Patrick's Story
I first saw Stratos at Space City Comic Con 2016 in Houston Texas. I was drawn to the display by the enthusiasm of Jacob and Eddie, who were there to demonstrate and share the game. I was immediately intrigued by the unique game board design.
The trays could be arranged in a variety of different configurations: the terrain tiles that fit in special slots on the trays to complete the game board; the special tiles that provide extra challenges and bonuses; all of these things work together to provide a wonderful game experience that is very flexible and has virtually endless possibilities.
The element of chance added by the dice does not detract from the game play as in some games; but instead often forces the player to rethink his strategy and try something new and different.
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Rules, play, and First-time fun
I asked to see the rulebook; because unfortunately I have found that often a poorly written rulebook can ruin an otherwise great game. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the rules were clearly written and easy to understand.
I decided that I wanted to follow their progress, and that I really wanted to see them succeed. At this point, however, I still hadn't even played a single game of Stratos. So Jacob set up a 3 player scenario, and my wife and I played Stratos with the chief game designer (Jacob Chodoriwsky).
Jacob taught us the rules as we played, since Stratos is an incredibly easy game to learn. He (Jacob) was genuinely pleased when I beat him, explaining that one of his goals when designing Stratos was to not have first time players at a decided disadvantage to experienced players.
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Two surprises at Comicpalooza
About three weeks later, I saw Jacob and Eddie again. They had returned to Houston for Comicpalooza. I was glad to see them and told them that I had designed a couple of new scenarios for Stratos: One 2-player scenario and another that was for 2-4 players.
I showed them some pictures of the setups and gave them a brief explanation of each scenario. Since then, I have made some minor changes to one scenario and it is now tested and ready to share.
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Patrick's Scenario: The Divided Kingdom
Jacob and Eddie have both given me a lot of encouragement and support for my efforts, and have both thanked me for my support for Stratos. I support Stratos because it is truly a game that you can make your own.
To illustrate this, here is my latest scenario, which I call "The Divided Kingdom". In this map, players need to be creative to reach the centre at all, let alone each other.
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