Theming Upgrades

I played Haspelknecht recently, a surprisingly thematic euro game about the early days of coal mining. I like the action selection mechanism, and I find the core loop to be compelling both narratively and gameplay-wise. But I probably won't ever play it again. Why? The upgrade system. The upgrade system in Haspelknecht provides much of the player interaction and takes up the majority of the shared play space. The upgrades have illustrations that point to theme. Some of the mechanics are more thematic than others, but it's clear an effort was made. And I absolutely hate the system. Most of the time, you are giving up opportunities to interact with the (very fun) core loop in order to be rewarded less by getting an 'upgrade'. Astute players will realize, however, that the mere act of having been to an upgrade spot is the most powerful way to get points in the game. The game is rewarding you for interacting with the much less fun part of the game by providing much less thematic incentives. Want to mine coal all the coal? You will probably lose to the person going after the highest numeric value upgrade spots. Lest I sound bitter for having lost the time I played (I did), I think I could love this game if it were slightly rebalanced to put the emphasis back on the core loop or if the upgrade system gave me more thematic reasons and in game rewards for interacting with it. I also did not think all of the upgrades were terrible, just that most of them weren't compelling. 

I've written before about win conditions and player powers needing to be thematic. This is another example of gameplay goals needing to line up with thematic goals. I wanted to mine coal, pump water, and expand shafts. The game wanted me to race for special action opportunities that were more expensive than the regular actions without being particularly better but the act of choosing them would earn me end game points. What I am looking for is thematic incentives to interact with what the designer intends to be a central draw of the game. As a player, my goal for each turn is to 1) do the fun thing and 2) make progress toward winning. As a player who likes theme and is playing a thematic game, 'do the fun thing' means taking a thematic action that changes the game world and not just the game state. When I mine coal, that coal is removed and a new coal vein is exposed. When I take and upgrade, I have access to other possible upgrades. One of those two options is significantly more fun than the other. 

Some games get a lot of mileage out of putting 'do the fun thing' in tension with 'make progress toward winning'. But often those games present that tension in choices you are making within a single system, such as engine building. You can build your engine creatively or efficiently, and one way will give you a sense of satisfaction and  the other will give you the victory. In the context of this post, you can play efficiently within thematic systems. You will have a harder time playing thematically within unthematic systems. Each upgrade functions as a mini-achievement goal that should be just as thematic as the overall goal of gameplay. 

Not every element of a game has to be thematic. I like the action apportionment mechanics in Haspelknecht and they are very abstract. But those mechanics apply to what I can do as a player. The player board is purely thematic and applies to what the characters are doing. The upgrade system applies to my mine, my resources, my characters, and also my action economy. It isn't one thing or the other. I want it to be thematic because I like theme. But I like the pure abstract action selection, because its system applies to me as a player, so perhaps if the upgrade system were more abstract I could like it more for its consistency if nothing else. 

Changes to the game world, like upgrades, need to feel thematic and motivated by the world. If they are important to good strategy, they should also be incentivized by scoring and rewards but also by fun. Make the important parts of the mechanics at least as fun as the other bits. One way to do that is theme. Upgrades give players opportunity to make improvements to the the game world. This is both psychologically and narratively appealing. Better theming of mechanics can make games more fun by appealing to more drives, desires, and areas of the brain at once whilst still maintaining the strategic challenge of a dry euro. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that updates most Mondays.