Playtest Session One, In the Bag
Last night's local playtest went well enough. We didn't give the mechanics as much of a workout as I or anacrusis would prefer, though we did get a chance to establish that the idea of "shifts" as translating to abstract indicators of success (I was internally using my one-two-three-four rule of minor-significant-major-overwhelming to interpret) on the "softer" tasks. Had two spots of heavy violence -- this gave me the chance to see how a guy with peak Shoot did against a Red Court goon vampire with only a apex skill of "Good" (the answer: really damn well, unless the vampire blows a huge amount of mojo on a given exchange to activate several of its supernatural abilities). Sadly for the other players who didn't get a chance to fight yet, it hinted to me that maybe I want to step up the heftiness of the stats on some of these Reds a notch or two. ...
Story-wise, we spent a lot of time basically doing the set-up, getting into the swing of things. Some details of setting (such as Mr. Hyde's nightclub Deep Blue having a 'Deeper Blue' layer that actually exists in the Nevernever; plus, Derek, the Guy Who Talks To Cats, as a nice color NPC) got determined on the fly, and Tamsin and Suun's apartment building was nicely situated in one of the worse areas of Baltimore for it to be situated. Eeexcellent.
The story revolved around some Red Court vampires coming into town, a vague warning from the Gatekeeper, a performance by a girl with an enchanting voice (literally), a political chess game getting run by Mister Hyde, false leads, a possible murder, and a strange man named Bragg with a pocketful of stones.
We got about three paragraphs into my page-and-a-half writeup of the general plotline in about three hours. As always, I love my players.
Story-wise, we spent a lot of time basically doing the set-up, getting into the swing of things. Some details of setting (such as Mr. Hyde's nightclub Deep Blue having a 'Deeper Blue' layer that actually exists in the Nevernever; plus, Derek, the Guy Who Talks To Cats, as a nice color NPC) got determined on the fly, and Tamsin and Suun's apartment building was nicely situated in one of the worse areas of Baltimore for it to be situated. Eeexcellent.
The story revolved around some Red Court vampires coming into town, a vague warning from the Gatekeeper, a performance by a girl with an enchanting voice (literally), a political chess game getting run by Mister Hyde, false leads, a possible murder, and a strange man named Bragg with a pocketful of stones.
We got about three paragraphs into my page-and-a-half writeup of the general plotline in about three hours. As always, I love my players.