If Catan Was Real
Original Script:
Focus
Survival mode versions of catan
T/T
Turn Catan Into Risk
Battle Royale Catan
Attention Ideas
We’re going to turn into an epic battle royal game and it’s going to be the most fun you’ve ever had playing catan. If Risk and Catan had a baby, it would be this game.
Comment section:
What would you add or modify to the game? The best answers will naturally come from those who actually tried it out first.
Notes & Ideas
Win condition:
Be the last settlement/city standing
First to 10 points. (1 point per destroyed settlement)
Start on the harbour with only one settlement.
Everyone starts with 2 settlements and 2 roads. Draft picks just like base game but all roads must connect to build, so you’re 2nd pick has to connect to your first via your 2 starting roads.
Flip tiles as you discover the board.
If you find the desert, the robber destroys your touching settlement (your choice) unless you pay 4 resources, then only you are permitted to build around the desert. Opponents cannot place roads or settlements touching the desert.
If you settle AND pay 4 resources to the robber, you own that robber territory.
Roll frequently since no trades until roads connect. Get a bunch of resources & build.
Knights
You can destroy a settlement with a knight.
But it can be counterspelled with a knight as a reaction
You can destroy a road with a knight.
If you have largest army, your knights power increases.
Destroy settlement, can’t be counterspelled.
Destroy 2 roads.
Cities are fortified and can’t be destroyed.
Dev cards
When the development card deck runs out, all dev cards in the game are collected, shuffled and rebuild the deck.
Players lose the Largest Army card.
Monopoly
Place this on any resource from the bank. Only you get that resource for the rest of the game.
Road Building
Every time you build a road, you get an extra road.
Year Of Plenty
Once per turn, you may build with with one less resource.
Victory Point
You can assign a settlement a victory point. It cannot be destroyed.
Script v1
Let’s talk about the absolute best version of Catan that you didn’t realise you already owned.
Reveal it from under a cloth. It’s just base Catan.
It only requires the base camp and some improvements to the rules and, I want to apologise in advance for this next part, you’ll never go back to playing normal Catan ever again. Roll Dice.
Me photoshopping the word Survival on Catan and change the scene of the colonist to something violent
Catan has this beautifully simple theme where you and the other players are colonist’s who discover the island of Catan at the same time and start to conquer it for its resources.
B-Roll of that 3D trailer.
So why doesn’t the game play out that way? If you just discovered the island, it would make sense if all players started the game on a harbour spot and then built inwards into the island as you explore and discover its secrets.
Ship sailing to the island.
Place settlement on a port and a road inward.
The resource tiles start flipped upside down and are only revealed once you are settled in that area. And of course, just like the base game, once you have a settlement there, you start generating resources from it. It would also be weird if your 2nd settlement during the draft phase started on the opposite side of the map, did you have 2 ships find the island at the same time but from opposite sides of the world? I think not. So instead, your 2nd settlement in the draft phase must connect to your first with your 2 roads as you go deeper into Catan.
Pan to the port placement. Flip tiles touching the settlement.
Show MG of 2 ships coming to Catan from diff sides.
Place 2nd settlement, then flip them.
And as for colonising and conquering, I don’t think there has been a point in history where rival colonists would so harmoniously share a resource rich land. At least in colonialism history. So naturally as you stumble upon other colonists on the island, you have a choice to make, you can either now engage in trade since your roads or settlements connect (the condition for trading), OR you can take the more aggressive option and use knight cards to destroy opponents settlements and roads. Of course if you have your own standing army, you can use your own knight card as a reaction to stop your roads or settlements from being destroyed. Cities are exempt from being destroyed because they are fortified, duh.
Show 2 colonists drinking tea together.
Type, “I didn’t do any research on this statement.”
Show roads connecting with another player. Then 2 colonists staring down each other. Show trading wood for brick.
OR a knight comes in and destroys their settlement. Then remove settlement from board.
Another hand stops them from removing the settlement. Wags finger and reveals that she also has a knight.
