Re: LEGENDS OF THE STRIKE ZONE

 Stephen,
My dad and I designed a baseball game a while back that will be published either this year or next called Lords of Baseball.  That's not a 9 inning sim like this or the most popular version (Strat-o-matic baseball) but instead it's a victory point game where you are the owner of a team.  You score points by winning games and having a solid farm team and some more unique things.  It's been popular with players who don't follow baseball too.  Our first few test groups were with people who openly hated baseball.  :)
for a non-fan, you put together a really interesting system.  I think I'll have fun experimenting.

Max




    On Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 11:37:45 AM EDT, Stephen Glenn [email protected] [spielfrieks] <[email protected]> wrote:  
 
 



On Wed, Apr 15, 2020 at 11:06 AM Maximus Jamelli maxjamelli1-/[email protected] [spielfrieks] <[email protected]> wrote:

     

 Hi Stephen,
Thanks for posting this print and play.  I think it looks really cool.  I printed it and checked it out - but I had a question for you.  As you put the cards together, it's pretty clear you rank the dice.  If I'm the pitcher, I wonder if I ever choose the yellow die. 

Well it's part of the double psych out I intended. If the batter thinks the pitcher will never choose yellow, then the batter should not pick yellow. So then the pitcher thinks the batter will NEVER pick yellow so maybe they should pitch yellow. It does work, and it's hilarious when it happens. How many times have I (as the batter) screamed, "Oh I should have picked yellow!"

Similarly, the pitcher probably thinks the batter should never pick red. And so it goes. The weighted options are the crux of the entire system. If all options are equally powerful then it is purely random. There's no reason to pick one over the other. And no way to get into your opponent's head.

I think there's room for steals, but I also think they need to be adjusted a little.  No way should Mark McGwire be safe 61% of the time.  I know for his career he's got a career 60% stealing percentage ... but he's only attempted 20 steals.  His all-time high for a season was 3..  Meanwhile, Stan Musial (another guy not known for stealing) has a lifetime 52% (your card has him at 47%) but he's 78 steals in 149 attempts.  I'd think his card should reflect that a little more.  


I would not argue with any of that. As you might suspect, I don't know a lot about the history of the game. The stats were taken from a baseball reference website. I would not be opposed to lowering or raising the steal stats for any player. 

 The only other thing I can think of is the bunt chart.  I think there should be a very small chance for both the batter and the runner to be safe.  So, on a roll of 2 there is an error.  Batter and runner are safe.  

Bunting was a last minute addition to the game. My baseball friends told me it *had* to be in there so I wanted to make it as simple as possible. Again, I have no argument against modifying those results.

I didn't want to write to expect you to make any changes - please don't take this as that.  I wanted to write to thank you for the system.  I think this is a really interesting way to play a quick game.  I was thinking about doing some of the re-creating on my own.  Maybe add a pitcher/defensive metric and add a few more cards to allow players to have a draft.  Each player would have a position to fill - so if I have a shortstop, the only way I can draft someone like A-Rod is if that player spent significant time at another position like Arod did.  

I would love to hear your thoughts. I completely understand that the system might be unsatisfying for true baseball fanatics. I am not one of those, and I like the game the way it is. But I'm honored if you find the system worthy enough to tinker with. 
Thanks for the kind words!
-- 
SWG