[Court of 9 Chambers] first playtest

[talysman]

in the second half of august, I took a trip to the east coast (Boston/Providence area) to visit with friends and basically unwind before starting another big project. while there, I managed to arrange a short playtest of The Court of 9 Chambers, using this two-page version of the rules I don't really consider the results as a full game, but it was important as a playtest, because it was obvious that some things worked and others didn't.

the setup: we had six players, gathered together for a general game night, none of which had played RPGs together before; most hadn't played in a while, and I'm sure at least one had never played an RPG. one of the players was a completely new person to our group: a friend of one of the other players; the rest of us had all met before a couple times. we did not open with Co9C; we started with Fluxx, to get us all in a gaming mood.

I set the playtest length as one hour, for several reasons: I didn't want to monopolize the evening as we had other games to play, I didn't want to risk boring non-roleplayers on their first time out, and I aim most of my game designs at one-to-two-hour sessions, anyways. explaining the game took up an unusual amount of that time. another factor: because of the way the play is structured, with one person setting up their scene, then the other players aiding, opposing or inserting color, the time to handle each player's turn goes up with the number of players. we only made it through two "rounds" (one turn each,) but with six players, there was a lot of activity.

there were also some minor issues caused by using character sheets from the original Iron Game Chef version of the rules with the revised playtest rules. Essence, for example, is not mentioned in the two-page version, because I decided to treat the monogram as just another Motif, which removes Essence as an actual rules term and just makes it part of the color.

there were three major problems and two minor problems, in my opinion:
major

• during the ruiles explanation/character design phase, one of the players felt frustrated because it wasn't clear what the players were supposed to do -- in other words, what's the motivation? in this quick playtest, I didn't even get into the whole transcending-the-spheres part, which probably would have helped, but I feel it wouldn't have helped much.
• because resolution is based on unopposed rolls of 9 dice to earn 10 successes and achieve a minor goal, it's very hard to actually achieve any goal at all. with all the opposed color going on, we were getting about 0 to 2 successes per turn; that's including the occasional assist to counteract an oppose.
• one of my design goals was for the game to begin with evocative but realistic imagery that evolves into increasingly surreal ego-driven events. however, the instructions on how to select Motifs and limits on how different kinds of Motifs can be used in play were loose enough that our game turned surreal immediately. I recall specifically a point where the player's goal was to walk to the cafe for lunch, and his way was blocked by some communist workers, but fortunately a fighter jet destroyed them (this is technically not allowed by the rules as written, but we were playing under by quick description of the rules, with no GM.)

minor

• we were rolling 9 dice at a time and then arranging the matches physically; this sometimes caused dice to get knocked or changed. it would probably be best to just call for the matches in numerical order, so that the dice don't need to be moved.
• even though it's minimal math, there were complaints. one fix would be to drop the two-word requirement for Motifs and limit it to concrete nouns or sensory adjectives, instead of requiring concrete nouns modified by sensory adjectives. I like this because it may also indirectly help with major point #3.

conclusion: I need to do a lot of work. there needs to be more concentration on character motivation and overall goals. Ron mentioned in the Ronnies thread something about little conflicts not supporting the big picture; I think that covers Co9C's issues pretty well. I can also probably fix a couple problems with resolution by lowering the goal to 5 instead of 10, adding a distinction between advantage rolls and conflict rolls (as in Darling Grove,) and figuring out a way to up the number of successes that can be earned on every roll. the players need more currency, I feel.

on the other hand, there was a lot of laughter when we played this short game, so I think I've partially hit my design goals. it's almost fun enough. but it really needs to move faster and easier.

[TonyLB]

So what was your favorite moment?

[talysman]

So what was your favorite moment?

hard to say; it was such a short session, so very little stood out. I think the aforementioned jet-plane-attack was the most amusing part, although not quite the feel I was going for. everyone laughed.

the least favorite moments would be an overreliance on "X stabs Y in the neck" by the non-roleplayer. he had "communist workers" and "shipwrecked buckaneers" as Motifs (not quite legal, but I didn't examine character sheets before play began.) these people kept appearing as Opposed Color in people's scenes and stabbing them in the neck. of course, this was because he wasn't really interested in that particular game, he was there for the Trivial Pursuit later in the evening... and since it was a kibological crowd, I should have expected "stab him in the neck" to appear at least once in the evening. no damage, of course, because of the way the rules work. still, it was overused.

[Emily Care]

Good to see this in playtest, John. What are you thinking about to fix the "motivation" issue?


best,
Emily

[talysman]

Good to see this in playtest, John. What are you thinking about to fix the "motivation" issue?

part of it is just giving players an idea what they're supposed to be doing in play. since I also need to make the game easier to explain, I think I'm going to need a formal "training phase" with a definite goal, such as "find a copy of the mystical book"; this will give the players a chance to get used to the resolution system. give them an initial goal, and allow natural rivalries to surface during play. I had a training minigame in one draft of Co9C, but I limited it too much; it would have lead to every game opening the same way (paint a picture, sell it, then chase each other.) I will have to craft this to feel more natural and open-ended.

anotheri dea is to require every player to take a rival, much as Ben does in Want. rivals would have some kind of special bonus any time they make life difficult for their target; maybe they would gain bonus dice on their next die roll any time they successfully oppose their target. I'm seeing some problems with this in games with odd numbers of players, so I will need to think about it more.

I'm thinking one reason to get players to want to transcend a chamber is it have a rule that paintings and other artwork can't be Allies unless you have transcended their Essence number. then, if the game defines specific goals like Power in the dreamworld, Fame, Wealth, or Love, artwork Allies could offer specific advantages to attaining those goals. players could pick a goal and have a reason to transcend a chamber and create superior art to achieve that goal.

[Mike Holmes]

What Em said. Glad to see this finally getting some play. Josh and I never did get to play it before he moved away, unfortunately. I'm still trying to find a group to play that (and a few other games that I have on my list). 

Mike

[Arturo G.]

Hi John!

I have been reading the two pages rules. The main idea looks nice, but the text is still difficult to follow for me.

Something important that I'm missing. There are some things that can/cannot be done in the dreamscape. But I don't find any rule about how and when to transcend between the two worlds. Could it be related with things going surreal easily?

Cheers,
Arturo

[talysman]

Something important that I'm missing. There are some things that can/cannot be done in the dreamscape. But I don't find any rule about how and when to transcend between the two worlds. Could it be related with things going surreal easily?

it's pretty much just a decision at the beginning of a scene. "I'm going to be in a trance for this scene". or, at least, that's how it worked in the original rules. I'm thinking of changing the name of the trance state to "reverie" and allowing artists to enter reverie at any time, even in the middle of a real-world scene, as long as there is artwork to focus on; the limits would then be:

- events in the ideal (surreal) world can't affect the real world except to create art
   (unless youve transcended all nine chambers?)
- normally, you can't affect a scene unless you or your proxy (Ally) is physically present,
   *except* that you can affect another artist's reverie with your own Motifs.

this is all going to require some thought, of course.