Shab-al-Hiri Roach: pdf for review!

Posted:
Tue May 24, 2005 7:04 am
by jmstar
Hi all,
I've put together a sort of release candidate here:
If anyone would like to look it over and offer comments, I'd be grateful. Any sort of feedback would be useful - if you find simple errors, or if you have questions about how the game would play, or how specific bits would work.
Working on this has been very exciting and inspiring.
Thanks,
Jason

Posted:
Tue May 24, 2005 12:24 pm
by jmstar
Hmm, no comments. OK, here are some criticisms from another source:
* you should probably add dice to the "What you need to play" section, particularly since it calls for "D&D" style dice (D4, etc.)
---Done, thanks.
* you might want to order the players around the table by Character last name, rather than that of the player. This allows for repeat play with a different arrangement.
--Order is just for assigning a friend and an enemy; actual order doesn't matter. clarified in text now.
* in a conflict between two parties of characters, who does the rolling? Does it matter?
Clarified. Doesn't really matter.
* If you have 5 players (for example) and 6 events, that's 30 scenes to play out for the game, each with it's own conflict. Is that correct? If so, won't that take a long time?
---good point, I changed it to being optional. Playtesting will tell if length is a problem.
* What happens if multiple players ask for the Roach for a given event? How is it resolved (or not)?
---It says there are multiple roaches, so everybody can have one if they want, but you can't win the game while carrying a roach.
* If opportunities are optional, what motivation do players have for carrying out the negative (i.e. reputation reducing) ones?
Hmm, conflicting rules. Fixed. Good catch!
* Finally, I think a key to any card-based story game is extending the variety as far as possible (having lots of cards, or introducing new cards, etc) to keep things from getting routine.
For that reason, you might consider separating the Action cards into Opportunities and Commands (separate card stacks) so that it takes longer for players to see all the cards, and thus increasing the replay-ability of the game.
----Hm, I wanted to keep the card volume down because they are a pain in the ass to cut out. Will consider....thanks again

Posted:
Tue May 24, 2005 1:58 pm
by jmstar
SLight update based on feedback here:

Posted:
Tue May 24, 2005 2:59 pm
by MikeSands
That's awesome.
I have no actual constructive advice, except that you probably have time to whip up some basic cards in there. Having that done would make it a whole lot more playable to start with.