’t do so (because the row is filled, or they’re out of bounds), remove them from the board!

New Icon: No Entry

If a tile has the “no entry” icon, you simply cannot move your stork there.

2. A World of Wishes (5:00)

TO DO: This mission currently introduces three “big” concepts

Moving pouches and paths
Timed Wishes
Soul Cubes = the first trait

That’s a bit much. Split those into separate missions.

First mission: Moving pouches and paths. Find a way to simplify this (so it’s easy to execute upon refresh).
- Introduce the concept of loose components ( = stuff with no tile underneath it) in mission 1. So it’s clear that things can move off the tiles because of these movements. Also removes the need for rules like “can only move if there is another tile there”. You can even move stuff out of bounds, although that means you’ve lost it forever :p
- Make the refresh icon much bigger and visible on all sides.
- Perhaps also include some other stuff at sides so you can easily see what a tile is, even when covered by a pouch. (For example, you should be able to see all paths.)
- There should be no exceptions and it should be quick to execute.
- Perhaps we’d want to (almost) completely remove this concept from the first mission. Otherwise it feels like introducing something twice, and players might forget that things only move when the refresh icon is showing.
Second mission: Soul cubes. Introduces the concept of putting stuff into the pouches, more complex wishes.
Third mission: Timed wishes. Adds another cube to the pouch, but this one’s much harder to execute well. (Another problem: if you forget to do this, it might actually be good. Because the wish doesn’t time-out.)

Setup

Tiles: Add all tiles marked with “II”: Wishing Well, Winds, X, Y, TO DO … Read their description (see [Appendix A. Tiles]{.underline}).

After regular setup: grab one pouch and add it anywhere. Also search the deck for a wish and place it anywhere. => IS THIS NECESSARY?

Objective

Complete two wishes per player. (It doesn’t matter who completes what wish.)

New Rule: Moving Pouches

Most tiles have paths on them. Whenever the refresh event happens, any pouch that is on a tile with a refresh icon must be moved one space, following the path.

The order in which you do this, is up to you.

If two ends of a path don’t connect, you can’t move over it. However, if a tile has no paths drawn, consider it as a crossroad (with paths on all sides).

New Icon: Exhausting

When an exhausting tile is used, your stork cannot move again until after the next Refresh event.

New Icon: Max Limit

These tiles have a maximum on how many “things” they can store. (The specific object they store depends on the tile itself.)

3. With Ups & Downs (5:00)

Setup

Tiles: Add

New Icon: Destroying

When a destroying tile is used, it asks you to destroy tiles in some way. (See the tile description for specifics.)

Destroying means you remove a tile from your zone. Then you may choose whether to remove it permanently from the game, or to put it on the discard pile.

WHY? This way you can gradually remove the “weak” tiles during the game, and only keep the strong ones coming back.

When the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile and use that as the new draw pile.

New Icon: Obstacle

These tiles can not hold any pouch. (So when moving pouches, they can never go to this tile.)

4. Shared Dreams (5:00)

TO DO: Move the concept of “shared space” even further back? (You only need it when many tiles arrive and wishes become complex. And perhaps games longer.)

Setup

Shared space: From now on, there’s a shared space between all the zones. This is always a straight line with a width of 1 or 2.

So, during setup, reserve space for this shared space as shown in the image:

Tiles: Add all tiles marked with “III”: lala TO DO. Read their description (see [Appendix A. Tiles]{.underline}).

Objective

Complete two wishes per player. And yes, this time it really means each player must have exactly two wishes in their scoring location.

New Rule: Shared Space

Everyone can use tiles in the shared space. (Moving there does not count for the “explore” mechanic.)

Whenever the rules mention something must happen on a “tile in your zone”, it means you can also use that action on the shared space. (In a sense, the shared space is in everyone’s zones at the same time.)

When a wish is fulfilled in the shared space, any player can score it.

HOWEVER: penalty, extra rule, smart mechanic????

New Icon: One-time

When a one-time tile is used, flip it over. It’s completely deactivated, until the moment you destroy it.

