Draftsy
VARY YOUR SETUP
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Draftsy the beaver runs the Blueprint studio, a cosy room full of rolled-up plans. Each plan is a different way to set up an army.
One afternoon, Bluster came in looking glum. "I've lost to the same player three times," he said. "Every time, they find my Moonstone fast."
Draftsy unrolled his last three setups side by side. She tapped the back-left corner of each one. "Look."
In all three, the Moonstone was in the back-left corner, with brambles on either side.
Bluster stared. "I didn't even notice."
"You didn't," said Draftsy. "But they did. If you always put the Moonstone in the same place, a player who's met you before doesn't need to search. They just go there."
Bluster felt his ears go hot. It was embarrassing to have a habit he couldn't see. But Draftsy didn't make a big thing of it. She just reached for a blank roll of paper.
"So we change it," she said. "Not randomly, though. Every setup still has to make sense. The Moonstone still needs guarding. But it moves around. Sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes in the middle of the back row. Sometimes the brambles are with it. Sometimes they're a decoy somewhere else."
They drew three new blueprints, each one sensible and each one different.
The next game, Bluster's opponent marched straight to the back-left corner. They found a 6 sitting there, and lost a piece finding out. Bluster's Moonstone was on the far right, behind a 4.
He won, and the win felt different from his usual ones. It felt like being hard to read.
Draftsy smiled and rolled the plans away. "Habits are useful for brushing your teeth," she said. "Not for hiding treasure."
That's Draftsy's rule. A player who meets you more than once learns your habits. Change your setup every game. Keep it sensible, but never the same.
Hear it as an audio drama
A short play starring Draftsy, from BluffForge. Different voices, same idea. Listen any time after you read.
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Read the drama script
- Narrator: From Spark and Anvil and BluffForge — this is Draftsy, in chapter 1 of the BluffForge cast.
- Narrator: This drama uses an AI-generated voice. Voiced via Gemini 2.5.
- Narrator: Every army has exactly one Moonstone. It never moves during a game. But this is the story of a Moonstone that moved between games.
- Moonstone: Three games in a row, I sat in the same back-left corner, with a bramble on each side.
- Bluster: I keep losing to the same player. They find my Moonstone so fast.
- Draftsy: Look. Back-left corner. Back-left corner. Back-left corner.
- Bluster: I didn't even notice.
- Draftsy: They did. A player who meets you more than once learns your habits.
- Moonstone: I felt a little silly. I'd been so easy to find.
- Draftsy: So we change it. Not randomly. Every setup still has to make sense. But the Moonstone moves around.
- Narrator: They drew three new blueprints, each one sensible and each one different.
- Moonstone: The next game, I sat on the far right, behind a 4.
- Narrator: Bluster's opponent marched straight to the back-left corner and found a 6 waiting there.
- Bluster: I won! It felt like being hard to read.
- Draftsy: Habits are great for brushing your teeth. Not for hiding treasure.
- Moonstone: I never move in a game. Between games, I should never sit still.
- Narrator: Never set up the same way twice. That's the Moonstone's story.
- Narrator: You've been listening to a Spark and Anvil chapter, written by the Spark and Anvil writing team for ages 9 to 14.
- Narrator: Apps stay free forever.
- Narrator: Curriculum aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
- Narrator: Released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 for educational reuse. Visit Spark and Anvil for the full transcript.
The BluffForge ensemble
Draftsy is one of the friends in BluffForge. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.
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Pricetag
Spends a small piece on purpose to learn what a big one is - information has a price
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Decoy
Sits still and guarded like a Moonstone and is not one - mischief inside the rules
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Bluster
Walks a small piece as if it were big - a bluff both players agreed is part of the game
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Matchley
Knows equal numbers both go home
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Fairwell
Stops endless chasing - three trips back and forth between two squares, then no more
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Quillby
Keeps the Belief Ledger honest - a guess only sticks with a reason you actually saw
