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Re:Simplifying Board Games by zacharycohn on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @11:49AM (#23392345)
I collaborated with the designer of the notoriously complex, 23 pound box game Gloomhaven to do exactly this for the upcoming small-box, mass-market oriented Jaws of the Lion. We built a 5 scenario on-ramp tutorial I called Fischer-Price mode.

We included new, simpler, components in the game that are exclusively for this tutorial, have players add mechanics and components and systems one or two at a time. During playtesting we went from about 2+ hours to read and semi-understand the rules enough to play, to playing in about 10-15 minutes.

It can be done, but it can add significant cost (materials, development time) to the game.

Re:Simplifying Board Games by TulliusCicero on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @02:06PM (#23394023)
Hey this looks cool, glad you mentioned it. Will probably grab it in August when it comes out!
Re:Simplifying Board Games by zacharycohn on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @03:34PM (#23395290)
I don't get any royalties, but you should! I got one of the early production copies and I'm two scenarios from finishing the campaign with my wife. It's lots of fun.
Re:Simplifying Board Games by heromal on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @09:58PM (#23398883)
So it's fine for 2 players?
Re:Simplifying Board Games by zacharycohn on Wednesday June 03, 2020 @11:13AM (#23404252)
Yup! If you're playing with two, I might avoid the Voidwarden. My favorite class, and it's playable with 2 players, but definitely harder with only one ally. All other combinations work very well together at 2 player though