![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
I now have a playtest document to share for external playtesting. The writing is a little bit patchwork in this version, but the rules and guidance are much more thoroughly thought out and tested. I'm excited about where the game is at right now.
The document doesn't contain a game pitch exactly, so let me share one with you before dropping my links:
Perfect is a game about people driven to crime in a Victorian-dystopic world. How far are you willing to go to find the things you love? What are you willing to sacrifice to your passion? And will you reach that place before the Inspectors track you down and fix you?
Okay! The document is actually two documents: one describing the character creation process and options that a player has (designed as a handout/workbook for players) and the other which describes the GM's job and their options. Character Workbook and GM Guidelines.
Critique! Challenge! Play! Support!
Edit: Fixed the title fonts.
- Mood:accomplished
- Listening to:TV in the background.
Comments
I've downloaded the PDFs and I'm printing them right now. I *love* Perfect but admit I've always (also) felt it lacked something. A defenent end-game condition for starters, but a few other niggling details. I really look forward to reading through this. : )
-- Laura (Laura Bishop @ SG)
Edited at 2008-05-24 01:11 am (UTC)
I switched back and forth between writing in OpenOffice at home and Microsoft Word at work, and I think that floating Inspector was a weird re-formatting issue.
I'm glad you dig Perfect! I'm also glad that you are willing to be critical of something you dig.
I'm for some reason very hesitant to look at hard endgame mechanics for Perfect. Part of this is that on average I find everyone gets 3 scenes in a game session. Sometimes only 2. It would be hard to set up a system whereby you triggered endgame and actually had time to play it out. Maybe.
More importantly, sometimes a character is built with a very specific story arc in mind. For example, maybe the Romantic Vandal wants to make Contacts with the arsonists ring in the city, torch the houses of all her ex lovers, and then torch the house of her current lover. I could so see that character rocking in Perfect. The game openly supports people bringing a pre-meditated story to the table, which is a feature that other games don't have.
I feel like an endgame mechanic would... interrupt that. What I'd most like to see is one of the following options:
1. Through a lot of Consequences and Conditionings, the Inspectors simply erode the character's foundation until the character becomes this snivelling dweeb who can't do anything.
2. Through a lot of Payouts and crime cycles, the character simply gets what it wants and becomes untouchable - sailing into the sunset, reclining on the beach with a forbidden lover, pulling it all over on the Inspectors.
3. Through establishing Contacts and Secret Societies, and rocking out on high-scale crimes, the character simply destroys Cadence. Fire and rubble!
All three of those scenarios work best with the character being gradually written out of their own role. I think an endgame mechanic might stifle that natural pattern that I want to see more of.
Maybe I should make this vision explicit in the final text? Thoughts?
The correct version is up, and I don't think there's any issues with it. If you've got an Inspector pictured on page 13 without accidentally covering text, you've got the current and correct version.
Damn, embarrassment.