Here's the last of my
#threeforged impressions. I've gone over all of them, save
for a handful I read but skipped commenting on. You can see the full list with downloads here. If you read at least five, you may vote. There's a G+ Community with reviews if you want to see some interesting critiques. Mine have been fleeting impressions, but others have dove in and thoroughly examined what's going on in the presentation.
Now to try and figure
out a top five. My current top 13 in no order.
- 15145 20.6 Miles
- 15136 The World as Such
- 15133 If At First You Don't Succeed
- 15125 Pony Express
- 15112 Anthill
- 1582 Ad Libitum Absurdity
- 1579 Conspiracy and Cowards
- 1577 The Policy of Truth
- 1559 Magical Mystery Tour
- 1550 MUSCLE WIZARDS VS LASER DINOSAURS: TURBO VAMPIRE EDITION
- 1519 Fallen Sky
- 159 It is Forbidden
- 155 Ultranormal Encounters
That being said, there
are a bunch of these games which would strongly benefit from workshopping after
a revision. I think talking with other readers about what they understood as the
intent and focus might help others solidify their vision.
1535 Flashback and Fate
Throughout these reviews, I’ve been a big believer in the power
of the initial paragraph. If its fiction, it should be short and grabby, but still
set the stage clearly. If it is explanation, it should invite me in and tell me
what the hook is for the game and something about what we’re going to be playing
as and/or doing. This bullet list might be informative, but it is off-putting. It
feels like no effort went into synthesis and it doesn’t really help me grok what’s
going on because of that. The weird parallel/non-parallel sentences feel messy.
I don’t think the list structure- carried throughout the game,
has a connection to the theme, so I’m not sure why they’ve taken this approach.
Player/character confusion. Having done these kind of meta games
before, you really have to lock that down. A lot of ideas and directions bundle
together without clear transitions and connections. Just making it a list doesn’t
mean you don’t have to consider how the reader moves between elements. Here’s another
easily fixable thing, if you’re giving an example about Wild Card characters, don’t
set that in the Wild West.
Too many admonitions before I even have a sense of what the game’s
going to be like. I’m late in these reviews, so I just want to move on. Really needs
a developmental editor to help smooth the presentation of ideas and information.
1534 Forgeborn
I like a non-hyphenated subtitle that gives a clear statement
of the game. I like crafting systems and games- really excited to see what kind
of subsystems they come up with for this. Die-drop map making- nice! I like rolls
having value and position. Tactile! Cool- if a finished game the example images
will be nice (and can show what’s meant by each term).
I get it, but probably need a little more clarification on the
dice buys when first introduced. Marker for Heroine? Ah, not at the start? Have
to recruit? Math. I need a math/system person to assess these probabilities and
the dearness of dice. Not my wheelhouse.
So I love this BUT it seems very board-gamey. I’d like to see
more rpg elements and have more discussion about how those are integrated with play.
It feels like gloss here. It also feels very much like parallel play rather than
a shared experience. I want to like this a lot more. I think I’d be interested in
it, regardless of which direction the designers moved it: more fully a board game
with some rpg elements, or more fully an rpg with some bg elements.
1533 Silver Tongues
More mechanized Munchhausen? Perhaps some explanation of the
impact of the setting via World Building. What does that do? Why would players need
to spend to modify things? Wow, you really throw the complicator in the deep end
right away. What if they’re description doesn’t match the stat? Ugh popularity contest
resolution. I have players who would hate that. There’s some interesting ideas here,
but ultimately I think the competitive nature here puts it out of games I could
get to the table. I’m uncertain if this game has too many rules (to keep track of
everything) or too few (so you can get a victory spiral).
1532 House of Hades
Weird and evocative opening. I don’t know what we’re going to
be doing, but the hooks short and enigmatic enough to grab me. “all encompassed
by the grave” poetic or just misspeak? Wonk. Flavor history starts to bury me and
we’re thrown back into the character creation process. “For each of the four character
elements (places, things, actions, people), circle five of the ten possible symbols
and write the number one next to each.” Is this defining terms , process or both?