MG of two knights doing battle and draw (both fall down)
Cut to knight slashing a city wall while guards are laughing, “your mother smells of elderberries”
Now you might be thinking, oh no! I saved for so long to build a settlement and they can just destroy it, that doesn’t seem fair at all! That is until you look at the development cards. There are 14 knights, 5 victory points, 2 road building, 2 year of plentys and 2 monopolies in the development card deck. There are great chances that you and your opponent will both have knights to attack or protect your settlements. Now the other cards are where it gets interesting, (if it wasn’t always super cool, flips hair). Victory points can now be placed under one of your settlements and makes it so that it can never be destroyed. Finally, a good use for an early victory point. Road building now works as a passive buff instead of a one time effect. Every time you build a road, you get an extra road for free. 2 for the price of 1! Year of Plenty is also a passive, once per turn, whenever you build something, you can build it with one fewer resource. Really lives up to it’s year of plenty name. And finally the monopoly card, staying true to it’s name, is placed on top of a resource from the bank and no other players are able to get this resource from the bank from dice rolls. You can still trade with ports or 4:1’s. This really makes for some interesting shifts in strategy throughout the game.
I hope by now that you are nodding your head in agreement that all the themes are still on point and maybe make even more sense than the base game. Good cause here come the curve balls. Although I am quite satisfied with the rule changes above, there are still quite a few unresolved parts to this game that although I have ideas for, I hope you can give some feedback on.
The most obvious one that we haven’t talked about is the victory condition. Is the goal of the game to still get 10 victory points? I think so, but I think how those points are acquired changes a bit. For example, in addition to counting your settlements and cities, you could get a point for destroying a settlement.
And as for Largest Army and Longest Road, I think those would change to. The first thing I thought about with Largest Army is that instead of it just giving points, it actually added value to the game based on it’s name. So if you are the current owner of the Largest Army and attacked a settlement, that player’s knight would not be able to counter your attack because you can’t counter the largest army, right? A city or victory point settlement would still be considered safe.
The Longest Road is also a little off.
And what about the Robber? How does that work now? Well with the huge buff for knights, I think we would remove the stealing function that knights have. Also it was always weird that the island’s robber and these colonists knights were represented by the same token anyway. Hey, someone had to say it. Instead, the robber exists on the desert hex and when the desert is discovered, players may place a resource on the desert hex as a bribe for the robbers. This bribe permits the player to place roads or settlements along the desert hex. However, if another player reaches the desert hex and offers a bigger bribe, the player with roads and settlements already beside the desert immediately gets destroyed by the robbers.
Script V2
Order:
“If Catan was realisitic”, Colonists on boat in the ocean, boat bumps island, the people flop forward.
“The game would start on a harbour spot because that’s where colonists would first make land and settle.
Character, Conflict, Stakes
Can Settler Simon survive until the end of the video?
If Catan was realistic, the settlers would arrive by ship from the ocean. It would make sense for the game to start by placing a settlement on a harbour spot because that’s where colonists would first make land and settle. The rest of the island would be a dark and mysterious place and you could only uncover its secrets once you venture further in. From your initial settlement, you could create pathways into the island by placing roads. In the completely unrealistic base version of Catan, during the draft phase, you would be able to place your 2nd settlement on a completely different part of the island. This is completely Once you do so, you can place a settlement which would reveal the local resources in that area. Now when the dice are rolled, you are able to gather those discovered resources.
The resource tiles start flipped upside down and are only revealed once you are settled in that area. And of course, just like the base game, once you have a settlement there, you start generating resources from it. It would also be weird if your 2nd settlement during the draft phase started on the opposite side of the map, did you have 2 ships find the island at the same time but from opposite sides of the world? I think not. So instead, your 2nd settlement in the draft phase must connect to your first with your 2 roads as you go deeper into Catan. As you place your second settlement, instead of you getting those resources, every player starts the game with 1 of each resource. If these colonists came with the intent of starting a new settlement, do you think they would come empty handed? No way! Not only that, they would come well armed, so of course each player would also get 1 knight card at the start of the game.
