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Showing posts from August, 2022

Sellsword (Playtest #1)

On Thursday night, I ran the first playtest of Sellsword , a one-page OSR ruleset. For an adventure, I used The Undying Flame of Gal-Bog , a one-page dungeon I wrote, inspired by this all-time classic illustration. In no particular order, here are my dominant takeaways: 1. Scenario drives Player behavior. Starting out dirt poor: the Players murdered an NPC for his hand-axe and sling. Starting out as strangers: one Player led two other Players into known danger. Playing as swords-for-hire: the Players were inclined towards chaotic-evil levels of violence. Is this a problem? Not necessarily. The game should incentive multiple types of problem-solving. If the ruleset makes Players feel they have choices, it works. The PvP conflict is an issue if the Players feel incentivized to kill one another endlessly; this brings the story to a standstill. 2. Action and resolution were in lockstep. It felt like the story was happening at the same speed as the game. Often, roleplaying games can feel ...