Artwork #4: Alta Customs

V3 (Final Version)

You have a starting line that everyone starts off at, and your ultimate goal is to make it to the end of the board with a certain amount of points. Points are either accumulated from actions, stolen from other players, or obtained at the end of the board depending on how quickly you make it there (every turn, the end of the board gives you 1 less point, starting from like 20 points or something). Every turn, you roll 1D6 to move, and land on either a blank space or an action space. The action space can either a) give you an action card that you can use at any time in the game or b) immediately cause you to take a certain action, such as moving forwards/backwards spaces, sending you on a different path, causing ‘conflict’ or ‘benefits’ (point -/+), etc. This is decided by rolling the dice a second time and depending on whether you roll a 1-4 or a 5-6  decides if you draw an immediate action space (b) or an action card (b) .

Some of the actions can be negated or enhanced based on your species, or any action cards you have in your hand that essentially act as equip cards (green card, family members, previous favors you can cash in on). However, the main problem in the game is this: once one person reaches the end of the map, each remaining player has 1 more turn to make it to the end of the map before the ferry departs for the new land, regardless of how many points the player has. You must end the game with at least 20 points to immigrate, and depending on how many points you end up with decides what place you have in society. 20-29: Working Class. 30-35: Middle Class. 36-40: Upper Class.

So the game overall is more so about a few things: 1) how immigration isn’t fair sometimes even if you do all of the right things (the ferry departing without you on it) 2) how selfish or selfless people can be when you all face hardships together (whether you wait to go to the end so that more people can make it, at the expense of guaranteed points, and also whether or not you steal points from people or intentionally sabotage them) and 3) how not everyone has the same path to success (species, differrent actions and how they affect you, etc.)

 

I actually made this model after multiple different variations, each with a whole rules list. The second version I made was very different, and the third one is most similar to the first, but is more straightforward and makes more sense. I will only post the second and third versions as they aren’t as in detail as my first (the original).

Also, Original Board:

Games Final V2

There are going to be resource bars called criminality, happiness, and anger. You must have less than 2 anger, less than 2 criminality, and more than 2 happiness to successfully enter Alta. You start with 2 anger, 0 criminality, and 2 happiness. The ratio of what “day” it is is affected by you criminality (You add your criminality by the day, which determines what action will occur). During the day cycle, Dragonborn and Bobblemen roll D6 while Mansepos and Spectres roll D3, reverse in night cycle, which rotates every 3 turns. After 6 turns, the days cycle. On day 3, all rolls are halved in value, rounding up. Each card has a different choice on them and cause different effects to your different resources, then I had a few cards mapped out. 

Games Final V3 (as well as the cards included)

 

Species:

Mansepos

-Start with 20 points.

-All immediate card effects (or cards against you) are doubled, regardless of negative or positive effects.

Sommiticus

-Start with 15 points.

-Start with a D5 (roll a D6 and subtract 1)

-They can use one action card twice.

Spectres

-Start with 10 points

-All point losses are halved.

Frashers

-Start with 10 points

-Start with a D5 (roll a D6 and subtract 1)

-Passively gain 1 point per turn

Purchasing Store: You can use your points to give you an advantage in the game. Abilities can only be purchased at the beginning of the game.

Dice Plus: Increase your dics roll by 1 permanently. 15 points.

Action Plus: Purchase a random action card. 5 points.

Steal Plus: Gives you a chance to steal points from other players based on a double dice roll. 5 points.

Anti-Steal: Prevents a single player from stealing points from you for that turn.

Action spaces (1-4):
Move forward 1/2/3 spaces (Find money on the ground, find a fellow immigrant from your country, get help from a kind immigration officer)

Move backwards 1/2/3 spaces (Lose money, lose your immigration papers, get caught up at an immigration checkpoint)

Take a side path
Gain 1/2/3 points (do a good deed, do a great deed, do an amazing deed)
Lose 1/2/3 points (do a bad deed, do a worse deed, do a terrible deed)
Take 1 point from every other player (cause distrust amongst all other species)
Give 2 points to the player w/ the least amount of points (help a poor immigrant out)
Give 2 points to the player w/ the most amount of points (get strong-armed by a gang of immigrants)
If you have less than 10 points, gain 2 points (poor man’s luck)
If you have less than 10 points, lose 1 point (poor man’s misery)

If you have less than 10 points, move back 3 spaces (detained simply for being poor)

If you have more than 20 points, give 1 of your points to every other player (sharing the wealth/knowledge)

If you have more than 20 points, lose 5 points (get too greedy)

If you have more than 20 points, move forward 5 spaces (use your status to cut the line)

 

Action cards (5-6):

Take 4 points from a player; give yourself two points and give another player two points (petty thieving scheme)

Move forward either 1, 2, or 3 spaces (read the newspaper, able to predict events)

Send any other player back 3 spaces (plant a false flag on another player)

Move any other player forward 3 spaces (send helpful information to another player)

Obtain a green card (allows you to negate any 1 negative points action against you)

Obtain a yellow card (allows you to negate any 1 movement action you would have to take otherwise)

Obtain a red card (if you are on the same space as another player, you can steal half of their points)

Switch places with another player

Steal 2 points from every player you pass this turn

Push each player that you pass this turn back 1 space

All players with more than 20 points lose 5 points or get pushed back to 20 points, whichever happens first

All players with less than 10 points gain 2 points or get pushed to 10 points, whichever happens first

Landing on a colored space allows you to roll again. This roll determines if you pick from the Action Card pile, or the Action Space pile.

 

I feel that my reason for choosing/creating a piece such as this is to bring awareness to the issue of discrimination against immigration and against immigrants in general in a game-like way. I want it to cause a powerful feeling, like with the man who posted the names of the people who died in the war in the military war game and the feelings those around him felt. I want to invoke a feeling of unfairness in just luck and who you are, things you can do nothing to change. I wanted to do immigration because I am a Muslim, and over the past months, Muslim immigrants have been getting a lot of trouble for either being a Muslim or just having a Muslim name without even being Muslim. Even someone with a long beard would be pulled aside just because they might have some Pakistani features. I modeled different species after different people, like how the Mansepos have a major advantage in which they start with the most points and the fact that every point or space they move/gain is doubled and how the Frashers start with the lowest points and start with a D5 instead of a D6,.