In Update 25 of the kickstarter for the second edition of 7th sea, a board game was mentioned as being in the works. This game, currrently under the title of "The War of the Cross" is being planned as a combination of Diplomacy and Dune (or the modern, IP free, Rex). This leads to some concern on my part. Not that there isn't a good game to come from such a design, but that it might end up being a game with a play length too long for most groups that would have the required number of players to best enjoy the game (Why play a three+ hour board game with people interested in the setting when you can play the rpg?).

Anyways, the ideas behind the game interest me and I want it to be a good game. And I want it to be a game I can get to the table. So I bring up this for discussion so we can discuss any concerns we may have and try to express what we think is important for the designes to focus on. For me, it is getting these long, epic games down to under three hours and peferably around two hours. Also, that regardless of who runs the kickstater, a good company is connected to actually publish the game (best to use a publisher that knows what they are doing with board games than to publish it by ones self. Books are very different from board games). Stonemaier and Fantasy Flight would be my first picks. Stonemaierr has poven capable of using kickstarter to excellent effect and making beautiful games with wondeful components. Fantasy Flight is genually known for excellent games with high quality components. One tier down would be Cool Mini or Not, another company that does excellent work on kickstarter and produces extremely high quality games with amazing components (especially miniatures).

What I expect, from a game play standpoint, based upon the games this one is being based on is that each playerr will get an asymetric start with some sort of special ability. The game will have clear phases with each player either having a certain number of actions per phase or that action selection will occur after open discussion/negotiation and be simaltaneous. No matter what, this game will start off on the backs of giants and can only use all the modern game design elements to be even betterr.

One other issue I have is the current name. It sounds too much like a game about Christianity. I feel something about the name of the game needs to be changed to either better reflect that this is a game set in the 7th Sea world, or just more clearly separated from real world religion. I listen to a lot of board game podcasts and I can just hear them saying on each one, with the current name, "Now I know what you are thinking, but this is not a game about Jesus or Christianity." A different name will better distinguish that and prrevent that sort of confusion.