S/Lay w/Me notes and errata

[Ron Edwards]

Hi guys,

Final layout didn't allow much time - or any, actually - so here's what crept into the first printing. I'll fix'em all for the next printing and going forward.

1. Adam Black's website is Monsters and Nekkid Ladies, not Esoteric Murmurs, which is Ed Heil's blog.

2. The inspirations should include C. L. Moore, for Northwest Smith, especially the story "Shambleau." Also, one of these days I will discover the actual historical title of the Robert E. Howard story variously called "Jewels of Gwahlur" or "Teeth of Gwahlur," with or without a "The."

3. Important: at the end of the Match, compare the total values. If "You" have a total greater than "I" do, then you gain the Goal without having to spend any Good Dice for it. (This is alluded to in the text by "winning the Match," but I know that the final draft included explicit instructions for it. I don't know whether a sentence was lost in layout, or if I didn't keep a tight enough grip on version control, or what.)

And advanced stuff

These are things which I didn't include in the text on purpose, in the interest of busting out a powerful, basic rules-set without getting wrapped up in later applications. I also decided that trusting the player-base to arrive at their own solutions was better than dictating my own projections. Anyway, my current thoughts are ...

1. A location can be re-visited in play, but not by the same player who was "You" there before. Furthermore, if the location is inhabited by a character who'd decided to stay there in a previous adventure, "I" play that character for the current adventure, no matter who played him or her originally.

2. Active adventurers, i.e. not yet (if ever) settled down, may encounter one another. However, only "You" are the formal adventurer for a given adventure, so the other's presence cannot be a feature of Lover, Monster, or Goal. So Goes which feature interaction between adventurers won't generate dice. In fact, I'd probably state it that way: A Go featuring such interaction cannot gain dice, therefore obviating Lover/Monster/Goal content.

3. Lovers who were left behind in whatever fashion may re-appear as characters in later adventures, not necessarily as formal Lovers.

All thoughts and commentary are welcome!

Best, Ron

[Ron Edwards]

Ha! #3 is A-OK. I found the relevant text on page 14. So no version hassles, all is good.

The human mind and eyes connection sure needs an overhaul, though - I tore the text apart there at the GenCon booth when a friend (who'd played it the previous evening) wanted to know how the Match was won. Couldn't find it then, although it must have been in front of my face, and it's not like there's a lot of pages to get lost in.

Best, Ron

[greyorm]

Maybe it's an Edwards text thing: I found myself doing that all the time when we were playing Sorcerer recently: "Where are the @#$%!$!! demon abilities? They literally have to be in here! WHY THE HELL CAN'T I FIND THEM?!?! AHHHHGGGG!!!" So, does anyone have this issue with Spione, etc.?

[Lance D. Allen]

I actually had a similar issue with trying to find the initiative rules in play. When I went back and re-read it afterward, it was easy enough to find.

[Ron Edwards]

I'm confident that both Trollbabe and Spione are written and organized in a 100% usable way. Every rule is presented, explained, and organized to make sense relative to everything else. Once you read it, then you know where it is.

With S/Lay w/Me, I think it's more a matter of pure flow - the rules are written so procedurally that unless you get back into that flow, fully, then the "thing" might not jump out at once. But I also think the learning curve is very very easy, so once past any initial where-is-its, everyone playing absolutely knows the game.

Best, Ron

[Ron Edwards]

Wait a minute ... the demon abilities, Raven? Are you kidding me? Like, the big list in bold over several pages in the chapter called "Demons?"

Quick: hold the book in your hands, and riffle the pages, looking at the top left corner. The text "Demon abilities" will appear soon, in slightly faded text, and then they will become bold. Strangely, those pages with that emphasized heading will yield ... descriptions of the demon abilities!

The Sorcerer text gets a lot of heat for various organizational features/bugs. I'm not going to take any rap for that one, though.

Best, Ron

[greyorm]

Yes, the big pages-long list of demon abilities that I can easily find any other time. I'm serious: it took me two minutes to find them during play. I'm yelling, "They HAVE TO be here!? What the..? Gods...look, here's the chapter on demons, where are the stupid abilities?! How am I missing them?" Flipping pages furiously back and forth, thinking my players must believe I'm having a mental breakdown and wondering if I am because...you know, I CAN'T FIND the multiple pages-long list of demon abilities...

I'm telling you that book is possessed.

[noahtrammell]

  Do you have a specific date when we can order the game from the Adept Press website?  I'm itching to play it.

[noahtrammell]

  Whoops, never mind.  I just glanced through "Buying My Games."

[Ron Edwards]

I tried to use the "make similar button" option and ended up retaining too much Trollbabe information. So I just made a whole new (correct) button for S/Lay w/Me. I think that's done it!

Best, Ron

[Ben Lehman]

I have a sentence I cannot parse for the life of me. It's on page 14, under the "Your Go ends:" header.

"Nothing forces you to mention your Goal during the Goes prior to the Match, although you will not generate many dice that way."

The only way that this parses for me is if I read "prior to" as "during." Prior to the Match, we don't accumulate dice at all, right?

yrs--
--Ben

[Ron Edwards]

Right. I was trying to say "during the Goes prior to ending the Match." I suppose it could be "during the Goes of the Match." Still, I want to get in the implication that following the end of the Match, the Goal will be involved. I'll figure something out.

Best, Ron

[Ben Lehman]

I think that "Goes prior to the ending of the Match" is clear.

Glad to know I wasn't missing anything.

yrs--
--Ben