I have received some questions regarding the changes being made to The Next Don (formerly My Die). I thought it might be a good time to share the latest iteration of the game, the game will likely continue to morph, I am taking it to a digital protospiel this weekend and will hopefully get some good feedback! So here is where things currently stand...
Where to start, where to start...?
New Win and Elimination Conditions!
Board position in The Next Don was a source of contention, many people spent all their time working on their objectives and not as concerned about player positioning. Now during some points of the game, after a player has rolled the dice and completed their turn, if a meeple is at -12 (you no longer need to move exact!) that meeple is eliminated! On the other hand, if a meeple is at 12 (again, no longer need to move exact) that meeple is crowned The Next Don and the associated player is the winner! If by some freak accident, or significant apathy, the crowned meeple is a decoy player, the player closest to 12 is crowned The Next Don.
In the below image, at the end of the active players turn both orange and green would be eliminated from the round, during certain rounds, see below for details. Also, the red meeple if moved forward 1 spot would be crowned The Next Don.
Major Round Handling Changes!
I have been considering a change like this for quite a while. There is no longer a round die! Say good bye to that die... Say hello to better usage of components... oh... and a gun. By better usage of components, the original The Next Don used 2 Jumbo cards, but when jumbo cards are printed you pay for 6 of them, so I had 4 unused cards. Not any longer!
Before I share an image, taken from Tabletop Simulator, let me explain the colors... These cards will obviously require some design love.
- Green represents a campaign round, in this round you may not win or lose and henchmen may not be used. You simply roll the dice and move meeples. Meeples ending at 12 or -12 simply stay there and are not eliminated or declared winner until after a players turn during an intrigue round.
- Orange represents an intrigue round, in this round you may play henchmen and may eliminate players by pushing them off the bottom, or win by reaching the top.
- Red represents a risk round, in this round you take turns either passing or guessing until only one player remains or all players have consecutively passed.
At the beginning of the game the round cards will be shuffled and one will be randomly drawn (the other 3 are player aids to be explained later). A D6 will be rolled to determine what rounds the game will consist of. Place the gun component just below the section represented by the result of the D6 roll (in the image below the game is currently on the second round of D5). At the end of each round move the gun up to the next indicator.
Just 3 Dice!
The game now consists of just 3 white dice. This cheapens the cost of the game and eliminates restrictions on moving meeples. So you roll three dice, move one meeple forward the value of one die, roll one different meeple backwards the value of a second die. Simplification.
No More Objectives!
The objective cards have been eliminated from the game, no more hiding behind your objectives. In their place players are now rewarded if of the three dice rolled doubles are rolled. A different reward depending on the type of double, these actions are listed on the Player Aid cards.
Notice that Ambush and Assassinate are not rewards for rolls, nope, those are actions associated with the Henchmen that can be played. Another change...
Character Card Simplification!
Character cards will now be referred to as henchmen. These henchmen can be sent out to either assassinate or ambush an opponent. They are one time use and the only way to draw a new henchmen or have more then one is by rolling three of a kind.
Well, let me know what you think and if you are interested in giving it a play test I now have it uploaded on Tabletop Simulator and I would love to play a game with you!
Oh... one final thing I am considering!
I am working on trying to get the board to fit on a single card so I can have more round options (3 round games) but either way, I am considering making the board cards have both front and back options. So longer and shorter routes to victory or defeat! Let me know what you think of this idea!
One super final last thing, I do intend to kick start The Next Don and as you may have noted have updated art coming in. If you are interested in this campaign please subscribe for updates regarding The Next Don. You can do that here. https://www.hicksboardgames.com/the-next-don