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Description
In Urland, players compete to get their creatures on land. One player selects which land area is scored in a turn while other players use a number of actions to move their creatures around. At certain intervals on the scoring track, gene modifications are auctioned which offer additional actions to the players.
Year Published
2001
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 1
This page: 1
Sentiment:
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mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
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Video LKuaVr7eNpY
Beyond Solitire interview at 1:11 sentiment: positive
video_pk 41931 · mention_pk 152527
Click to watch at 1:11 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Innovative use of political geography within a coin-series framework
- Faith-based mechanics add depth and thematic clarity
- Clear visual indicators of clan loyalty on the map
- Rich historical concepts (Ikawiki, peasant uprisings) offer fertile storytelling ground
Cons
- Subject matter is obscure and requires substantial historical research
- Complexity can raise learning curve and prolong development/testing
- Solo modes and broader variants demand additional design and testing effort
Thematic elements
- Religion, peasant unrest, loyalty dynamics, and political stability during a period of civil war; governance framed through ideological movements rather than purely geographic terrain.
- Civil war-era Japan in the 15th century, the early Sengoku period, birthplace of the Ikawiki Buddhist radicals, with large peasant uprisings and factional conflict.
- historical, geopolitical, with a focus on factional loyalties and the spread of religious influence shaping political outcomes
Comparison games
- Gandhi
- Pen Dragon
- Fall of Saigon
- Fire in the Lake
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- clan loyalty — Provinces belong to clans and loyalty can shift between the two conventional factions, affecting where you recruit and how you control the map.
- nembutsu markers — Markers representing the spread of the Jōdo Shinshu faith, which in turn affects social unrest and faction actions.
- non-player system (Jackard-style) — A card-based non-player system with action cards and cross-referenced matrices to resolve NPC actions, enabling solo or indirect play.
- peasant revolts — Peasant uprisings influence stability and faction strength, introducing social dynamics into strategic decisions.
- political geography — The map emphasizes political relationships over traditional terrain; provinces are governed by clans with changing loyalties.
- recruitment from provinces — Recruitment sources are determined by provincial allegiance, shaping strategic choices.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a coin series game about a fairly obscure Japanese war in the 15th century.
- There's this backdrop of civil war between two more conventional powers, but at the same time, they're both trying to maintain the traditional system which they want to rule.
- I think it's important to maintain the existing systems if you're working in a series game and only add in a couple of new things.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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