History of Catan
From World Of Catan
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== Teuber's Story == | == Teuber's Story == | ||
| + | By now it seems that everyone knows about The Settlers of Catan® game. It has become one of the most popular board games to come along in years, attracting an audience of millions around the world and expanding into a series of related games and expansions. But The Settlers of Catan™ has a secret past that most of the fans would never even guess. And from that secret past come Catan’s two brothers: Entdecker™ and Domaine™. | ||
| + | |||
| + | When master game designer Klaus Teuber first sat down to create what would someday become The Settlers of Catan™, he envisioned something much larger. From his early childhood, he was always fascinated by stories of discovery and adventure. When he began his career as a game designer, he hoped to capture the essence of these stories and he sought to create games that allow the players to experience the thrill of exploration, discovery, and development for themselves. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It was not until the early nineties that he was able to begin working on his first prototypes. Part of his style of game design is to take ideas that develop while he creates the game materials. In a way, this mirrors the same themes of discovery and development that he hoped to express in his designs. Many of the elements of this first design would be familiar to fans of Catan: landscape tiles featuring seas, mountains, and forests, settlements which generated resources from the neighboring countryside, even trade and negotiations with the other players. | ||
| + | |||
| + | But there was much more to this game. For starters, only a small part of the “world” would be available at the beginning. Players would have to send out “scouts” to explore the rest of the land, drawing tiles as they went. These same scouts would be used to establish new settlements in this growing land. Eventually conflict crept in as players would compete with their bands of scouts for the most valuable regions. It quickly became apparent that the game was too much for one box. | ||
| + | |||
| + | So Klaus went back to the drawing board. He re-envisioned his concept. Instead of trying to draw all of his interests together in one game, he realized that he should create a trio of games. Each game would be able to focus on one aspect of his original grand design. This focus would make each game that much more interesting, that much more exciting. That much better. The first of this triad of games was, of course, The Settlers of Catan™, known in German as Die Siedler von Catan®. This was the game that was focused on development and trade. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The second game would be known as Entdecker™ in both German and English. Entdecker™ translates roughly as “Discoverer,” and that is the role that players must undertake in this game. Entdecker™ begins with an almost empty field. Only a few clues about what you will find are given. Each player is supplied with a small amount of coins that they must invest in order to send their exploration ship into the unknown. The exploration is done through the use of tiles. Each tile shows the waterway that the ship can explore, and may also show a small amount of land, ripe for further exploration. The goal, of course, is to explore the islands, earning points as you go. But it is not limited to that! For the second theme taken from the original grand design for Entdecker™ was the creation of new outposts. In addition to funding your exploration, you must use your limited resources to establish new settlements and forts on the islands you discover. The points don’t go to the explorer, they go to the player who ends up in control of the island! And to further stretch your strategy, you must hire intrepid scouts to brave the jungles and negotiate with the natives that live there. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The third game would focus on the inevitable conflicts between established princes for the limited resources. This game would be known as Domaine™ among the American audience, and the Germans call it Loenherz™, although the game slightly differs in Germany. In Domaine™, the entire realm is explored. The settlements are built. The forests tamed. But your rivals certainly are not! First, you must stake your claim to regions of the board (which are called domaines). Then you must hire knights to defend your holdings, and to expand them into the domaines of your opponents! Politics and intrigue are the order of the day in this third portion of Klaus’ original grand design. | ||
| + | |||
| + | In a way, the three “brother games” tell a story. First, there is the Discoverer, boldly setting off into the unknown to explore and seek out new lands. Behind him comes the Settler, who establishes new outposts, and develops bold and productive societies. Lastly, there comes the Lion-hearted conqueror, claiming the various lands and forging them into a single mighty kingdom, under his own control. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It is the genius of the designer that can take one bold vision, and create from it three fabulous games, each unique in its own right. Each game presents the player with unique challenges and opportunities. Each has a very different flavor to be enjoyed. But together they present the creation and growth of a world very much like our own. | ||
Revision as of 07:08, 25 April 2007
The City-State of Catan was established in 1607, off the coast of southern Germany. It served as an important trade route until modern times, when it began to stagnate and fall behind the rest of the world.
Contents |
The Discovery of Catan
In 1606 Captain Klaus Teuber set sail in the Mayflower, bound for the newly discovered America. The Mayflower departed from southern Germany, loaded with settlers and provisions. Captain Teuber was bound and determined to start a new colony in the new world, and set sail even with dire predictions of a furious storm heading his way. Half-way across the Atlantic Ocean, he ran into that terrible storm, and fought to save his ship. For over two weeks he battled wind, rain, and stormy seas, finally spotting land ahead. Finding a sheltered cove he beached his ship, and began exploring this new-found land.
