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ROOT IMPERIUM - Action! Deck Booster (ROOT Multiplayer Module)

ACTION! DECK BOOSTER on BGG![boardgamegeek.com]

Now that there are 10 unique Official Root factions, more and more people are interested in large player-count games. Not everyone, of course, but some ;) And while ROOT is designed to be played with 2-6 players, many know that the true 'sweet spot' for ROOT is typically between 4 and 5. But why?

There are certain components of the game that don't scale that well outside of the threshold (and I don't just mean the downtime between turns!) XD of 'normal' player counts. For one, the maps are designed around the existence of 12 clearings - 4 of each suit. For 2 players, this means 6 clearings on average per player... most ppl will tell you that, at 2, games of ROOT are drastically underpopulated, hence the creation of the Hirelings to 'fill' out the board. Your other 'better' player counts create their own clearing averages per player - 3 players is 4 clearings per, 4 (the 'best') is 3 clearings, 5 (my favourite) is 2.4 per player and 6 (a bit much unless one faction is a VB) sits at a cramped 2 clearings per faction. Some have solved this by making a larger map, creating more room for more factions (such as Endgamer's Lost Woodland coming to the Ultimate Collection) His map has 16 clearings - 5 of each suit and one for the new Lost City Landmark - and it works very well for 6-8 player games. But, because it doesn't scale itself, it's hard to widen the threshold for various player counts, and it was this that led me to my plans for ROOT IMPERIUM. So what is it, right?

ROOT IMPERIUM is my work-in-progress ROOT Multiplayer Module, inspired by Twilight Imperium, and is geared towards creating an (enjoyable) experience for between 4 to TEN PLAYERS. No, I am not kidding. Yes, I think it is going to work really well. Not only will it 'function' but I believe it will succeed in generating a unique, political and yet still very punchy game that is anything but a slog for the players involved. For groups both BIG and small, it is coming.

The first step tho...
One of the other HUGE problems with scaling ROOT, especially with a brand-new CARD-HOGGER of a faction such as the Badgers (Birds, Alliance, Lizards - we're looking at you too on this) is that there simply not enough cards. We did a stream based on this idea on WEIRD ROOT one week. Anyways... in my work on the DARK DECK[boardgamegeek.com], my 66 card fan-made ROOT Deck, I learned a few things about what happens when you try to add more cards to the deck. To put it simply, it gets WeiRd real fast! XD There are so many things to consider... you have to think of things like percentage of wilds, birds, ambushes, sabotages... Can the VB still have a chance in heck of getting the hammer? How so? Can they get items in general? Are craftable items too common? Too rare? Are the suits that crafting occurs in proportional? Are there enough points available? Are there TOO many points available? haha I had to think about those things a lot when making both my decks and so this here, THIS creation - The Action! Deck Booster can be added to any deck to ‘puff’ it up - each one adds 10 cards to the deck - All while maintaining that these many elements of the game remain intact.

Instructions? EASY. Add 1 Action! Deck Booster to ANY Root Deck per player in excess of five, then shuffle. That's it. (For 6 Players = 1 Booster. For 7 Players = 2 Boosters etc.) And it has worked AMAZINGLY well in many large player-count games.

So here, I give the first part of my work-in-progress, the ROOT IMPERIUM Multiplayer Module...

This is the Fan-Made ROOT Action! Deck Booster for 6+ Players.
In games of 6 players or more, the Action! Deck Booster adds the extra cards you need without distorting the overall composition of your Root Deck. Everything you need proportionately in any game of Root is here: single-use vagabond items, important effects akin to the Ambushes and Saboteurs... There’s even a secret or two that you can score for those much needed extra points! It’s all here, easily scalable for any large player-count confrontation.

There are 8 Suited Action! Cards. 7 of them, those showing the 7 items in ROOT, can be spent at anytime during your turn or when in battle (similar to an Ambush!) to either resolve the effect printed on the card OR treat yourself as either checking for, exhausting or damaging the item shown. This can help the VB procure single-use items they can use to for any of their purposes, including to Quest deeper in the deck for more of those important cards they need, or to perhaps even craft an item with the HAMMER Action! that they desperately need. There are many interesting approaches to each card by each of the various factions. The 8th Suited card, the BIRD KEY Action! is connected to the upcoming IMPERIUM Modular Map but can be used in any game on any map with its unique timing - at anytime during your turn, outside of battle - to gain access to clearings you might otherwise be unable to reach. The other 2 cards are UNsuited Secret! Cards, both of which can be switched/swap from anywhere in your play area (supporters included) to replace it with a card from the shared deck. But if you DO hold onto, if you do devote part of your hand to keeping it, it might pay off at a clutch moment of the game. One will allow you to cancel any Action! or Ambush! card, a much needed cancel ability with the presence of fewer Ambushes! per player, and the other gives a new purpose to the Dominance cards, allowing you to secretly fulfill the win condition of any available Dominance card - or craft 3 improvements and get away with it for you lower warrior count faction - and score it if they were too busy too notice. Some easy BIG points for dedicating yourself to a Secret! goal ;)

The Action! and Secret! Cards have a unique back which is meant to direct players attention to the fact that they have it, that they have kept it, that it could be one of these most dangerous (or perhaps not dangerous - one of each suited card has a notably weaker effect than the other) cards. Will you make your play? Will you wait until later? Will you know the right moment to strike when it occurs? Will you help an ally? Will you crush an enemy? It can add a lot of tension and table talk between players that makes Root (and Twilight Imperium both) such beloved games.

Anyways, I'm babbling... XD
Have fun using the Action! Deck Booster for 6+ Players, enjoy your big player count games (I'm starting to like them more and more) and check back for updates about the rest of this BIG BIG project as it unfolds :)

ROOT IMPERIUM!
Pax Magnifica Bellum Gloriosum

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