It was so good to be back at the bumblebee of game conventions that is METATOPIA. The laws of aerodynamcis say it shouldn’t fly, but it soars! Many thanks to all the Double Exposure team, the generous playtesters, and the brave, insightful designers that brought their amazing creations and provoked so many fascinating conversations.
Friday morning I playtested A Christmas Belonging, a straightforward one-shot RPG about making a cheesy Christmas movie. It’s in the Belonging-Outside-Belonging tradtion of design, gave interesting moves, and had gorgeous art. Just the brief playtest was actually fun and I’m sure a full session will be a hoot. This one is nearly done and I look forward to it.
After listening to some great panels on how to be a good playtester and an exciting initiative to train new GMs, I playtested Bill White’s homage to XCOM, called Alien War. The game is in an early stage, but has a lot of promise. As with so many of Bill’s designs, it quickly wormed its way into my game-design brain and I found myself offering Bill new ideas throughout the weekend.
Friday afternoon and evening, I presented two playtests for my game-in-development, Topia Outpost Prime. It’s my PbtA love letter to’90s space station TV shows. I have heaps of notes to pour over from those sessions, with a lot of enthusiasm for the setting and a lot of insight about where the mechanics need some fine-tuning. I really appreciate all the feedback that my players so generously shared. Very much looking forward to digging into the detailed comments to improve the game.
Saturday morning, I playtested Jason Pitre’s homage to Stellaris, Broken Orbits. It was an alpha-test that was overflowing with interesting stuff and I look forward to seeing Jason develop it.
Next I playtested O Fortuna!, a game pitched at the table as “D&D, plus 500 years.” It’s driving idea is a magical industrial revolution and the implications of that. The game currently has a lot of baggage in the way of actually exploring that goal, but once that’s cleared away, there’s a lot of potential there.
Saturday afternoon, I tried out a historical RPG, Save the Second Temple, about the destruction of the second Jewish Temple by the Romans in 69 CE. It was an interesting and educational look at a particular point of Jewish history and its tradition. It’s currently much stronger as an educational tool than as a game, but there’s a lot of really great stuff in there. This was probably my favorite feedback session to be a part of, as I think those of us at the table were able to offer the designer a lot of great options for improving what he has.
Saturday afternoon, I got to play a board game in development, called Proxy War. Even though I finished last, I could see an emerging strategy and definitely enjoyed the session.
Saturday evening was my third playtest of Topia Outpost Prime, which veered hard in the direction of Bablyon 5. I was tired and made some mistakes at the table, but got some great feedback.
Late Saturday night, I playtested Meredith Baker’s homage to mecha anime, Strike Wing. It’s a very fighty, elegant, interesting game engine that stretches Otherkind dice in fascinating ways. I’m really excited to see this one when it’s done, as there’s a lot of fun decisions to make at every moment of gameplay.
Sunday morning, I woke up with the kernel of a completely different RPG in my head (as often happens at METATOPIA) and typed up notes. Later, Kat and I gave a panel on how we organize Indie Games eXplosions and got to chat with some other organizers about the joys and frustratations of herding gamers.
Finally on Sunday I got to playtest Defy the Gods!, Chris Sellers’ sword-and-sorcery PbtA game. As far as actual play experience, it was hands-down the best experience of the con. Not only is Chris a great GM, and not only did we have a great table of creative players, but the rules of the game really evoke the grandiosity of the sword-and-sorcery genre. Another one I’m looking forward to playing when it’s done. It’s certain to join Swords Without Master, The Bloody-Handed Name of Bronze, and The Dictionary of Mu on my personal shortlist of greatest sword-and-sorcery games of all time.
Thanks so much to everyone I shared a table or a chat with. YOU are what makes METATOPIA so great!