Tonight, I will play my first game of Bacchanal, so I just reread the rules. They leave me wondering: if someone puts a soldier in my glass during the initial set-up, I seem to have a very real chance of rolling the soldier as the highest die. This would immediately end the game for me, giving me a total of only three narration turns.

That seems an unfortunate possibility. Am I reading the rules wrong, or is there some reason to allow this the-game-is-over-before-you've-really-begun possibility?

Hey Victor,

Yep, if you roll the Soldier high on your first turn you're eliminated after your second narration. I definitely debated whether to preclude this. And I did lower the odds by prohibiting a player from being allocated more than one Soldier in his starting glass. But playtest feedback on early eliminations actually left me thinking I didn't have a good reason to wholly prohibit Soldiers from set-up. Because enjoyment of the game experience actually wasn't diminished by the early elimination. Players almost universally seemed to enjoy the audience role when it was thrust upon them. And if anything, an early elimination actually seemed to make a player hot to play again.

Paul

Ok, I see. We played using an optional rule that the player can always choose whether a soldier/companion high ends his/her game; if it does, follow the normal rules; if it doesn't, just narrate a scene where the soldier/companion plays an important role. This worked well, and we managed to have our stories end almost simultaniously.

The game was very decadent; it was also great fun. It is intriguing to see how a bunch of pages and the word 'roleplaying game' can create a social situation that would be nigh unachievable otherwise.

I'm of a half a mind to write an RPG.net playtest review based on my experiences. Either that, or an AP report here on The Forge - which would you prefer, Paul?

Hey Victor,

I'm of a half a mind to write an RPG.net playtest review based on my experiences. Either that, or an AP report here on The Forge - which would you prefer, Paul?

I think the RPG.net review.

And your Soldier/Companion house rule doesn't bother me in the least.

Very much looking forward to hearing the details.

Paul

I have just submitted a review to Rpg.net. If they accept it, it will probably appear on their website somewhere next week.

There is a lot more I feel I could say about the game, and about what happened during our game, but that will have to be put into another format. Maybe I'll write an essay in the good old tradition of philosophers developing their ideas while commenting on a work of art they admire. :)

Can't wait to see it. Thank you.

Paul