Well it had to happen sooner or later and despite much procrastination on my part I finally got to run a playtest of my Monkey the Storytelling Game (which I'm more or less certain is going to be the final title) yesterday for my regular Sunday group.
The two players, Rob and Mr C play in my regular HeroQuest game, which they are having a whale of a time in, and are also quite into D&D. Monkey has some similarities to HQ, in many ways it is a simplified HQ lite, so they picked up the system quickly. They also have a reasonable interest in the orient, which meant they absorbed the background of the game pretty quickly.
Character generation went very smoothly, taking about an hour and a half. This was mainly chat about the setting and concepts, rather than explaining parts they had got stuck on. Both players quickly formed concepts, a demon hunter and a cunning fox spirit, after I explained the possible back ground to the player immortals (each player runs an immortal who is out of favour with the heavenly authorities and trying to redeem themselves). In fact they pretty much worked through the character generation chapter without much input from me. Which means that I must be doing something right on the writing front!
I won't go into detail about the plot of the adventure, since I'm going to use it as my introductory adventure, but the game mechanics went smoothly and much to my amazement actually worked!!! The card drawing mecanic that the game uses worked straight out of the box and we got to play the game that I envisioned almost ten years ago when I first read the book and thought, hey there's a rpg in this. To say I'm chuffed about this is an understatement :)
Sure there's some polishing and clafication needed. The Fortune system, were players get to hold extra cards in fortune hand which they can subsitue for lower cards in their Action Hand (which is used to resolve actions), needs balancing. How the immortal's Weakness works in game needs clafiying and a system for 'bickering' amoungst the player immortals, a main feature of the book, needs implementing. Also I need more examples for the magic section. Rob and Mr C were happy making up their powers, but I still think players less familiar with the setting and more used to having clear examples and rules would get confused.
This playtest game in many ways has been a milestone. For years I have been timidly working on it, not sure if it would work let alone match up to my lofty expectations. Yesterdays game exceeded my expectations and gives me the shove I need to get it finished for its October release!!
My next milestone, after cleaning up and adding the bits that came out of this playtest, is to circulate the rules to other groups for playtesting since its highly likely that my playtest was very 'protective' (which is a software development term for a test conducted by the developer where only the positives of the system are considered and the negatives are overlooked).
If you are interested in the game, here's a quick five page introduction
I also keep a blog about the games development http://d101games.livejournal.com/
Hey Newt I love Monkey and
Submitted by JoE PrincE on Mon, 30/04/2007 - 16:25.
Hey Newt
I love Monkey and your game looks really promising, nice idea. I'd like to see some more of the mechanics.
If you've only just run the first playtest, October may be a little tight
+++
JoE
+++
Prince of Darkness Games
Rock N' Role-Play....
I'll second Joe's comment
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Wed, 02/05/2007 - 16:28.
I'll second Joe's comment about your tight schedule - is there any desperate need to get it out at Furnace, or are you making a rod for your own back there?
That aside, I'm glad the playtest went well! I like the term "protective" - I know exactly what you mean by it, and how unhelpful a protective playtest is! It's frustrating at times when it all goes well!
I'm interested in the game! How much buy in did the players need - did they know the setting at all, or were they going in blind?
I always like card based mechanics - there's something uniquely tactile about them, something that gives you a bit more control over fate than with dice. Glad they worked well - as I understand it, you draw cards and add the totals up? Doesn't that get a bit awkward when you have a high skill value?
How do fortune and virtues work in the game?
I'm eager to hear more about it - you sure you can't tell us more about what happened in the game?
Ooh, a Monkey game! Will it,
Submitted by Tim Gray on Wed, 02/05/2007 - 17:12.
Ooh, a Monkey game!
Will it, dare one ask, be... irrepressible? :D
Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk
In fact perhaps we should
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Thu, 03/05/2007 - 21:49.
In fact perhaps we should lobby to change the game name to "Monkey: the irrepressible storygame" !
Looks like a good time to do
Submitted by JoE PrincE on Tue, 08/05/2007 - 07:43.
