Here’s my to-do list for the weekend:
1) Rake.
2) Go to church (on Sunday).
3) Prototype and playtest as many different games as possible.
The first game is a new horror RPG from my pal Brad McDevitt. It’s chock full of cults and conspiracies, with heavy themes like redemption, repentance, and how we define “good” and “evil” in our lives. Despite the manuscript being not quite ready for prime time (since I ripped it, still raw and bleeding and unfinished, from Brad’s protective hands) the system held up and everyone had a good time. (Of course, when I reported to Brad afterwards, I discovered that I’d completely messed up an important part of the background, but hey… raw and bleeding, whadya expect?)
On Sunday, I pulled out the latest version of my SKY TRADERS game: an adventure game with a heavy “pick-up and deliver” style economic system built in. This time out, I rejiggered the dice system, combat, the turn sequence, and the econ system — and was quite pleased with the results. It’s still not ready to show a publisher, but it’s a lot closer than it was last week.
After that, I dragged my lone playtester home from the game store so we could test my latest mad creation with my #1 playtester, my beautiful rock star wife. Together, we hacked through the very first playtest of what turned out to be a fun, light card game steeped in the Cthulhu mythos. After playing the game, my testers’ only complaints were that there weren’t enough cards — and there aren’t: there are only 50 cards in the deck, and we need at least 100. Luckily, I have a solution: print each card twice.
I’d like to give a shout of thanks to Brad for letting me dig around in his sandbox, and Ryan, Wade, and my wife for gleefully poking holes in my games all weekend.