You completely refresh after a conflict, so you always want to play everything from
your hand if you can, right? So it isn’t a choice but more a spatial matching problem.
Death spiral for failure? Four rounds for the Oracle conflict?
There’s some interesting stuff here- and some mechanical choices
I’ll want to see in play. The designers have a clear vision, though it isn’t a game
I’d want to play.
1530 Q
I really hate darker page backgrounds. Especially against a font
as thin as this body text. Four character and sheet filling out. Will need to time
to see how long this takes. The longer this part takes, the higher the chance to
different players finishing at different times (and then having them wait for the
others to catch up). Lot of pressure on the bard without any real support beyond
“tell a story.” Need some more material for them. Background, samples, etc. As it
is, ends up being very generic. Literally a game about people telling a story.
1529 Psychic Detective Agency
Again, I’m not a LARP person, so I don’t feel qualified to judge
this. I do like the idea of different players having different control over narrative
periods. That sounds neat. Generally feels well-written.
1528 Untitled
May giving us a sense of what we’re actually playing? I mean
what are we doing as players? Like to know early, especially given the darker tone
of that opening. OK, I think there’s no GM, right? Not made clear. Do we need all
of these questions? Can we tighten the Clinic list down to say five? Same thing
with the staff. I like the hypothesis framing, but it looks like we’re doing a lot
of work here. Again. Maybe over egging the pudding. Is there a way to tighten that?
Need a reference card for the scenes. I like this generally,
but mostly for the concept and some of the play elements. My feeling overall is
that things can be tightened across the board.
1527 Last Year’s Magic
There’s some funny bits in the opening, but it goes on a touch
too long. And regardless of the humor, we need some kind of descriptive statement
explaining what the game’s about. Call out box if you want it away from this color
text.
“Just Roleplay.” How about some kind of conversation starters?
Maybe give the players a little more structure or aid to get them started. There’s
a lot left vague or unspecified here. “Folk interpretations.” Then moves to trick
taking, but not connection between statements and cards played. Bad trick. It looks
like it will work, but it doesn’t feel like there’s much meat on the bones here.
I wouldn’t mind something with the flavor of The Face in the Frost, but this
need further development.
1525 Space Problems Argh
The fragment sentence structure approach doesn’t feel informal
or breezy to me, just incomplete. Why the full list when we can only be a few of
them? Is it assumed we have this gear when we take that skill? Again, many things
presented abruptly. There’s room for development and fleshing out. Why question
marks on some of the victory conditions?
Are we rolling the initial problem details? Probably need to
explicate that process. Overall I like this and it has potential. It’s held back
by the outline approach and underdevelopment. Given more room to breathe and really
thinking about how to present rules to readers (rather than just sketching things
out) could make this strong.
1524 The Hot Seat
I’m going to hold off on reviewing this because I’ve been working
on something close to it for a while.
1523 Timelines
OK, this needs a reduced list of point of references, to have
the full list at the end, or both. Created in sequence or placed in sequence? Playing
out instructions under “Let’s Start Playing” feels like “And then a Miracle Occurs.”
If this is only an overview and we’ll get full instructions later, then it needs
to be trimmed. If this is the total explanation- just roleplay- then it needs development.
Reminds me, tangentially, of Everyone is John. Does each
Jamie incarnation need the full run of regrets? Why the switch in format between
these regrets and the first set? Should/must these connect/not connect with the
earlier regrets? Time travel is confusing. If that’s part of what this game is trying
to emulate, then it succeeds.
Form of time travel seems really crucial, but left fuzzy. Mind
sending, omniscient intervention, double selves. That impacts the narrative logic
significantly. There’s a ton of great stuff here, but ultimately there’s a weird
gap in the “just do it” discussion of the scenes. And then it gets super complicated.
How would you go about explaining this to new players? What key ideas do the players
have to grok?
1522 Untitled
Magical Burning of Moscow. Travelling game- I like that. Is this
an adaptation or just a skin for an existing game? How should we consider that?
