Seeking testers for a game called YOU, about you..

Hey all, first time visiting/hearing about/posting on Gamers Plane, as well as only just being introduced to the concept of PbP about a week ago. So, in so many words, I'm a total newbie here.

What I'm not a total newbie at, and hopefully you'll indulge me and find out for yourselves, is a fan and designer of the best damn genre of games out there - TTRPGs. In all seriousness, I'm still only just beginning to dig into the history of TTRPGs, but I'm enthusiastic and always in need of help from, often more experienced, fans and designers.

As the title of this post describes, I'm currently working on a game called YOU. As you might have guessed by this title (which is VERY MUCH a working title), the premise of YOU is all about the player recreating themselves and playing out their actions as if they were really in the midst of whatever danger or oddity you'll find yourself in: zombie apocalypse, bank heist, discovery of a little alien that stumbles into your backyard, etc, etc.

TLDR:

- I'm new to the PbP format.
- I've successfully produced a single RPG so far you can check out here if you're interested in my "cred" (whatever that means).
- I've got a WIP of the rules and a WIP of the character sheet you can check out here.
- I plan on using Discord to organize the tests. You can find that here.

If anyone would like a link to the Discord after this one dies, or would like to find out more about the game without having to read the rules doc, PM me or drop me a comment. I was told that this community is very kind, and so I'm super excited to get to know some of you and, if anyone is down to help me with this project, I would be overwhelmingly joyed to have you.

Thanks Guys!

I'm generally always interested in checking out people's game projects. I've been helping another member on here for a while now with his system.
At the moment, I'm busier than usual so I don't know if I have the time to properly read your rulebook, give in-depth advice and assist you with it but if you want to get a playtest together on GP at some point, I would be very interested in joining that and helping you out in that way by testing it out and giving feedback as it comes up

After taking a look at the rules, I really don't see anything that makes this game about the player, besides the fact that they design the character after themselves, which you can do in almost any system. I think it would benefit from more mechanics which enable the self insertion.

I think The End of the World RPG by Fantasy Flight Games does what this system tries to do.

Other than that main point, it seems like an okay system, although it's a bit generic.

I'm literally about to walk out the door, I'll have to get back to these tonight or tmrw with proper responses. To reply to a comment do you click "Quote"? Or are you meant to just "@ people". Also @saevikas, you are probably right. It is very generic. Will talk about reasons why that is a little later if you want to start a dialogue. @bowlofspinach, I'd love to have you! Give me some time and will chat. Off to work for now.

You can quote or just @, whatever you prefer or makes sense in the situation

Have a good day at work!

You can't really mention people in this forum like you can in other forums, but either of those ways are fine for clarifying who you want to talk to. Something some people do is use the note feature as a mention.

Anyways, I believe I understand why it's "generic", as in setting generic, since it can take place in any situation you want. I'm talking more generic, as in, not particularly eye catching. If you asked me to explain this, I would struggle a bit, I'll think on it until you reply.

@saevikas, I'm glad actually that it came across as a generic, or maybe "flexible", system for setting creation. That was intended. I'm actually not surprised at the other interpretation of the system itself as bland either tho. In a way, I may have not developed enough of this before presenting it to the public, but my logic is that I don't want to really invest an enormous amount into the system before its "core" is properly tested. There are still a verity of very essential fundamentals that I'd like to iron out first (for instance, I'm not even 100% sold on action resolution at this point).

I think maybe the issue here is that it really needs a dedicated theme. You are not the first person to bring this up. I think a-lot of the blandness comes from it having no real "thematic source", but again, that is also intentional. I kinda just want to see where the tests take the design at this point, and so I've left things as open as possible in this way. I imagine after a few public tests, these issues will start to quickly resolve themselves as the design gets better direction from player feedback.

Ah, I kind of get it now. Your reasoning makes sense.

I still think the main issue with the game is that the self insertion isn't really reinforced by the mechanics. So far, it's not much different than making a self insert in any system.

@saevikas I agree with you there. It's missing some meat that I think will stem from a theme. There is a theme tho I should say, but it's grandiose and a bit silly to say out loud, but the theme that this game spawned from in the first place is a realization I had that games can "make people see themselves differently". Like, my big pie-in-the-sky goal with this system is to get players (perhaps not many of them, but maybe a handful) to a point where they feel like taking a big risk and trying something out irl they thought they could never accomplish. I'm blushing as I type this because I know how this must sound and I know how I must be coming off right now. It's a long story I guess, but that is my dream for the game. I think because of that, I'm a little lost on where to start exactly lol, as you might imagine.

No, I think it's a pretty noble goal. As for suggestions, how about incorporating more meta elements in the mechanics? That way the player feels a sort of agency basde on their real life actions.