4. A Rewarding Job (5:00)

Setup

Lala

TO DO: this adds rewards to delivering babies. (Get cubes, an extra pouch, destroy a tile, grab three tiles, etc.) These must be executed, which can also be a bad thing.

5. Personality Problems (5:00)

TO DO: This is the place where we introduce the B-side of your starting tile? (So players literally receive different personalities?)

Setup

Lala

TO DO: This includes more personality types. And the possibility to generate, remove, invent, etc. them during the game

6. Weather Troubles (5:00)

Setup

Lala

A game where you're simultaneously moving storks trying to deliver the right babies to the right place. ## 1. Setup Each player ... - Chooses a color/shape - Grabs the **stork** in their chosen color. - Grabs the **3 zone boundaries** in their chosen color and places them in a rectangle, with an open side pointing at yourself. At least *one* side of your rectangle should be adjacent to another zone. - Grabs their **starting tile** and places it anywhere inside their zone, but not on a boundary. (Use the A-side for the first few missions.) **Tip:** allow newer or younger players to use boundaries with the *lowest numbers*. They have slightly fewer responsibilities. Prepare all the pouches. Also shuffle all the tiles (for your current mission) and place them in a face-down pile within everyone's reach. Lastly, place all the *trait cubes* (for your current mission) in easy-to-reach piles on the table, sorted by color. Mission 1 does not use traits. ## 2. Objective Each round lasts **5 minutes**. Objectives change per mission, but in general are of the form "at least X babies must be delivered (when the time is up)" ## 3. Gameplay Go to the website, enter your preferences, and click "Start!" Play happens **simultaneously** and in **real-time**. There are no turns. You don't need to wait for someone else or publicly discuss your next action, just go go go! **Tip: Communication** is key. If you need something, ask it aloud. If you drop an item at someone else's border, tell them about it. ### Life of a Wish This is the general "flow" of the game: - You create pouches (usually in *Fabric Factories*) - Move them across loads of tiles, perhaps picking up extra content along the way. - And then arrive at their destination to score points (usually *Wish Tiles*) As long as you keep this in mind, all other tiles and rules will fall into place. ### Zones All players have their own "zone". > **GOLDEN RULE: Players may only take actions within their own zone.** The shared boundaries of each zone count as "being in both zones". Therefore, you must use these locations to give and receive things from other players. Any boundaries that are *not* shared (i.e. they are only *half* a tile), have no in-game function. They serve to keep the board clean and remind you of the dimensions of your zone. The *inside* of each zone always has the maximum dimension of 3x3 (three rows, three columns). You must place tiles within that space or on a shared boundary. **Remark:** the boundary location with the *heart* is used for keeping track of score. If it's part of a shared boundary, that location *cannot contain a tile*. (as the icon indicates). ### Actions It's really simple. * **GOLDEN RULE: To do anything, place your stork on a tile** (within your zone) **and execute its action** (see _Appendix A. Tiles_) * **GOLDEN RULE:** **You can't use the same tile twice in a row.** * **GOLDEN RULE:** **Each tile can only hold *one* stork.** Again, there is no limit on how quickly you can take actions or how many you take. ### Refresh Event Every **30 seconds**, the website will sound an *alarm* and flash red. This indicates the so-called **Refresh Event**, which is used by many tiles in the game. (Tap the screen, or press any key, to stop this alarm.) You are responsible for refreshing tiles in your zone. On a shared boundary, the player with the **highest number** on their boundary is responsible for the refresh. It's okay if you forget this once in a while ... but it will simply make the game harder for you. All refresh actions are "good", which means you never want to miss a single one. That's it! Now you can start the campaign. # Visual Design **Wish Tiles** - All the "I" cards should only show an "empty pouch" (and they are no-entry) - All the "II" cards should only show *a single soul cube*, with no rewards or special elements. - All the "III" cards should show any combination of soul and talent cubes. - All the "IV" cards should already add slightly more diverse orders - All the "V" cards should add *rewards* and even more diverse orders. - All the "VI" cards should add *all those personality traits we added* **Tiles** - Create clear icons for No-Entry, Max-Limit, Refresh, Exhausting, One-Time - Add the "I", "II", "III", ... markers to the tiles. - They have no backside. - Many of them have paths, even when they don't (first and foremost) do something with moving pouches. **Player Boundaries** Player boundaries should have a color and shape, and *half* of a tile. (So when they combine, a single tile appears at the boundary.) - They should also have one specific tile marked as the "scoring location". - And a number, for determining who handles the refresh. - They are double-sided: the backside is used in later games, as they provide special actions when placing stuff there. # Remarks & Details Not the final title, just a working title. **Alternative themes** (for this kind of game): working a factory/machine, working a delivery service. **Another game idea** (inspired by the Last Week Tonight episode, which explained most diseases come from animals/bats, and that's also our fault, because we remove their habitat and bring them into our homes. In a sense, *other animals* and *space* are our best protection against these diseases) => In general, I want to make more *nature* and *climate* themed games. A **cooperative, real-time** game where you play the storks who, as we all know, deliver babies. The game has a **campaign**. Each mission, new elements and rules are added, and the objective might change. ## 0. Material ### Contents These are the exact contents for this game (in full): - Player Pawns: 12 (two for each color) - Zone Boundaries: 24 (three per player, six for *shared space*, double-sided) - Pouches: 15 (five different colors, three each) - Tiles: 6 starting tiles (double-sided) + X tiles This amounts to **X pages** to print, if you want the full game at the full player count. It's only **4 pages** for the first mission, 3 players max. The rules are **Z pages** for the full game. Only **A** pages for the first mission. ### How to assemble Simply print and cut out the *player pawns*, *boundaries, tiles* and *wish cards*. (You can save time by only printing/cutting what you need for now. The materials indicate when they come into play.) - Print the boundaries double-sided, or connect side A and side B to each other with Scotch tape. - Same for the starting tiles Then assemble the pouches. After cutting them out, gently bring all three corners together at the top into a single point. Now connect them however you like: a paperclip, stapler, Scotch tape, ... For the "player traits" (different colored cubes), you can use anything of which you have 5-10, all in roughly the same color. If nothing is available, also print the *player traits* and cut those. # Tiles ## Mission 1 ### Starting Tile Can hold **two storks**. When entered **via the "explore" action**, you *may* pick a one-time special ability: either *destroy* a tile, *rotate* a tile or move a *pouch* one space in the same zone. If you choose a special action, however, you must remove the starting tile afterwards. *Remark:* yes, this is the *only* tile that still triggers an action when visited by another player. ### Fabric Factory (refresh) **Refresh:** if a stork is *on this tile* when the event triggers, create a new pouch. After creation, it immediately leaves the factory through one of the exits: place it on an adjacent tile in the direction of one of the *arrows* (shown on the tile). If there is no such adjacent tile, you can't create new pouches. *Remark:* this only holds if the stork is there *when the alarm starts*, not if you place it there while it's still ringing! That's cheating! ### Tornado (refresh, no-entry) **Refresh:** move each pouch on this tile to any adjacent tile. (Different pouches can move to different tiles.) ### Wish (Regular) (no-entry) Whenever a pouch arrives here, check if it matches the *wishes* displayed on the tile. If so: - Congratulations! The baby is delivered! - Empty the pouch and remove it from the board. - Remove this tile from your zone and place it on your scoring location (the *heart* icon on your boundary) ### Jumper Pick one of the indicated directions. - If there exists another *Jumper* in that direction, not necessarily adjacent, move all contents to that tile. (Yes, this can cross gaps or move things to another zone.) - If not, move all contents *one step* in that direction, even if there is *no tile* there. (At some later point, for example, you could place a tile *underneath* this pouch to feed it back into the system.) ## Mission 2 ### Wish (Timed) (refresh) When visited by you, remove all *time markers* from this tile. Every wish has a **time symbol** with a number (X). If the tile ever has X+ time markers, it times out: remove this tile *and* X others from your zone. **Refresh:** place a *time marker* on this tile. ### New Wish Requirement > Some wishes now *also* require a certain