Thread by @colewehrle

I've been getting a lot of questions about #oathboardgame's player count. I don't have time to type up a full diary on the subject, so here's a quick thread that should answer most of the questions out there.

First, it bears mentioning this core truth about player count: the number of players in the game changes the game. Certain counts accentuate certain system tensions.

For that reason I think it's generally helpful to think not in terms of which count is best as which count will be best for the sorts of things that you care about as a player.

Folks that love Root as an immersive game tend to prefer it at 5 or 6 players. I don't because I find it too chaotic (and for that reason prefer playing it at 3 to 4 players). De gustibus non est disputandum.

Okay let's talk about Oath. I originally pitched Patrick Oath as a 1 to 5 player game. Because the core dynamic is similar to the one I used in Pamir, I knew pretty confidently that I could get it to work from that range.

The 1 and 2 player game will rely on a bot that is currently in development. Basically, this bot will take the role of the Chancellor. It will be "smart" enough to handle both external and internal conflicts so it should give low counts the feeling of being in a 3-player game.

The design is quite different from Wakhan (Pamir's bot), but I am shooting for something of similar or lower complexity. Oath's design space has been a lot easier to work in as well for a variety of reasons I don't have time to go into now.

(And of course I learned a lot from watching Ricky work on Wakhan and helping develop it myself. I also took a lot of lessons from watching the development of the Root bots.)

So, will the 1 or 2 player be "as good" as the 3-5 player? Well, it will probably be both more confrontational and brittle than the higher player count (it is a 1vs1 after all) but the bot, like Wakhan, will also create more scenarios that reward cooperation.

My guess is that the result will be something a little contradictory. Some pairs of players will like the two player a lot because of how much of a zero-sum duel it is (the way Drew and I like Pamir at two-players).

Others will like the two player because it has the most potential for cooperation against a shared enemy. This will likely be a little less tense overall than the "normal" game, but there are players of all shapes and sizes.

I can see even including a two player "cooperative" variant, but that will depend on development and in general I don't care for variants in my design work, but this is a good place for an exception. Different player counts of the same game are essentially variants anyway.

Lastly, I'm happy to announce that we're going to bump the player counter from 1-5 to 1-6. This was mostly because, while talking to Nick Brachmann about the game's component list, it was obvious that by adding a single piece of wood another player could be added.

As a team this left us with a choice. We could actually cut a "color" (that is, a bunch of wood out and a player board) out of the game without altering the player count from 1-5. And maybe we would sell that variant player color later as a micro expansion.

Or, we could just add the extra piece and broaden the player count. I don't know if the game will be best at 6--I suspect it won't be. But the extra color is a nice option and I know the game will support six just fine for nights when an extra player shows up.

Who knows, some groups might even prefer six! As usual, when asked to chose between saving some cash and potentially cashing in on a micro expansion, the team decided to do the thing that was best for y'all. Oath will be 1-6 out of the box.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love the folks I work with. It's an immense privilege and absolute joy to be able to devote so much thought and sweat and time and money to ambitious projects without worrying about how we can maximize profit.