Euthymia
Reviewed by Mark Vallianatos
1) CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INCORPORATION OF RULES (1-10): 8
Committee is used as the ubiquitous apparatus of power in the setting, with one player being an agent of the committee and controlling the final session. Near total credit though I have some doubts about the committee spy as it impacts the first 9 sessions (see below).
Emotions measure dissent from the norm as characters feel, speak, believe, and love differently than the ideal citizen. The feel aspect governs the other 3 in some ways, making it the most important. Near total credit.
Glasses of drink determine which players take turns and launch conflicts. The game references a drug used to control emotions and the drink is possibly meant to represent this drug but I didn’t see this stated in the rules. Near total credit.
The time restraint of 10 one-hour sessions could provide room for story development but there are only 3 kinds of sessions (set up, play, and final hour) so I wonder why the 3 x3 or 4 x 2 were not chosen. Incidentally this would save $$ on the ten bottles of good wine that otherwise would be consumed. Partial credit.
2) CLARITY (1-10): 7
Overall a good explanation of the game. The examples in the character creation section are useful and creative and most importantly, inspiring in the sense of sparking ideas. The clarification section is a great recap of some points that may be open to interpretation. I have a pretty clear grasp of how play is organized through turns and challenges and how character’s gain and lose points of aspects. But without examples, it is less obvious how the early parts of turns work (before challenges are launched.) Do players strictly take turns providing context to the active player’s urge? I assume it’s a mix of role playing and scene setting. Some of the impacts of drinking and pouring passed by me the first read through and should be emphasized more in the main rules sections.
3) COMPLETENESS (1-10): 8
The game is missing examples of play. The character examples are cool so I’m sure the designer could provide informative, evocative samples of play. It might also be useful to have some example answers to the five questions players answer during the first session to define what Euthymia is like.
4) ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS IN PLAY (1-10): 7
I would enjoy this game. The basic mechanics seem sound and the use of face cards to impact strength of aspects fits well with the game concept. I’ll repeat that I think the game needs more guidance to help players conceptualize what the non-active players are doing during turns. My other issue with the game is that the committee player plays a cool role in the final session but I see no reason for anyone to care who the committee player is before the 10th session. There isn’t competition between players, or at least the set up of turns and conflicts doesn’t generate any that I can anticipate, so why does it matter who the committee player is or who knows their identify (except as a narrative twist as they are revealed.) The advice to be strategic when pouring out drinks inspires me to ask the same question: why should you care since there don’t seem to be alliances or backstabbing or even necessarily connections between characters or players.
5) SWING VOTE (1-10): 9
I really like the topic and find the game’s method for generating the ideology of the ideal citizen and the players dissident urges to be truly inspired. Because the action isn’t always easy to conceptualize it needs some additional examples to hook the reader in to its dystopian allure.
TOTAL: 39