PotsandPlots

My second week taking part in the Book Blogger Hop, and I fear I may have hit the perfect category far too early. Unfortunately, I’ve been super busy, so I haven’t had a huge amount of time to think about it. This might be sweet blessed relief for readers, as I’ll have to keep it short! (Well shorter)

 Imagine creating a book-themed board game. What kind of gameplay would it have? 

The Book Blogger Hop is currently hosted by “The Coffee Addicted Writer,” with new prompts released every Friday.

One of the reasons I don’t have much time to write this post is that I spent the weekend playing board games with friends I have made running the tabletop games channel, Agents of Sigmar. I had a blast.

I love the idea of bookish board games, and have played Tim Fowers’ contributions, Paperback and follow-up, Hardback, as well as several others. The game A Place for all my Books has garnered positive reviews, but it looks too cutsey for my tastes.

I’ve played lots of board games based on books, such as Dune: Imperium, and I even played two this weekend, Lord of the Rings: The Trick Taking Game and Fate of the Fellowship. There are lots of great games based on the Tolkien classic.

First Idea, Not a Board Game

Sometimes, when I read great fantasy series, I’d love there to be a Tabletop Roleplaying Game based on the IP. I definitely had that feeling reading The Braided Path by Chris Wooding, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch – though I’d be terrible at playing a scoundrel/heist-based RPG.

When I read Ashok K. Banker’s Ramayana fantasy retelling 2 or more decades ago, I was struck by what a brilliant setting it would make for an RPG. I guess using a living religion as the background for a game setting might be problematic, but I found his storytelling so evocative, I wanted to immerse myself in it as deeply as possible.

Second Idea, Also Technically NOT a Board Game

My idea for an actual real board game is called “TBR.” Yes, a game that simulates the To Be Read pile. I envision a game where players are trying to work their way through their unread books, and the person who does so first is the winner.

The simplest way to do this would be via a card game very much like Uno. You foist books on people with “pick up more” cards, force them to go out for the evening and lose the chance to read, with a miss-a-go card, etc, etc. It would be simple to implement, and you could have some funky book-related illustrations to tie it to the theme.

TBR Uno, however, overlooks one important facet of a TBR pile. No self-respecting bibliophile ever wants their pile to empty. This means the real winners are people who have cards left.

To symbolise a true TBR pile, the game should never end. Players would welcome being given new cards. To add to the realism, partway through the game, players should go to the shops and buy new sets of TBR Uno, even if they haven’t finished with the cards they have. Similarly, if, while walking past a charity shop, you see a card you’ve heard is good, you should immediately pop in and buy it.

TBR can be played anywhere, and as long as all players have more cards than they know what to do with, everyone’s a winner!