Last updated: 28 SEP 01. Check back often; I plan on updating this right up until the night before the convention.

What's New?

• 28SEP01: Updated to this year's con dates and times. Ruhr and Rialla are connected, as are Holland and Bluefeld; this is what I originally intended but the opposite was true last year due to a typo.

EuroDragon, Session 1 (Friday 9:00AM - 1:00PM)

Iron Dragon and Eurorails are two of Mayfair Games' popular series of railroad games, commonly called 'crayon games' due to the crayons used to draw the track that each player builds. If you haven't played ID but you're familiar with other games of the type (e.g., Empire Builder, EuroRails, British Rails), you'll be fine. I do ask that you have an operating knowledge of one of the above games; I expect to spend some time explaining differences, but I don't intend for this to be a teaching game.

The premise of EuroDragon: When Rails Collide is that a group of wizards have come up with a get-rich-quick scheme: establish magical links between Europe and Darwinina and charge usurious exchange and interest rates! Your job as a railroad company owner is to overcome this, connect all the major cities of Europe and Darwinina, and make money anyway.

Trains are allowed to pass between worlds at the major cities. It costs 3MP to move from any point in one major city to any point in its counterpart city (i.e., the corresponding major city on the other board). When a train crosses between worlds, its locomotive is magically transformed to the equivalent locomotive of the other world.

The connections:
• Madrid is connected to Eaglehawk
• Wien is connected to Ozu-Zarkh
• Milano is connected to Wikkede
• Berlin is connected to Octomare
• Holland is connected to Bluefeld
• Ruhr is connected to Rialla
• Paris is connected to Uloggh
• London is connected to Kola

Cash Flow Rules

• Starting cash is 60GP (Gold Pieces) and 50E (Eurodollars).
• Each rail build or train upgrade must be done using the currency of the world being built or upgraded in.
• Players upgrading during the 'build-only' turns (i.e., before the first movement turn) must start their movement in the world corresponding to the currency they used to pay for the upgrade.
• Before the railbuilding phase of each turn, the active players may take out a bank loan of up to 20 in either currency (but all in the same currency). Repayment of 2 for every 1 borrowed begins automatically whenever the player receives any of the same kind of currency (e.g., load payoffs or track rent), and continues until the loan is paid off. A player may have only one loan active at a time.
• After the railbuilding phase of each turn will be a moneychanging phase, where the active players can exchange 2 of either currency for 1 of the other (up to a maximum of 40 for 20).

Locomotive upgrades

• Upgrades purchased in either world are good in the other. Due to the differing upgrade schemes between the two worlds, players upgrading in Darwinina must upgrade in increments of 20 Gold (from Class I to Class III, and from Class III to Class V).
• The Teapot (Speed 10 Load 2) is equivalent to the Freight (Speed 9 Load 2)
• The White Dragon (Speed 14 Load 2) is equivalent to the Fast Freight (Speed 12 Load 2)
• The Fire Drake (Speed 12 Load 3) is equivalent to the Heavy Freight (Speed 9 Load 3)
• The Iron Dragon (Speed 16 Load 3) is equivalent to the Super Freight (Speed 12 Load 3)
• Note that in ID, there are only three of each Class III loco. This means that you may not be able to upgrade in the fashion you'd like, although there will always be enough locos to upgrade.

Movement

• We will be using two-player simultaneous turns. There will be two turn tokens, the 'Big Buck' (BB) and the 'Little Buck' (LB).
• We will do a normal 'who goes first' roll to determine who gets the BB first; the player opposite him will get the LB.
• Both buck-holding players will move simultaneously; in the event of a conflict (e.g., both players have a delivery at the same point in their movement); the BB player gets to go first.
• The locos have different movement rates on different boards. They will use the movement rate appropriate to the board they are on.
• When crossing between worlds, use the movement rate of the board being exited to determine whether the loco has enough MP left to cross over. Once the crossover is complete, use the movement rate of the board being entered to determine whether the loco can continue movement.
  • A White Dragon (14MP) entering Kola on 10 has enough MP to cross over to London, but cannot move once it arrives (since it has spent 13MP and on the ER board, its movement rate is only 12).
  • A Fast Freight (12MP) entering Madrid on 9 can cross over to Eaglehawk (12 MP spent), and since it becomes a White Dragon (Speed 14 Load 2), it can then move 2 mileposts out of Eaglehawk.
  • A Super Freight (12MP) entering Milano on 1 can cross over to Wikkedde (4 MP spent), cross over to Ozu-Zarkh (5 MP), cross over to Wien (8 MP), then move 4 mileposts out of Wien. (In fact, this is the recommended way to cross south-central Europe)

