Review: Ancient Committee is an Emo Band!

[Adam Kleizer]

Ancient Committee is an Emo Band!

REVIEWER NAME: Adam Kleizer

1) CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INCORPORATION OF RULES (1-10): 5
Feedback: The time constraint part is all right, 10 times 1 hour on stage. After reading some lines about Emo from the link provided, I can see why Emotion was selected. The flaw Emo cards emphasize this aspect of the game, which is a nice thing I think merit cards should have too. Ancient and Comittee are in the game but much weaker then Emotion.

2) CLARITY (1-10): 8
Feedback: I think the text is clear. The use of the deck of normal cards doesn't get the attention it deserves though. The example of play is nice, you should throw in some more of that in places where players actually use the normal deck of cards too.

3) COMPLETENESS (1-10): 5
Feedback: It's playable. It still needs a rewrite if it doesn't want to be a card game. See more in the next point.

4) ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS IN PLAY (1-10): 3
Feedback: Why such a low score? Yes, you could play the game even right now, without more work and it would work. I just don't think it's really a roleplaying game. It's like poker: you draw some cards and try to make the best of it. You could play it in-character, but honestly there's no real motivation to do so. If it wants to be a roleplaying game it still needs some work or even a redesign. If it doesn't want to be an RPG then everything is all right: it's a really nice card game.

5) SWING VOTE (1-10): 6
Final Feedback: I like the basic idea of the game, I would play it once for a test, even if not for ten sessions. I didn't even know the Emo scene before reading through the game and the links provided however, so I imagine that fans of the scene would really like to play it.

TOTAL SCORE (add items 1 through 5, above): 27

[DevP]

Thanks for the feedback!

Ancient and Comittee are in the game but much weaker then Emotion.

This is ultimately true. I really tried, but I am really thinking that Ancient and Committee are *not* pulling their weight like they should have, and I'm okay being penalized for that. There have been some truly better uses of the ingredients in other games I've read.

As for the roleplaying/cardgame thing: you could be right there. I'll wait until after I get all the feedback and be taking a hard look at what this game wants to be. I do think it's a solid rpg now, but if it ultimately becomes more like a story-centric card game (maybe like Once Upon a Time?), I can be okay with that.

I think the example of play showed significantly little roleplay, however. I would ideally like a chance to revise that to demonstrate both the gamelike usage of card elements, but also actually playing our your character in the context of the show. (Because what's a band without bickering?)

[Adam Dray]

I am a guest reviewer. While I have never participated in the Iron Game Chef Competition, I did write a 24-Hour RPG called Trapped! and Andy asked me to help with the reviews.


1) CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INCORPORATION OF RULES (1-10): 6
Feedback:
I thought the game did a decent job using TIME. I think the game probably will play out well in ten one-hour sessions. I imagine high schoolers playing this over lunch. I don't feel that the TEN part of the "ten one-hour sessions" bit is that strong though. The game could conceivably go on and on without any difference in game play. There's no sense of urgency as session 10 approaches. I think the author passed up an opportunity to create angst, and that's a sin in an emo game.

The use of the INGREDIENTS was a mixed bag. Emotion makes a strong play here, not just in the "Emo Band" title but in driving the players to be emo. That is cool. Ancient and Committee do sound like emo band names, but the rule for creating band names just isn't enough to qualify in my mind.


2) CLARITY (1-10): 8
Feedback:
I thought the rules were clear and straight-forward. The real trick was getting the feeling of Emo across to the reader, and I think the author did an admirable job.

The weakest spot was the "How to use the playing cards" section. This needs some additional explanation.


3) COMPLETENESS (1-10): 8
Feedback:
Even for such a short little game, I think it's close to publishable. Lay it out in some typewriter font, splash a brooding image on the cover, polish it up a bit, and sell it. Print it on liner notes and hand it out in a CD case.


4) ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS IN PLAY (1-10): 5
Feedback:
Here's the deal. This is almost a role-playing game. I mean, it wouldn't take much at all to get it there. I think there will be a lot of quibbling about what is and what isn't a "true" RPG in the forums this round, and here's where I weigh in. A role-playing game has to have some in-character interaction between players that isn't just narration of the randomizers.

Also, as I mentioned before, I think there needs to be some outward force for angst in the rules, based on the time element. Either that, or drop the 10-session limit in the final game.

Even if this isn't a role-playing game, I think it'll be a fun game. The emo narration is going to be hilarious. It's quick and easy.


5) SWING VOTE (1-10): 7
Final Feedback:
This game has all the makings of a cult classic. With some clever marketing, I'll bet Dev could sell a hundred copies of this at GenCon. Normally, I'd have no interest in anything like this, but the fact is that I can play this game for an hour, have a blast and laugh my ass off, then put it away for a while. Then I can get it out and have another hour of fun, maybe with the same people, maybe not. It's a perfect pick-up game.


TOTAL SCORE (add items 1 through 5, above): 34

[DevP]

Adam,

All I can say is: thank you! It seems like a lot of what I was trying for actually came through! I may even try to have something playtestable for GenCon.

[Destriarch]

Wish I could afford to do GenCon


Ash