Guest writing on The Bench!
Let me present to you an indepth interview-style dialogue between the two guys who are designing the Anatomists Guild. I can promise an interesting read, both some background fluff and lots of design thinking from their work on the project. Written by them, and The Bench just happily publishing.
Enjoy!
GlassWalker80 – So, we (The Cult of 1’s and myself) are the two guys responsible for the Anatomists Guild.
The gent that runs The Bench has been kind enough to assist us in getting our little creation out into the world. As part of that, we thought including some conversation with the releases might be a great thing. A peek behind the curtain if you will. 😀
“Diagnosis is not the end, but the beginning of practice.”
~ Martin H. Fischer
GlassWalker80 – So, let’s start at the beginning. Where did all this come from, man?!
The Cult of 1s – Well, I grew up in a very medical household. My mom is a physician and hospice doctor, my father worked in business, managing 2 different medical supply and aid companies connected to the hospitals my mother worked in. My grandparents were doctors and nurses, all from different parts of the field, so it’s not too difficult to pick up some kind of knowledge about the field.
I am a huge nerd; game design is my passion and Guild Ball has been a HUGE part of that interest. After getting back in, seeing that the Lamplighters were a thing made by fans I got excited and felt a drive to make my own guild.
DISCLAIMER: The design of the Anatomists Guild is not affiliated with GBCP or SFG.
The Cult of 1s – I did a lot of research on medical practices which would have potentially existed in the age of the Free Cities. As it spiraled and I became more and more sure that this was a project I needed to finish. All that I knew, learned, and thought up became the Anatomists.
GlassWalker80 – Wow. That’s a lot of docs in the family tree, for sure. I married a nurse. Those people are committed.
Now, I know this has been mentioned before, but the Anatomists were not the original incarnation. A conversation with a certain SFG VIP changed things a little bit, yeah?
The Cult of 1s – YES, initially they were expanding upon the physician’s guild in the established lore however I was immensely lucky to have a very informative conversation with the remarkable author of the game lore, Sherwin Matthews. That shed a lot of light on what the physicians are, which clashed with my idea of what the guild could be. Early on you had raised similar worries on the subject of names and had suggested the name of “Anatomists” as an alternative!
This change did, however, come with a lot of changes to the rules of the guild and their identity on the pitch. Initially we had the idea of tokens like the “beer tokens” of the Brewers, which could have been used to gain various benefits. That’s what we called Transfusion Tokens. This became too clunky and really needlessly complicated the gameplay, and thus the Diagnosis condition was born.
With that came the ideas of what a guild of doctors and nurses would be doing outside of the operating room, and not as parts of the mystic and secretive cabal of the “physician’s guild”. That shifted a lot of identities.
GW – I think it worked out pretty well.
When you and I started working together, one of the things about the Physicians Guild (as they were called at the time) that I didn’t consider was the fact that they weren’t necessarily there to heal… not strictly. There was a heavy… Victorian era medicine (?) feel to it, that I hadn’t considered, which is where I pulled the Anatomist tag from.
1s – Agreed! Worked out well.
When we were working on more of the team, what design elements that we focused on do you consider to be your favorite/most proud creation?
Personally I feel that the play between the Nurse and Physician models was my favorite part to design, however that design aspect required a lot of specific rules to be used to separate the two types.
GW – Man, that’s a tough question. But I think I have to say the switch from Transfusion tokens to Diagnosis. The Transfusions were great, but they forced us, both mechanically and thematically, to funnel everything through the Bleed mechanic.
The change opened the design space by giving us a more generic fuel to allow the various models to each “practice their own medicine” thematically. That will become more relevant with more reveals…
1s – Mmhm, I sometimes forget how focused we were on trying to balance the damage from bleed to the damage of each player. That being said that element still holds its weight for models yet revealed!
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GW – So, the Guild Rule/Card is just recently released. The diagnosis condition went through a few iterations before we settled on its current form, which has 2 effects.
Tell me a little bit about it in terms of design and intent for how the Anatomists use it, outside of what we’ve discussed. How does it tie into their playstyle?
1s – The big thing is that it gives access to the full playbook of our physicians. All of them have a playbook which is one longer than their TAC. This reflects the focus on not hurting their patients too excessively. We have a lot of our models’ abilities which benefit from being grouped together in smaller groups of 2-3 models around a model to get the crowd-outs but diagnosis aids in that process and lets the models who struggle in combat reach some of the tech we have in their playbooks. On top of that, it is only the physicians who have the ability to put it out, which makes it a very limited resource.
As it affects Caduceus’ team and their game plan, I wanted a captain who changes how her squaddies play. She is solely focused on the ball and has a strict adherence to her Hippocratic oath. The other players do not reflect these goals as much as we will see in the coming weeks. In this way, she uses diagnosis to move models around while undoing some of the damage dealt.
For Quack, the mascot, diagnosis makes him a problem for the enemy team as he has the attention of the doctors who care for him. With a few others it unlocks their character traits and plays. All this is to say that it is a resource to be spent however it needs to be applied to the correct targets. There is a lot of potential for thought and complexity in where you apply your resources.
