More Playtesting & Changes

Recent Playtests

I've run more Smile Police playtests recently.  Two sessions at GrandCon in Grand Rapids, MI and one session at Chicago Protospiel.  

Updates:

• Card Icons. Instead of players having to remember how many times they've used a card, there are now icons that you cross off on the character sheet.  After this change, players are consistently remembering to take their yCoin bonuses.  Solid usability win. 
• Gadget Uses. Experimental Gadget cards have universally been one of the most liked parts of the game, so I increased them from single-use to usable twice.  Another win in terms of variety of actions, and the gadgets haven't unbalanced the game.
• Extra Motivation.  As I mentioned in the last devlog, this has been the worst-performing mechanic.  I updated it to be usable on any die roll (not just to sabotage "Good Enough" rolls), and usable three times.  Thankfully, this was a solid win overall and brings the mechanic back from the brink of extinction, but there is some fuzziness around when players feel incentivized to use them. Which is related to the next point...
• Competition/Cooperation.  Smile Police aims to be a competitive game where everyone sort of pretends to be cooperating.  However, players -- especially when playing with people they don't know -- often fall back to a cooperative mindset because that's just how most RPGs work.  There are plenty of cues on how the game "should" be played, but that tendency is still there. This might be okay, and different groups will play differently, but it's still something I want to fine-tune in terms of how players approach the game.

Next Playtests

The next playtest is this Friday at EttinCon in Evanston, IL.   After that, the next one will be MidwinterCon in Milwaukee in January.  

Before that January playtest, I hope to finally have the playtest PDF out, so I can get a read on how easily other GMs will be able to run the game.