Emissary / Agent / Special Encounter Website

[Brekk]

Hi, just wanted to say that using Excel to play an online game these days could be discouraging for some new players. Alamaze really should have an online browser version of the player aid tools. As for the accuracy, all three areas (emissary, agent, encounters) have a random element associated with their calculations, so the tool can only provide estimates. Hope that helps...

A most astute observation.

Generally speaking, I tend to avoid spreadsheets like the plague. I suspect that I'm not along in this, among the vast legion of gamers out there.

If Alamaze is to have told, then have tools. Just try to avoid, if at all possible, instilling a reliance upon spreadsheets to serve in the role of those tools.

As an aside, I suspect that most people in the course of their daily life or their gaming life do not use spreadsheets. Hey, come on, fellas! Trade in those video games for some old fashioned spreadsheet fun!

Yeah, right.

Actually you would be surprised

To summarize my idea of success from a person trying to help out a new player is to make it as easy as possible.  As you have brought up numerous times, new players cant be expected to know or to have even read the rules.  Having an On-line tool to give them a guidepost or marker to complete a task like Agents/Encounters/Emmissaries would seem to make sense, otherwise you end up having ZERO idea how close you were to failing or succeeding. 
I was kind of surprised by your answer coming from someone who always has issue with things being to complicated, this would seem to make thing easier for new players...
Having tried Hyborian Wars myself I found Alamaze far more inviting and understandable, but it seems to have more of the design is laid out to view.  HW seems very closed box, and things "just happen".  Knowing I'm not going to revert back to a more basic form of Alamaze because I believe its in a great spot, I'm trying to think of ways to make it easier.  So again that's the perspective I'm coming from.  
Now its time to create a beginners rulebook

[Maximus Dominus]

Actually you would be surprised

I won't be holding my breath for that surprise to occur, as most people in life don't interact with spreadsheets. They're very off-putting. Spreadsheets are bad enough. I can't imagine the hell that they would be, if I weer trying to use them via a smartphone.

To summarize my idea of success from a person trying to help out a new player is to make it as easy as possible.

That's a good philosophy to embrace.

As you have brought up numerous times, new players cant be expected to know or to have even read the rules.  Having an On-line tool to give them a guidepost or marker to complete a task like Agents/Encounters/Emmissaries would seem to make sense, otherwise you end up having ZERO  idea how close you were to failing or succeeding.

That sounds good on paper, doesn't it? An awful lot of things sound good on paper. The various online tools for Alamaze that I've already tried don't really encourage me to play the game more, though. They do not add to the suspension of disbelief, which I think is a paramount consideration for a game based in a fantasy setting. Just typing info into a spreadsheet to calculate outcomes, or likely outcomes, isn't exactly an exercise in strategy mastery. Just exactly how well should a player know how elves would likely fair against dwarves? Players will deliberately avoid situations where their numerical adviser warns them against.

 
I was kind of surprised by your answer coming from someone who always has issue with things being to complicated, this would seem to make thing easier for new players...

Certain things should be easier - but not all things should be easier. Ideally, players will get lost in the fantasy setting of Alamaze with its 32 colorful kingdoms to choose from, rather than get lost in, or hemmed in by, the numbers. Just my perspective of one, mind you.

And I do not always have an issue with things being too complicated. Interface issues and obstacles to entry I certainly have issues with. Lack of intuitiveness I have issues with. The fantasy aspect of Alamaze, I have no issue with. My preference is that players interface with the fantasy setting, not interface with numerical calculators. That said, a lot of the mystery that should inhere in Alamaze as a fantasy setting based game has long since been lost - and it's baked into the design, by now. In real life, agents from opposing countries don't know if they will have a 38% advantage over their counterparts on the other side, or whatever one's numerical preference might be.

Having tried Hyborian Wars myself I found Alamaze far more inviting and understandable, but it seems to have more of the design is laid out to view.  HW seems very closed box, and things "just happen".

Underlying Hyborian War are sets of numbers, just as with Alamaze. The numbers get crunched internally, though. The fact that players can't see the majority of those numbers and possibilities is a driving force in why Hyborian War retains a great deal of its mystery to this very day. What happens is Hyborian War players come up with their own theories. There is no calculator sage to provide certainty.

Knowing I'm not going to revert back to a more basic form of Alamaze because I believe its in a great spot, I'm trying to think of ways to make it easier.  So again that's the perspective I'm coming from.  
Now its time to create a beginners rulebook

Another rulebook, huh?

[Brekk]

So an update, we will have a calculator.

[uncledarkseid]

Hi, just wanted to say that using Excel to play an online game these days could be discouraging for some new players. Alamaze really should have an online browser version of the player aid tools. As for the accuracy, all three areas (emissary, agent, encounters) have a random element associated with their calculations, so the tool can only provide estimates. Hope that helps...

A most astute observation.

Generally speaking, I tend to avoid spreadsheets like the plague. I suspect that I'm not along in this, among the vast legion of gamers out there.

If Alamaze is to have told, then have tools. Just try to avoid, if at all possible, instilling a reliance upon spreadsheets to serve in the role of those tools.

As an aside, I suspect that most people in the course of their daily life or their gaming life do not use spreadsheets. Hey, come on, fellas! Trade in those video games for some old fashioned spreadsheet fun!

Yeah, right.

I have used the Frost spreadsheet once or twice but quit years ago.  The mystery is the fun.  Yes, Wookie i would have quit too if I sat and calculated things.  Also, I now know why you trashed my 47 brigade army group a few years back.

[Wookie Panz]

Hi, just wanted to say that using Excel to play an online game these days could be discouraging for some new players. Alamaze really should have an online browser version of the player aid tools. As for the accuracy, all three areas (emissary, agent, encounters) have a random element associated with their calculations, so the tool can only provide estimates. Hope that helps...

A most astute observation.

Generally speaking, I tend to avoid spreadsheets like the plague. I suspect that I'm not along in this, among the vast legion of gamers out there.

If Alamaze is to have told, then have tools. Just try to avoid, if at all possible, instilling a reliance upon spreadsheets to serve in the role of those tools.

As an aside, I suspect that most people in the course of their daily life or their gaming life do not use spreadsheets. Hey, come on, fellas! Trade in those video games for some old fashioned spreadsheet fun!

Yeah, right.

I have used the Frost spreadsheet once or twice but quit years ago.  The mystery is the fun.  Yes, Wookie i would have quit too if I sat and calculated things.  Also, I now know why you trashed my 47 brigade army group a few years back.

Moi?  I'm just a kind gentle old soul who never hurts anyone.

[Brekk]

This is now a reality ENJOY!