Hi there!
My copy has just arrived and I'm floored by the art (and presentation) alone. The art, specifically the drawings of Jed and Meimei, is professional, light-hearted and on-topic - in other words: reassuring and conducive to the game's mood. I'm delighted that the booklet is really something I can show to non-gamer friends and acquaintances without getting all defensive.* In fact, I like it so much that I'll probably order at least two more as gifts to couples in my circle of friends (as soon as the first suitable birthday comes up).
(Alas!, my girlfriend is emphatically not interested, so my copy will probably collect dust on my shelf with many another jewel. But it's an eye-opener and way cool.)
Rock on, Emily!
Hal
*I believe one should stand by one's hobbies, and I usually do, but it's often not easy in all sorts of ways with RPGs (at least for me).
Hey, my wife is a strident non-gamer and I got her to try by saying, "it's very cool, has nothing whatever to do with any other game you may have been exposed to, and is about dating. Seriously! It's about going on dates! It totally rules!"
So don't give up on her!
--Jason
Thanks so much! I'm glad it looks good to you, and it sounds like the art is doing just what I'd hoped. And I also hope you don't have to give up yet on your s.o. What is it that makes her refusal so firm?
best,
Em
She has been burned by (casual) chess and board games. Specifically, she has had bad experiences with sore losers ("If you had played the game like it was meant to, I'd have won.").
As for roleplaying games, she feels that making things up is intimidating and somewhat silly.
I think the first can probably be overcome, particularly with a (simple) game neither of us knows or by playing with other newbies, but embarrassment is harder to alleviate. Actual Play or Examples of Play in rulebooks might do the trick, but I'm not going to press the point.
(If there was ever a booklet to use as bait on the coffee table, though, BTI is it. And PTA, perhaps. Nobilis looks grand, but is intimidating as heck when you leaf through it and, like many other indie RPGs, just too outlandish.)
Regards,
Hal