OOC

-- This is where we will talk about junk out of character and where random updates that don't fit in elsewhere will be posted --

Just a heads up that I'm working toward distilling the most important bits from the 20-ish page rules document for easy access here on the forum (under the subforum "Quick Rules"). Once this is ready, I'll be ready, and the testing shall begin!

Big thanks to everyone who contributes here. My first and foremost goal is that playtesting this game feels more like just playing the game. Meaning, I want this to be engaging not just for the sake of making the game better, but because playing YOU actually sounds like fun, and is!

Forum looks fine so far! :D I love what you have for quick character creation already, pretty concise!

I feel like conducting group evaluation here on the forum will be a bit hard, since it'll be slower. And not everyone will be fine with divulging personal information, probably - but I'd try it, I think! If other players would be into it. :D (Or maybe with you, if not!) Good example, too~

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I'm gonna assume that most go with the irl option as you did, but I gave a few other methods for the more bold, perhaps Often Bold??? But yeah lol, I have one more step for C.C to jot down and then after that I will post how checks and Spice work and then I think will have enough here to get going!

A quick note to everyone -

I have left out everything involving character death and combat for the time being.

Assume that neither of these things will be possible in our first test, and that also our first test will be the "setup" for a larger campaign in which both of these things will eventually become possible.

Hey, sorry about my absence, I was having some minor health issues; headaches. Got a bit longer than expected to get back! :D I'll need some time to look over new things, but I'll let you know what I think once I read 'em!

Hey everyone who joined! :D I don't think I played with any of you before, but I hope we will be a great team!

Also, Hootey, I'm going to adjust my gear, but I think I'll leave stats alone for now, in case we'll be doing a group evaluation - they can serve as my starting point for it.

That's fine! I did alter some of the wording for the stats, but not by much. It doesn't ask you to base your Degree's on "danger" anymore, but "risk". This kinda is meant to tone down the description and make it more relatable to people's everyday experience. It should still work just fine for your starting point as you said tho.

A quick note. Starting tmrw, will move forward with just the 4 of us if nobody else joins, and then will start testing. Keep going through character creation at your own pace and, once everyone is good to go, will begin!

My deepest apologies before to everyone in this game, last week and half wasn't the best time of my life, and I neglected to make an appearance here. I'm back now, hopefully with no upcoming issues.
I'll try to catch up on what's going. :)

Hey no worries! I hope all is well now! Glad to have you back Succulent!

I'm going to be a bit slow to post, probably, but all's fine, thanks for your concern! :D
I switched my Boldness to 3, otherwise I'm happy with my character~ I'll go compose a post now!

Two quick notes I've jotted down in the short time we've tested. Wanted to drop them here so you could see what I'm thinking while we test:

- Players who are not taking an action to earn growth don’t hardly earn anything at all. Seems kinda pointless to do so.
- Players don’t have any impact on rolls without any INS. All they can do is roll a d20. The rolling does not seem to be tied in very well with their characters and what they are capable of.

Maybe something like a tag system would be beneficial here? Like if a character is a passionate artist, they get +1 on actions that are connected to art: protecting a statue from vandals, for example, or persevering to draw a detailed map of their surroundings?
Since we don't really have rolls to succeed on usual actions (not-emotion-based), physical characteristics or personal skills can probably be hard to incorporate... But passions for said skills can work! :D

I think that is a great idea. This works on a bunch of different levels (getting players to evaluate their skills in addition to their personality would be nice). I'll definitely incorporate something like this into Session 2 after we've wrapped up and discussed Session 1!

Thoughts on forcing Falible's Empathy Trait to be used

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This is a note I wrote down after thinking about forcing Falible to roll with a Trait for an action that would have otherwise just have been a "bit of dialogue" in most other games:

There is a version of this game, which is strictly turn-based, where the actions that are taken are done so only because they are "significant", the significance being that they are directly influenced by either an Impulse, the resistance of an Impulse, or in defiance of a Reservation.

If any of you have played the game Fiasco, my "turn-based" vision of this version of the game works (in my head at least) more closely to this than the traditional RPG. My justification of this approach is a more "dramatic" and faster paced experience. I'm imagining a game where the player always tests their personality traits, even in ways that won't bode well for their character.

I moved to a new home over the past couple of days. I thought I was going to be posting, but it wasn't really on my mind, sorry. It looks like I have a bit to catch up on, and I'll post later today.

Your good man. No worries! Congrats on the move!

I spent a little time going over everyone's feedback again today, as well as a little soul searching. This is what I came up with.

Design Goal: Get people to see themselves in a new light. Get people to see another side of themselves. Get people to become more confident in themselves.

Things that I like that will stay
- Personality Trait based stat block
- Reservation/Impulse based actions
- Players awarding each other bonuses (like INS)
- Player-to-player actions that prompt reactions
- Being able to grow a Trait in either "direction"
- Giving the players total control over how they challenge their character by deciding themselves to make their actions harder

Things that I don’t like that can’t stay
- ADV/DIS (as it’s currently being used)
- INS that gets spent instead of accumulated
- The frequency of player’s acquisition of burdens
- Spice. Has nothing to do with the core design goal in its current state.
- One-Offness. I don’t like them, and I don’t want to make one.

Things to consider that don’t exist yet
- Moods. Emotional responses, like "states"
- Skill sets. Something to tie in "positive character traits" to actions
- Trait specific mechanics (things like "high" Assertiveness giving "Initiative" to dialogue based actions or "high" Boldness giving Initiative to physical based actions)

I'm still here. It's been a crazy week and I basically forgot I was playing games. I'll catch up and post soon.

Session 1 has ended

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Session 1 has obviously fell off and so I'm officially ending it.

For anyone who is still hanging around, I would love to hear your thoughts/advise on both the game as well as the testing process itself.

This was my first PbP test, and so things were a little unorganized to be sure (granted I attempted to run this during the year of our lord 2020).


I've been working on a brand new rules doc based on this playtest, but I'm sure I didn't catch all the hiccups. If anyone would like to engage in a post-analysis/feedback discussion, please do so here. Otherwise, thank you all for helping me out with Session 1, and especially during the dark times we attempted to do so in.

If anyone would be interested in a Session 2, just let me know!