number of time cubes. (Because, well, it takes time to make a baby.) > > **QUESTION:** Can you automatically add cubes anytime a pouch lands on a tile that has them? Or is that a separate action which needs different tiles? => I think *automatically adding* is much simpler, more streamlined, and friendlier to players ### Wishing Well (exhausting) Look through the deck. Grab the first *wish tile* you find and place it. Now reshuffle the deck. ### Post Office Used for sending love letters. Grab the first three cards from the deck. Pick one to give to *another player*. => HOW TO *LIMIT* THESE? (So it doesn't become a "better" explore action?) **IDEA:** Something that can move any pouch you want, to any adjacent space ... but only if it's currently on a non-refresh space. (Or for any other cost?) ### Soul Server Grab a **soul cube** and place it on this tile. Whenever a pouch **arrives** here, put one soul cube (from this tile) into to the pouch. Note the word "arrives". If there is no soul cube available upon entry, you've missed your chance and nothing happens! **Max Limit (symbol):** indicates how many soul cubes you can store. ## Mission 3 ### Talent Tester (exhausting, destroyer) *Destroy* X tiles in your zone, to gain X **talent cubes**. Whenever a pouch arrives, *all talent cubes* (stored on the tile) must be placed inside it. **Max Limit (symbol):** indicates how many talent cubes it can store. ### Winds **Refresh (symbol):** move all contents in the direction indicated on the tile (over the paths, as usual). If there are multiple directions, you must choose one and apply it to all contents. ### Skipper (exhausting) Execute two **refresh** actions immediately, on tiles within your own zone. ## Mission 4 ### Cooperation Channel (one-time) Define X as the *number of players* who have their stork on a cooperation channel *at the same time*. If X = 1, nothing happens. Otherwise: Pick (X-1) traits ( = cubes) of any type and place them in any pouch(es) you want. ### Superstork **Refresh (symbol):** teleport all pouches on this location to any other superstork. - If the target tile is in a different zone, place the pouch on the *boundary* of that zone, in the same *row* or *column* as the target tile. - If no other superstork exists, you can't use it. - TO DO: Can you teleport to the middle? Is there a special rule for that? ### Baby Booster (exhausting) Move a single pouch 3 spaces, or 3 pouches a single space. Of course, you need to follow the paths laid out in your zone, and can't go further than your boundary. ### Rotation Rotate any tile within your zone, in the way described upon the tile. ## Mission 5 ### TO DO: Something that diversifies orders? But not something with cubes, that will come in the next mission. - Maybe a specific requirement as to *which* Cloud Station the baby should end? - Or more general requirements like: "at least 3 cubes" or "no two cubes of the same type"? - Or maybe I can add *square* and *triangle* pouches. (Well, then it's perhaps easier to just add differently *colored* pouches, right? - I'd like to do something like "must have passed all players", but you can't really keep track of that? Unless ... there's a specific tile associated with it, that must be flipped? - YES! Someone must add their own *stork* to the pouch! - OR! It must pass a certain tile, after which that tile is thrown into the pouch as well! ### TO DO: Something ... That allows you to *take out* cubes. (Which aren't needed, or which you'd like to store until another pouch comes along.) ### TO DO: Something that allows skipping empty spaces Currently, you *must* build everything adjacent to each other, and adjacent to your boundary. Otherwise things are literally useless and unreachable. So ... what if there was a way to skip empty spaces? Or jump between rows/columns? Or maybe you get bonuses for playing adjacent sometimes, and penalties for playing adjacent other times. ### TO DO: Special actions that are *printed* on the player boundaries? And by choosing a certain color, you get different special stuff, creating a more varied/asymmetric game. ## Mission 6 ### Personality Press Creates a new personality trait. Whenever a pouch arrives here, you may add these traits to it. This tile has an arrow, which you should point towards a neighboring zone (= zone B). The **type** of trait you make is determined by the current color of the **life lab** in zone B. If they have multiple life labs, you may choose one. If they have none, this tile does nothing. For example: the arrow points to the player on your right. Their Life Lab is currently blue, so you grab a *blue cube* and place it on the tile. ### Life Lab Determines the type of trait being made by the **personality press** (in another zone). TO DO: what's