I mean we are colonising and conquering right? I don’t think there has been a point in history where rival colonists would so harmoniously share a resource rich land. At least in colonialism history. So naturally as you stumble upon other colonists on the island, which happens when your roads or settlement touch, you have a choice to make, you can either engage in trade since your physically connected (the condition for trading), OR you can take the more aggressive option and use knight cards to destroy opponents settlements and roads. Naturally, if you have your own standing army, you can use your own knight card as a reaction to stop your roads or settlements from being destroyed. And of course, Cities are exempt from being destroyed because they are uhhh fortified, duh.
Now you might be thinking, oh no! I saved for so long to build a settlement and they can just destroy it, that doesn’t seem fair at all! That is until you look at the development cards. There are 10 knights, 5 victory points, 2 road building, 2 year of plentys and 2 monopolies in the development card deck. There are really good chances that you and your opponent will both have knights to attack or protect your settlements. But even if you don’t draw a knight, the other cards are where the game gets really interesting. Victory points can now be placed under one of your settlements and makes it so that it can never be destroyed. Finally, a good use for an early victory point. Road building now works as a passive buff instead of a one time effect. Every time you build a road, you can build an extra road for free. 2 for the price of 1! Year of Plenty is also a passive, once per turn, whenever you build something, you can build it with one fewer resource. Really lives up to it’s year of plenty name. And finally the monopoly card, staying true to it’s name, is placed on top of a resource from the bank and no other players are able to get this resource from the bank through dice rolls. You can still trade with ports or do 4:1’s. This really makes for some interesting shifts in strategy throughout the game.
I hope by now that you are nodding your head in agreement that all the themes are still on point and maybe make even more sense than the base game. Good cause here come the curve balls. Although I am quite satisfied with the rule changes above, there are still quite a few unresolved parts to this game that although I have ideas for, I hope you can give some feedback on.
The most obvious one that we haven’t talked about is the victory condition. Is the goal of the game to still get 10 victory points? I think so, but I think how those points are acquired changes a bit. For example, in addition to counting your settlements and cities, you could get a point for destroying a settlement.
And as for Largest Army and Longest Road, I think those would change to. The first thing I thought about with Largest Army is that instead of it just giving points, it actually added value to the game based on it’s name. So if you are the current owner of the Largest Army and attacked a settlement, that player’s knight would not be able to counter your attack because you can’t counter the largest army, right? A city or victory point settlement would still be considered safe.
The Longest Road is also a little off.
And what about the Robber? How does that work now? Well with the huge buff for knights, I think we would remove the stealing function that knights have. Also it was always weird that the island’s robber and these colonists knights were represented by the same token anyway. Hey, someone had to say it. Instead, the robber exists on the desert hex and when the desert is discovered, players may place a resource on the desert hex as a bribe for the robbers. This bribe permits the player to place roads or settlements along the desert hex. However, if another player reaches the desert hex and offers a bigger bribe, the player with roads and settlements already beside the desert immediately gets destroyed by the robbers.
Script V3
Storytelling! Use story intrigue for retention instead of flashing lights.
Sea Shanty opening.
There once was a crew of set-te-lers,
Who went on a quest for better or worse,
Their ship hit the land and the story beGan (like ca-TAN),
On the island of caTan
HUH!
Someday resources will come,
We’ll build big homes and we’ll drink good rum,
But then more colonists came,
And now it’s time to play the game.
What would Catan be like if it actually played out like a bunch of settlers arriving at this unknown island? the way the game’s theme is presented? I think there is a lot of potential here but can we put our heads together and actually make it a better game?
What if Catan was realistic? And actually played out like the theme suggests? You are a settler who sailed the seas and came across this mysterious island which you explore and discover is rich in resources. But then as you go further into the island, you realise that you aren’t the only ones here. I think there is a lot of potential to create a proper game here, and if we work together, can we make a better version of Catan? if we put our heads together and design a more flavorful version of Catan? I’ll lay out some groundwork and then we can fill in the blanks in the comments. Roll dice.
