Scarlet Wake: Official Play-Test Release

[Ben O'Neal]

Hey,

Some of you might remember that a few months ago I released a version of my game, Scarlet Wake, for play-test. I received a bunch of responses and suggestions, and I have finally managed to implement all of them into a revision and completion of the play-test rulebook. This is now the official release of the Scarlet Wake play-test, coinciding with an actual complete website.

For those of you who haven't heard of Scarlet Wake yet, here's a rundown:

Scarlet Wake is game about pain, hate, and bloody revenge. With a strong focus on tactics, gambling, and inter-player competition, Scarlet Wake asks "Are you cool enough to be even cooler?" In Scarlet Wake, your character truly is limited only by your imagination.

The game is intended to be played over several nights, as player's characters work towards killing those who have wronged them, and all who stand in their way. The game ends when all players have killed all those on their kill-list. Scarlet Wake was designed to work with between 3 and 6 players, but 4 players works the best. All players have their own characters, and all players are involved at all times.

The rulebook includes everything you will need to play. The rulebook will take you through creating your character, planning the challenges he/she will face, how to kill and do other stuff, how to improve your character, and how to make life harder for the other players, while keeping the game fun for all involved.

Things that I think are good about Scarlet Wake, which set it apart from other games (and are all good reasons why you should download it):
--Binds (which are totally awesome)
--Everything you need for an entire game is written on your character sheet.
--The advancement mechanics encourage variety of play.
--Deceptively strategic and tactical. Looks way simpler than it is.
--Intense competition with no hostility or hard feelings, 100% gauranteed!
--Rules covering all levels of playing, from organizing a game, to seeing who kicks who how hard.
--Highly structured GM-less play.
--Extremely adaptable rules, allowing a huge variety of interpretations to suit your needs. Creative Freedom!
--Almost 100% genre-free, meaning you can play Scarlet Wake with zombie cops, vampire kings, angelic avengers, assassins, mages, or housewives without having to change a single rule. MORE creative freedom!!!
--Everything.
--It looks pretty.

So in short, the current SW rulebook is now available for download and play-testing. You should grab it here. There is one character sheet provided at the back of the rulebook, but you can dowload an individual character sheet here.

You can also now visit the Scarlet Wake website and the forums.

Thanks,
-Ben

(I've also posted this in the Connections forum. I think it really needs to be in both, as a general notification here and an open call for play-testers in Connections, but if you disagree Ron, feel free to moderate (I know you will feel free anyway ;) ))

P.S. I accept links to reviews as bribes for free copies of the published rulebook :)

[Andrew Morris]

All right! I'm downloading it now!

One other point that I think makes Scarlet Wake stand out (other than its general awesome-ness) is that you don't need a GM. I know, that's not unique, but I still think it's cool, especially for a game like this -- everybody's got something to do, all the time.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey, that is one nice-looking PDF. Just the right length to digest for playtesting, great art, spiffy graphics without being a pain, all sorts of atmosphere.

I mean, I'll playtest anything that's readable (and have, including out-of-date word-processing crap documents), but it is pretty nice to have this to play with.

Best,
Ron

[John Harper]

Nice-looking PDF, indeed, Ben. It's so nice I only have nitpicks. Do you want feedback on the design and graphics, too, or just the game system?

[Andrew Martin]

I agree, it's a nice looking PDF, Ben! I'll be pushing my group to play test this weekend as much as I can.

[Ben O'Neal]

Heheh, awesome! John, all comments are greatly appreciated, so I'd love to hear any feedback you have about any parts of the game. Whilst feedback from now on won't make it into the free play-test, it certainly will make it into the finished game. Feel free to give me feedback in this post, at my forum, or by emailing me.

If you do actually play it, I'd like to know your name and the names of the other players in your group so I can add them to the credits. Emailing me your names is probably the best way so that I can't lose them.

Thanks!
-Ben

[Andrew Martin]

Spelling error on page 24. left column, second paragraph. The word "subsequenst" should be "subsequent".

Suggestion for better phrasing on page 24, left column, third paragraph from bottom, change: " "host" player " to "host".

Wrong double quote marks on page 7, right column, bottom half of page. The closing double quote marks look exactly like opening double quote marks. (Also on page 15, left column, text ending: "A Bind in a Box".)

Page 9, right column, starting with "*Hint: ", the marking seems to indicate that this paragraph is a foot note, yet it really is part of the text. I'd remove the asterisk ("*").

[Ben O'Neal]

Wow! Thanks Andrew!

