Roach Convention Demo - Feedback Requested

[Eric Provost]

Jason,

I was going to leave the demo-feedback to guys like Tony who have real demo experience, but since you asked, here I am.

For the most part, it looks pretty solid.  I can imagine that the demo should flow pretty smothly.  I have but two bones to pick.

Have dice ready - a bunch, from d4 to d12.

If I didn't already know the Roach and what I'd need, and I was gonna be your demo guy, I'd be staring at that word "bunch" and trying to figure out just exactly how many dice a "bunch" is.  Not enough dice on the table will mean that we'll be sharing during a roll, which makes showing who won a bitch.  Too many dice on the table not only shows that I do not know the system I'm demonstrating, but also gets in the way of play (those tables aren't very big).  I'd suggest replacing with this text;

Have dice at hand.  You'll need about a half dozen each of d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12.

also...

While you are giving the overview, hand everyone a character sheet at random.  Tell them to flip it over and pick between those two.  No dithering!  Tell them to look at their two NPCs (both sides) and pick one from each card.  No dithering!

In my limited experience, you cannot stop dithering with the commandment of "No dithering!".  You need to remove the possibility of dithering.  Have the demonstrater ask the players "Would you like to play the psychotic head of the math department or the botanist with a bone to pick with the football team?  That's a question that I imagine most demo-ees will be able to answer without a second thought.  Thus, zero dithering and the players get a tangable choice about who they're gonna play for the next ten minutes.  Also gives them just a little bit of a hook for getting started.

Otherwise, it looks pretty darned good to me.

-Eric

[Jason Morningstar]

I tried out my demo last night and it was informative.  I did everything I was supposed to do and it took ten minutes, two seconds.  But that was with two guys who had played The Roach before and knew what was going on.  So more refinement is needed!  The NPC cards work great.  The feedback I got was to cut way down on choice. 

[Lisa Provost]

OK, a direct question - should the character sheets (with contact information) be pre-printed paper rather than laminated, so that people can carry them off? 

Yes.  You want people to have this sheet in hand and with your contact info on it.  Especially if later on, they are talking to other friends of theirs, they can whip out that sheet and reference it and explain the game to their friend (i.e. prospection buyer).  At least that's what I do. 

Lisa P

PS.  Besides that, the demo looks good.

[Eric Provost]

Ten minutes with the BP guys?  That doesn't sound too bad at all.  Hell, sounds like you're pretty darned close to the mark.

-Eric

[Jason Morningstar]

I've got the demo all wrapped up and ready to go to Origins in Clinton's bag.  Thanks, everybody, for the comments and feedback - I'm sure it isn't perfect, but it is better than it would have been had you not weighed in. 

[oliof]

The demo worked well at Spiel Essen. I only ever ended up explaining about reputation and bidding during the game anyway, so as an untested alternative I'd give every professor 3 points of reputation and have them bid 1 reputation each. This simply means they see what the gig is all about. Best to do this is with some tokens or poker chips.

I could run the demo within 15 minutes easily, which only expanded to 20 if people started asking questions and me giving them strategic advice on how to run a good game.