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[Business Solutions] Playtest
Hey Friends,
I'd like to try out Snail's Pace and facilitate a test of a game I'm working on. It's a three-player game and I'd love to get three people and just see what happens - it's still deeply in playtest and probably has some mechanical problems remaining. Business Solutions is a game about the lives, loves and adventures of photocopy machine technicians. It is strongly influenced by media properties with "Office" in the title, as a point of reference. Let me know if you are interested, and I'll send you a current draft to look over. It's a very simple game and at the table plays to a conclusion in about two hours. I have no idea what that translates to in Snail time.
We'll use a wiki to keep track of stuff.
Thanks!
I'd like to try out Snail's Pace and facilitate a test of a game I'm working on. It's a three-player game and I'd love to get three people and just see what happens - it's still deeply in playtest and probably has some mechanical problems remaining. Business Solutions is a game about the lives, loves and adventures of photocopy machine technicians. It is strongly influenced by media properties with "Office" in the title, as a point of reference. Let me know if you are interested, and I'll send you a current draft to look over. It's a very simple game and at the table plays to a conclusion in about two hours. I have no idea what that translates to in Snail time.
We'll use a wiki to keep track of stuff.
Thanks!
Comments
I can probably manage posting more than once a day for a short period, but living in Japan means I'm usually active when everyone else is asleep. Maybe this isn't the game for me.
As for cards, I think I'll just shuffle a deck and tell everybody what they have to work with.
I'm interested.
Re card draws - is it only numbers you are after or do suits matter? If it's only numbers, maybe the built-in dice roller can roll a d13.
If suits play a part, or if you are using specially designed cards, then I suggest you simply draw them yourself and tell the players the result.
Per
The game's designed around a single deck of cards, suit is irrelevant but card mix is important.
Otherwise, you could just say 1=Clubs, 2=Diamonds, 3=Hearts, 4=Spades and do
#DiceRoller(1d4)
#DiceRoller(1d13)
Everybody draws 12 cards from the same deck, so you can't have any duplication. Numbers are important.
Sign me up! I'll whisper my email address shortly.
If you really want a digital deck of cards, the Foundry has one. However, if you're happy with privately telling us what we have, that's probably simpler than getting everyone acquainted with the intricacies of the Foundry.
Cheers,
Darcy
Simon, I appreciate your interest but I'd like the game to move more quickly than it sounds like you can manage right now. I'd still value your input and feedback, though (whisper your address and I'll send you a draft).
If there's more interest I can facilitate a second three-person playtest and maybe we can have a shared OOC/rules/cards thread.
But either way, this game is almost ready to go!
Card handling and resolving conflicts are the pieces of primary concern for me. At the table the game has, so far, worked very well in terms of characters, structure, effective and engaging interactions. I'm quite open to suggestions and observations about any aspect of the design, though.
As for the two concerns: If you're only acting as facilitator, Jason, then I'd just deal a deck of real cards, then whisper yourself the distribution in the thread. Then whisper each player their hand. The player then whispers you back with their distribution of cards between their Client, Noob and Main characters.
Without the introduction of an off-site database and some PHP or AJAX (which I think would be an interesting challenge, actually), automatic handling isn't really an option.
Conflict resolution (again) would be a whisper to you, Jason, with you revealing the plays in a post and making edits to the master list, like an asterisk to show the cards played.
Sidenote: If anyone were to script a card-drawing extension for Vanilla like the dice roller that's already installed, they would never again want for internet props.
So - Funny? Melodramatic? Slice of life? Preferences? Arguments pro or con?
It's nice to be playing with you.
As for tone, I'll prioritize them in descending order of preference. However, the spread between them is actually quite small, I'd be ok with any of them.
Slice of Life
Funny
Melodramatic
Cheers,
Darcy
I'd like to clarify a few things.
Just to be clear: the BSI forms are owned by individual players, right? So, I get "A", Per gets "B" and Brian gets "C" (as a for instance).
The weekly schedule is intended to organize player roles on each day. Again, for instance, on Mondays, "B" is playing the client, "C" is playing the lead employee, and "A" is playing the trainee (who also happens to be the target for the troublemaker?)
What happens if the Client plays a Joker?
Can you call tech support when you're playing the Client? If so, how does blame get assigned?
Let's start there.
Cheers,
Darcy
-edited to not dis Per with a miniscule 'p'
Nice to be here :)
I'd prefer Slice of Life, and can live with Melodramatic, but would like to avoid Funny.
Per
I think that the Joker-as-Ace is too fiddly.
Why not simply disallow its play when you're the Client. It enshrines an assumption I had (that I wouldn't, not that I couldn't), and puts pressure on the player to get the Joker out of his hand before he's stuck with it.
Cheers,
Darcy
The six Attitudes are Lonely, Troubled, Curious, Hard Working, Good Natured, and Unfriendly.
The six Roles are Retiree, Student, Immigrant, Single Parent, Expert, and Family Guy.
You guys choose an attitude or role for one of your technicians, one at a time and taking turns, until all twelve have been claimed. So if you really are hot to be the Student or Curious, for example, grab that first.
Who's first?
Per
I think Jason thought of at least one post per player per day, and I think that's the bare minimum if it's not going to take ages to complete.
Per
Per
I think that this can in fact work. If the number of times I was checking this thread is any indication, I've got all kinds of time to waste...uh invest in this.
Seriously Jason, I'm excited by this.
D