Little for the players to build on in creating their characters. Probably need to
offer more aid in that process. Ideas, suggestions, etc- or talk about how their
choices shape the world they’re playing in. Stats, but effectively they’re all equal?
Phrasing makes that a little confusing. Flaw or fault?
Formatting and typos distract here. 47 possible road day incidents.
Lots of mechanics handwaved or not fully explained. Who narrates the results? Not
immediately clear. Short and underdeveloped. Early on a suggestion that we’re going
to have a fuller presentation of the base system? But then it just looks like the
mechanics of the game. How is this distinct from the base system?
1519 Fallen Sky
An interesting idea. I’ve only seen two post-apocalyptic games
with a strong Western flavor. Deadlands comes off as more horror and Helix
comes off as more gonzo. Good opening material: sets stage and moves us on. In play
will probably need a reference card for suits and actions. Some of the action groupings
there aren’t intuitive for me. Like the character deck and drafting thing there.
We do something like that with Action Cards.
OK, this is pretty awesome. Jumps into my top ten. Clean, clear
and novel mechanics, a solid combination of background material and rules, letters
home are pretty cool. Good balance of detail and imaginative space left to the players.
1518 The Prophet’s Price
Glad to see a citation for the art. Is that in CC now? Maybe
clarify a little early the modern backdrop? As it is we don’t know that until the
middle of page 3. It’s suit of cards, not suite, right? Or is there some specific
use of the term for effect happening here? Maybe not the best thing to title a section
with the name of a Major Arcana immediately after the section explaining meanings.
My mind immediately thought this was defining the card’s symbology, but we’d moved
on to another topic. Italics for titles helps in reading: The Prophet’s Price.
There’s a good deal of material here and it hits many heavy ideas
in succession. Need to fix some of the distraction typos and look to how you can
format this to aid the reader in following the ideas. It seems like a good editor
and some workshopping could help condense some of the ideas down here. They need
to be further distilled. Seems like the backdrop’s generic. That works against the
material, given that we’re trying to grasp some really abstract ideas. Examples
and concrete details would help.
1517 Voyage of the Promethean
There’s a casual tone in the intro that I assume is going to
carry through the game. Slacker space travelers, man, amirite?
How much is messiness just because it’s messy and how much deliberate
presentation. Hard to judge and I think that might be an obstacle for the reader.
"Set Up" just seems loose for example, rather than the playful tone of
the opening. How many questions to answer? How long will that take? Character vs.
character roles: be precise when you’re throwing terms around.
Torn on how much forward the references should be here. Do we
need some explanation of the (parenthesis) or the matched flaw? Inbred doesn’t sound
good.
How the system works needs more fleshing out. Confusing and hard
to piece together on a read right now. In part because I’m still reeling from the
new terms from before. Now we’re getting even more. Mood comes really late after
it’s been referenced quite a bit. There’s some interesting ideas here, though it
feels generic in places. The roles seem cool and like they’re the place where the
game wants to convey setting. But a chunk of it feels rushed- certainly examples
would help throughout.
Also my initial impression that we were taking a slacker tone
(ala Red Dwarf or the like) in the intro doesn't play out in the rest of the material.
That makes the intro just messy.
1513 Blue Shift
OK those images are annoying. I assume that’s an error introduced
later. The text ran over the art, but I turned on the word wrap and moved some of
them. Now it’s cool- especially since they cite sources.
Nice, cleaner statement of play at the start. Intriguing as comedy
can be really hard. It think the only comedy rpgs I like the humor of are TfOS and
Ghostbusters.
If we’re presenting some logic to the garbage problem, then better
answer the “why not throw it into sun?” question. I am, unfortunately getting flashbacks
to the terrible Human Occupied Landfill game. Or Low-Life? Some word
drops here. Page three and we’re still getting background. Twist, twist, twist.
Quintuple mumbo jumbo.
