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GAME REVIEWED: Mississippi Steel by Jennifer Schoonover

Mississippi Steel is essentially a racing game set in the 1980s during the good ol’ days of fairground racing, chew filled lips, and clinched drivers trying to compete for just enough cash to keep on going.

REVIEWER NAME: Bryan Hansel
1) CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INCORPORATION OF RULES (1-10): 7
Feedback: For the use of Time, Jennifer divided the game up into 10 sessions of one hour each. The first session is used to create a racing team (character), and the rest are used to run the races with one session equal to one race. Each session is further divided into 15 minutes of outfitting the cars, 30 minutes of board game like racing, and 15 minutes of doing other RPG stuff. I thought the use of time to be very strong. For ingredients, she used TEAM, STEEL, and LAW. Each player is in charge of a racing team, and I assume that steel is what the cars are made out of, and for law, she included several humorous laws of racing. Although, the use of law seems to be unsupported in the rest of the rules. Overall, I felt the use of the ingredients to be average compared to the submissions I’ve been reading through. Not bad, but not a step above either. Perhaps, the laws could be made mechanically significant in play?


2) CLARITY (1-10): 5
Feedback: There were a few typos here and there, but I didn’t really count that against the game. After all, everyone is his or her own worst editor and what can we expect in a week? The reason that I rated this game a five is because I’m not exactly sure when I would have to roll for what. For example, during racing, all players roll a six-sided die and add that to a combination of four stats, but then later in the rules it states that all players us a die result added to 8. So, if my turning stat combo is less than or greater than 8, do I use 8 or the combo? And then if less than 8, do I fail on a 1 and 2 and have to roll on the chart or only on a 1. Also, at points the rules state that the GM rolls a die for the players and at other points, the players roll their dices. I’m not sure which and when.
The formatting of the game does lend to the confusion, but I didn’t discount because of the formatting and concentrated on what was in the text.


3) COMPLETENESS (1-10): 5
Feedback: I have a feeling that this game is actually two games in one. The main rules as it stands now are for a racing board game, which could be pretty fun, but the rules allude to a second part of the game where the players play their characters running around, getting into fights, gambling, picking up girls, etc… There doesn’t seem to be any rules for these interactions or any support for the role-playing game side.
Also, there is a long part list, a list of what has been done to the car at the start of the game, and a list of racing rules, and all of these seem like very cool color to the game, but I have a feeling that with a little more work, they could add mechanically to the game as well.
The racing rules seem like they need some more work and fine-tuning.


4) ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS IN PLAY (1-10): 3
Feedback: I hated to rate this game a three, because I think that the board game side of the game is a 6, but the lack of rpg characterization and role-playing rules leaves me scratching my head and thinking what do I do now? The racing side of the rules are so structured, that ending up with no direction for character interaction is very distracting. Maybe, all the players should be competing for the same off track goals also, like getting, the best sponsors, getting the hottest groupie, etc… This I think would help focus the game during the 15 minutes of role-playing.
I also have a feeling that the race rules might become somewhat repetitive and boring after a couple of races. I can’t imagine rolling 4 dice a minute for 15 laps each race. I see a little inkling of the die rolls being mixed up with attempts at passing cars, but I think the race rules would be helped significantly by reducing the number of required rolls per lap and adding in some more optional rules for rolls that can help the players get into first place. This could be incorporated into the spare parts and make a way for players to trick out their cars. For example, if a player buys a turbo charger when used roll a 1d6, 1-2 – Gains a position, 3-4 – Blah Blah 5 – Really cool thing happens, 6- An even cooler thing happens. I think that not only would this make the racing more fun, but the equipment purchasing 15 minutes more fun also. These type of upgrades are exactly what car-geeks love.


5) SWING VOTE (1-10): 5
Final Feedback: After reading the game, I can’t help feel a little let down. The set-up is good, the premise is good, heck, I used to go to the county race track at the fair grounds in good old Dubuque, IA when I was in high school (and that was in the 80s!), so I was primed to like this game… But, the racing rules seem like they would become repetitive, the lack of rpg support seems to take away all the fun situations that I was imagining to happen after the races, and the lack of rules to trick out my car leave me wanting more.
Overall, I think that the game suffers a little from an identity crisis: Is it an rpg or is it a board game? At its heart, I think it’s more a board game than an rpg, and I’d like to see the racing rules developed more, spare parts developed, and then solid competitive rpg rules placed in that take into account the player’s standing overall in the races. With some more work, some play testing, and great art of 80’s style haircuts, I think this game would be sellable.


TOTAL SCORE (add items 1 through 5, above): 25

Jennifer, after I wrote this reveiw, I thought of a few other questions: What happens when you fail a pit crew roll? Are you out of the race?

I'd really like to see work on this game continue. I think you have something here that has the potential to be a ton of fun and might even work as a cross-over board game.

Bryan

And this is a handy opportunity to tack my review onto an existing thread.

Note: "First Impressions" don't affect final scores. They're just there to give an impression of what leapt out from an initial viewing. I'm hoping this is useful to anyone who's planning on publishing and selling their game.