Looks like a good time to do a Monkey game - Damon Albarn is writing a Monkey opera, and Jamie Hewlett's artwork is awesome. There was a good piece in The Sunday Times.
+++
JoE
+++
Prince of Darkness Games
Rock N' Role-Play....
Joe (and Andy) You are
Submitted by Newt on Tue, 08/05/2007 - 13:37.
Joe (and Andy) You are definitely the voice of reason here.
The more I mull over the playtest in my mind, realising it was very protective in many regards and that there's elements that need further development, the more I question getting it done by October. Add to this that I've yet to commission artwork, finish off the Narrator/background chapters and last not least have just become a father for the first time (I type this as the little tyke sleeps). I'm also in the process of reading Antony Yu's four volume translation ('Journey to the West vol 1-4,translation by Antony Yu, published by University of Chicago), which adds a ton of detail compared with the Arthur Waley abridged version (Monkey, translated by Arthur Waley, published by Penguin). Not mention watching all 52 episodes of the Monkey TV series that was shown on BBC2 during the 80s.
So instead I plan to clean up the rules I've written so far, add the adventure I ran the other day with a minimal background section (important Immortals from the book and quick background to the Tang Empire and various Immortal locations), and put it all together as a PDF version - which I'm going to hand out on as a Free CD at Furnace as the 'Coaster' edition (because if you don't like it you can always use it as a coaster for your Beer/Tea). I'll also probably put it up on the D101games website (another thing I need to put together). This means I will get a playable version out for my original deadline without releasing a rushed sub par version.
I also think that this will get it to a wider audience who will then be able to comment and play test the game. Monkey in the far east has the same impact as Robin Hood, and from people's enthusiasm that I've talked about the game over here its seeped into their imagination in the same way. I started this off as a self satisfactory exercise, and the playtest in many ways satisfied that urge. It will be interesting to see what other people think and how it develops from there.
I plan to have the 'coaster' edition done by October, but if anyone who is reading this is interested on seeing the work in progress and help shaping it please contact me at mrnewt AT gmail DOT com.
Regards
;O)Newt
"Looks like a good time to
Submitted by Newt on Tue, 08/05/2007 - 13:38.
"Looks like a good time to do a Monkey game - Damon Albarn is writing a Monkey opera, and Jamie Hewlett's artwork is awesome. There was a good piece in The Sunday Times."
Its being held in Manchester too which is my neck of the woods :)
Must remember to get time off for good behaviour with the missus and go see it before it finishes :)
Regards
;O)Newt
"Ooh, a Monkey game! Will
Submitted by Newt on Tue, 08/05/2007 - 13:42.
"Ooh, a Monkey game!
Will it, dare one ask, be... irrepressible? :D."
Definitely, its kept on popping into my consciousness over the last ten years.
Regards
;O)Newt
Have you considered putting
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Tue, 08/05/2007 - 14:26.
Have you considered putting it together and releasing it as an "ashcan" come october, which seem to be an emerging aspect of games design?
What's an 'ashcan'? For one
Submitted by Newt on Tue, 08/05/2007 - 22:14.
What's an 'ashcan'?
For one who is not familiar with the term in an RPG sense?
I understand in the comics its an uninked version of a new series to promote it with the fans at comic cons.
Regards
;O)Newt
It seems to be a new concept
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Tue, 08/05/2007 - 22:34.
It seems to be a new concept that's gaining ground, as a means to ensure games aren't rushed out before they're ready. Basically its a rough and ready version of the game, cheaply put together and containing v0.9 of the rules, with the intention of garnering as much feedback as you can before release. You sell it at cost and maybe offer people who buy it and give you playtest feedback a discount on the finished thing.
I'll find a link to the discussions on Story Games about the idea in the morning.
That's basically what I'm
Submitted by Newt on Thu, 10/05/2007 - 10:28.
That's basically what I'm proposing to do for Furnace, except I'm doing it as a PDF on a CDROM and calling it a 'Coaster edition' instead of an 'Ashcan', oh and I'm releasing it for free because I think its a bit cheeky to ask people for money for it in its pre-finished state.
Regards
;O)Newt