Thursday, June 6, 2013

#gamechef2013 reviews 25-29 w/ 7 French Game

We're almost at the 1/3 mark, we'll see if I can keep up this pace or if my mind will explode.

Game Chef English 2013

25. