a quick follow-up to the last post

 Took longer than it should have (as always), but the TTS module for The Grand Expedition has finally been updated with everything I talked about in the last post.  Next step is to learn how to create a game in either Screentop or Tabletopia and then create a module there as well.  I don't look forward to the extra work, but now that I know these options exist it would be nice for people to be able to test the game completely free.  No idea how long it will be before this is operational, but I'll post a link once it exists.

significant revisions

 Following from the playtest notes I got a couple weeks ago (see my previous post), and subsequent solo testing, I've spent a good chunk of time over the last few days updating the rulebook and all of the Exploration cards.  The big changes I'm implementing are 1) exploring a new hex is a free action that happens automatically when you move into it, and 2) Loot is based solely on your action, not on the card that you drew.

I really liked the way (1) worked out in my solo test after the feedback I got, since it meant that more exploring could get done each turn, and there was no more of the hassle with someone moving into a new hex with their last action and then needing to wait until next turn to actually explore it.  This was a relatively small revision in terms of changing the text, though a much bigger one for how it affects the game.

(2) should be unpacked in a little more detail.  The old rule was that when you drew a card it would tell you how much Loot was attached.  Beating it with Fight meant you got all the Loot, beating it with Evade (which used to be called Escape) meant you might get some of the Loot if you rolled high enough, and beating it with Negotiate meant you got no Loot, in exchange for whatever the other bonus is that that card gives.  If the card is still there at the end of your turn, and still has any Loot left, then the Loot cards stay with it for others to plunder later on.  Now the new rule is that Exploration cards do not have any Loot attached to them.  Instead, beating it with Fight means you get Loot cards equal to the Zone that you're in, beating it with Negotiate means you get 1 Loot (plus whatever is the Negotiate benefit for that card), and beating it with Evade means you get 1 Loot, plus the possibility of more if you roll high enough.  Testing so far shows that this runs faster and helps address the balance issues I've been struggling with, since players who emphasize Negotiate or Evade rather than Fight aren't going to be falling so far behind now with collecting Loot.  With regard to updating the text, this one is considerably more work since it means almost every single Exploration card needs to be changed.

Besides that, there's also the usual round of cleaning up errors and ambiguities that I didn't catch before, since there are always a handful of those.

Next step - Fame adjustments based on the Zone.  Other player suggested that it should be printed on each relevant card instead of being a flat +2 for Zone 3 and +4 for Zone 4, both so it will be easier to remember and also so I can fiddle with the numbers for individual cards.  The more I think about it the more I'm on board with this idea, but it is going to be significantly more work to figure out the details and update the cards accordingly...

TGE playtest notes

 No, I'm not going to dump everything here, just sharing some thoughts that are going to feed into upcoming revisions (and also providing evidence that I am actually still working on this game).  I've had a hard enough time getting other people to help me test the game out, but yesterday I did have someone and we ran a 2-player session, which highlighted the need for some modifications when running the game with only two players.  The main issue is that it's very easy for both players to just strike out in different directions and never interact with each other for the rest of the game.  In theory that's okay if that's what they want to do, but then it's harder to adjust if circumstances change (as in yesterday's game where a powerful Threat suddenly showed up and we were too far apart to help each other with it).  The solution I'm thinking of for right now is that for any ability which depends on another player being nearby, including the basic option to give a bonus or penalty on another player's roll, the distance that counts as "nearby" will increase when there are only two players.

One other problem that reasserted itself during this test session was that of Fight being the god stat.  The other player and I had both chosen teams which start with low Fight scores, and as a result we both had a hard time collecting Loot with which to buy upgrades.  A player who started with more Fight would have quickly surpassed both of us, unless they got really unlucky with the dice and/or cards.  So the other biggest change that I have planned right now is to give out some Loot on any successful roll, while still having the chance to get more with a good Fight or Escape* roll (but not as much as under the current setup).

*oh, and Escape might get renamed to Sneak or something like that - I'm not 100% sure yet but it's sounding better the more I think about it

Whatever I'm rolling, it certainly isn't Quick

 Well I said I was using this blog to document whatever work I'm doing on my games, so I guess I might as well document the little bit that I did today.  Main thing was copying over the milestone rules from FAE and translating them into my prose and tone.  I was hoping that would turn into momentum for more of the stuff I'm actually coming up with myself, but no luck - only other thing I managed to add before I ran out of steam was a short paragraph about Steeds, and a note to myself to maybe add an option for a Steed bonus of some sort when you hit milestones.  At least I'm more or less done with the part that's getting copied from FAE, except that I still haven't decided if I'm keeping the approaches from that book or coming up with my own.  I'd like to do my own for this but I'm having a hell of a time thinking of anything that isn't covered better by the basic six in FAE.  Maybe I'll get some 11th-hour inspiration for that.  In the meantime I'll keep plugging away with what I have so far.  Right now I'm thinking the next part will be just focusing on the Steed rules until they look good, but we'll see what happens.

Office Coffee - it's here! (sort of)

 So that dumb viciously fun game I thought of a couple days ago is now complete and ready for testing.  The complete rules take up less than a page, and even factoring in all the time I spent digging through clipart for my dice icons it only took me about 48 hours to complete this (compared to the, I don't remember, maybe 18-24 months that it took me to complete The Grand Expedition).  I ordered blank dice but they won't be here for a week or two, so no prototype just yet, but in the meantime there's a print-and-play version right here.  You'll need a big pile of d6s (30-48, depending on number of players), but the rest of it is there in that nice little pdf.  Give it a look and let me know what you think.

How much do you hate yourself?

 On one hand, maybe I need to get this game design ADHD under control.  On the other hand, I went from spontaneous terrible idea to almost complete first draft over the course of this afternoon and evening.

The game is Office Coffee (and the title of this post is the tagline).  It's a light-medium filler game about office workers racing to get the last cup of caffeinated swill that will help them survive that afternoon's meeting.  It's divided into two phases.  In phase 1, players go to different areas of the office to collect dice that they'll need for phase 2.  You get different dice from the copy room, the HR office, etc.  In phase 2, everyone rolls their dice to collect points or activate other abilities.  Whoever has the fewest points gets eliminated, then everyone else rolls again, and so on until only one player is left.

And that's pretty much it.  I still need to decide what goes on the dice for each room, but as far as basic rules go I thinkI have everything I need.  We'll see where this one goes...

Neon Knights update - equipment

 Spent some time today fleshing out rules or equipment, as well as some basic descriptions for default gear ("default" here meaning what it looks like if your group doesn't decide to change it during session 0).  I'm trying to find a balance between keeping it simple but still having equipment matter for more than just flavor text and narrative permissions.  What I've settled on is that weapons add damage on a successful attack, armor subtracts damage, and other gear can give bonuses for relevant actions.  You can purchase enhancements which increase the item bonus or give it other properties, to a limit (there will also be rules for what might be considered "magic items" in other games, though I'm going with a more magitech flavor here, but that's going to be another time).  Pretty straightforward.  Two sticking points though:

1) Shields - I'm not sure where they fit into this rule framework.  If they subtract damage like armor then they're basically just flavor text for your armor, which could work but also feels a little less satisfying.  Extra damage negation that stacks with your other armor also doesn't quite feel right.  Bonus to your defense roll means that it's effectively extra damage negation and increases the odds of negating the attack altogether, or even reversing it if you succeed with style on the defense, so that makes it even more powerful than regular armor and that definitely doesn't feel right (even if it otherwise makes sense mechanically, in isolation).  So I still need to figure out what I'm doing there.

2) Blasters - Neon Knights might be a mostly medieval-ish setting, but it also has laser guns.  And the lasers are slow, so that's why you can see the red beam shooting from your gun and hitting your enemy.  But if there are laser guns, then why is anyone wasting time with swords?  Well, two reasons.  One, which is still in, is that blasters are relatively rare weapons and are reserved for elite warriors (which definitely includes Knights and maybe others too).  The other reason I originally came up with was that the energy beam starts off weak and then gathers power as it flies, so it's not much use against a target that's in or near melee range.  I still like this idea just for the entertainment value, but the mechanical implications of it clash with the simplicity I was going for.  I guess it could be something like "+0 damage against targets in the same zone, additional +1 for each zone it crosses to reach the target," but I don't know if that becomes too much of a pain in the ass to keep track of compared to all other weapons being a straight "+X damage."  Maybe I'll just have to test it out and see how it feels at the table.