The Settlement of Catan
The island which Captain Teuber found was small, yet it contained an amazing amount of natural resources. There were fields of golden grain, herds of wild sheep (just waiting to be harvested), great old-growth forests, iron-rich mountains and dark clay hills. Deciding that their best bet would be to focus on several fertile or mineral rich areas, the settlers aboard the Mayflower split up into three groups.
Blue-Group would set up camp on the edge of the ocean, on rich forest which bordered some sparse fields of grain. Their hopes were that they would be able to leverage any future sea-trade, as well as capitalize on what little grain was produced nearby. A Captain at heart, Teuber himself settled here, letting his First and Second Mates take control of the other two settlements.
Orange-Group moved inland, and made a small settlement on the edge of the best farming land of the whole island. In addition to this vast field of grain, they also located near some of the wild sheep herds, as well as some light forest. Composed of true settlers, they felt that with ample wheat, sheep, and wood they would be able to survive the coming winter.
Red-Group was not so survival-minded, and instead sought to profit as much as possible. They moved near the center of the island, and made a settlement at the base of the richest mountain they found. Nestled in the hills overlooking a sparse field of grain, Red Group hunkered down for the long winter.
The Expansion of Catan
While the first few years were hard, the settlements soon began to prosper. Blue Group began cutting their near-endless forest, and produced copious amounts of lumber. Working with Red Group who had found great clay deposits, they began to construct a series of roads to connect the various settlements. Orange Group also prospered, trading their grain stocks for lumber, bricks and mortar as well.
But while Catan was initially settled by a unified group of people, this harmony did not last. Blue Group began hoarding resources, and without telling the others, created a second settlement on the richest clay hill on the whole island. Now no longer needing Red Group's bricks and mortar, trade fell off, and Red Group began struggling. Orange group, still solid trade partners with Blue Group, leveraged their sheep and grain to acquire enough lumber for their own second settlement. In order to ensure their stranglehold on wheat, they created a fortified town on the edge of the other major wheat field on the island.
While Orange and Blue groups traded and flourished, Red group began to fall into disarray. However, it was at this time that a mysterious group of bandits began harassing the outlying towns. Moving from area to area, they were never captured, but managed to disrupt farming or mining wherever they set up camp. After one particularly vicious raid on Blue Group's second settlement, they decided to form a militia to combat the bandits. A year later the militia were ready, and moving out in force, they chased the bandits from the hills.
Bypassing the squalid towns and fields of Red Group, the bandits instead took up residence in the great grain fields of Orange Group. Lacking the manpower to form a militia of their own, Orange Group suffered terribly at their hands. After a particularly hard winter, both Blue and Orange groups began to fall into disarray.
Red Group, un-harassed by the bandits, had stockpiled a great store of goods over the winter. As spring came, they set up another small settlement on the edge of some nice forest, bordered by sheep pasture and fields of grain. While they hoped that this would allow them to be free from the economic pressures of the other two groups, it was not to be. Alas, not more than two years after their second settlement was established, the bandits changed focus, and began harassing their mining operations. Red Group was destined to fall into economic chaos.
The Modernization of Catan
As the settlements on Catan spread out and began to flourish (except for Red Group), the governors began to discuss the creation of cities. Brought up in the twisted chaos of non-planned European cities, the governors decided that planned cities were their best bet. Blue Group began stockpiling great quantities of resources, and established the first successful trade route with the mainland.
While Captain Teuber was disappointed to find out he was only 120 nautical miles from mainland Germany, where he set out from, the trade opportunities made him a rich man. Exporting loads of brick from his clay-rich hills, Teuber was able to profit immensely, and built the first city in his rich hills. Soon after Orange Group did the same, exporting ships filled with grain and flour.
With these two cities established, Orange and Blue groups saw their populations double. More settlers poured in from the mainland, and in a few short years both had multiple additional settlements under their control. Teuber also formed a group of knights to help patrol his roads, and keep the bandits off his land. Finding that one squad was not enough, he formed a second for additional patrols.
Although it seemed that Red Group was destined for absorption into one of the other settlements, after a particularly good run of ore, they managed to also create a small city. While well-planned as the others, they lacked the resources to create their own militia, and this would spell doom for them.
