[Hell for Leather] UCD Playtest

[Sebastian K. Hickey]

b]University College Dublin) for a Hell for Leather playtest event, run by the GameSOC auditor Rory Heffernan.

Lesson Learned: If the rules are presented in full, with enthusiasm, people understand how to play (whether or not they are familiar with the indie game paradigm). In other words, if someone bright reads the text, they will understand the mood and intentions of the game.

Lesson LearnedLesson LearnedLesson 4 - Number of Players

Rory Heffernan raised an important issue concerning the number of players. Hell for Leather is designed for 2-4 players, the perfect one-shot, zero-prep RPG that a group can quickly set up and play together (in case one of their group drops out for the week).

Rory advised that this message should be clearly exposed to the players/sellers. In the name of transparency, until the copy gets an edit, I've posted that here.

Lesson Learned: Maybe some groups will want to try the game with their full compliment. Consider expanding the rules to accomodate five players.

Lesson 5 - Creativity

Some of the players got stuck. There was a juntion where shyness met creativity and the traditional roleplayers (probably skewed by my shadowy presence) were leaning to the former. That's because much of the game was written to support the showbaoters, the GM-full hippy gamers that make up the bread-and-butter of my playtesting normality. These showboaters love the spotlight, so putting them on the spot is just the chance they relish. Not so for normal folk.

Furthermore, and this was probably the most important nugget of this playtest, the Hell for Leather system was tailored to pair physical failure with creative punishment. In other words, when you messed up your roll, your story was impeded. Bad rules.

Lesson Learned: Failure ruins the game. It is oppressive, enduring and dull. Fix it.

Conclusion

Muchos kudos to Rory Heffernan and the UCD gaming community. This was by far my favourite playtest. Lots of useful stuff learned, lots of respect going both ways, and lots of laughs and creative swirls. If they could all go this well, my life would be aceUniversity College Dublin[/b]) for a Hell for Leather playtest event, run by the GameSOC auditor Rory Heffernan.

Lesson Learned: If the rules are presented in full, with enthusiasm, people understand how to play (whether or not they are familiar with the indie game paradigm). In other words, if someone bright reads the text, they will understand the mood and intentions of the game.

Lesson LearnedLesson LearnedLesson 4 - Number of Players

Rory Heffernan raised an important issue concerning the number of players. Hell for Leather is designed for 2-4 players, the perfect one-shot, zero-prep RPG that a group can quickly set up and play together (in case one of their group drops out for the week).

Rory advised that this message should be clearly exposed to the players/sellers. In the name of transparency, until the copy gets an edit, I've posted that here.

Lesson Learned: Maybe some groups will want to try the game with their full compliment. Consider expanding the rules to accomodate five players.

Lesson 5 - Creativity

Some of the players got stuck. There was a juntion where shyness met creativity and the traditional roleplayers (probably skewed by my shadowy presence) were leaning to the former. That's because much of the game was written to support the showbaoters, the GM-full hippy gamers that make up the bread-and-butter of my playtesting normality. These showboaters love the spotlight, so putting them on the spot is just the chance they relish. Not so for normal folk.

Furthermore, and this was probably the most important nugget of this playtest, the Hell for Leather system was tailored to pair physical failure with creative punishment. In other words, when you messed up your roll, your story was impeded. Bad rules.

Lesson Learned: Failure ruins the game. It is oppressive, enduring and dull. Fix it.

Conclusion

Muchos kudos to Rory Heffernan and the UCD gaming community. This was by far my favourite playtest. Lots of useful stuff learned, lots of respect going both ways, and lots of laughs and creative swirls. If they could all go this well, my life would be ace.

[Ar Kayon]

First off, I would like to congratulate you for coming up with such a clever and interesting design concept.  Most of the time, I read someone's concept and my eyes glaze over.

In response to your concerns about your playtest, perhaps you could have, say, 3 different target sizes to represent easy, moderate, and hard levels of difficulty.

[Sebastian K. Hickey]

Thanks for your support Christopher. I'll upload the modified Event Target in the next release.