1) CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INCORPORATION OF RULES (1-10): 4
Feedback: I did like the use time constraint. I actually believe that this
game could be played out over the course of 10 little mini-sessions, and that
the episodic nature might suit some kind of interesting play.
On the other hand, I didn't buy the ingredient use at all. Glass appears in
the title in a weak metaphor for intrigue, but whether it's merely forced or
a cultural gap, I didn't see "Glass Knives" as having much to do with plots
and intrigues. Ancient and Emotion appear not at all.
2) CLARITY (1-10): 4
Feedback: Ongoing grammatical problems aside, I found myself fundamentally
confused about the basic conflict mechanics. Conflict points? Action
points? Are they really the same? If so, why would I wager Action Points?
If not, where do Action Points come from? How does stakes-setting relate to
the result of the die roll?
3) COMPLETENESS (1-10): 5
Feedback: I think there's a lot to work on in terms of what characters do in
Esdemere. I really like the ten festivals, and the stats and facts thing
works pretty well, but setting characters on some kind of path would be
helpful.
There's at least one detail left out: how many points can I assign to facts
for my character? Does it matter?
The text also needs a thorough copy-editing, for issues of basic grammar and
structure. The sense one gets is of a first draft, quickly written, and I
don't know if that's accurate or not.
4) ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS IN PLAY (1-10): 4
Feedback: The basic conflict resolution mechanics need a lot of work.
Honestly, I'm not sure how well tailored to the game they are, and that's
mostly because I'm not sure I can picture what conflicts in the game will be
about.
It does seem a little weird to have so much hinge on the relationship between
two stat-plus-skill type values. (plus relationship plus gear...) I really
don't think you've approached the open skill list issue of "awesomeness" or
"loves people" - why not dump all my character points into a universally
applicable fact, and win all the time?
5) SWING VOTE (1-10): 4
Final Feedback: I really do like the basic premise of a few little episodes
over the course of a game year, and I like the color of the setting. The
system is really tepid, though, and I'm also not a fan of ditching the
ingredients completely. Outside of Game Chef, I'd like to see the premise
reworked into a viable game, because there's definitely a gem of an idea
under there, but I think some more thought needs to go into what an actual
session would look like.
TOTAL SCORE (add items 1 through 5, above): 21