I have my first in-person playtest of Neon Knights coming up, so I've been getting ready for that over the last few days. Meanwhile, my play-by-post playtests have led me to become increasingly unhappy with my modified approaches. So for the in-person test I'm planning to start out with the current system, then switch to baseline Fate Accelerated midway through and see which feels better for everyone. That means writing two copies of each pre-gen character, one for each version, and that led to an interesting observation. The stats didn't convert cleanly from one to the other; e.g. just because someone was high in Prowess in my modified format didn't necessarily mean that Forceful made sense as their best stat in baseline FAE (and never mind trying to figure out what Diligence or Empathy maps onto). And it occurred to me that the two different versions are looking at the characters' actions in different ways. Baseline FAE approaches essentially describe the action itself - I swing my sword in a Forceful way, or in a Quick way, etc. But my current modified approaches in NK feel more like they are describing the thought process behind the action - I swing my sword with Courage when I am focused on plunging into a dangerous situation, or I swing my sword with Diligence when I slow down and study my opponent before striking. Prowess is kind of an outlier here, throwing "thought process" out the window and being all about physical capability.
And as much as I don't love the current system of deciding that my attack this round is based on Courage+Prowess or whatever, I do still like the flavor behind it. To me, it's a large part of what makes the Knights actually feel like knights and not just action heroes with colorful gear. So I'm thinking about ways to preserve that flavor if I do end up getting rid of my modified approaches. Idea #1 right now is to put a "Knights' Code" in the flavor text of the game. Idea #2, which will have more mechanical impact on the game, is to add a "Cardinal Virtue" Aspect, so my character really leans into Courage while yours really leans into Empathy, and these things affect die rolls and roleplay complications the same way as any other Aspect. Most likely I'll do both of these things. Or maybe I'll think of something else.
Anyway, that's it for now, and hopefully I have something cool to say about the test session in a couple of days.
Update: in-person test didn't pan out; too many designers at the meetup and not enough time for everyone's game to hit the table. I might try again next month if scheduling works out, or I might try to put something else together. But I will say that the more I think just about the stuff from this post, the more I'm feeling like I should make these changes.
