Lucifuge Dragon posted an update to the Sixth Circle website over the long weekend, detailing some of the other Ultima influences he has factored into his board game adaptation of Ultima 7: The Black Gate, and discussing some of his current development aims for it.

I think it should be mentioned that The Black Gate isn’t exclusively based on Ultima 7 but it’s more a celebration of Ultima. I’ve borrowed dozens of elements from all the games, even Ultima Online.

His biggest challenge of late — other than lamenting the writing on some of the game cards — is figuring out a way to include the iconic magic carpet in a way that doesn’t completely break the game:

…I want this damned thing to be in my game as well but the problem is I am not sure how powerful to make it. I could make it just like the U7 version and have the lucky player who finds it able to zip around the game board carefree while the other players are stuck battling down in the trenches.

The player with the carpet would be able to finish quests quickly, avoid the Armageddon cards and pretty much be a pain in the Guardians big red ass. This is too powerful, so I need to find a way of utilizing it without it breaking the game completely. Again, the vast majority of you haven’t played the game but I think I’ve revealed enough over the last few months for you to get the gist of the mechanics. If you have ideas, lay them down. Let’s chat.

You can, and are encouraged to, drop a comment at the Sixth Circle site if you have any suggestions you’d care to toss out. Or if you just want to say “hi”, being a nice person and all.