Doug’s Review of Mississippi Steel, by Jen Schoonover

First impressions: Interesting use of ingredients, good. Looks like racing game + fun, I heartily approve! But I’m wincing at the use of “redneck”. Including a picture of the track is a VERY good idea. 12 stats seems a lot, but they’re simple enough. Hmm, I’m finding it hard to understand how to play this game.

Analysis: I’m going to get one thing out of the way first. Using “redneck” and “backwoods mentalities” in the same sentence is more than a little offensive, in my opinion. Maybe I’m being a bit sensitive here, but it made me cringe a bit. I’m not going to mark it down for, but I think the author is treading a fine line here if they intend to market this game commercially.

Getting that out of the way, the concept is excellent. Roaring around a dirt track, trash-talking and nobbling the opposition, sounds great. And there’s even an out-and-out “wacky races” option!

However, I really feel that this game is trying to be a board game (with little toy cars and everything) and a roleplaying game at the same time, and it does not succeed in that regard. Not because the two aren’t compatible, but the rules don’t do either aspect of the game full justice.

First up: if you’re going to have a board and miniature cars, this should probably be integrated into the game better. This doesn’t need D&D mini-style “this car moves 5 inches a turn”, but there should at least be more explicit support for moving the cars around the tack, and the position of the car on the track should directly impact on play. For example, if my car and another car are crossing the central junction, I should be more likely to crash. That sort of thing.

As it is, I get the feeling that the car and tracks are just scenic props, leaving the players (and particularly the GM) with the majority of the burden of interpreting the on-track activities.

Also, the decision to use static task resolution (score 10 or more) as instead of opposed resolution (compare your rolls with other players) is a huge mistake. Determining starting grid position could be enormously improved in this way, as could overtaking.

There appears to be no support for harder tasks: what’s the difference between my avoiding a piece of track debris, and attempting to overtake two cars on the inside, while my most hated rival is trying to sideswipe me off of the track? If the game doesn’t support this type of complex action, it should. As it is, a player who picks 2’s across the board for their stats will only fail any roll on a one, and that seems unsatisfactory. Again, using opposed rolls removes a lot of the problems.

As for the rest of the game, there is some excellent material in there, but it needs to be better integrated within the ruleset. Again, there is plenty of information for the players to use in game, but not in a structured way. Most of the in-game fiction will need to be resolved by negotiation and fiat. The huge catalog of spare parts at the end of the game exemplifies this approach: how do I know whether I’ve bought enough stuff to give me an advantage in play?

The sponsorship rules are a great idea but also an opportunity missed: I’m particularly thinking that players could have been allowed to call an “ad break” or “product placement” scene where they have to roleplay their commercial activity in return for an in game benefit. Which would also invoke the Law of Inappropriate Advertising: the best driving in the race happens while there’s a chicken advert running. I stole this idea from Inspectres by the way, and recommend that the author considers doing something similar.

Overall, this is another example of a game with a great premise, but which needs improved design. Jen’s entry last year, Barquest was – for me – one of the best games of the 2005 competition. This game has the same potential for fun, but could do with the same light touch to the rules, and a firm decision as to whether this is a roleplaying game, or a board game, or a board game with in-built roleplaying “mini-games”



1) CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INCORPORATION OF RULES (1-10): 8

Feedback: This is the first game I’ve reviewed to date (out of three) that actually goes out of its way to address the ingredients and time limitation properly. I think that the 1 hour time element could fall apart in actual play, as it appears to be dependent on a smooth run of play: however, the 10-session element is extremely well done. Add the inspired use of Steel, creative (but poorly implemented) use of Law and a legitimate use of Team, and I’m going to award the game 8 points in this category.

2) CLARITY (1-10): 5

Feedback: This game scores points for us of sectioning, pictures and decent writing. It loses some of those points for not clearly guiding the player through the text – it’s necessary to hop about a bit to get the whole feel of the game, and some of the elements appear to be “tacked on”. It was a bit more of a struggle to understand this game to review it properly, which is why it gets only 5 points from me in this category.

3) COMPLETENESS (1-10): 5

Feedback: Yes, it needs a rewrite, and more rules support for players. But there’s a solid structure to hang everything else from, which is why I can still award it 5 points despite my earlier comments.

4) ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS IN PLAY (1-10): 3

Feedback: This may be a roleplaying game, and I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt in this area. My concern is that it is not currently playable as such, which means I will only be awarding 3 points to the game as written. However, a second revision of this game would have the potential to score substantially higher.

5) SWING VOTE (1-10): 7

Final Feedback: This game definitely has lots of cool ideas, and I have no hesitation in awarding it 7 points. Even so, this game has room to grow in this category.

TOTAL SCORE (add items 1 through 5, above): 28 points

Can't say I'm not disappointed.

Jen,

Thanks for replying with more information. Particularly, I think I've got a better handle on what you want to do with the game, which makes it easier to give more constructive feedback.

