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Servants of Gaius Playtest

Started by Bedrockbrendan, September 09, 2011, 11:14:41 AM

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Bedrockbrendan

September 09, 2011, 11:14:41 AM
This Sunday I will be conducting the first real playtest of our Alt. Rome game: Servants of Gaius.

Going to test some very specific things rather than run an adventure, since I want to check numbers and mechanics. So will have everyone make a few characters to see if the options and format are right. Will put a bunch of characters through arena combat to check the weapons, monster and stock NPCs. Going to run "situations" where the players will have opporunities to test drive new skills. Also hoping to test the mechanics for ship combat, politics, mass combat and gambling on the chariot races and arena.

Bedrockbrendan

#1
September 12, 2011, 08:56:19 AM
Held playtest on Sunday. Would say it was a very successful session. We didn't find any major holes yet. However we did realize our reach mechanics weren't robust enough and came up with a simple solution that makes reach workable without being a pain in the ass. Primarily the playtest exposed places where I need to insert some clarity into things like skills.

Sigmund

#2
September 13, 2011, 09:35:25 AM
I'm really enjoying reading your docs so far. I love the premise of Caligula not being so crazy after all. I also like that the true villian is not so clear, gives the GM some latitude. Of course, Roman espionage is completely rockin :) I am going to work on putting together a loose adventure and then recruit a couple players for irc, I'll let ya know when and how it goes.
- Chris Sigmund

Old Loser

"I\'d rather be a killer than a victim."

Quote from: John Morrow;418271I role-play for the ride, not the destination.

Bedrockbrendan

#3
September 13, 2011, 09:59:17 AM Last Edit: September 13, 2011, 10:14:00 AM by BedrockBrendan
Quote from: Sigmund;478309I'm really enjoying reading your docs so far. I love the premise of Caligula not being so crazy after all. I also like that the true villian is not so clear, gives the GM some latitude. Of course, Roman espionage is completely rockin :) I am going to work on putting together a loose adventure and then recruit a couple players for irc, I'll let ya know when and how it goes.

Cool (and thanks). I've really beefed up the manuscript so I can send a new one to you. Added a bunch of stats for monsters, foes, etc. Began work on the gazetteer. Tweaked some of the character creation mechanics and finally added Reach to the system.

The playtest mostly helped focus what kind of information we need to add for the GM, but it also lead to a major change to one of the key monsters in the setting.

Combat seems fine. If you run a game something to keep in mind is we have two options for damage. The standard option is a closed Dice pool roll (count only one success and add any 10s). However if you want more lethality you can just make it an open roll (count all successes)
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