Character creation requires some wacky, lateral thinking. Connections
and secret shift tone? How necessary these elements? Any direction we should be
steering those creation elements toward- advice on best practices? The examples
have a pvp element. Is that encouraged? There’s a good deal of “And then a miracle
occurs” in the scene material, but less than other games so far. The picking mechanic
for dice seems really wonky and arbitrary. If our reasoning is “well, they need
to play to the spirit” then why have an involved resolution system? If we want choices
and simulation, then having it be this open seems to work against it.
The setting’s really interesting and I dig the premise. I’m not
taken by the mechanics and that’s too bad. It’s another case where workshopping
to pull out the designers’ intent might help.
1512 Anonym
“Let’s get this out of the way” opens with a slightly antagonistic
tone? Is that going to carry through the game. This is the first thing we see: why?
What’s the logic of presenting this first and taking that voice?
OK that’s a shaggy dog idea that takes a while to come around.
This is how we create characters- wait. No. We’ll come back to that. Strange order
of information. We have some sarcastic asides and tone bits, but they’re infrequent.
Makes me unsure what tone this wants.
Character creation sheet. That’s a funny joke. But I don’t want
to do that. Outside my wheelhouse. I can already imagine some of the problems we’d
have. I have some players who read very slowly, while others rush through. Here’s
the thing, there’s a tone here that reminds me of Time & Temp, but the
earlier bits don’t sync up with this.
1511 Galactic Arena
Opening states ideas, but sentence structures need examination.
I understand the peer pressure reference is a joke, but it lands flat. Until everyone
has written something on each card? Do we need that many? Can we duplicate events
on the cards? How long will this creation process take? For a one-shot, it’s taking
a long time to get to character creation. Ways to mechanize and/or speed this up?
Is there a reason you wouldn’t take the highest, given that the
rules make mention of this? Interesting use of the Moves. Curious if some of those
are significantly more worthwhile. Interesting overall, but I want to see more.
1510 Damned
No citation or references given for images.
159 It is Forbidden
Images are clearly older, out of copyright, but probably ought
to cite sources? Guides for the questioning process to establish the premises?
OK. This is pretty great. Solid, well-written and it deals with
questions I had right away. Looks cool and I would definitely play this.
156 The Deep
Another game where the heading font comes through as some kind
of unreadable gothic text. “2 to 5 man game”- be careful about gender exclusive
language. Confused in the synopsis- takes a moment to catch that The Deep isn’t
referring to space, but some kind of phenomena. Some typos here that interfere with
the reading; a good edit should help fix some of this. Overall really needs a good
pass through or two in skilled hands to make it smoother.
There’s some real confusion in the explanations. We start with
exceptions and sub-details before establishing main concept. Bullet list doesn’t
work here: break up the steps to make going through easier. Right now it is a jumble
of text. Some weird off references. There’s a lot of colorful setting ideas early
and then “the Gm just makes stuff up” when we get to play. Resolution system seems
OK. I’m not fond of the pvp elements here.
155 Ultranormal Encounters
I dig interview style games (like Penny for Your Thoughts
or inTERRORgation). Playsets, ok that’s cool. I like the idea of card draw
for modifying the basic facts: good combination of structure and collaboration.
And we have parallelism with the character creation material. Nice! Good structure
for the Questioner/Agents. Wow. Cool method for play passing.
Solid. Good game. Want to see the fleshed out version.
153 Double Potions
Full circle. When we first got access to these games, I opened
and read this one. Now, having gone through all the rest I come back to it.
Since I first read this, I’ve picked up the Alchemists board
game, so I have that in the back of my head. Well, that plus the other various HP
games in the competition. Are the specializations examples or do they cover the
whole spectrum. At least simple cc. Players taking role of the opposition in other
players’ scene. No mechanical resolution. Purely subjective, perhaps some cut off
mechanism? Bag drawing- worried about the fiddyness. Ah, the “You” here means the
group and not the individual players. Potion process itself: need to see that actually
played out. Verdict is wholly arbitrary? Doesn’t seem like a good payoff.
Feels boardgame-y. Maybe could be shifted to emphasize those
elements? Something like a storytelling hybrid (ala Tragedy Looper?).
...and done.
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