Playstyle wise, this design choice manifests itself in the order in which you engage and what your goals for a turn should be. The anatomists play as if you were trying to diagnose a problem. You are presented with the puzzle of what goes where and who needs to do what; Which do you send forward to put out diagnosis and can they survive, does a nurse need to come in first to prep the “patient” before being diagnosed?
GW – I think the reduced cost of Encourage is big too. As a rule, they’re not a guild that will win a scrum, as opposed to surviving it while they accomplish their objectives.
1s – That is huge, I wonder what the mirror match would look like!
GW – Insane, I’m thinking. So, why don’t we move on to the first Captain, Caduceus?
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GW – So, obviously, Caduceus is your baby, as I believe she’s the first model you really developed both conceptually and mechanically. Where did she come from as a character thematically, and a player mechanically?
1s – Well, I thought it would be interesting to have a model that is incapable of doing any damage whatsoever. She being a striker who plays the game of Guild Ball better than most other models, was the focus of her design. She set the tone for the rest of the guild as the idea of a Hippocratic oath being enforced on the card was needed for a doctor. Attitude wise, this character needed to be kind, calm, and fast. Her card reflects this in actively healing her enemies which incentivizing dealing the least damage possible. Combined with her rerolls for physicians in “second opinion” she wants her peers to play the game with her and mirror her beliefs. She is the queen of diagnosis, being very efficient in getting your team fully checked up as well as getting across the board to apply diagnosis to the enemy.
Her legendary is built of the scenes in a doc drama where the main doctor bursts through these big doors accompanied by a nurse to fix the mistakes of a lesser physician. She is not meant to be the first model into the scrum, but she is supposed to be there eventually while bringing along a nurse to aid her.
These choices defined the guild, she being a capable ball holder and mover defined what I wanted the other models to do. If she is bringing a nurse, what is the nurse supposed to do? What does the mascot for a hyper mobile ball team do?
GW – I think that points out one of the issues I had the first time I played her. Usually, when I think of a striker I think of a hyper-aggressive goal-scorer. Not so in Cad’s case?
1s – She requires a lot of setup to be used effectively. She is a striker in the sense that she can enter combat, strip the ball, and get away but she can’t scrum like a lot of the other striker captains. She notably has a new take on close control in “an apple a day” which allows her to walk out of combat without risking the loss of a ball to a knock down or tackle on the parting blow if the model is diagnosed.
She can be in combat and get out, but she can’t stay in combat, or she will simply crumble.
GW – Yeah, she’s not a brawler, and a knockdown could ruin her day on the pitch.
I think I’m excited to see the ways players come up with to use her Legendary.
1s – Especially with who is to come after her team.
GW – Agreed.
To wrap up our talk about the first Captain of the Anatomists Guild, are there any specific areas of playtesting you think we’re looking for feedback on?
1s – Main thing is the feeling of the guild as a whole. I want to see how people use them and if they are too powerful or not.
GW – Anything on Caduceus’ card specifically you think we need feedback on? I know the defensive stats were a question.
1s – I think it is important to see if people can figure out a way to break her.
GW – As in see if she’s busted? Or as in Ivan Drago to Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV?
1s – Both, to be honest. How is she countered? Is she too powerful? Are there teams which sandbag her?
GW – Right on. Well, I think that covers Caduceus V0.1.
Now, I think there was something about a mascot?
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1s – The bastard himself! To be seen later but this little duck is a ball threat made to get the ball, get out and hold onto it until someone can get him to drop it.
GW – So, at times, I almost think you were more excited about Quack than any model on the team.
1s – Yes! I love the idea of mascots in guild ball, specifically the play between models like Pepper and Spice, Aalt and Angel, or Pride to the order, and so on. Having a mascot that does meaningful things is important to me, and specifically I wanted Quack to be a very interactive and important game piece. Coming within the next few weeks we have 2 models who use Quack as a placement piece and as mentioned on his card, the player “Leech” will have a lot to do with what Quack can do.
Players using him over the other mascot will find that the game of hunting down the ball after getting a goal is his biggest role. Quack requires setup but the plays I have been able to do with him are immensely enjoyable.
GW – You always knew what you wanted to do with Quack, but I feel like throughout the process of getting him to V0.1, he went through a lot of potential mechanics and changes to get here.
What was the one mechanic or board play that you dialed in on that made you say, “Ok. This stays. We’re building off this.”
1s – Ball Hunter. That rule was too perfect to change. Just having that ball threat out of nowhere was key for his design! Makes him a treat and guarantees the tackle and Where’d They Go?
GW – Yeah, that’s pretty big for him.
So, same question for him as for Caduceus – Any specific things for Quack we want feedback or testing from the community on?
1s – I want to know if people can use him like I have been imagining and testing him, or if they will use him to kill the ball.
GW – I think you’ll find players doing both, to be honest, depending on their opponent. His toolkit is good.
I think he’s one of the models that might be over tuned, so I’m interested to see how hard he is to counter in some games, and how his relative strength is versus other mascots.
So, I think that’s it for Quack. Who’s being revealed next week?
1s – Triage and Apothecary are up next! Very excited to show them off!
