[Conspiracy of Shadows] Looking for Playtesters

[Keith Senkowski]

Hello all,

We just finished our 1st go round of edits for the game I wrote, Conspiracy of Shadows and are looking for playtesters and second opinions.  It is a fantasy game (call it my fantasy heartbreaker if you will) set in a world that is based heavily on the Slavic/Mongol/Scandanavian/Turkic world of the middle ages. The premise (sp?) is X-Files meets the afor (is that the proper use of the word?) mentioned setting.  No elves, dragons or other standard fantasy races, just humans of distinct ethnic groups.  Magic is ritual based, which of course is a rather broad description, but think sort of like CoC.  Conspiracies threaten mankind and the characters are a small group banded together to try and thwart it.  If you like the X-Files/CoC and Polish/Hungarian/Mongol/Scandanavian/Bulgarian/Byzantine/Turkic/Ottoman history you might find the game of interest.

If you are interested after my rambling above either post or contact me in the usual manner and I'll either send you a pdf copy or a link to a copy by the weekend.  Also if you need clarification of my above nonsense let me know.

Thanks
Keith

[Keith Senkowski]

I forgot to mention that I am more than willing to quid pro quo with other game designers, meaning I'll playtest your game in exchange of you playtesting mine.  I think it is only fair.

Keith

[Keith Senkowski]

No takers huh?  Would it help if I gave the people who contact me a discounted copy of the book when it is published this summer?  Come, who can pass up cheap stuff?  Nobody, that's who!

Keith

[Peter Nordstrand]

Hi Keith,

Why don't you tell us a little bit about the system. So far you've only vaguely described a setting, but what about the rules? What makes it unique? What kind of play do you hope it will promote?

All the best,

/Peter N

[Keith Senkowski]

Fair enough.  I'll try and describe it as clearly as possible.

Characters have 4 attributes (Fortitude, Reflex, Temperament, and Knowledge) ranked 1-6 and skills ranked 1-6.  All die rolls follow the same formula (A+B+2D6/Difficulty Rank).  The Difficulty Rank is either assigned by the GM or opposed by a die roll.  So for example:

Bob is trying to hit Bill.  Bob rolls to attack (Reflex+Melee+2D6) and Bill rolls to defend (Reflex+Melee+2D6) and who ever rolls higher succeeds.  There are modifiers based upon attack types, weapons, and something called Descriptors (each trait has at least one that positively or negatively affects appropriate die rolls), but basically that mechanic works for everything.

Character creation is a point buy system, 12 for Attributes and 25 for skills.  Each item has a Descriptor.  Positive ones cost extra but give die bonuses to appropriate situations and Negative ones give Destiny Points.  Players choose their own cover (what they are not doing when trying to discover/hunt/destroy evil), social class (mucho importante) and ethnic groups (each is different game mechanic and flavor-wise).

The final part of character creation is group resources and relationships.  The basically pool their Resources and Relationships and purchace things like equipment, contacts, allies, and real estate.

Destiny Points are spent by players to declare facts to the GM which he has to weave into the situation.  They are situation specific and are lost once spent.  A meta game mechanic.

There is no leveling or character advancement.  Instead, characters start out pretty experienced and only improve with something I call Dramatic Moments (basically pulling something off in an extraordinary fashion) which is decided by a group vote of the Players and GM.  The point of the game is not character advancement but exploration of the theme (is that the right word?) of the game (the evil conspiracy).  I like to think of it this way, Kolchak didn't start as a moron and slowly get better over time, he started as a good reporter and got better because of the circumstances that were thrust upon him.

Let's see, characters all have 10 health levels broken into 3 classes (Bruised, Flesh Wound and Mortal Wound).  Actions in combat are predicated upon spending Endurance Points to do stuff, like go first, run away, and attack/defend multiple times.  The only analogy I can think of is that it is kinda similar to dice pools in that respect.

Magic is broken into two categories, Witchblood (think psychics, but not Miss Cleo) and Ritual Magic (think religious rituals and Sorcerer style rituals which are created by the Players or GM).  Build your own demons rules.  Rules for making ghost characters.

Is that enough?  Want more?  Always willing to go on, and on, and on, and on.

Keith

[TonyLB]

I could be mistaken, but I think "Evil Conspiracy" is more a story element than it is a Theme, at least in Forge-speak.

A theme would be something like "Does learning the truth of a monstrous conspiracy make you a monster yourself?" or "What happens to the virtues of a simple life when you encounter situations they were never meant to cover?" or... well, there are a nigh-infinite number of themes that you could expound upon with the background you've listed.

Are you aiming to support Simulationist play?  That's just a guess, but it's my first instinct when I see that (for instance) social class will be very important for every character.  Unless the Theme of the game is intricately linked with class struggle and oppression, of course, in which case the concern might rise from purely Narrativist roots.

