Tobermory

Tide Times for Tobermory. The next peak is HIGH Tide so that could be the rule for your game.

For example the real tide (as of 18:20) is rising to HIGH so that could be the set rule for your current game.
www.tidetimes.org.uk/tobermory-ti...

Decide the tide height for the course of the game. Either by coin toss, looking up the actual next tide height or by decision by the group. High Tide means Aces are high, tied Sites are a win for each player. Low tide means Aces are low, and any ties mean no player wins the site.

Some Sites in the game were affected by a coin toss to decide the outcome (high or low "tide"). I've decided to consolidate this to one coin toss at the start of the game. Even better, players could look up the actual next tide height on Tobermory itself. A cool little thematic link to the town.

Then the 'Whirlpool' at Sea. Cards played face down then shuffled and dealt. A bit of randomness but a neat decision as to what card to add to the mix. If the Lighthouse is out the Lead player doesn't have to shuffle. Strong as they either likely win OR shuffle in rubbish and hope to shed that card.

Spotlight on a couple of the Sites in the game. First the 'Lighthouse' on Land, a common standard effect in trick taking where the cards are played face down (no following suit required). Often quite advantageous to the Lead player as there's a good chance others don't follow the correct suit.

Example layout of Tobermory game showing the picture frame board, and the town reflecting in the water. Player pieces and cards surround the game.

Tobermory prototype frame board with town cards and player pieces

Another angle of the picture frame board, cards and player pieces

Lunch time shenanigans.

Absolutely unnecessary but I decided to create a concept for a picture frame board. The winner of the game would even get to sign the artwork at the end.

Four Site Cards from my Tobermory game featuring some of the iconic buildings from the town of the same name.

A finished board game state showing the Land and reflected Sea Cards. Tokens and paper mark the players that won Sites and the suits that were drawn for some of them.

Created card versions of the tiles. This makes shuffling the order much easier, and doesn't require a board. I'll sleeve these too so I can make easy rule changes without reprinting anything.

Art wise, I'm not going to draw anymore prototypes as I'm not great at it. Will look for an artist soon!

Tobermory Board Game with rows of colourful buildings, reflections and player pieces set into a picture frame display

Including making it more meaningful to win (perhaps more narrative too). Suggestion was to have a picture frame to give to the winner. I've mocked up what a framed board might look like and it'd be class to have a wipe clean badge that the winner "signs" and the finished piece becomes their artwork.

Loads of great feedback from the playtest. We did a 5 player game which was the first time (apart from me pretending to be 5 players). Thank you to everyone that tried it out. Extremely valuable session. More agency is required (as all the modifiers make it quite chaotic). Loads of ideas too ...

Tipex and markers for some changes to the Tiles to be ready for playtesting

Couple of wee tweaks before my first public playtest tomorrow. Very excited and nervous.

Importing cards into Tabletop Simulator

Tobermory board game scene. Each Site has been scored.

Close up of the end scene imported into TTS. Sites are populated with player markers and suit tokens.

Been messing about with adding the game into Tabletop Simulator. This will mean design iterations can be faster, and cheaper, as I can import new cards / shapes / corrections relatively quickly.

Also, I've made a first pass at a rulebook so if anyone's interested in more detail on the game here it is. Feedback is very welcome. Note this is just a draft really and mainly posted early for those curious about the progress. Cheers! Rob.
drive.google.com/file/d/1pCl9...

A building Tile on the left, moving to a Building Card.

Some feedback on the game is that the Tiles would be mega expensive to produce. I don't know if this ever gets made (that's the dream tho) but I've made some poker sized cards to try out how it plays. It's likely we don't need the main board either as we can bring all art onto the cards themselves.

"Graphic design is NOT my passion" (social media either) so I'll be updating logos, branding and everything down the line. Busy with real work and family too but I'll keep chipping away at it all in wee bits, with no deadline. This is nice. Any questions let me know.

Anyway, I was absolutely buzzing and got some incredible feedback.

Hearing the 'oooh' as the art side of the first card was revealed was just amazing.

It's now registered to public playtest later this month at Ancient Robot Games in Edinburgh. More on that soon hopefully.

At Tabletop Scotland I spoke to the wonderful Andrew from Eerie Idol Games and showed him the latest Tobermory version. He offered to play it there and then, and so we did.

Its first ever 4 player outing or public test (we were joined by Judson and Connor of Tettix Games). A big thank you to them.

4 buildings going into the Tobermory game. All fully placeholder art but the detail is much greater than the early prototypes.

Some upgraded art for the game. All still very much a work in progress but the progress is going well. Chimneys and other wee details to fix and add later.

End game state for the current iteration of Tobermory. It shows a row of buildings from the town of Tobermory and the sea with the faint building reflections in it. Suit Tokens and player markers make up the scene.

Hello and welcome to the account for my Tobermory trick-taker style board game. This is currently in the prototype phase, which some playtesting coming soon. Let me know if you are in Scotland / Edinburgh and would like to play a round or two. Art and design is not final.