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The Playtest |  |
I’ve already posted about the playtest that I did for Gamecraft 2.0. However, that post was almost entirely story-related stuff, and I’d like to post about what I actually got out of the playtest. So, here it is, in no particular order.
- Most importantly, I guess, I found out what did and didn’t work. I sat down and revised the whole system the day after the playtest, and I think my revisions have made it a better game all around. Finding out what wasn’t working gave me the opportunity to streamline certain things and drop other things out completely, and also gave me the opportunity to add new things that complement elements that were already present. I really can’t overstate how valuable this aspect of the playtest was.
- It gave me a great idea. My original plan was, when the system is done, to release it for free download on this site, then to bundle the system with a setting and release the whole package on Lulu. I still plan on doing that, but with an addendum: I’m going to package it with more than one setting. I still plan on packaging it with Wild Blue, but this playtest session has given me an idea for an entirely new setting to include. Further, I plan on including guidelines for on-the-fly, collaborative setting creation as well, which I think is one of the major strengths of this system.
- The playtest allowed me to see that I was on the right track. I wanted a system that was easy to use, gave a lot of power to the players, allowed for collaborative setting creation and storytelling, and allowed for a lot of easy ad-libbing on the GM’s part. I seem to have accomplished that, even if the system did need some revision. I tested this by basically planning the first scene in the vaguest sense, and then letting everything else flow from there. So, going in, I knew that it would take place on a subway train late at night, and I knew that the train would be attacked by creepy bad guys, and that there would be a few bystanders. Everything else grew organically out of what the players did and how I responded to it.
- One of the players, Chris, told me something that I hadn’t thought of. The system is great for new players, because the rules are easy to learn and unobtrusive, and allow for a great deal of flexibility as far as what you can and can’t do. There aren’t a lot of stats to keep track of, and virtually everything is represented by allocating and spending tokens on your character sheet, so there’s an easy-to-see, visual representation of your character’s status and abilities right in front of you at all times. On the flip side, the system, to some extent, requires a GM who has a bit of experience with GMing. It requires a GM who’s comfortable with giving the players a lot of power, and who is comfortable with coming up with a lot of stuff on the fly (the system doesn’t really encourage or reward a lot of careful planning on the GM’s part). In short, it’s a good game for experienced GMs to use to introduce new players to role-playing. It’s also a good system to use for pick-up games, since you don’t need to plan a whole lot and character creation can be taken care of in about fifteen minutes.
All in all, I’m very pleased with how the playtest went, and what it told me and allowed me to do. I can’t wait to do another one, with my updated version of Gamecraft 2.0 (actually, I’d probably consider it to be Gamecraft 1.6 at this point, since the pre-playtest incarnation was probably about 1.5; it’ll be 2.0 when it’s actually done).
