Test Classroom Deathmatch

[Jake Richmond]

I'm looking for some players to test Classroom Deathmatch. Classroom Deathmatch is the sequel to Panty Explosion, the game Matt Schlotte and I published last year. You may remeber it because of it's remarkable name. We are hoping to recieve playtest feedback by the end of Feb. If you do not have the time to play I would still be interested in hearing your feedback. IIf you are interested in giving this a go you can download the playtest document at:

http://atarashigames.wordpress.com/2007/02/09/classroom-deathmatch-playtest-is-on/


Thanks,

Jake Richmond

[Leviathan]

I have never played the original Panty Explosion, so I am still working at wrapping my mind around the game concepts. It definately has potential to be entertaining from what I have read. I read over the document briefly (after reading the free, short version of PE to help make sure I knew the original premise) and I liked what I saw. I caught a few spelling/grammar errors (roll vs role, etc) but that is to be expected even on the most well edited works, let alone the playtest versions. :-D Anyway, I will give it a more thurough read-through when I have more time to sit down and review in detail. I don't know if I will be able to playtest, but I will give what input I can on any questions that arise for me as a person who is barely familiar with the original product. (After all, it says it can stand alone, so some of the people looking at obtaining this game would be in the same basic situation I am in.) As I said, I like the idea.

[Jake Richmond]

Thanks Leviathan. Any feedback you can give would be appreciated.

Spelling and grammer vex me. The most recent version of Panty Explosion (jan 2007, 3rd printing) is pretty clean, but earlier versions are rife with spelling errors. I console myself by fixing anything I catch when I go back to press for a new printing.

The idea with Classroom Deathmatch is that it's completely stand alone and does not require any prior knowelage of Panty Explosion to play. We'll see if that's true I guess.



Jake

[Leviathan]

Alright, having read through the work more fully, I thought the idea could be entertaining and many things were handled well. 25 dice to last a whole day could seem like too few at first glance, but I think I like the idea that players are going to have to pick their battles. The PCs are students after all, not battle tanks. A few questions came to mind though.

1) Is the Superintendant going to be left keeping track of conflicts that the players never see or is there some formula that can be used to determine how low the dice of NPC students not directly interacting with the players get due to whatever fights and conflicts they are getting into are. This also applies to lowering the number of students out there each day from fights the PCs never come into direct contact with.
2) What does a player do late in the game if they lose their PC but there are no other free students for them to pick from and the rest of the group is continuing on without trying to kill one another? Do they get assigned some NPC that is on the side of the Superintendant?

Those were the two big questions I had I suppose. Also, the hazard on the "Battlefield High School" was missing. Also, there is a header title for choosing traits, but nothing under it. Was that there for a reason and nothing was placed there yet, or was it meant to be taken out and didn't actually happen?

[Jake Richmond]

Thanks for the reply Leviathan. In the games we've played 25 ice seems like the right number. What this gives you is kind of a desperate situation where you really have to choose your battles. Some Students blow through their dice right away and have to get through the day with just a few air die left, while others hold onto their dice and play conservatively. That's how its worked for us anyway. I need to see if other people have the same experience. Because that  is how I want it to be for other people.

1) Is the Superintendant going to be left keeping track of conflicts that the players never see or is there some formula that can be used to determine how low the dice of NPC students not directly interacting with the players get due to whatever fights and conflicts they are getting into are. This also applies to lowering the number of students out there each day from fights the PCs never come into direct contact with.

I forgot about this. Nick and I worked out a rule for this, but I forgot to put it in. Thanks for pointing out out.All Students start the game full, and regain dice from the Superintendents Sorrow pool. They don't get dice back from Flashback scenes or at the morning announcement.But we have top assume they lose dice during the course of the game, even if they are just hiding in a bush somewhere. To see how many dice a Student has left roll all of the Students available dice. The Student gets to keep any dice that result in a success. That's the idea.

The Superintendent does need to keep track of the other Students in some fashion. It's up to the Superintendent To decide how many (if any) Students were killed "off screen" each day and announce their names at the morning announcement. The Superintendent will also need to award the kills to one of the other Students he controls. The idea is that the Superintendent can thin out the competition as needed while grooming an antagonist for the players to meet latter. In our first game it was the Tori the hall monitor he acquired a pair of cleated soccer shoes early in the game.

