[Aggravated Beer Damage]

[Kyle Van Pelt]

The link to my newest project: http://insomaticfashion.wordpress.com/beer/

It's missing a few things, so it's incomplete as presented, but the core mechanics are there. I wrote it in a quick sort of fashion, and while I've had time to self-test the rules, I just wanted some feedback to see if it's comprehensible as written.

It's a very short thing, so it won't take long to review, I promise. Most of the information will also be condensed and placed on the character sheet when that is made, which will be in a couple of days.

It's also a test to see if the text is too harsh or not humorous. I tend to write in a dry tone, and sometimes when I try to write with humor it ends up getting lost in translation from my brain to the paper. This isn't a playtesting request, either, so don't feel compelled. It's not even genuinely testable without some of the missing information.

Please let me know what you think.

[Kyle Van Pelt]

Sorry to double post, but the pdf is now updated. Everything but the Monsters' Special Abilities and a couple of Tactics' Special Effects are there. Also, I forgot to put a proper subject in the post title. Apologies. Thanks for looking, and let me know what you think!

[thiagoess]

Hi Kyle, i think you got a nice idea, but i think something is missing, maybe some more purpose you know? Right now i don't feel the players will want to kill the monster. And, about "replayabitlity" (is that a word?) , you think it will still be fun to play the game a second, or tenth, time? I say that because it was something concerning me on a current project right now, and i feel that your game maybe will get that problem.
About the text, in my opinion you may want to lose some of the insults to the reader, its ok, but i think you're doing it a bit too much.

A suggestions, maybe they live in a small town and the monster is attacking the last beer supply on the city! so they need to get to the place to stay drunk, getting sober they will remember how lame they are. So they need to get close to the monster to stay drunk, but that will became more dangerous, make drunker players more powerfull, so they have that problem, if they go closer, the monster can kill then, but they can get drunker, and of course, there will be a run for the first and safer beers.
Well, just some idea.
I think you have a nice game idea, but there is still something missing,

Thanks for sharing!

Thiago Edwardo

[Josh Porter]

HA!  This looks super fun!

This seems like a great pick-up game.  I really want to know what the special abilities are, too.  I am slightly confused on a couple of points: a) getting weapons, banners, and tactics and their respective rolls, and b) how the monster fights work.  Do you just roll beer like everything else, but your damage is determined by your "gear"?  That part is slightly vague.

But your humorous tone vs. rules clarity tone is in a good place.  I totally understand the vibe of the game based on your voice. Right on, there.

[stefoid]

There are a party of these drunken magic users?  Do they fight together or seperately or what?

The person playing the monster is just there to roll dice?  no objective?

In the example, someone fails at something, then immediately tries again - fail and retry is generally a bad idea. 

The will2live = more beer is a bit weird for me. 

I think you would get a lot more yuks by instituting a PVP beer economy and also give the monster something to do.

Lets say there only a couple of bars in town where you can get beer - bingo - monster automatically has an objective - destroy the bars!  Once that happens, the only other way to get beer is to steal it from other players.  I can see each player arming themself with a 6-pack and staggering off into night.  Each beer they drink, tick one off.

And these guys are *real* magic users?  It would be way funnier if they only thought they were real superheroes - and the 'magic' is actually their own fevered imagination and  drunken chutzpah in combination with "get smart" style happenstance that allows them to achieve extraordinary results - sometimes.  you know like, "ha, Ill just go over there and rip out that telegraph pole and smash the cockatrice over the head with it"  On a success it happens just like that - in the characrters imagination!  The GM narrates the success as it really happens, something like "the cockatrice lunging at the idiot as he vainly hugs the telegraph pole, electrocuting itself into a stupor and knocking the pole out of the ground in the process"  Drunk dusts himself off and says "ha, take that!".  On a fail he just gets his arse kicked.

[Kyle Van Pelt]

Hi Kyle, i think you got a nice idea, but i think something is missing, maybe some more purpose you know? Right now i don't feel the players will want to kill the monster. And, about "replayabitlity" (is that a word?) , you think it will still be fun to play the game a second, or tenth, time? I say that because it was something concerning me on a current project right now, and i feel that your game maybe will get that problem.
About the text, in my opinion you may want to lose some of the insults to the reader, its ok, but i think you're doing it a bit too much.

Thiago, you've got some good points here. I definitely see the problem with replay value, and hadn't really addressed it yet because this game hasn't even been playtested yet. As far as the tone of the game, I'm struggling to get that balance of humor vs. insult, so I'll review it and see if I can get more snark without more insult.

I am slightly confused on a couple of points: a) getting weapons, banners, and tactics and their respective rolls, and b) how the monster fights work.  Do you just roll beer like everything else, but your damage is determined by your "gear"?  That part is slightly vague.