I've been considering things like that all day since we first talked. I've though about a mechanic for instance that awards both "in-character" and "out-of-character" RP. Rewarded when the other players say "that's so something you would do" and also rewards for things the other players might respond to by saying "woah, would you really do that in this situation?"

I think a core gameplay loop that rewards those behaviors is a good way to go.
I suggest looking at the rules for The End of the World to see how they handle player self inserts. You may not use their ideas, but it'll give you an idea of what kind of decisions they made. For example, they chose a more broad and narrative resolution system.

I will def check that out soon. Also, idk if you're interested or not in the actual testing, but I'd love to have your help. Just let me know!

It really doesn't look that different from the thousands of games that are already out there. Not saying that it's a bad idea, but it just looks like a purple apple. Good luck though

Isn't part of the fun of a role-playing game the challenge of, y'know, playing a role? Being someone else? Not being YOU?
...and as @saevikas points out, it's already possible to model a character after yourself using existing games (with well defined mechanics) if that took a player's fancy.
Although, if I were to model a character after myself then I might like somebody to document how negative point buy works. Is proficiency in sleeping even a thing?

Saying that, I was certainly intrigued by the idea when I say your precis, but then I was a little underwhelmed when I read the implementation. So the idea was enough to tickle my curiosity.

Before reading it I thought perhaps it'd be based on the OCEAN model - the five big personality traits. I thought perhaps the players would take an online OCEAN personality test (there are a number out there) and those would be their stats. There wouldn't be a high stat (as there is in str, dex, cha etc) as each stat would have its own benefits and drawbacks. A character with a high neurosis score might be more nervous, but mechanically a nervous character might have a higher initiative. Is being highly agreeable a good or bad stat? Y'know that sort of thing.

I'm lazy (but I'm not the only one). Learning a new system has to provide something very special and unique, something not seen in any other system, for me to want to learn new rules. Especially as there won't be the wealth of resources available that there is with more popular games.

But chin up eh? That doesn't mean it won't appeal to others; it's just that I don't find it compelling.
I'm a sample of one. Wouldn't it be awful if we were all the same?

@Belus312+Adam: First of all, the purple apple visualization is hilarious and I've never heard that before, second of all, I think it's safe to say that I have skipped a few steps here, or have gone about the first 1/16th of the design process in the wrong way perhaps. What @saevikas and I have been talking about a bit is how I'm trying to "suss out" unique bits from the testing process, and how that has not helped me in my presentation of my premise AT ALL. I don't have a-lot of shiny bits to show off yet, and, you'll have to trust me when I say that is intentional. Now, I can see how, both for design reasons and for promotional reasons, why that is not giving myself a good jumping off point.

I could go into how Inspiration+Confidence works, and how that affects gameplay, and how that reflects what my core theme is attempting to do, but if that is not obvious, then my presentation of that must not be compelling enough and/or legible enough.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that I need testers, like really badly. Testing my games is how I find the kernels of goodness all of you are searching to find, but isn't there yet. So now I'm stuck in-between a rock and a hard place. Do I abandon my design process, go back to the drawing board, and try to squeeze out juice from my brain alone, or do I keep casting my net out here online and hope someone is willing to help me, even though what I'm offering at first glance is not that sexy or unique?

THOUGHTS?!

I probably won't have much time to actually playtest the thing, but I'll be willing to help out.

Anyways, Adam up above does bring an interesting idea with the personality stats. That way, all people are useful in certain situations. It also brings up a point that I didn't think about before, is that you may not even need physical stats. The point is to see what a person is capable of, and by removing the obstacle of physical fitness, the games focuses more on the strengths and weaknesses of a person's personality rather than an arbitrary number they assign to themselves.

@saevikas: That actually solves a problem I've been having with testing so far! I actually love that idea and it fits more in-line with my theme. I'm def going to pursue that and see where it leads me!

This idea sounds quite intriguing to me! I'd love to join the test as a player, although I probably wouldn't be able to offer a lot of help with mechanics (since I eventually tend to try to mold them for how I would do it, and that's just a conflict of opinions), but if you just need an extra tester, I'm up for it! I can only do PbP though, and I'm not sure how meta elements would work here.

And! It was mentioned before in the discussion, but I think it would be nice if the system had a personality test for character generation! It instantly makes it more about yourself if you can create at least part of the character by answering questions as you would answer them.

Anyway, just poke me if you do organize a PbP test. :D

@FlyingSucculent: Absolutely! I would love if you joined me. Also, this should be noted to yourself, as well as @everyone else, I've chosen to take at least the rest of the week re-configuring the system and really trying to nail down some elements that are actually important to both me, and the health of the game. Everyone in this post has helped me take a new huge step and I am super grateful for everyone! Hopefully by the end of next week I'll be ready to take some of you up on a bit of testing!!!