Joseph Pape
Canada
Halifax
Nova Scotia
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I played my first two games of Mr. Jack with the Extension today. I like the new characters (though I haven't played with them all). I'm not so sure about the player chosen setup though.
In my first game I won as Jack with Inspector Lastrade on the first move of the 2nd turn (the earliest possible move to win on) because he started on a manhole cover.
I have a suggestion that I haven't tested you (but plan to), and I was wondering what other people think.
The four characters that are always in the game start in their starting positions from the base game. The four characters that are randomly chosen start in the 4 hexes that other characters start in in the base game.
I thought this could be done with a player choice phase, but on second thought, it might just be better to do it randomly (since the fourth choice of location would not be a choice at all).
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny Śląsk
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That just means your opponent was being careless, not that the extension's setup has a problem. Similar things can happen in the standard game, e.g. Miss Stealthy escaping on turn 2.
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Joseph Pape
Canada
Halifax
Nova Scotia
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Fair enough. We actually tried our first game with the variant today. The way we did it was like this.
The 4 mandatory characters started in their original locations. We dealt 5 optional characters to Jack, and 4 to the Investigator. Each of us chose 2 characters, and assigned them to locations when we picked them. The locations that we could use were the starting locations from the base game of the 4 other characters. The 2 locations that each of us got to choose from were the 2 that were closer to the edges of the board colored in our color.
We actually enjoyed the game quite a bit more. We made it to turn 6. I'm not saying that the expansion setup is bad, I'm sure that it adds an interesting layer for experienced players who want to play a deeper game, but I play this one with my dad (a very light gamer), and to me it's a game that I would prefer to play pretty fast and loose.
Also, The board is so specifically laid out, and the original setup was so particular. It must have been very well thought out while designing it. I admit that it could use a little extra spice, but I feel like the 5 new characters accomplish that pretty well.
On another note, Samurai comes to mind as another game where the players dictate the setup of the game, and again my friends and I prefer to just put the starting pieces out as randomly as possible (not that we're any good at telling what a truly random setup would look like). I think I just prefer it in games when as much of the setup as possible is either specified in the rules, or left up to chance, though I invite people to check out my profile, and point out one of my favorite games where that's not the case.
Anyways, my point is simply that we found a way to play that we enjoyed a little better than it says in the rules (at least until we've played a little more), and if anyone has the same gripe about the expansion setup as we did, give it a try.
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