Hey Josh, here's some clarification.

a) To get an item, you make a Beer check to successfully navigate there. Then you make another Beer check. This modifies a third roll, which is just 1d6, by the margin of success or failure. The intent was to make it so the more Beer you had, the less likely you were to find something useful. I'm considering changing this, since it's a little too boring and convoluted for a game of this type.

b) Essentially, monster fights are just blows being traded at the moment. I was looking for something more elegant, but hadn't hit upon it yet, so this is more or less a placeholder mechanic that never got improved. You add the ratings of your Weapon, Banner, and Tactic, and that's the damage you inflict on the monster. You can also Use Magic to amplify the damage, which requires an inverted Beer check as usual. I'm not sure how to make this more fun yet.

There are a party of these drunken magic users?  Do they fight together or seperately or what?

The person playing the monster is just there to roll dice?  no objective?

In the example, someone fails at something, then immediately tries again - fail and retry is generally a bad idea. 

The will2live = more beer is a bit weird for me. 

I think you would get a lot more yuks by instituting a PVP beer economy and also give the monster something to do.

Lets say there only a couple of bars in town where you can get beer - bingo - monster automatically has an objective - destroy the bars!  Once that happens, the only other way to get beer is to steal it from other players.  I can see each player arming themself with a 6-pack and staggering off into night.  Each beer they drink, tick one off.

And these guys are *real* magic users?  It would be way funnier if they only thought they were real superheroes - and the 'magic' is actually their own fevered imagination and  drunken chutzpah in combination with "get smart" style happenstance that allows them to achieve extraordinary results - sometimes.

Awesome idea with the fake magic. That would make a little more sense then having them be real magicians. Also, giving the monster an objective is a good call. I wasn't sure how to do that since I didn't want a GM or anything like that, so I just have someone track the monster's life at the moment. However, it would give the game more "purpose" like Thiago was saying earlier.

A PVP Beer economy, multiple bars, and objectives for the monster. Those all sound like good ideas that would work well hand-in-hand. The fail-retry thing is also a good point. Clearly I need to revise how the game is played.

Thanks for all the input, guys. I've got a lot to mull over before I institute more changes, but I think with this feedback in mind, I'll be able to make something a little more intelligent and - hopefully - interesting.

Here's what I'm looking at for improvements, then:

1. Objectives for the monster. These may vary with the particular monster. The monster will be controlled either by a player (or players) or by a dice-rolling method such as an "AI Table" or such-a-like, as I'd still like this to be a "GM-less" sort of game.
2. Simplified and refined item finding. I'll think about how to handle this, but any ideas are welcome.
3. A more engaging monster fight mechanic.
4. Make the "Magic" more delusional than actual. I think that's a great concept.
5. Change the tone of the game to be less insulting to the players.

I may also consider a map or something like a game board, or just a more defined Town. That way you can get certain items by checking specific buildings, and there would be logistical decisions based on how far you are from a bar or weapon or the monster.

Anything else that you feel needs refining, let me know. Thanks again for the feedback, gentlemen. I'll try to get some revisions up within the week.

[tzirtzi]

Just thought I'd post to say that I've read through the rules booklet, so thanks for the enjoyable read! Most of what I'd say has, I think, already been said. It looks like a fun game.

It doesn't really look that replayable at the moment, because most games would be so similar, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - nothing wrong with games that aren't really supposed to be played more than once. Adding a map or board is a cool idea, and would make the game more clearly structured - it's possible that it would also add to replayability value as there'd be some variable tactics in how you moved around it, rather than it being equally easy/hard to travel from anywhere to anywhere.

Most of the other changes you're proposing to make sound good to me, with the exception of reducing the insults aimed at the reader. I did find the text a little schizophrenic, because it swung between talking about the characters as drunks and talking about the players/readers as drunks, and it wouldn't hurt to make the style a little more consistent, but I found the insults funny!

[sliberty]

While the people above have some valid criticisms, my biggest beef with the game is that player choices seem to have little effect on the game. You MUST get three items and then attack the monster. Which items you get are totally random. Success and failure are random. Nothing you do beyond choosing to use magic or not (and why would you not?) has any effect on how well your attack works. You just roll dice until a monster is dead or the town is destroyed. There aren't specific places in the town to go, there's no benefit for working together, there's no way to determine what the monster's weakness actually is, or exploit it.

It's silliness is appealing, but other than that, there's just not much here.

I'd suggest giving the player a resource that they can spend or not to affect die rolls as a bare minimum, or perhaps a dice pool instead. That way the players feel like they have some control over what is actually happening.