a good idea, with the theme, for this life lab? ## Mission 7 ### Baby Buddy (one-time) Grab an *extra stork*. (TO DO: Is this a good idea? It would require *multiple* storks per color, might be overpowered.) **GREAT IDEA:** This is *also* a wish! When you deliver the correct pouch here, you get a second stork. (These are somewhat easier, to *tempt* players to go for it? And they also score you a point, because that streamlines the rules again.) ### Rain Storm If you have multiple storks, you lose one. If a pouch enters this location, and it *exceeds* the limit on the number of traits, it's immediately lost. (TO DO: To compensate, this one has really nice *paths* and some other properties?) **IDEA:** Some babies give you rewards (like coins, new stuff, upgrades, etc.) when delivered. So you'd want to do those first! **IDEA:** The Destroyer is nice, because it forces players to *look* where they place your stork (after you've explored). Can we do MORE of this type? => We already do, actually, because of the "exhausting" tiles. **IDEA:** How to expand on this with the later missions? **IDEA:** How to make "stronger" tiles appear later in the game? **IDEA:** Later missions can have a *longer* timer. This would essentially turn the game more into a little engine builder. **IDEA:** Tiles that *must* be placed in a certain location. For example: bottom row, next to a boundary, adjacent to at least two tiles, ... (Especially nice on these delivery tiles.) **IDEA:** An icon on tiles that shows they *do not refresh* when played in *shared space*! **IDEA:** A "shared space" in the middle? Where you might control other storks, or place special tiles? Or which you simply need to *cross* to get somewhere. > I think this would work best as a single straight *row* (or column). This would then be squished between boundaries, and will change a lot during a game. > > However, to be able to place/destroy/use the middle, it would require some sort of sacrifice? Because it's the most important space? ### Cloud Station (no-entry) => Deprecated Whenever a pouch arrives here, check if there is a matching *open* "wish card" somewhere. - Yes? Congratulations! The baby is delivered! - No? The pouch can *not* go to this tile. (And its effects are therefore *not* executed.) Remove the pouch from the tile. Grab the corresponding wish card and place it face-down on the **scoring** location of your boundary. # Campaign It's highly recommended to play the campaign in order, as each mission builds on the last, adding new rules, mechanics and components. The very first mission is called "training" and was designed to be extremely easy, so players can learn the game. But after that ... you'd better be a good team. ## 1. Training (5:00) ### Setup **Tiles:** Only include tiles marked with a "I" symbol: Fabric Factory, Tornado, Wish (Regular) and Jumper. Read their description (see _Appendix A. Tiles_). ### Objective Deliver 6 babies. It doesn't matter *who* delivers them. ### New Rule: Exploration Whenever you boldly place your stork on a tile **in a** **neighbor zone**, you "explore". - Do *not* execute the default action on that tile. (You're merely "blocking" that tile with your stork.) - Then grab a **new tile** from the deck and **add it to your zone**. - The only way to get your stork back, is if the other player gives it back by placing it on a tile within your zone. - *They* are responsible for executing the action on the tile they chose. **Reminder:** you can place tiles on your shared boundaries, as that's also "your zone". For the same reason, placing your stork on a shared boundary does *not* count as exploring. You cannot place a tile on top of other tiles, although you can place it underneath loose components. If all possible locations are full, you cannot do the explore action. And no, you can't just *replace* or *move* existing tiles in your zone to make space. ### New Icon: Refresh If a tile has the refresh icon, it means you must **do something with it** when the **refresh event** happens. **IDEA:** Any elements (pouches, traits) that are *loose* when a refresh happens, will fall *down*, to another empty space in the row below. If they can't do so (because the row is filled, or they're out of bounds), *remove* them from the board! ### New Icon: No Entry If a tile has the "no entry" icon, you simply cannot move your stork there. ## 2. A World of Wishes (5:00) **TO DO: This mission currently introduces three "big" concepts** - Moving pouches and paths - Timed Wishes - Soul Cubes = the first trait That's a bit much. Split those into separate missions. - **First mission:** Moving pouches and paths. Find a way to *simplify* this (so it's easy to execute upon refresh). - Introduce the concept of **loose components** ( = stuff