[Keith Senkowski]

I guess the theme would be "The Truth Can Kill You" but the idea behind it is that you can choose whatever theme you want.  It is kinda opened.

I would say that I am supporting Simulationist play with Narrativist elements.  Does that make sense?  I still have trouble with the GNS stuff.

The social classes are important for setting purposes and in character creation (gives you the points you spend as a group on things).  They are not tied ot the main theme, but play a small roll.

Keith

[Keith Senkowski]

Oooh, ooh, I forgot one other thing that is pretty important to the game.  The Corruption Rank mechanic.  It works as a meter (meater?  meat eater?) as to how evil/tainted the characters become.  It works pretty simply, do something evil get a rank.  Screw up with magic, get a rank.  Characters that reach 6 Ranks turn into a thing I like to call, and do call, ghuls.  Ghuls are, well, totally corrupted and transformed humans.  They look kinda normal, a little off maybe, but like any other joe on the street.  The thing is, they are now the GMs to do with as he pleases, are totally evil (Emperor P evil) and have some nifty bad guy powers.

So, despite my continued onslaught of posting, still no takers?  You get your name in the book and a hearty handshake if you are at GenCon.

Thanks
Keith

[TonyLB]

So what's the benefit to the character of having a higher Corruption rank?

As to playtesting, I'm going to politely decline.  I'm always happy to help thrash through ideas on forum, of course.

[Keith Senkowski]

There isn't a benefit.  A high corruption is a bad thing.  At the peak (6) you lose control of your character.  Think of it as the Humanity score from Sorcerer in reverse with the added bonus of turning into the sort of evil the characters are trying to ferret out and destroy.  If anything it is a good thing for the GM as it can be used to heighten tension.

I understand.  Playtesting can be time consuming.  I appreciate all input, both constructive and destructive.  If you want I can send you a link to the document.

Keith

[TonyLB]

You're putting the GM in the position of having to say "This is an invalid choice, because it is evil and wrong, and therefore I will penalize you by moving you one step closer to having your character taken away."

Does this strike you as a good idea?  It sounds to me like you're brutally punishing players for exploring the issues you've set up the game to explore.

[Keith Senkowski]

That is a valid point.  Some of the Corruption gain is built into the mechanics.  For example failure to control the contact with a demon (a lack of control over the situation) prompts a check against the demon, failure of which gives the character a Corruption Rank.  Other times the characters can gain Corruption Ranks from their actions.  An example might be killing everyone in the village because a demon is possessing them and the only way to make sure it can't just keep jumping ship is to eliminate any potential hosts.

Perhaps a gradual increase in powers from the Corruption Ranks to parallel the descent into evil?  That way the characters get a trade off.  The idea behind this is that meeting the devil on his own terms can burn you, though you may succeed in your goal.

Does that address it or did I miss the mark?

Keith

[TonyLB]

Hard for me to say.  It's your game, after all, and you'll understand how you want to present the premise better than I will.

Plus, I'm getting a bit deep into theory for a thread that is about playtesting.  So I'm going to cut myself off before I tarnish my non-existent reputation :-)

[Ville Takanen]

Humm... I am using a mechanic similar to your corruption (suprizingly called taint) in the system I use for our wednesday games. System like that can easilly turn out to be a punishment tool for GM, but such a tool is not neccessarely bad thing.
My game setting is pretty similar to your setting, though I think I use more western occult backround material in the game, and instead of simulationist twists, I have some gamist bits in the system.

In the system taint (corruption) comes from certain pre-agreed things:
- Every character may do things that are not on par with "what is normal and possible". If things done can not be explained by characters "role in the story", character becomes tainted.
- Any character using arcane powers, beyond her current knowledge or capablilities get tainted.
- Failing to use properly arcane powers that character knows.
- Using the great question (magick) as an ultimate answer.
- Character behaving in inhumane manner.

Maybe you should have guidelines like these in the system set, to hinder corruption as punishment method.
And maybe one should get powers that are only usable if one is corrupted enough? There would be a precious balancing on the edge of corruption, that could create great scenes in the game.

[Keith Senkowski]

Yeah, I think hard guidelines would be a good idea.  The hard part for me throughout the entire process has been when to create these hard lines and when to keep things open.  

I don't want this to be a punishment tool, but a facilitator for really cool scenes.  I know that it wasn't a great movie, but I was thinking of the Patriot with Mel Gibson when I came up with the idea.  In particular the moment after he hacks up the red coat in the river and looks up at his sons while covered in blood.  That moment of realization is what I am looking for with this mechanic.

Any interest in playtesting?

Keith