It would make sense for the players to start the game on a harbour spot during the initial placements, since that is where they first landed on the island. Once they’re settled in, they’ll have a better sense of their surroundings which is when players will first see where resources are located.
Well I tried it out and it’s a lot more fun now that it’s realistic. The more I play the game, the more thrown off I am by how the rules don’t quite match up with the theme of the game. For instance, during initial placements, how are you gonna set up your first settlement in the middle of the island when you just landed on shore? Plot hole much. So to fix that, your first settlement in the game should be placed on a harbour spot. And then once you are settled in, you’ll have a good sense of that part of the island, allowing you to flip over the resource tiles that are touching your settlement.
After the first round of placements finish, we start to reverse pick order. The second settlement should also follow the same logic. It’s unlikely that your crew found Catan from two opposite sides of the island and so your second settlement should really just be an expansion from your first. You can either build another harbour spot, or you can navigate further inland into the mysterious island of Catan and build a settlement there. Doing so will give you a good lay of the land and allow you to flip over the resource tiles touching your settlement.
The early game in this version is actually a lot quicker compared to the normal version of Catan because 1) you don’t need to figure out resource placements because you can’t see them anyway 2) you only need to rely on the combination of port and pip to make a decision 3) if you have a port, you can do 2:1 or 3:1 trades earlier, and finally, #4), what kind of crazy expedition DOESN’T bring some resources with them to start their new life on an unexplored island? Right? Like am I missing something here? Anyway, so it only makes sense that all players would start with 1 of each resource, instead of getting the resources from their second settlement. Now all players come equally prepared to conquer the island. But you can’t really conquer without weapons, so of course you would also start with a knight card. Because who doesn’t bring weapons into uncharted territory?
Because of the random nature of the resources you discover, it would balance it out and make sense that you start the game with more cards. What kind of crazy expedition DOESN’T bring some resources with them to start their new life on an unexplored island? Right? Like am I missing something here? So it only makes sense that all players would start with 1 of each resource, instead of getting the resources from their second settlement. Now all players come equally prepared to conquer the island. And you can’t really conquer without weapons, so of course you would also start with a knight card. Because who doesn’t bring weapons into uncharted territory?
I mean we are colonising and conquering right? I don’t think there has been a point in history where rival colonists would so harmoniously share a resource rich land. At least in colonialism history. So naturally as you stumble upon other colonists on the island, which happens when your roads or settlement touch, you have a choice to make, you can either engage in trade since you are now physically connected (the condition for trading), OR you can take the more aggressive option and use knight cards to destroy opponents settlements and roads. Although, if they have their own standing army, they can use their own knight card as a reaction to stop you from destroying their roads or settlements. And now both of you just used up your knight card. I would also just assume that cities cannot be destroyed because they are uhhh fortified.
Now you might be thinking, oh no! I saved for so long to build a settlement and they can just destroy it, that doesn’t seem fair at all! That is until you look at the development cards. There are 10 knights, 5 victory points, 2 road building, 2 year of plentys and 2 monopolies in the development card deck. There are really good chances that you and your opponent will both have knights to attack or defend settlements. But even if you don’t draw a knight, the other development cards are where the game gets really interesting. Victory points can now be placed under one of your settlements and makes it so that it can’t be destroyed. Finally, a good use for an early victory point. Road building now works as a passive buff instead of a one time effect. Every time you build a road, you can build an extra road for free. 2 for the price of 1! Year of Plenty is also a passive, once per turn, whenever you build something, you can build it with one fewer resource. Which really lives up to it’s year of plenty name. And finally the monopoly card, staying true to it’s name, is placed on top of a resource from the bank and no other players are able to get this resource from the bank through dice rolls. You can still trade with ports or do 4:1’s. This really makes for some interesting shifts in strategy throughout the game.
