Coalition Design Journal #2: Triumphant Return + Addendums!

RETURN OF THE JEDI

Until recently, it had been a long time since I had worked on Coalition. Now that the vast majority of my friends and family are vaccinated, I am once again able to host playtests! Our first playtest in over a year took place this past Friday, and it felt oh-so-good to cram 14 people into my living room and dining room for a few hours of frenetic negotiations.

It’s good to be back.

OUT WITH THE OLD

I’d known since the first full-fledged draft of Coalition that the game had a few problems that needed solving. I wasn’t quite happy with the game’s Influence economy, or its system of additional player power cards (called Secret Agendas). Both were serviceable, but they felt clunky and inelegant.

The Influence economy felt strange because generating new Influence was tied to a few key roles. Essentially, the Donor had to be in every game to keep the Influence flowing. Our single test without the Donor turned out rather poorly. However, besides keeping Influence coming, roles like the Donor, Populist and Tax Collector felt limiting to me. These roles did not have powers that directly impacted the game like the Knight, yet they were always among the most powerful players, simply because they are able to continuously generate the game’s currency.

The Secret Agenda cards felt awkward from the start. Some sort of system for acquiring additional powers feels necessary; without them, player agency would be rather limited. Being able to select from the political toolbox which tactic to employ is an important feature of the game, especially for players who feel backed into a corner, low on Influence and with few allies at their table. Additional powers provide opportunities for additional scheming and a game plan for the desperate.

But a power card with no chance for failure feels, well, overpowered. There needs to be some sort of back-and-forth, some sort of condition that needs to be met for the power to work. With no better ideas, I turned to Speakeasy’s system of guessing Roles and Parties (passwords, in that game). Guessing correctly meant that the power would take effect.

It worked, to a point. However, even the designer of Speakeasy himself, a very kind gentleman by the name of Andy Patton, commented that I had imported things from Speakeasy that he would revise or cut, given a chance to republish his game. So – I knew Secret Agendas had to go. I just wasn’t sure what to replace them with.

IN WITH THE NEW: ADDENDUM CARDS

Last Friday, one of my testers made a suggestion: some sort of relationship or contract card, a type of power that would take effect upon a certain condition being fulfilled. I thought this idea was absolutely brilliant (thanks Kyra!), and it got the gears turning in my mind. After talking it over with a couple of other friends, I realized I had found a way to solve two problems at once.

Enter a new card type: Addendums.

The concept is simple: during Elections, you may place an Addendum card onto a player on your Council. If that player is elected, the Addendum takes effect. After the election, all Addendums played are discarded.

Consider a simple Addendum: you gain 3 Influence.

If my Party has a solid bloc on my Council, I could play this Addendum onto one of my teammates knowing that we could easily elect them. After they are elected and rotate out, I will have gained some extra Influence to help maintain the bloc into the next round.

On the other hand, I might be a loner on my Council, and the rest of the table has decided to pass something that doesn’t benefit me. I might still tack an Addendum onto my opponent that’s garnering votes, either to deter the table from continuing to vote for that player or to help improve my position going into the next round.

Making all non-Role player powers into Addendums feels much more on-theme than the former Secret Agendas. It ties directly into one of the game’s core mechanics (elections) and makes it much more nuanced, allowing skilled players to engage in minor tit-for-tats over the course of the game that might push their Party to victory.

I then realized that I could improve the game’s Influence economy as well. Just as in real life, elections have consequences as to who gains Influence – does electing a particular candidate improve my Party’s influence, or does it give excessive ammunition to the opposition?

So, I have decided to delete the former Donor, Populist, and Tax Collector roles and make all of those effects into Addendums. Additionally, every player will begin the game with an Addendum, randomly taken from a pre-seeded pool of cards. I plan on the pool including mostly effects that generate Influence. This way, every player has a chance to gain Influence from the start of the game – if they play their cards right!

ON HIDDEN INFORMATION

Without Secret Agendas, I’ve decided to rework the game’s powers entirely, including on Role cards. No more guessing Roles/Parties! The condition for getting your powers to work is placing your bets correctly during Elections, not having the correct information on a particular player.

This allows me to cut down on some of the game’s bloat. The former Secret Agenda system required me to separate Role and Party into different classes of cards. No more! Now, Party will be indicated on the Role cards. Yet another reason why I believe Addendums will be much more elegant!

However, I don’t want to abandon games of hidden information in Coalition entirely. I want there to still be a reason for some players to keep that Role close to the chest – an incentive to keep your opponents guessing! Formerly, you could be punished by Secret Agendas for being too open with the opposition. Now what?

Conveniently, decoupling the Influence Economy from Roles has left room for some new designs for Role cards. In place of the Donor and Populist, I would like to try out some Roles that have reasons to stay hidden. These Roles will have powerful, game-swinging effects that hinge on the player fulfilling a specific condition at the end of the game. For example:

Speaker: At the end of the game, if you are the Chair (first seat) of your Council, you may immediately pass an additional Policy of your choice.

A Speaker would look to finagle their way to the top of the pecking order. To do this, they need to stay hidden from the opposition, lest they be voted out or hit with a switcheroo effect.

I believe that these powerful sub-objectives will lead to more secret agenda-esque gameplay than the former power cards ever did.

WRAPPING UP

I am excited to see the new system in action! On that note, soon you can expect an updated rulebook and a printable prototype! I will report back as soon as we run another playtest.

Stay healthy,

Josh Ballagh