Looks like we all hit this game about the same time!
REVIEWER NAME: Ian Burton-Oakes
1) CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INCORPORATION OF RULES (1-10): 5
Feedback: I like the idea of a short, one shot rpg. However, as written, the game does not thoroughly incorporate the restrictions and opportunities presented by such a time limit. It seems that in a one-shot game it is more important than ever to specify how long each portion of the game should take, how long each player’s turn should run, and so on.
I like seeing joy as the defining emotion and like that it is the defining mechanical element of the game. However, the use of ancient and glass are used primarily for color and have no apparent mechanical function.
2) CLARITY (1-10): 5
Feedback: The designer described the rules adequately but provides no examples of play. It is possible that with a good description of play the roleplaying elements might become more apparent.
3) COMPLETENESS (1-10): 3
Feedback: This seems more like an experimental board game than a roleplaying game. The players barely interact with each other and when they do that interaction is governed almost entirely by dice rolls. With some work, it could be an interesting board game. A lot of work would be required to make it recognizable as an rpg.
4) ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS IN PLAY (1-10): 3
Feedback: For the two hour session to work well, I suspect character creation time needs more regulation. While it is simple, there are enough options that a player with a large tribe may spend a good deal of time fiddling with their tribe’s roles. This could be frustrating for players with a very small tribe—they get done and are stuck twiddling their thumbs while the other players finish.
The randomness of size and subsequently of joy seems strange to me, especially when the discovery of an outsider (and subsequent growth of the tribe) is described as joyful in the introduction. While the rule seems intended to provide an interesting set of balanced options (manpower v. the joy required to make use of it), those tribes who start out with a lot of one (and therefore less of the other) are in a very precarious position and will likely fall apart quickly.
This is further complicated by the randomness of the joy acquisition system. A few bad rolls drive even an ‘average’ tribe under. I can easily imagine a situation in which some or all of the players end up spending their turn trying to make a single roll to ‘break even’ with joy or manpower.
I can also see a situation in which one player comes to dominate the action, acquiring an increasing amount of joy and manpower. Their turn grows longer and longer while other players are reduced to rolling a die or two every few minutes.
First and foremost, the resource distribution needs to be less random so that players begin on an even playing field. Second (and almost as important), the game should allow for more player interaction. This keeps all the players more involved and lays the groundwork for a bona fide roleplaying element. Perhaps allow players to form alliances with each other?
5) SWING VOTE (1-10): 5
Final Feedback: I really like the idea of a game in which the ‘character’ is a hive mind. I had high hopes for the game after reading the flavor text. Unfortunately, this game does not plumb the depths of that concept. I would have liked the game to go a slightly different direction, such that each player played one aspect of the tribe. This would work best if each role had some resource they could use to manipulate the hive mind. An average person is a complex of competing emotions and aims, so it seems like a hive mind should be at least that dynamic.
Random Observations: p.2 par.2: “This is handy…” breaks the mood set by the rest of the introduction. It tries too hard to be simple.
TOTAL SCORE (add items 1 through 5, above): 21 / 50