In anticipation of Eero's version of Solar System showing up at Gen Con, I put together a fifteen minute demo. I'd love to get some feedback.
The character sheets are doubled, so if you print the whole document double sided you get two digest-sized sheets with a different character on each side.
I went with a very broad and approachable theme (pirates! Errol Flynn! Yaaah!) and one of the demo characters is female. I'm interested in:
* Finding out if I'm missing any core Solar System info that ought to be shared in such a compressed time frame. * Finding out if it's playable in 15 minutes (I know I can, but I'd like it to be pretty easy to use by whoever grabs it) * Finding out if it's as fun as possible - the Keys point at each other, there's a goofy love triangle and a devious leper, but it's basically beating up Frenchmen.
Not so interested in your thoughts on the 15-minute demo as a thing - that's just the way it is. So, any thoughts? Thanks!
Your React/Resist/Endure skills are assigned to different pools on different character cards. Also, I think you should draw a box around these or something, emphasizing that they're the default, core defensive skills.
Otherwise, I really dig it. Maybe I'll try to run it at SGBoston, before we really get started, to see how it plays? I love TSOY and we need to play more of it.
Blowing my mind, that. I can certainly use the help, stretched thin as I am by convention preparation. You're going beyond the bounds of duty on this one, which will force me to retaliate at an opportune moment.
(I recommend checking out the demo, if you're at all interested in this game. Jason is, after yours truly, the best demo crafter in the world. His work on the Shab-al-Hiri Roach demo is a wonder to behold.)
Notes:
I can do this in 15 minutes, so not worried about that. Good work all around, and I like the fiction.
The character sheets could use a bit of illustration, wouldn't you agree? How about I turn this over to Brother Jari and let him relay it with some graphics?
I'd add the Buyoff conditions for the Keys into the character sheets. In my experience the buyoff is a very simple thing to grasp, and it's excellent demo content if somebody gets to buy off a Key.
The next scene should be refreshment, if there is excess time.
I have an extra interest regarding demoes at Gencon: my booklet is essentially a retread of a rules-system already available from all sorts of places. Thus, what is different? If you don't mind, I'll be writing a similar demo with the same characters for audience already familiar with the Solar System and focusing on the new things like Effects, Advance Debt and whatnot. Then we can pick the right demo on the spot depending on the audience.
Again, thanks for caring. I'm a bit tense about my entry on the American market, nice to see somebody taking an interest.
Eero, get your Finnish illustration elves on it! There's a hole 1.5 inches wide and 2.25 inches tall for each character (sorry about the Imperial measurements).
I deliberately left buy-offs out of it, thinking it would confuse players. I'll add it back in and see how it looks.
I'm really doing this to support you, so if I should change the terminology, I'd be glad to.
EDIT: Added buy-offs, and that makes a ton of sense. I don't know what i was thinking.
I'd also suggest that you consider making BDTP part of the end-state for the last conflict of the demo.
There is a very good chance that sometime in the last conflict the players will lose a roll that means they don't get a result that they want, or that either they or Levasseur will want to kill someone on the other side. You can then introduce the two main reasons for entering BDTP, and tell them "In the full game when a conflict doesn't go the way you want or you want to kill a named character, you can call for an extended version of the conflict rules called bringing down the pain. When you do so, you potentially put your character's life on the line. We don't have time to play through that right now, but...." Give a short synopsis and then wrap the demo up.
BDTP is such an important part of the system that it needs to be mentioned, and this also addresses the robustness of the system and shows how the seemingly simple system protects the player's choices while heightening tension.
Thanks Piers, I do mention BDTP in the wrap-up section, but you're right, it could easily be mentioned during the final conflict, where some smacking around of the PCs is inevitable.