Play-Testers and Idea Bouncers for Our Game - Page 5 - OG Myth-Weavers

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A community-created and maintained place for Game Masters of all systems to bounce ideas around. It's a place for inspiration and sharing tips.


Play-Testers and Idea Bouncers for Our Game

   
Did some playtesting and took some pics




For clarification as to what is going on. The rules are simple when you begin and then the GM can add complexity with GM extensions if they feel the need.

Most games will have 0 stacks. But we placed them down for you guys to visualize.
1st stack:
You can see 4 cards, 1 shown horizontal, 1 shown vertical and 2 more hidden horizontal. That was a character that was;
Taking a last shot with a shotgun, throwing it at the head of an attacker, leaping over a concrete barrier, tearing a stop sign down(he is a Manosteen Man/Elephant style race), then sneaking behind 2 men and using the stop sign as a bat and then sprinting behind some wreckage. As you can see there are 4 cards but many more things occuring here. That will be explained in the rules but again 1 card can do up to 6 things. We were running it pretty basic to test the NPC Gargoyle hunter against the Manosteen Music Man(character Role) for balancing.

2nd stack
The 7 hidden cards was the GM, using a stack. Its nothing more than the GM placing cards for quick use if 2 things occur. You can see the split as one card decides if they go right or left down the stream(also a GM extension).

3rd stack
The card face down on the deck of cards was used in the Subterfuge system. A bad guy and the Manosteen drew down on one another and we used Subterfuge to bluff. Basically its a mini (very fast_3-5 seconds) bluffing game to decide who drew first and what bonuses they each get. That single card gave us 5 different uses.
Sensing the opponent, bluffing, lifting the weapon to shoot, shooting, and then the damage bonus to the gun.

The cards didn't need to be laid down, we just wanted you to see how they were drawn. The entire fight took perhaps 9 seconds to setup and the rest was just the fun of roleplaying. I can't describe how fast the rules are.
We had someone who had never played before(my 63 year old mother) in this test. And she got the rules in about 7 minutes and was actually offering little suggestions within about 10.

What does the AfterEarth Rules System Change?
What it does is it almost completely removes the need to stop the game for dice rolling. You draw a card and go. Subterfuge systems allow for some cards to be used in bluffs where only you OR the GM sees them. Adding a good deal of mystery and real role-playing back into the game. There are about 100 other things but this is a good basic demonstration.

Examples: If you are searching for a hidden door and have to check to see if you succeed you would show the card to the GM ONLY. No one at the table, even you sees, the card. No more knowing you failed, no more attempting many times because you know. Now you have to decide how to continue. This is a true role-playing system. This means if the GM says, "You look around and don't notice anything." No one knows if what you are hearing is 100% true. If you do find something there is a good chance you succeeded. There are various other ways to do this but that is it at its basic. Additionally this doesn't stop you from being certain about things, that are ways to do that as well.
Disclaimer: You don't have to use the rules like that. That is just the current setup in this extension.

That looks so cool *drools a little at the mouth* also, I showed my group of friends. One of them immediately pledged 30 bucks.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaReaper95 View Post
That looks so cool *drools a little at the mouth* also, I showed my group of friends. One of them immediately pledged 30 bucks.
Thanks man, we appreciate everything you ALL do.
And ya, its hard to just describe in a pic or two but *puts on his blatant fan hat* when I hear so many people freak out about the rules it really just makes me excited. Every single quoted post in our Kickstarter was right from the write-ups or verbally from the play-testers. We didn't have a single negative response. Ideas were offered here and there but I would personally sum the many play testing sessions and a resounding success. It made me so excited to be honest. Sometimes you enjoy something but you really wonder if what you have is worth it. It seems like its slowly being proven that we do.

Spread the word however you can, facebook, twitter, in person. You have the entire teams thanks!

I have a local group that would be happy to playtest. I will keep tracking this thread and hope to hear from you Mal on when testing is needed. I have put out the word that donations would be helpful as well.

Good luck and I am very glad you didn't let the bad timing of things get you down. It's your baby. No one is saying there won't be complications, but keep pushing! It'll be awesome!

Quote:
Originally Posted by series0 View Post
I have a local group that would be happy to playtest. I will keep tracking this thread and hope to hear from you Mal on when testing is needed. I have put out the word that donations would be helpful as well.

Good luck and I am very glad you didn't let the bad timing of things get you down. It's your baby. No one is saying there won't be complications, but keep pushing! It'll be awesome!
Excellent I have added you to the list. We are working hard and any spread of the word helps.

I also want to say thanks to everyone here. Yesterday was the best day ever for our contributions and I have a strong feeling much of that was folks here.

Spread the word.

Some more bits about playtesting.
I am locking down the mini adventure that will be used for the very definitive play-testing, but I am also thinking about sending along 50 story seeds to play-testers.

Story seeds are 1-2 paragraph ideas for adventures, conflicts, situations, and so forth. Many of those will probably be replicated in the book just due to the fact that making them takes far longer than you would think. We make them to be very different from each other and that can take some time. The book will include hundreds and that doesn't include the Adventure Pack we have on one of the pledge levels.

Imagine story seeds as mini bits you can put into any adventure at almost any time. They are separated by location, time of day, enemies involved, if they are a trap, situation, riddle, puzzle, enemy, and an overall category. These are awesome for GM's as they can add a story seed right into any game and most story seeds also end with a bit of a cliffhanger comment. A rough sample would be;

Situation: The characters come upon an abandoned car park, rusted mini transmitters perch ontop of metal bars where vehicles could pull up and listen to the movie playing. Now the transmitters sit like angry rusted birds watching over a field of debris. The area smells of copper and rusted steel and a dirty fetid wind blows across patches of asphalt that is twisted as if by a great fire or strong heat. Surprisingly, there is a good deal of salvage here."
Trigger: The character can test for sound. Success leads them a vehicle that appears to have somehow tumbled over onto its side. Trapped underneath the vehicle is a troll. His bulbous black skin is turning waxy white and he gasps for breath, slightly shifting the vehicle with each intake of air. He seems to have given up trying to remove the massive old cruiser and his arms lay to his sides, fingers twitching from time to time.
Conclusion to this Story Seed:
Once the characters have moved the car from the Troll's body, his last words are spoken. "Why did you save me?"

Anyway:
Little things that help a GM possibly add mini stories within their main story and so forth. They add just a touch of mystery to almost any situation that can cause a character and the player to think, "Do I want to investigate this as well?"

Anyway hope you all have excellent days. Thanks as always for the help.

I was asked to see if any of you have the ability to post support for us on ENworld, RPGGeek and so forth? If you do, we have threads there as well and if you could show your support there it might go a long way.
Both seem...difficult to crack a particular almost cliquish feel to them.

AfterEarth is now offering a Kickstarter only hardcover for 55.00. That's almost 500 pages of awesome for 55 bucks. Also a couple other things added.
Stop by and enjoy!





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