I hope by now that you are all nodding your head in agreement that all the mechanics fit the theme much better. Good because here come the curve balls. This is where you can fill in the blanks in the comments section with ideas of what we should do with the rest of the game. Here are just a few things we still need to figure out, and while you are thinking about colonising, I’d like to talk about Colonist.io, a version of catan that you can play right in your browser. It’s free to play, comes with everything you would expect and want from catan and has a thriving community of players who you can get together and play with through their dedicated discord channel. Now onto..
The Main Objective. Does it still make sense for the game to be a first to 10 points? And are points acquired the same way? Does largest army and longest road still make sense as they are? What exactly happens when you roll a 7? Here are some thoughts. Largest army is acquired the same way, but doesn’t provide any extra points. Instead, when you attempt to destroy a settlement, they cannot defend it with a lonely knight because you have the largest army and would of course win that battle. If you attempt to destroy a road, with the largest army, it would probably make sense that you can destroy two roads. Speaking of roads. If you are holding the longest road, then maybe you should be able to relocate a road once per turn. This would allow for some quick manoeuvring into and out of dangerous areas.
And what about the Robber? How does that work now? Well with the huge buff for knights, I think we would remove the stealing function that knights have. Also it was always weird that the island’s robber and these colonists knights were represented by the same token anyway. Hey, someone had to say it. Instead, the robber exists on the desert hex and when the desert is discovered, players may place a resource on the desert hex as a bribe for the robbers. This bribe permits the player to place roads or settlements along the desert hex. However, if another player reaches the desert hex and offers a bigger bribe, the player with roads and settlements already beside the desert immediately gets destroyed by the robbers. Players who have a settlement beside the desert can place a resource in the desert as a bribe to the robber. The robber can fast travel anywhere on the map
And what about the Robber? How does that work now? Well with the huge buff for knights, I think we would remove the stealing function that knights have. Also it was always weird that the island’s robber and these colonists knights were represented by the same token anyway. Hey, someone had to say it. Instead when a 7 is rolled, the player rolls the dice again. When a non-7 number comes up, they choose a hex with that number and place the robber there. Then each player with a settlement on that hex must place a resource from their hand into the desert since they were robbed. This way the robber acts as an automated NPC who isn’t affiliated with any of the colonists and steals almost indiscriminately. And the stolen resources in the desert cannot be accessed for the rest of the game.
With the huge buff to development cards, what would happen when the development card deck runs out? Should there be some catastrophe that causes everyone to return their development cards back to the deck to be reshuffled and start buying them again? This could be good to reset some of the buffs and strongholds that players acquired and even out the playing field at a later point in the game.
With all these ideas, I think the best way forward is to play the game and beta test these ideas. Which you can also do! One of the beautiful things about this version is that you can play it with the base version of the game. No extra parts needed! But we still have a lot of unresolved questions. Once the comment section provides some answers, we can make the next video where we actually play through the game with the agreed upon rules. End Turn.
Script v4 - ‘playful storytelling’
If Catan’s rules actually matched it’s theme Rules Were More Realistic, the game would be so much better. So let's start Starting with where all settlers start, by setting out to sea..
We found a way to make Catan like (roll dice), 12x better by making it more realistic. We’ve upgraded all the rules, the theme is maxed out on flavor and all’s that’s left is to see if it passes the YOU test. If you’re ready, ., And by the end of this video, you’ll be so convinced of the improvements that you’ll never play Catan the same way again. lets start where all settlers first start, in the middle of the ocean. Roll dice.
“We’re” = clone with me and you labels
Unboxing Catan quick cuts.
Transition to realism (see reddit saves)
“End of this video” Play knight card, rotoscoped into a knight.
“So let’s start” splitscreen, face and ocean. Roll dice.
—------------
Slow zoom in into settlement with me pointing at screen. Start with Catan board slowly getting more realistic (3d)
We’ve found a way to make Catan (roll dice) 12x better just by adding some realism. It’s lWe’ve upgraded all the rules, the theme is history channel worth and if it passed the YOU test, we’re going to submit it to the Catan people to become an official expansion.
