Meeples Together is a 384-page on the design of cooperative board games (and card games and dice games) by Shannon Appelcline and Christopher Allen, with interior figures by Keith Curtis, editing by Renee Knipe and Colleen Riley, cover design by Will Hindmarch, and interior layout by Alex Mayo and Jeff Tidball. It’s published by our friends at Gameplaywright.
Table of Contents
- Foreword by Matt Leacock
- Chapter 1: The Basics of Cooperation
- Part One: The Spectrum of Cooperative Gaming
- Chapter 2: Styles of Competition
- — Case Study: Terra
- Chapter 3: Styles of Teamwork
- — Case Study: Contract Bridge
- — Case Study: One Night Ultimate Werewolf
- Chapter 4: Styles of Cooperation
- — Case Study: Pandemic
- — Case Study: Forbidden Island
- — Case Study: Forbidden Desert
- Part Two: The Mechanics of Cooperative Games
- Chapter 5: Cooperative Systems
- — Case Study: Flash Point: Fire Rescue
- Chapter 6: Challenge Systems
- — Case Study: Robinson Crusoe — Adventures on the Cursed Island
- Chapter 7: Players Facing Challenges
- — Case Study: Shadows over Camelot
- — Case Study: Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game
- Chapter 8: Players Undertaking Tasks
- — Case Study: Arkham Horror 2e
- Chapter 9: Adventure Systems
- — Case Study: Mansions of Madness 2e
- Part Three: The Theory of Cooperative Games
- Chapter 10: A Theory of Cooperative Gaming
- — Case Study: Space Alert
- Chapter 11: A Theory of Challenge Design
- — Case Study: Ghost Stories
- Chapter 12: When Games Go Wrong
- — Case Study: D-Day Dice
- Part Four: Cooperative Frontiers
- Chapter 13: The Psychology of Cooperative Gaming
- — Case Study: Hanabi
- Chapter 14: Assembling the Puzzle
- — Case Study: SOS Titanic
- Appendices
- Appendix I: The Basics of Game Design
- Appendix II: Game Design Dilemmas
- Appendix III: Game Design Types
- Appendix IV: Game Design & Social Theories
- Appendix V: Cooperative & Teamwork Game Synopses & Reviews
- Index
Continuing case studies, thoughts, apocrypha, and more are available in our Meeples Together blog.
Quotes
“Meeples Together is a must read for any emerging game designer, and an interesting read for all hobby gamers.”
—Richard Launius, designer of Arkham Horror
“If something I did is not in Shannon and Christopher’s book, I’m not sure I did it.”
—Mike Selinker, co-designer of Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, Thornwatch, and Betrayal at House on the Hill
“This is the single most valuable resource to date for the design of cooperative games. Thorough and detailed, it walks through common patterns and problems succinctly and clearly.”
-Raph Koster, author of A Theory of Fun
ISBN: 978-0-9818840-8-0
6×9 inches • 380 pages • softcover
$24.95 (US)
Print Purchase
Meeples Together is available in print through your FLGS; ask them to order some copies. Alternatively, you can order directly from IPR.
Digital Purchase
If you prefer rich-featured digitally native PDF, Epub, and Kindle formats, they’re available at a variety of sites:
- at DriveThru
- at Indie Press Revolution
- at Warehouse 23
- at Amazon