As I stated in my last Musings, I am not a fan of stretch goals that add game play content. My biggest example of this was the TMG Kickstarter for Scoville. The biggest problem I had with this project is the addition of 5 and 6 player options when the appropriate stretch goals were reached.
Earlier this week, TMG announced that they are removing the 5 and 6 player stretch goals, and adding them to the game! This is excellent news, and I cannot thank TMG enough for listening to their backers and making this change. I realize that this adds cost to the game, and I would have been okay with them restarting the project with a higher base price due to the change, but they have decided to keep the backer cost the same.
The other stretch goals that Scoville has are more recipe and market cards at 2 different levels, then replacing some tokens/cubes for customized meeples/wooden pepper tokens. Let me first say that stretch goals for upgrading materials are excellent goals and I fully support them. The stretch goals for adding more content to the game, however, leaves me with mixed feelings. TMG has stated on their project page that all stretch goals met will be included in all copies (including retail) of the game. Since there is no Kickstarter Exclusive for these cards, I do not have a problem with them being stretch goals on that count. I have a slight sticking point, though, when it comes to items that add game content without being included by default.
After thinking about my previous Musing where I outright stated that goals adding game play content should not be used at all, I need to back up a little bit. I realize that in that post, it could have appeared that I contradicted myself stating that Promos are acceptable stretch goals, while new game play content was not. I feel that Promo items for games are acceptable stretch goals since they are add-on content above what the base game experience provides. As an example, look at the Eminent Domain: Bonus Planets Promo pack that TMG provided on the original Eminent Domain Kickstarter. This promo pack added 9 new planets that players could use in the game. These planets were new planet types, not the 3 basic types included in the base game. Since this provided a new "mechanic" to learn, I believe this was an acceptable stretch goal. In the Scoville project, however, the new cards do not really change the game play experience. Instead, these new cards only provide a little more replay value without adding anything new to the game.
I realize that my stance above walks a very thin line and could be considered a gray area, but I feel that new content as stretch goals should provide new game play features, not just adding a little more replay with nothing really new to add.
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