[Stories from the Shelter] Seeking Feedback, Reviews, and Playtesting

The time has come, the Walrus said...

To introduce to you the game I've been working on for some time now. Stories from the Shelter is a space opera RPG in which players portray runaway and homeless teens recruited off the streets into an interplanetary Police and Protection Corps. The manual is longish, and the game is intended more for campaign play than one-shots. I could really use some feedback on the game, whether it stem from as little as a casual glance to a full-blown campaign playtest. I have done some preliminary playtesting, so the game is not raw, but I need to know how well things work for fresh players. If anyone is interested in the game, here is the beta playtest PDF (http://home.nycap.rr.com/thehudspeths/StoriesBeta.pdf). My answers to the Costisick Power 19 are here (http://community.livejournal.com/shelterstories/3529.html). You may also glean some insight into the game from the design journal (http://community.livejournal.com/shelterstories/). I can be reached for comment either here, or via email (quentin.hudspeth@gmail.com).

For those who might want to playtest, these are some of the questions I'd like you to address:

Are the instructions clear?
Is CharGen too long, too short?
Are Check Caps too abstruse?
What did you like, not like?
What information would you deem necessary on the character record?
How is the length of the book?
Are there any sections you feel unnecessary?
Are there any sections you feel are missing?
How do you feel about the layout (This layout is preliminary), specifically the "chronological" arrangement of the chapters?
Any other questions your experience dictates I should be asking 8^>

For those of you with a bit of time on your hands, let me try to give a better description of the game, including its history. I warn you, it's a bit long-winded.

General Information

The game mechanics center on attributes and abilities, with the usual dice-mediated checks for success. However, I have attempted to provide a decentralization of the storytelling, allowing players other than the controlling Narrator to inject bits of plot into the story. Players have access to a pool of points (their Chutzpah Cache, from which they can spend to alter target numbers for their ability checks, or even take over momentary control of the narrative. Further, players may buy/create Aspirations for their characters which serve to inform the other players what is important to the character and indicate where that character's player would like the story to go. In addition, role-playing is rewarded through Habits and Tenets, personality related aspects of the character which define typical ways in which the character can be expected to behave. These also serve to indicate where the player would like the story to go. Finally, the mechanics include Plotlets, a method for dealing with players being privy to information their characters are not. Players may buy/create their own Plotlets to provide their own story seeds or simply to flesh out any secretive backgrounds. In addition, the Narrator may use Plotlets to lay out possible secrets of the story for the players to choose amongst.

The game setting can be used for a number of styles of play, from tactical special ops warfare, to investigative police work, to diplomatic peace missions. The addition of explicit rules for social conflict along side the typical physical conflict rules allows for freedom to move between the different styles of play within a single campaign.

Prologue (from the manual)History

When I was in high school, back in the mid eighties, my buddy Scott Milner shared with me his vision for his perfect TV show. He had been working on this World since he was 11 or 12, and I thought it was the most awesome thing I had heard of. Now, it's not quite