I just received some fantastic and thorough feedback from Ken Filewood, dovetailing with feedback I’ve gotten from Ben Lehman and from Meg Baker, and I think I have what I need to go into redesign, at last. The redesign will be deep but focused; expect most of the game to remain intact, but the core of it to better align with its potential.

Once I start work on it in earnest, I’ll put up a T-minus, here and on my blog.

Thank you all for your tremendous help, enthusiasm and patience. I’m committed to a better game coming out the other side, so if I hack up your favorite part, forgive me! It’s only for the good of all.

1) Give monsters more hit points. I haven’t figured out exactly how
many more, but more. For 3 players, maybe 1 more (or maybe it’s fine
as is). For 4-5 players, maybe double the current number? For 6-7,
maybe triple it? Something like that.

2) When a monster attacks, you no longer declare which PC it’s
attacking. Instead, by default, a monster’s attack hits everyone
within its reach with a lower defense. When you create a monster you
can choose this option (per attack ability): this attack hits the one
person within its reach with the lowest defense.

3) Same with special abilities: its special abilities hit everyone
within reach with white+red less than its white+green. You can choose
the same option, if you want: this special move hits the one person
within its reach with the lowest attack.

4) When you create a monster, you no longer buy its x-number of
attacks per turn. Instead, every attack ability you give it gives it
its own attack roll, its own set of red dice. Same with special moves.

So 2-4 taken together, for instance:
The monster has attack: rend, attack: burn, strangle and mesmerize.
You roll white dice, red for rend, separate red for burn, green for
knock down, separate green for mesmerize.
- It rends everyone whose defense is less than its rend attack.
- It burns everyone whose defense is less than its burn attack.
- It knocks down everyone whose attack is less than its knock down.
- It mesmerizes everyone whose attack is less than its mesmerize.

Make sense?

5) Currently, a 1-XV monster gets 3 abilities. Instead, a 1-XV monster
gets a number of abilities equal to the number of PCs.

6) 2-3 make the current swarm ability obsolete. Here’s the new swarm ability:
The monster’s not one monster, but a whole swarm of smaller monsters.
Attacking it means attacking its members, not attacking it directly
(there’s no there, there). Consequently, the most damage any single
character’s single attack can do is 3.
Improved: for an additional XV, the most damage any single character’s
single attack can do is 2. For 2 more additional XV, 1.

Expect a revised manuscript late this month.

If you’re playtesting, I’d LOVE it if you’d use the card rules.

For the abilities that care about 6s, ignore what the manuscript says. Instead of 6s, diamonds give the additional hit.

Thanks! And welcome, anybody coming by from RPGnet.

Click on the image for the PDF.

It’s 94 pages long, so look out.

This post and the six that follow are for Q&A and discussion of the PDF. I welcome any and all! If your question or feedback fits into one of the six categories that follow, post it there; otherwise, post it here.

Thanks, everybody.