Rounds of Play Testing

Since the completion of the 2009-2013 RPG Test, which came out great, and produced a remarkable book (coming to ~850 pages, single spaced in MS Word), we have now launched into the next phase of Game Testing.   The Board Game Rules.   The focus for these tests is on specifics related to the tactical rules.  I want to polish those up, and get a final PDF on them.  

I"m also working with a friend of mine to look at the possibilities around using Construct2 to create the board game side of this thing, that will be playable online (or offline) via a web browser using HTML 5.   That should be interesting!  

But one thing at a time.  Board Game Rules.  

Current Tactical Map for Board Game Rules Test

This is the board we are using.  At first we used pistachio shells for pieces.  Yup.  In fact they were easy to work with and we could use slashes on them to indicate hits taken.  And they're tasty to make.  Can't be that combination. 

We then went on to create, using the website, actual tactical pieces and played with those.  The numbers printed on each piece turned out to be a bit bothersome in that they're small and you have pick up the piece to look at them.   One of my wonderful play testers suggested just printing the number of the piece on each piece, with the name of the character, and then having a printout of the stats relevant to the board game.   That's a good idea.  I programmed that this week.   If all goes well we will be testing that tonight. 

So far so good.  Keep going.  :)