TrippyHippy
Emperor Mongoose
"Sorry, I don't get it!"
That's pretty much the typical response I am recieving from a lot of first time gamers (and non-gamers) in response to the playtest rules so far.
The recent addition of the starship design rules are particularly unaccessable I feel. Firstly comes the loose, seemingly interchangable definitions - volumes, mass and d-mass - then comes a set of overlong tables of which players have to make a bunch of obscure calculations, and arbitrary decisions. Everything seems to be based upon cost, which is fine unless you recieve a ship as a benefit (what do you base it on then?). Moreover it just isn't much fun, having to and flick forward and back and decipher text in this way.
The starship rules aren't the only issue though. There are issues of communication throughout the book, and with only just over a month left before release this is concerning, I feel. The character generation checklist is too long and fernickity, to the extent that it actually confuses the system rather than helping it. Wouldn't it be better to have something like five core steps written in paragraphs, in plain English, rather than 14 points with letter inserts, that may or may not be in the right order?
I sent in a playtest report just before xmas, but it was quite a short one. I'm writing now just because I have a bit more time. However, my initial statement is pretty much the same here too. The actual systems all seem to work well in practice - but the explanations, definitions and communication all need a heck of a lot of work still. Is there going to be time?
That's pretty much the typical response I am recieving from a lot of first time gamers (and non-gamers) in response to the playtest rules so far.
The recent addition of the starship design rules are particularly unaccessable I feel. Firstly comes the loose, seemingly interchangable definitions - volumes, mass and d-mass - then comes a set of overlong tables of which players have to make a bunch of obscure calculations, and arbitrary decisions. Everything seems to be based upon cost, which is fine unless you recieve a ship as a benefit (what do you base it on then?). Moreover it just isn't much fun, having to and flick forward and back and decipher text in this way.
The starship rules aren't the only issue though. There are issues of communication throughout the book, and with only just over a month left before release this is concerning, I feel. The character generation checklist is too long and fernickity, to the extent that it actually confuses the system rather than helping it. Wouldn't it be better to have something like five core steps written in paragraphs, in plain English, rather than 14 points with letter inserts, that may or may not be in the right order?
I sent in a playtest report just before xmas, but it was quite a short one. I'm writing now just because I have a bit more time. However, my initial statement is pretty much the same here too. The actual systems all seem to work well in practice - but the explanations, definitions and communication all need a heck of a lot of work still. Is there going to be time?