2) What does a player do late in the game if they lose their PC but there are no other free students for them to pick from and the rest of the group is continuing on without trying to kill one another? Do they get assigned some NPC that is on the side of the Superintendant?

That's it. You're dead. If there are no longer any characters viable to play then the player just doesn't get to return to the battlefield.They still have the responsibility of describing their Best Friends successes and their Rivals failures. They also can still introduce new scenes and conflicts.

Also, the hazard on the "Battlefield High School" was missing.

I couldn't think of a good one "Attack dogs' maybe?

Also, there is a header title for choosing traits, but nothing under it. Was that there for a reason and nothing was placed there yet, or was it meant to be taken out and didn't actually happen?

Something else I forgot. I'm glad you pointed this out. You choose a few Traits for your Student at the beginning of the game (or when you select him after your last Student dies). But you also can cash in your Kills for Traits at the morning announcements. Alternately, for each Kill you scored during the previous day you can decrease your max dice in one element to increase it in another. This is how killing other Students gives you an advantage. I'll have to revise the playtest document now. thanks for bringing this up!



Jake

[Leviathan]

I forgot about this. Nick and I worked out a rule for this, but I forgot to put it in. Thanks for pointing out out.All Students start the game full, and regain dice from the Superintendents Sorrow pool. They don't get dice back from Flashback scenes or at the morning announcement.But we have top assume they lose dice during the course of the game, even if they are just hiding in a bush somewhere. To see how many dice a Student has left roll all of the Students available dice. The Student gets to keep any dice that result in a success. That's the idea.

That brings up something else. It listed in the document that every student had a starting popularity listed, but I don't recall having seen any. I would think that to roll for the NPC students, it would be required. Was this an oversite or was it intended that the superintendent would just come up with those him or herself?

I couldn't think of a good one "Attack dogs' maybe?

I am not sure dogs are typical hazards of a school. As I understood it, the hazards would be something that fit the setting so that someone could get a hint at how to avoid them. In a school, the prime location for someone who wanted to survive for days with fresh water and edibles would be the Cafeteria, so maybe there was some really old stock in the back... "Expired canned goods" could be an option, making the student sick or whatever if they weren't watching carefully about what they ate.... Other things might involve the Radiator/Boiler system or other things of that nature. "Unregulated Boiler" springs to mind as a possible hazard.

[Travis Brown]

This is Jake. I'm using Travis Browns account (because I'm at his house).

That brings up something else. It listed in the document that every student had a starting popularity listed, but I don't recall having seen any. I would think that to roll for the NPC students, it would be required. Was this an oversite or was it intended that the superintendent would just come up with those him or herself?

It's supposed to be on there. I left it out because i wasn't thinking about it. For playtest purposes it shouldn't be to big a deal to have the Superintendent randomly assign Popularity.

am not sure dogs are typical hazards of a school. As I understood it, the hazards would be something that fit the setting so that someone could get a hint at how to avoid them. In a school, the prime location for someone who wanted to survive for days with fresh water and edibles would be the Cafeteria, so maybe there was some really old stock in the back... "Expired canned goods" could be an option, making the student sick or whatever if they weren't watching carefully about what they ate.... Other things might involve the Radiator/Boiler system or other things of that nature. "Unregulated Boiler" springs to mind as a possible hazard.

"Expired Canned Goods" and "Unregulated Boiler" are both good. I was thinking "Attack Dogs" because I like the idea that the JSDF might unleash attack dogs onto the battlefield to make it all the more nasty. But your suggestions are more fitting I think.


Jake

[Jake Richmond]

The Classroom Deathmatch playtest document has been updated with some new info. You can see a list of the updates and download the new files here: http://www.s8.createphpbb.com/atarashigamesfo/viewtopic.php?p=80&mforum=atarashigamesfo#80

Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback so far. It's been very valuable.



Jake

[Jake Richmond]

Hi. The Classroom Deathmacth playtest is now over. thanks for giving it a try andsharing your feedback. I'm working hard to take all that feedback and incorperate it into the text. If your interested, you can check out my countdown to release journal by clicking my blog link below.


Thnaks,

Jake

[xenopulse]

Proofreading is one of my regular tasks at my job, so if you need someone to proofread Classroom Deathmatch, or part of it, and don't have a short turnaround (since I'm crazy busy these days), let me know.

[Jake Richmond]

Yes, thanks. That would be great. We can talk about it on Saturday befor eth game maybe?


Jake