First of all, it's really interesting (and cool) that you want to put more into the roleplaying between races. I just want to post a list of tentative design 'requirements' that you may have for the game - I have an ulterior motive for this, which I'll lay out later.

First, the requirements:

- Doing well in the race is an important goal for the characters (and - probably - the players), but what happens between the races is just as important.
- The game has to support trash talking, hazing, rivalries, alliances, and romances. It's about people as much as it is about sports people
- It's posible to cheat during the contest (race), but this carries a risk of penalty or disqualification
- There are NPCs who don't partake in the actual event, but are important - fans, groupies, sponsors, moneymen, judges

You may not agree with all of these, but I hope that the list as a whole will connect with your design aims.

What's my ulterior motive? All of the design requirements above are also requirements of an established (if niche) genre of roleplaying game. That genre is 'kayfabe' wrestling, and you may find that studying this genre of game may help you with some of your own design problems.

I'll leave this point for now, because I want to know if it's useful for you. In the meantime, I'll also mention something that's purely mechanical.

It's clear from your comments that you still want there to be a racing game in there (it's not all about the off camers stuff) but that it shouldn't steal all of the game time. This means you need a simple core mechanic for the racing, with low handling time.

In addition, you want there to be a random element to play in addition of the skill.

Here's a suggestion for a simple system that may cover both of these angles.

First, chuck out the track. You can keep it there for colour, but chuck out any notion of using the track to actually measure where the cars are in the race. The only thing that's important to the game is the relative position of the cars.

There's a neet little card game by the name of Cthulhu 500 that runs this way. If you already know how this game works, skip the next para.

Basically, the position of the cars are defined by their order on the track. If the car in front 'overtakes', it's lapped the last car. This is represented by moving the lead car to the back of the pack, and giving it a 'lap' token. So if the order of the cars was 1,2,3,4,5,6, it becomes 2,3,4,5,6,1* - where the * is the lap token. This means all that you need is something to represent the cars themselves - like some actual toy cars! - and a handful of tokens.

Still with me? I suggest you use something similar to track where the cars are in the game. Each 'turn' of the race, each player is going to declare from a number of limited moves, for example:

- Overtake 1 or more cars
- Try and stop anyone else overtaking
- Tricky maneuvers
- Cheating
- Pit stop or running repairs

Have a set of simple stats you can apply to these moves (you're most of the way there already.) Have each roll involve a simple dice roll (D6 + skill, or opposed roll with D6 each side), and set a condition that triggers an Event as part of the maneuver roll. So if, for example, anyone rolls a '1', or if the opposed rolls match, or whatever, a random event happens in addition to the result of the roll.

Now all you need to do is make sure those relationships you've developed off-track make a difference ot the race. For example, if the race judge hates you, you're more likely to get penalised for a foul.. or you might pick up a bogus penalty. Maybe it's possible to bribe the opposition pit crew (bringing a mechanical benefit from the bribery contest into a Pit Stop roll). And so on.

Of course, that's not the only way to go about it, but I'm offering this as a way of saying that you have a valid set of goals for your game, and they are attainable. It's just a question of articulating them, and that's what we're here to help with.

So the next question is: is it helping? Or is there something else you'd like to discuss about the game?

Woah...

Probably shouldn't have stopped by while drinking heavily.

Genuinely grateful and all but I really wanted to use a die or dice. I like dice. I was trying to develop a whole new system for this game but I've been thinking that I might be able to make this a helluva lot easier on myself if I just crib off the BarQuest or Chaos University rules. I just assumed that you had to come up with a unique system to be in this competition. Now that it's over, I can take the system from one of my other games and work it in without too much trouble.

Since the racing dictates the season trophy winner, it is a bit important to choose the top three positions. But there should be opportunities to gain money and use it to bribe/sabotage/steal/lie/and otherwise cheat.

The Wacky Races section will definitely be developed, with cartoonish weaponry, "line paint," shovels that dig car-sized pits in a matter of seconds, and other ridiculous things.

I could also see a promotional piece where "collectible cards" are made for each of the driving teams (hell, that could be the character sheets in the end), and autograph signings, and etc., etc.

But I'm keepin' m'dice. I lurve my dice. But I'm willing to compromise.
The races will be knocked down to 15 minutes. One roll per lap, the players roll. From their starting positions, the highest rolling player moves his car up two, the lowest moves his car back one. "1" by a player means the GM rolls on the incident chart--a small skid drops a player back 1 or 2 places; a crash knocks them out. The GM also rolls, on a 6, he gets to move one NPC car up, on any other number he must remove one NPC car from the running. This should speed the race up significantly and leave the players in competition with each other for the season cup.

The GM will use the roleplaying section of the race to develop relationships (both bitter and hateful as well as friendly and contagious) between the players as well as the players and NPCs

The Pit crew will be leveraged up as a more-important piece of the team; they are the ones who do all the dirty work--the drivers are just the front men, the "pretty faces." It's the Pit Crew that makes all the deals behind the wall and bribes and sabatoge and stuff.

This way I can still keep my stats.

Okay, I'm about to become stupid, so I'll head off again. Thanks for the input though. I think this is workable.