The concept emerged during a silent meditation retreat in India. That might sound inspirational, but I was supposed to be paying attention to my breathing, not distracted with card game design. So if that's the closest I get to enlightenment in this life, I'll just have to deal with that. My hope was to create a card game the opposite of Panty Raider -- one with minimal randomness, efficient card use, player interaction beyond boycotting winning players, more involved strategies, and hell, maybe something to be welcomed by the gaming community. I wanted to create a game that builds on itself by using cards in combinations to allow for different paths to victory. So, after writing down my ideas on scrap paper in the jungles of northern India, hammering it out on the planeride back to the States, printing it on namecard stationary, and playtesting it over a few months, a game called Arno emerged. Here's the gist:
Players are the heads of families in a Medieval township along the Arno River in the city state of Florence. Gameplay follows the arrival of Renaissance life as players hire townfolk, raise money, develop infrastructure, and commission artwork. The goal is to make the greatest contribution toward the town's cultural rise.
The 52 cards come in three flavors: 25 Townfolk, 12 Buildings, 15 Masterworks. The game starts with a few townfolk in the center of play for players to bid on and hire. With townfolk, you begin your machinations. You can hire the Mason, for example, to build a new building or to expand an existing building. Each building can be expanded once -- the Library becomes a College, and the Studio a Workshop. Nine townfolk are present at the start of the game, and the other 16 become available over time as new Culture Shifts are introduced. For example, introduce "The Art of Governance" and the Statesman comes to town. Introduce "The Commercial Class" (by flipping the card over), and there's your Merchant. In Arno, both sides of every card play a key role, generally representing two important states the card will take.
Arno uses two resources: florins and culture points. Florins are the in-game currency needed for bidding on townfolk and masterworks, as well as for investing in new buildings and culture shifts. But what's the purpose of it all? Culture. The goal is to make the greatest contribution to the town's cultural rise, so for every building or masterwork you commission, and for every culture shift you introduce, you score culture points. Any given townfolk can be used alone (its solo ability). But when combined (maybe there's some Renaissance Voltron action going on here), their effect multiplies. For example, the Dramatist alone canplayact for 1 culture point, or join up with the Fool and perform at the Playhouse for 3 culture points. The Taxman can collecttaxes alone for 2 florins, or join up with the Councilman to indulge in some corruption at the Town Hall for 5 florins. Many of the abilities go beyond just reaping florins or culture points. For example, the Judge and Guildmaster can work together to indenturesomeone else's townfolk at the Jail. Players are not limited by the number of townfolk they employ, but by the number of actions they perform, so a little prudent personnel arranging goes a long way.
Townfolk gain strength in tandem, but the most powerful abilities come by commissioning Masterworks at the Workshop. For example, commission a Prayer Chapel for some rainy-day money when your treasury runs dry. The Council Chambers give more actions per turn. And the Parochial School lets players introduce culture shifts at lower costs. In general, players have a range of options at each turn, and because they bid on each others' townfolk and masterworks, they're progressing together as competing forerunners, rather than destroying each other for scraps (Diplomacy, Game of Thrones) or operating in hermetically sealed boxes (Agricola, Puerto Rico).
The thought behind this game is to use minimal game resources to create an expanding and involving environment that uses player decisions as the only arbitrary element. Hope it succeeded somewhere on that. Let me know your thoughts when you get a chance to play.
- Stephen
