Convention games can be a little colorful.
I like playtesting games at our local game convention (Strategicon), because you’re never going to get the same gaming group at the table twice. With Malice, it’s been interesting to see how regular con-goers who play in our games react to Malice, considering how different a gaming style the game’s framework uses. (This happened with Bedlam Hall too. People expected Spirit of 77 and got something quite… different.)
You still get some shenanigans like interesting character names such as the above, heh. But good things came out of the recent convention, which I will highlight here –
- One of the game “currencies” is Character Points, which players can use to add new NPC’s or Locations. I’ve also added the option of using Character Points to create special “Items” as well. This was something in the original Home by Dark framework, but I had dropped it at the time. Now I realize it’s needed, should people want to create a special “Darkness killing object” as part of the narrative. Or if someone just needs to have a big friggin’ gun.
- I’ve highlighted that focusing on a bad relationship in-game requires more direct effort than “We’re talking now, so we’ve made up”. That’s a little high-school-esque and not how it should play out. There needs to be effort involved, and I spelled that out in the text.
- This didn’t come out of direct play, but I realized that a possible Manifestation of the Darkness should be an actual encounter with the Darkness in some fashion. I’m also considering that one level of engaging in bringing down the Darkness pool is to do something in that fashion.
- One of the game’s Story Pillars is a Town Event that needs to be successful for the town’s success. I need to make sure these Events are really, really clear.
In other news, we are closing to signing a contract with who will be doing our cover art, and that will be announced when inked. I’m also working with Turningsmith Studios to create a possible upper-tier offering as part of our Kickstarter that’s going to be really nice if we can figure it out. So stay tuned!