Kai Poon
United Kingdom
Leicester
Leicestershire
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So I've just been thinking...
Assassin thief - Decide who they are going to steal from.
Then everyone just takes their turn at the same time. Well, number 3/8 is dependent on other players as well but less so than the first two roles. The rest don't actually need the other players to interact with them as much.
Would reduce more downtime.
At the same time, it sort of gives me the impression that this game would be reduced down to nothing but role selection if I were to do this. How much importance does the whole 'calling out players' play into the fun of citadel?
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brian
United States
Cedar Lake
Indiana
Mourning the end of the Manning era.
Welcome baby brother Toby James, 03/24, 8 lb. 15 oz.
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Part of calling out the roles is that there is a mystery to who is in the game. Is Bob silent because he is the warlord or because he was the assassinated merchant. If he is the Warlord, maybe I need to build something that protects me. If he was the merchant and lost his turn, then I can play this card instead.
If you all play at the same time, you lose that, which is a part of the fun of the game.
I don't think the role announcement takes that much time. Everyone should have a fairly good idea of what they are going to do on their turn. If anything, the role selection is the big time killer as you can't really plan until you know what you have coming your way. So if anything limit the time each person takes to make a selection.
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ackmondual
United States
Virginia
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KeroKai wrote: So I've just been thinking...
Assassin thief - Decide who they are going to steal from.
Then everyone just takes their turn at the same time. Well, number 3/8 is dependent on other players as well but less so than the first two roles. The rest don't actually need the other players to interact with them as much.
Would reduce more downtime.
At the same time, it sort of gives me the impression that this game would be reduced down to nothing but role selection if I were to do this. How much importance does the whole 'calling out players' play into the fun of citadel?
ColtsFan76 wrote: Part of calling out the roles is that there is a mystery to who is in the game. Is Bob silent because he is the warlord or because he was the assassinated merchant. If he is the Warlord, maybe I need to build something that protects me. If he was the merchant and lost his turn, then I can play this card instead.
If you all play at the same time, you lose that, which is a part of the fun of the game.
I don't think the role announcement takes that much time. Everyone should have a fairly good idea of what they are going to do on their turn. If anything, the role selection is the big time killer as you can't really plan until you know what you have coming your way. So if anything limit the time each person takes to make a selection.
In short, you CAN do it this way, but do acknowledge it changes the game.
ANother issue in simultaneous play is some people may take advantage of what other people are doing before they make their move when they shouldn't be.
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Geert Vinaskov
Belgium
Rijkevorsel
Antwerpen
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I think this is a good idea, Citadels is too long for what it is, and the worst part is downtime. It's a good game, but it's too long and almost all ways to make it shorter are good.
The first and foremost solution would be: play faster. But that can't always be done or enforced.
If following your suggestion, I'd do this:
The Assassin (1) decide who to kill and start taking your turn.
When the Assassin is taking his turn (you don't have to wait for the Assassin to end his turn), the Thief (2) decides who to steal from and starts his turn.
While the Thief is busy, Characters 3 and 4 take their turns simultaniously.
When character 1,2,3 and 4 are ready, the Mage (5) (swap handcards) starts his turn. After he has swapped his hand, character 6 and 7 start their turns simultaniously.
When 5, 6 and 7 are ready, character 8 (destroys building) plays his turn.
This means that you save time, and don't change the game. But maybe you'll need someone to keep an eye on it all and remind characters when to start their turns. 
Summarized:
- Characters 1,2,3,4 take their turn simultaniously, but 3 and 4 can only start after the special ability of 1 and 2 are used.
- Characters 5,6,7 take their turns simultaniously, but 6 and 7 can only start after the special ability of 5 is used.
- Character 8 takes is turn last, after everybody has played.
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Edit: oops, apparently Character 3 switches cards, not character 5. Even better! This would mean...
Summarized:
- Characters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 take their turn simultaniously, but 4,5,6,7 can only start after all special abilities of 1, 2 and 3 are resolved.
- Character 8 takes is turn last, after everybody has played.
Or, simpler to explain/play:
- Characters 1, 2 and 3 take their turns seperately.
- Characters 4, 5, 6, 7 take their turns simultaniously
- Character 8 takes his turn last, after everyone else.
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Alvin C
Australia
Adelaide
South Australia
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Geert Vinaskov wrote: When character 1,2,3 and 4 are ready, the Mage (5) (swap handcards) starts his turn. After he has swapped his hand, character 6 and 7 start their turns simultaniously.
The Mage is 3. The Merchant is 5.
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Tyndal wrote: Geert Vinaskov wrote: When character 1,2,3 and 4 are ready, the Mage (5) (swap handcards) starts his turn. After he has swapped his hand, character 6 and 7 start their turns simultaniously. The Mage is 3. The Merchant is 5.
The Bishop is 5. The Merchant is 6. 
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Sight Reader
United States
Colorado
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Geert Vinaskov wrote: I think this is a good idea, Citadels is too long for what it is, and the worst part is downtime.
We have also experimented with splitting the role deck in two and passing it out in opposite directions, which theoretically cuts role selection time in half.
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Joe Villwock
United States
Berea
Ohio
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ColtsFan76 wrote: Part of calling out the roles is that there is a mystery to who is in the game. Is Bob silent because he is the warlord or because he was the assassinated merchant. If he is the Warlord, maybe I need to build something that protects me. If he was the merchant and lost his turn, then I can play this card instead.
If you all play at the same time, you lose that, which is a part of the fun of the game.
I would agree with this. Much of the enjoyment of the game for me is watching it all unfold. I like seeing people execute their strategies; it helps me get in their head as to what they might do next. This isn't a solitary game. It's about the interactions, and while some might only see that interaction come into play with the Thief and Assassin, I see it the whole game through.
(Plus, if you really want to win, you're going to have to keep up with what everyone is doing; and if you're going to have to survey the landscape every turn anyway, why not just do that as it happens.)
I know the flow can sometime stutter, especially with those players that have to read and re-read every character card every time (I'm not talking about my friend Mike's wife, if that's what you're thinking), but if time is really the biggest issue, I would much rather just cut it down to 6 or 7 districts.
But that's just me.
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