I've fixed all those problems and uploaded the fixed pdf. I read through it twice to check for spelling problems before I originally posted it, but I guess my eyes aren't nearly as keen as yours. How the hell you managed to pick up that quote thing, and in multiple places too... simply amazing! I guess editors really are good for something after all :P

Again, thanks.
-Ben

[Paul Czege]

Hey Ben,

The titling and headers look great.¹ And the artwork too! But is the font for the rules text supposed to be Courier? If not, you have a font embedding issue with the pdf.

Paul

¹ Is that the S. John Ross font, Nicotine Stains?

[Ben O'Neal]

Hey Paul,

Thanks. Yeah, the text font is meant to be courier. My original font had loads of atmosphere and looked really awesome, but it was apparently too hard to read. I wanted a sort of grungy typewriter look, but for readability, I had to settle for courier as the closest thing. Thanks for bringing that up though, cos now I know that it is working properly for other people :)

Also, the headers and logo are using a free font called "Sabotage", by Adam Roe.

Now I have to hunt down a font called Nicotine Stains...

Is everyone understanding the rules clearly?

Thanks,
-Ben

[Andrew Martin]

Now I have to hunt down a font called Nicotine Stains...

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/fonts3.htm
:)

[Sydney Freedberg]

Very nice. Assorted thoughts:

1) You're very generous to include me in the acknowledgments. Thanks. I'm kinda surprised anything I said was all that useful, but I'm flattered.

2) Very first page: "Thanks to the Forge and all it's members" -- should be "its." (No apostrophe = adjective; apostrophe = verb).

3) The Bind example still includes the slightly creepy "tied up naked" bit. BUT as I said to you a while back, you could either (a) cut it and keep the tone "generic action" or (b) darken the tone overall and embrace the often-disturbing nature of many of your sources. From the awesome and upsetting Example of Play, I'd say you've chosen path (b). Go for it.

[Ben O'Neal]

Thanks for that link Andrew. It actually contained a few decent fonts that weren't in my 2500+ font collection!

Sydney,
1: Don't be so modest! If I remember correctly, you were the inspiration for the whole boss-sharing idea! I can't in good conscience let that go unacredited.

2: Doh! Oh well. I guess it'll have to stay (not worth a re-print and re-uploading for).

3: Yeah, I actually read over your pm a few times and I did try to think of a new example, but at that stage I was example-exhausted, and couldn't think up anything. But yeah, in the end I decided to really give it a darker theme, partially because it will have more impact on people and thus be more memorable, and also because I think it does a better job of exemplifying the theme of the game. After all, the name Scarlet Wake implies the blood left in your passing.

But I'm pretty sure most people will be able to read the rules, think "woah, that's a bit creepy", and then realise that they can completely avoid that level of darkness and stick with wire-fu action or whatever they please. I'm just reminding them that disturbing can be cool too.

That's my plan at least. Hopefully the creepy bits don't have a negative effect on perceptions of it. But then again, "can't please everyone." :)

Thanks,
-Ben

[Sydney Freedberg]

...you were the inspiration for the whole boss-sharing idea...

Heh. I'll take that. Though I simply picked up an idea you dropped in passing ("the PCs are a group who share the same list...") and held it back up to you and said, "do you realize what you could do with that?"

...in the end I decided to really give it a darker theme....they can completely avoid that level of darkness and stick with wire-fu action or whatever they please....

[Sydney nods; then smiles evilly]

Although anyone who plays Scarlet Wake as light-hearted action/adventure is kinda chickening out. Embrace the Dark Side! Let your anger flow through you!

Or, to go whole hog, you could remove most punctation, lace the text with obscenities, and retitle the thing Kill Peons For Satan....

And, to suddenly get serious with a gut-wrenching lurch as I realize something in-post, both Kill Puppies and Scarlet Wake have buried deep in them (as Ron Edwards has said of KPFS) a possibility of forgiveness in a very Christian sense -- in your case explicitly embodied in the Grudge vs. Honor and Dilemma mechanics.

And I can definitely see a character hewing her way through scores of peons, boss after boss up the ladder, until she finally faces the person behind all her misery... and realizes she can either unleash her wrath to kill both him and something essential in herself, or let him go, let her anger go, and save herself. {EDIT: Actually, just killing the guy is almost anti-climactic; the climax of a story should be when a character changes, not when she keeps on doing the same thing only more so.} "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who tresspass against us" -- what people often forget is that Part 1 of this prayer can only be granted if we perform Part 2.

[Mind boggles audibly]

Holy ...

So does this mean that Scarlet Wake is at least potentially a Christian RPG?

[Andrew Martin]

So does this mean that Scarlet Wake is at least potentially a Christian RPG?

Can you forgive others even if they've committed an enormous sin against you?

Seems a pretty big part of what the entire game is about. It gives you five chances of forgiving another who has sinned against you. I'm fairly sure that at least one AC is going to try the "asking for forgivess" line.