The Sacking of Catan
In the year 1667, all the wealth of Catan was nearly lost. Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the island, a massive flotilla of barbarian invaders was on its way. In the fall of this year they landed, and spread chaos throughout the island. Captain Teuber pulled his knights back from their patrols, and used them to defend his cities and settlements. While this saved him, the other two groups were not so lucky. Both Orange and Red groups had their cities burned to the ground, and their trade economy heavily damaged. Teuber managed to drive the barbarians off with little loss to himself, but the other two groups were doomed.
With the loss of their cities, many of the settlers from the mainland went home, leaving Red and Orange groups short on manpower. Blue group, howver, continued to prosper economically.
The Lord of all Catan
In 1675, at the age of 89, Captain Teuber was named the Lord of all Catan. While initially he had separated the settlers in order to focus their energies on different resources, in the end, Teuber proved best at managing his settlements. Recognizing that his management was near-flawless, the First and Second mates which had founded Red and Orange groups ceded control of these groups to their former captain. Now an old man, Captain Teuber united the island of Catan under his rule, and was praised and heralded by all.
Teuber's Story
By now it seems that everyone knows about The Settlers of Catan® game. It has become one of the most popular board games to come along in years, attracting an audience of millions around the world and expanding into a series of related games and expansions. But The Settlers of Catan™ has a secret past that most of the fans would never even guess. And from that secret past come Catan’s two brothers: Entdecker™ and Domaine™.
When master game designer Klaus Teuber first sat down to create what would someday become The Settlers of Catan™, he envisioned something much larger. From his early childhood, he was always fascinated by stories of discovery and adventure. When he began his career as a game designer, he hoped to capture the essence of these stories and he sought to create games that allow the players to experience the thrill of exploration, discovery, and development for themselves.
It was not until the early nineties that he was able to begin working on his first prototypes. Part of his style of game design is to take ideas that develop while he creates the game materials. In a way, this mirrors the same themes of discovery and development that he hoped to express in his designs. Many of the elements of this first design would be familiar to fans of Catan: landscape tiles featuring seas, mountains, and forests, settlements which generated resources from the neighboring countryside, even trade and negotiations with the other players.
But there was much more to this game. For starters, only a small part of the “world” would be available at the beginning. Players would have to send out “scouts” to explore the rest of the land, drawing tiles as they went. These same scouts would be used to establish new settlements in this growing land. Eventually conflict crept in as players would compete with their bands of scouts for the most valuable regions. It quickly became apparent that the game was too much for one box.
So Klaus went back to the drawing board. He re-envisioned his concept. Instead of trying to draw all of his interests together in one game, he realized that he should create a trio of games. Each game would be able to focus on one aspect of his original grand design. This focus would make each game that much more interesting, that much more exciting. That much better. The first of this triad of games was, of course, The Settlers of Catan™, known in German as Die Siedler von Catan®. This was the game that was focused on development and trade.
The second game would be known as Entdecker™ in both German and English. Entdecker™ translates roughly as “Discoverer,” and that is the role that players must undertake in this game. Entdecker™ begins with an almost empty field. Only a few clues about what you will find are given. Each player is supplied with a small amount of coins that they must invest in order to send their exploration ship into the unknown. The exploration is done through the use of tiles. Each tile shows the waterway that the ship can explore, and may also show a small amount of land, ripe for further exploration. The goal, of course, is to explore the islands, earning points as you go. But it is not limited to that! For the second theme taken from the original grand design for Entdecker™ was the creation of new outposts. In addition to funding your exploration, you must use your limited resources to establish new settlements and forts on the islands you discover. The points don’t go to the explorer, they go to the player who ends up in control of the island! And to further stretch your strategy, you must hire intrepid scouts to brave the jungles and negotiate with the natives that live there.
The third game would focus on the inevitable conflicts between established princes for the limited resources. This game would be known as Domaine™ among the American audience, and the Germans call it Loenherz™, although the game slightly differs in Germany. In Domaine™, the entire realm is explored. The settlements are built. The forests tamed. But your rivals certainly are not! First, you must stake your claim to regions of the board (which are called domaines). Then you must hire knights to defend your holdings, and to expand them into the domaines of your opponents! Politics and intrigue are the order of the day in this third portion of Klaus’ original grand design.
In a way, the three “brother games” tell a story. First, there is the Discoverer, boldly setting off into the unknown to explore and seek out new lands. Behind him comes the Settler, who establishes new outposts, and develops bold and productive societies. Lastly, there comes the Lion-hearted conqueror, claiming the various lands and forging them into a single mighty kingdom, under his own control.
It is the genius of the designer that can take one bold vision, and create from it three fabulous games, each unique in its own right. Each game presents the player with unique challenges and opportunities. Each has a very different flavor to be enjoyed. But together they present the creation and growth of a world very much like our own.