Building

• Once movement is complete, both players will build simultaneously, one milepost at a time, with the BB player winning all conflicts (e.g., both players want to build to the same milepost).

Commodities

• Several commodities appear in both worlds. They are considered interchangable. Specifically, any commodity with the same name in both games is interchangable: Cattle, Fish, Hops, Iron, Sheep, Steel, Wheat, and Wine.
• Also, some commodities are similar enough that they can be considered interchangable:
  • Pilgrims and Tourists (and imagine the look on those London holidaymakers' faces when they end up skiing in Kola!)
  • Ale and Beer (duh)
  • Lumber and Wood (double duh)
  • Fruit and Oranges
  • Pipeweed and Tobacco
• Players must pick up the commodity corresponding to the world their train is in. For instance, if a player is in Toulouse, and all the ER wheat is in use, he cannot pick up ID wheat instead.
• When a player picks up a load chip for an interchangable commodity, he should place it on the loco card corresponding to the world the load came from. This will help keep the load chips straight (so, for instance, the ID bank doesn't end up with eight Wheat while the ER bank has none).
• When a load card is cashed in, its replacement is drawn from the same deck.
• A player cannot pick up the last load chip for a given commodity unless he has a demand for it on one of his cards.

Event Cards

• Event Cards with a duration (mostly the weather-related ones) last until the drawing player's next overall turn, not his next turn with the same buck, as do cards that cause the drawing player to lose a turn.
• In general, event cards affect only the world in which they were drawn. The exception is Wizards Strike, which prohibits players from crossing between worlds.

Victory Conditions

• Connect all sixteen major cities. For purposes of connectivity, each major is connected to its counterpart city in the same way as Wikkede and Ozu-Zarkh are connected in ID. For instance, if a player builds a line from Paris to Milan, then a line from Ozu-Zarkh to Octomare, he has connected Paris, Uloggh, Milan, Wikkede, Ozu-Zarkh, Wien, Octomare, and Berlin.
• Accumulate 150GP and 150E (Eurodollars)
• A player may declare victory regardless of whether he is holding the LB or the BB. Once this occurs, the other players have one more circuit of whichever Buck the declaring player was holding before the game ends. A player may declare victory after the moneychanging phase.
• In the event no player can declare victory before the GM-specified time limit (probably fifteen minutes before the end of the session; it will be announced at least fifteen minutes in advance), the GM will call for one more circuit of the BB. Once this has happened, the winner will be determined by who has connected the most cities. If more than one player has connected the most cities, the winner will be determined by who has the most money, ignoring any amount over 150 in either currency.

Iron Dragon Rules Clarifications

• The Rainbow Bridge event card that magically links Bluefeld and Octomare lasts only until the end of the drawing player's next turn.
• A player can land in a port that has no rail built into it. The player can only move out of that port by rail (i.e., someone builds into that port), or by boat again. Obviously, this doesn't apply to the major cities with ports in them.
• A player need not pay 'toll' to land in a port if someone else has built into it but the player hasn't. The player starts paying toll only when he actually runs on another player's rails.

House Rules

• We will be using a 'best 4 of 6' scheme to determine the opening set of demand cards. Each player will be dealt 3 demand cards from each board and will keep the best 2 from each board.
• Any event cards that appear during the opening deal will be discarded.
• The GM is fond of the Chunnel and would like to see it built. To encourage someone to build the Chunnel, the GM has discounted the cost from 20E to 15E, which can be paid in installments. The Chunnel is drawn when the cost has been fully paid.

Questions or comments? Just ask.
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