We found a way to make Catan like (hand grabbing dice, roll dice) 10 x better by making the rules more realistic (puzzle piece of rule+theme). Because at the moment, the game doesn’t make ANY sense (robber & knight is the same token??). But don’t worry, we’ve upgraded the rules (settlement->city) and maxed out the theme (sheep eating wheat on adjacent hex), to make Catan an all around better game and we’ll be submitting this version (“better” on Catan box) to the people at Catan (klaus) as an official expansion IF it passes the YOU test (pull out from YT video, scroll down to comment, comment says, “I approve?”). Let’s start where all settlers first start, in the middle of the ocean. (me in book, zooms out onto ship, zooms out onto ocean)
Sea Shanty opening.
There once was a crew of set-te-lers,
Who went on a quest for better or worse,
Their ship hit the land and the story beGan (like ca-TAN),
On the island of caTan
HUH!
Someday resources will come,
We’ll build big homes and we’ll drink good rum,
But then more colonists came,
And now it’s time to play the game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IcD5XNYyss&ab_channel=KatyAdelson
As you arrive on the island, bringing resources with you, you are able to establish your first settlement near the shore with the resources you brought with you, giving you a good sense of the surrounding area. But the rest of the island is a dark and mysterious place, which you can only learn about by venturing further into the island. So your little colony starts getting comfortable, collecting resources or whatever, but then y’all start having babies and the in-laws start moving in and uncle jack starts eating lamb chops for every meal and soon you realise you need to expand.
All talking into camera + b-roll. Film b-roll to the right so face circle can be on left.
“First settlement”, broll of placing settlement, then flipping over hexes.
“Dark mysterious” Pan across board
Painting MG
It would be near impossible to start a second settlement in some random part of the island and so it would only make sense that your second settlement is attached to the first one. Your growing colony ventures a little further inland and finds a suitable place to build. As they do, they become more familiar with the area, revealing a little bit more of the island. After these initial settlements, you find yourself with exactly 1 of each resource remaining. This is where the draft phase ends of the game starts.
BR, Pan back across board to first settlement. Place road+settlement into island. Flip hexes. (move your hands off screen between flips so I can cut it)
BR Overhead of the different players marching inland
“Oy Jimmy, this spot you picked out for our settlement better be good or I’ll have you chopping wood for a month!” “Yes, mother.” “If this placement of yours causes us any trouble, you are really gunna get it from me y’hear?” “Mom I said okay, gosh.” “Don’t you use that foul language with me you sheep***”
MG Painting
As you continue expanding inland, you realise that you aren’t the only ones on the island as you suddenly make contact with another colony. Now you have a choice to make, do you engage in trade since you are now physically connected to this other colony? Or do you aggressively seek to destroy them because “this island isn’t big enough for the two of us”
BR, road expand, touch another settlement.
MG Painting
BR, movie quote
It’s likely that at least one of you will choose the violent option because we’re going for realism here, and you know, humans (peace/peace, peace/war, war/war), and because this is such a natural tendency, your ship would have already came equipped with weapons which is why every player starts the game with a knight card.
MG
If you are connected to another player's colony, all it takes to destroy an opponent’s road or settlement on your turn is to play a knight card. This would remove those pieces from the game. However, they wouldn’t go down without a fight, which is why they can also play a knight card as a reaction to stop you from destroying their sh**. This uses up both of your knight cards and starts the countdown to largest army.
BR, road touching
BR, play knight
BR, remove settlement
BR, anime splitscreen, reaction knight
MG VS Screen
Y’all decide you’ve shed enough blood and it’s probably a good time for peace and prosperity, so you start getting some development cards. “Oy! Jimmy, you lazy good for nothing, go fetch some ore from the quarry, we need to build ourselves up a bit.” “But mom, I chopped wood yesterday.” “I didn’t say nothin’ about wood jimmy, you dumb in the head, I said go get some ore, and while you’re at it, like & subscribe like your older brother, he’s such a good boy.” “Stupid Timmy and his stupid sheep, always gets all the credit, like & subscribe? Pfftt I’ll like & subscribe to whoever I damn well please.”
