As I may’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been adding some prose (story) at the beginning of each chapter. Today I wrote one for the Encounters chapter, which features creatures and other things that go bump in the night. I can’t say I’m completely happy with how this little story came out, but it’s not too bad hopefully. ;-)
The tunnel opened into an immense burial chamber. The explorer shined her flashlight around the room. The beam cut through the dusty air, landing on columns encrusted with cobwebs and ancient writings. The light fell on a sarcophagus in the center of the room. She stepped closer. Remains from a cave-in covered the stone coffin, but the explorer had no doubts about what lay underneath. She had spent years searching and now, finally, she was inches from her goal. She brushed aside the webs and stood with eyes ablaze with discovery. The red eyes of a giant spider glimmered almost as bright as it slowly descended from above, its jaws awaiting another meal.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Playtesting Adventure
The epic adventure called playtesting continues . . .
Right now I’m working on draft 0.3, incorporating most of the changes found by playtesting so far. The biggest change, from a headache stand point, has been re-alphabetizing the abilities. I had the descriptions split up into groups (ie: General, Combat, Psionic, etc.), but one of the playtesters said this made looking up abilities difficult (unless you knew which group it was in). So, I spent a couple of days doing a lot of cutting and pasting in Word until they were in the correct order. While I was doing that, I corrected some inconsistencies in my naming conventions too. I think it’s a lot better now.
I’ve been trying to use Google Docs to get new drafts to the playtesters from a centralized spot, but my PDF is just too big apparently so I was getting server errors. I discovered today, however, something called Google Sites which is a website editor. From there I’m able to upload docs and have others download . That seems to be working, so I’ll try to use that from now on. It also has a place for adding comments and announcements, which may prove useful.
Right now I’m working on draft 0.3, incorporating most of the changes found by playtesting so far. The biggest change, from a headache stand point, has been re-alphabetizing the abilities. I had the descriptions split up into groups (ie: General, Combat, Psionic, etc.), but one of the playtesters said this made looking up abilities difficult (unless you knew which group it was in). So, I spent a couple of days doing a lot of cutting and pasting in Word until they were in the correct order. While I was doing that, I corrected some inconsistencies in my naming conventions too. I think it’s a lot better now.
I’ve been trying to use Google Docs to get new drafts to the playtesters from a centralized spot, but my PDF is just too big apparently so I was getting server errors. I discovered today, however, something called Google Sites which is a website editor. From there I’m able to upload docs and have others download . That seems to be working, so I’ll try to use that from now on. It also has a place for adding comments and announcements, which may prove useful.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Playtesting Begins . . .
Over the last week I’ve been talking with people interested in playtesting the Imperium Chronicles Role Playing Game. I posted an open call for playtesters on several Pen&Paper game forums and so far several people have shown an interest. I’m not sure what the best number of people would be, but I’m happy to get as many as I can.
The process begins by sending each person a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). I’m not a lawyer (and can’t afford one) so I did a web search for a generic NDA and then modified it slightly to suit game testing. I emailed the NDA to each participant and they emailed it back with an electronic signature and a statement that they accept the agreement.
After getting the NDA, I emailed them the draft PDF of the rules. It’s a big file so we’ve had some issue with people’s email provider rejecting such a big file (over 9 MB). I saw today, however, that Google Docs allows uploading a PDF up to 10 MBs, so I’m testing to see if I can distribute the rules that way. It would be better because it offers a central location and the ability to upload the newest version as it gets done. My only concern is privacy since I believe Google shows the email of everyone who is eligible to download the file. I’ll have to make sure each playtester is okay with that, or I’ll need to continue emailing PDFs to those individuals.
I continue to be apprehensive about playtesting since I don’t know how much will need to be modified. I’m just crossing my figures. ;-)
The process begins by sending each person a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). I’m not a lawyer (and can’t afford one) so I did a web search for a generic NDA and then modified it slightly to suit game testing. I emailed the NDA to each participant and they emailed it back with an electronic signature and a statement that they accept the agreement.
After getting the NDA, I emailed them the draft PDF of the rules. It’s a big file so we’ve had some issue with people’s email provider rejecting such a big file (over 9 MB). I saw today, however, that Google Docs allows uploading a PDF up to 10 MBs, so I’m testing to see if I can distribute the rules that way. It would be better because it offers a central location and the ability to upload the newest version as it gets done. My only concern is privacy since I believe Google shows the email of everyone who is eligible to download the file. I’ll have to make sure each playtester is okay with that, or I’ll need to continue emailing PDFs to those individuals.
I continue to be apprehensive about playtesting since I don’t know how much will need to be modified. I’m just crossing my figures. ;-)
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