Foresworn Confessions — Week Ten

Ten weeks already? Time sure does fly. And oh, what a stressful time it’s been, both at home and at work. My apologies if I’ve been neglecting anyone online. I haven’t been to the Forge in weeks. However, the nature of the stress has changed, I have actually been able to make some notes this week!

Forgive me, Foresworn, for I suffer fools too readily. It’s been one week since my last confession.

One of the positive side effects of all this stress came about during a somewhat heated interchange. I was talking forcefully, but controlled. The person I was confronting rolled their eyes and my anger instantly went white-hot and I found myself yelling at the top of my considerable voice. Everyone got quiet, and I could have very easily seized that anger and continued raving. But I didn’t. But it was there, in an instant. And it was powerful.

Here’s how I intend to capture that little incident to make my game better. One die of your pool will be a different color. If it rolls its maximum result, something has ignited your rage. You can roll a big, bonus rage die (kinda like The Roach), but you must describe how you’re lashing out in anger. You can keep your Rage die in the next round if you describe how you’re continuing to lash out. Every time you use your Rage, the lashing out must be more extreme than the last time. Plus, there’s a price to pay for using your Rage. After the conflict, there’s a roll to see how well you further the goals of your Oaths. The number of rounds you used Rage is a penalty to this roll–it makes you more likely to hinder and damage that which you love and value.

The search for a new name continues. Just now Kat suggested “By The Stars,” which is the front runner at the moment. It suggests the Oaths that the characters have sworn. It’s somewhat evocative of Space Opera. It’s got a bit of zing, but it doesn’t reach up, grab me by the throat and say “This is the only name your game could possibly have!” the way “With Great Power…” did when Chris Weeks suggested it.

But, that suggestion came after a playtest of the game. So that’s really what I have to do. I looked at my original schedule, which was based on a two-phase game. Having downgraded that priority when I switched back to space opera, I can hold to my original schedule if I start playtesting in earnest by November 15. Thus, my goals for the coming week:

• Consolidate my thoughts-to-date on the game. There should be at least a working outline by next week.
• Stat out two characters.
• Self-test the mechanics with those characters.

I’ve got a busy week coming up. But that’s par for the course, really. I don’t recall the last time I worked a regular week, so I might as well get used to it. I’ll be back in seven stress-filled days!