with no tile underneath it) in **mission 1**. So it's clear that things can move *off* the tiles because of these movements. Also removes the need for rules like "can only move if there is another tile there". You can even move stuff out of bounds, although that means you've lost it forever :p - Make the **refresh icon** much bigger and visible on all sides. - Perhaps also include some other stuff at sides so you can easily **see** what a tile is, even when covered by a pouch. (For example, you should be able to see all paths.) - There should be *no exceptions* and it should be *quick to execute*. - Perhaps we'd want to (almost) completely *remove* this concept from the first mission. Otherwise it feels like introducing something twice, and players might forget that things only move when the *refresh icon* is showing. - **Second mission:** Soul cubes. Introduces the concept of putting stuff *into* the pouches, more complex wishes. - **Third mission:** Timed wishes. Adds another cube to the pouch, but this one's much harder to execute well. (Another problem: if you forget to do this, it might actually be *good*. Because the wish doesn't time-out.) ### Setup **Tiles:** Add all tiles marked with "II": Wishing Well, Winds, X, Y, TO DO ... Read their description (see [Appendix A. Tiles]{.underline}). **After regular setup:** grab one **pouch** and add it anywhere. Also search the deck for a **wish** and place it anywhere. => IS THIS NECESSARY? ### Objective Complete two wishes per player. (It doesn't matter who completes what wish.) ### New Rule: Moving Pouches Most tiles have *paths* on them. Whenever the *refresh* *event* happens, any pouch that is on a tile with a **refresh icon** must be moved **one space**, following the path. The order in which you do this, is up to you. If two ends of a path don't connect, you can't move over it. However, if a tile has *no* paths drawn, consider it as a crossroad (with paths on all sides). ### New Icon: Exhausting When an **exhausting** tile is used, your stork *cannot move again* until after the next Refresh event. ### New Icon: Max Limit These tiles have a *maximum* on how many "things" they can store. (The specific object they store depends on the tile itself.) ## 3. With Ups & Downs (5:00) ### Setup **Tiles:** Add ### New Icon: Destroying When a **destroying** tile is used, it asks you to destroy tiles *in some way*. (See the tile description for specifics.) Destroying means you remove a tile from your zone. Then you may *choose* whether to remove it **permanently** from the game, or to put it on the **discard pile**. > WHY? This way you can gradually remove the "weak" tiles during the game, and only keep the strong ones coming back. When the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile and use that as the new draw pile. ### New Icon: Obstacle These tiles can *not* hold any pouch. (So when moving pouches, they can never go to this tile.) ## 4. Shared Dreams (5:00) **TO DO: Move the concept of "shared space" even further back?** (You only need it when *many tiles* arrive and wishes become *complex*. And perhaps games *longer.*) ### Setup **Shared space:** From now on, there's a *shared space* between all the zones. This is always a straight line with a width of 1 or 2. So, during setup, reserve space for this shared space as shown in the image: **Tiles:** Add all tiles marked with "III": lala TO DO. Read their description (see [Appendix A. Tiles]{.underline}). ### Objective Complete two wishes per player. And yes, this time it really means **each player must have exactly two wishes in their scoring location**. ### New Rule: Shared Space Everyone can use tiles in the shared space. (Moving there does *not* count for the "explore" mechanic.) Whenever the rules mention something must happen on a "tile in your zone", it means you can *also* use that action on the shared space. (In a sense, the shared space is in *everyone's* zones at the same time.) When a wish is fulfilled in the shared space, *any* player can score it. HOWEVER: penalty, extra rule, smart mechanic???? ### New Icon: One-time When a **one-time tile** is used, flip it over. It's completely deactivated, until the moment you destroy it. ## 4. A Rewarding Job (5:00) ### Setup Lala TO DO: this adds *rewards* to delivering babies. (Get cubes, an extra pouch, destroy a tile, grab three tiles, etc.) These must be executed, which can also be a bad thing. ## 5. Personality Problems (5:00) **TO DO:** This is the place where we introduce the B-side of your starting tile? (So players literally receive different personalities?) ### Setup Lala TO DO: This includes *more* personality types. And the possibility to generate, remove, invent, etc. them during the game ## 6. Weather Troubles (5:00) ### Setup Lala TO