Early Playtest Results

It's been a busy summer so far, so it's been a while since I've posted.

Protospiel Minneapolis (May)

This was my first Protospiel, so I wasn't sure what to expect going in. They tend to be heavily board game focused, and it turns out I was the only person there testing an RPG.  However, I managed to run 2 playtest sessions that were really positive. Lots of great feedback from fellow designers on what worked well (thankfully, most of it!) and a few things that needed tweaking, 

I also spent a lot of time talking to other designers and helping playtest their designs.  Overall, I came away from the weekend very motivated and inspired, plus Minneapolis itself was a really nice city to visit.

Origins Game Fair (June)

Origins remains my new favorite summer game convention. My friends and I have attended Gen Con for the past 20+ years, but we recently decided to stop attending (long story) and go to Origins instead.  

I ran one event of Smile Police here as the first playtest with actual non-designer players, with a new mission that was totally different from what I ran at Protospiel.  More great feedback and I also learned more about how to run the game as a GM.  Surprisingly, the event filled up quickly, and none of them had ever heard of Paranoia, so they were signing up purely on the concept.

Things to Work On

Extra Motivation. The one mechanic that hasn't consistently landed 100% is "Extra Motivation".  This is a social mechanic that lets you force a player to roll a normal success (called "Good Enough") to force a more extreme result.  It's a way to "help" other players in a way that can also be a form of sabotage.  This is a mechanic that could probably be cut from the game, but I feel it provides a layer of corporate satire that I'm aiming for, so I plan to tweak it more and see how it continues to play out.  

Mission Design. My biggest task right now is writing the Intro Mission and providing guidance on how to design missions.  Even though most creative GMs will be able to take what's there and run with it, this game is quite different in its style and pace, so I'm trying to make it as clear and easy as possible.

Illustrations.  I'm about half way through the illustrations, which are all being done in Procreate. 

Future Playtesting

I have 2 events submitted for GrandCon in Grand Rapids in September, but my goal before then is to have a playtest version of the game published for anyone to run. 

If you're interested in playtesting when it's available, please reach out and let me know.