[Brag, Boast and Screw] Playtest draft ready for critique

[Doug Ruff]

In the recent Forge Birthday calebrations, I made a couple of promises.

One of these was to design and release at least two free PDF games before the next Forge Birthday. The other was to develop the boasting mechanics I posted in this thread into a game.

So, as part payment against these promises, I present you with the first playtest draft of my new game: Brag, Boast and Screw

It's a one-shot game about heroes who compete for bragging rights by taking on increasingly difficult challenges. It uses playing cards for resolution, and you can stab each other in the back a lot.

The twist? The characters don't have any of the Skills they're boasting about, until after they successfully use them in play.

It's a complete game, if somewhat sparse in layout. However, I'd really appreciate any suggestions any of you have for making it a better complete game. Especially:

(1) Are the rules (especially regarding narration and Niche Protection) clear, or are there ambiguities?
(2) The game is intended to balance, so that one player doesn't dominate if they get a lucky hand early on. can you see any way in which the game can be easily 'broken'?

Thanks,

Doug

[MatrixGamer]

Fascinating. Looks like a fun game to play with a group of actors. I have an "Adventurers Club" in my house (with elephant head and African masks) where such a game would be a gas. I'll print off you game and see if I can get any takers.

Chris Engle
Hamster Press

[Tobias]

Looks fun. The only thing that worries me is 'getting off the ground' - will continuos Screwing in the beginning prevent the ball from rolling?

(Testing will tell... :) )

[Doug Ruff]

Looks fun. The only thing that worries me is 'getting off the ground' - will continuos Screwing in the beginning prevent the ball from rolling?

According to the playtest comments in this thread at RPG.net, this looks like it's a problem.

I'm going to do a revamp, but haven't got round to it yet. I expect to make the following changes:

(1) Players start with 5 cards instead of 3
(2) You can add as many extra cards from your hand as you like: it's not limited to the number of players who didn't Screw you
(3) No point scoring: just take the best 3 cards from each side, best hand wins. This means that a player never has to use more than 3 cards to attempt the challenge.

You may want to include these as 'house rules' if you try the game.