Ack! Playtesting!

Well, now I'm in a bit of trouble. I've got my two games to a point where I need to test them some more. If I follow the example of other game designers I'd get together with some local gamers to run the games and get some feedback. So now I need to hear from you. Are you interested in doing some preliminary playtesting one or both of my games? You need to be in the Brisbane region and willing to provide useful feedback. Drop me a line at andrew (dot) mg (dot) smith (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know.

Success!

I mentioned in my last post that Nobles was to be split, and split it has been. Now I have two games about the ascent to power. They're both competitive games and both without a GM. Playtesting of Nobles 1 and Nobles 2 should take place in and around Go Play Brisbane.

Speaking of which, have you registered? If not, go there now and register!

Time for a Schism

I've arrived at the conclusion that Nobles cannot be beaten into the shape I wish for it. However, it can be sliced in twain, divided into two separate games. One of them will be a simple card game and the other will be a complicated card game.

And now I need to finalise the simple Nobles (or rename it and finish it) so that I can get started on the other one.

Needlepoint

I like listening to gaming podcasts and reading gaming blogs. If my consumption of media were the measure, then it would be easy to think that there was nothing else in the world other than gaming (with some philosophy and psychology thrown in for good measure). However, it's important to remember from time to time that gaming is a small, niche activity. We're almost an industry, but only in the sense of "cottage industry."

And the thing I like to think of that reminds me of this is needlepoint. Run a search at Google and you'll get over three million hits. There are corporate sites (the big evil capitalist bastards) and there are free sites (the indie needlepointers) and there are fan sites (house rules) and gatherings (mini-cons) and even podcasts.

There's more media out there for needlepoint and it's a cottage industry that's been around for centuries. Whenever I think that the indie gaming industry is starting to sound a little too pompous, I only need to think of needlepoint and the smile returns to my face.

The Eighth Sea is Available

Michael Wenman has now published his game, The Eighth Sea. Buy it now from Lulu.

I played the final session of this at Gencon Oz and enjoyed it immensely. It felt like he'd made it the Convention Special Edition because of all the props (a whiteboard! a wine bottle! a human skull!). It uses a great system of making failures easier next time, and successes more difficult. All in all, the result is a game with plenty of opportunity for gonzo and large story telling.


Note: skull may or may not have been an actual human. If it was, the human was about the size of a child.

Mindless link propagation to Braunstein

Go read this article on Braunstein now. It's a great read.

The Tick says, "Keen!"

I know that the GPB stuff is on the other blog, but I have to say how excited I am at the prospect of getting a Brisbane mini-con for indie games. The store owner is keen. The GMs are keen. And I somehow managed to get a special guest to come along.

This ought to be a good day.