MG Painting
Once your colony starts getting into the development cards, the pace of the game will drastically increase, as technology should do. You can continue to build up an army with more knights, but the rest of the dev cards is where is really interesting. Road Building now works as a passive, you’ve LEARNED road building and as such, once a turn, everytime you build a road, you get to place an extra road. Year of Plenty is also a passive, since it’s a full year of excess resources, it would only make sense that you can build things more cheaply. As such, once a turn, whenever you build something, it costs one less resource to do so. Monopoly, as the name suggests, should only allow YOU to get access to a particular resource, and you do so by placing your monopoly card on top of a resource from the bank. This permits only you to draw that resource when it is rolled. And finally, Victory Points. In normal boring Catan, in unrealistic Catan, if you got a victory point early, it kinda sucked. But now these actually serve a purpose. You can place a victory point card under any settlement, and it protects it from ever getting destroyed. Now that’s a victorious feeling.
As the game starts ramping up, players will very quickly start achieving some of the special victory points like Largest Army and Longest Road. Whoever is the holder of Largest Army doesn’t get any points, but instead gets some buffs to their Knight cards. Now, when attempting to destroy a settlement, it cannot be defended against, because you literally can’t win against the largest army. However cities and victory point settlements can never be destroyed. I didn’t mention cities yet, but like, you can’t destroy a city, because it’s uh Fortitifide (fortified with iron label). “Oy, what are you doing over there with that large army in front of our city?”, “Oh, we were going to try and attack it.”, “Attack it? Are you out of your mind? You would all be killed before you even…” “Chargeeeeee” (slashing at wall with no effect) “Are you seeing this Robert? They are trying to break our rock walls with swords.” “Guess they’ve never played Rock, Papyrus, Sword before” “hahaahahah” Maybe if they practiced a bit more by playing catan online with Colonist.io, a free to play version of Catan that has everything you need to binge some Catan games. You can play with people online or play together with friends. “Oy! Did you just say Colonist.io has free online Catan?”, “Yeah and they sponsored me too.” “You hear them men, retreat to your internet devices! We have to try this out.”
As for Longest Road, I was thinking about being able to reposition up to one road per turn. This would allow for some interesting manoeuvring to set up for an attack or defence. It wouldn’t give you 2 victory points, but it can really help pull off some surprise attacks.
Now what about the Robber? How do they fit in? Well, for one, it was always weird that the robber and the knight were represented by the same token. Someone had to call that out. And since knights got a huge buff, I think knights wouldn’t have a stealing mechanic anymore, that would just be for the robber. Now since the Robber is this NPC type character on the island, it would make more sense if their stealing was less biased. Therefore, when a 7 is rolled, the player rolls again until a non-7 is rolled. Then the player places the robber on a hex with that matching number and all players with attached settlements must remove a resource from their hand and put it in the desert. These resources are stolen and cannot be accessed for the rest of the game.
This real version of Catan is pretty neat but we are still left with some questions like, What is the win condition of the game? Is it still 10 victory points? Do you get those victory points in the same way? Or some new way? Will Jimmy like & subscribe? Are settlements permanently destroyed? What would you add or remove from this game? Once we come to an agreement in the comments, we’ll make a video with the game being played, but you don’t have to wait for that, you can play the game yourself since it only requires the base game. You can check this out for more ways to play Catan.
This is as far as I felt comfortable with this thematic ruleset, there are still some things that I’m not sure what to do about. The most obvious one is the game objective. Are we still trying for 10 victory points? Here are some of the things we haven’t figured out. Also, I’d be curious to know what you think about the thematic ruleset? What would you add, remove or change? Once we come to an agreement of the rules in the comments, I’ll make another video of us actually playing the game as we designed it. You can also try it out, because all you need is the base game of Catan, nothing new was added! If you like these kind of game mods, this video has a whole bunch of other ideas of cool changes you can make to Catan. That’s all I’m doing on my turn. End turn.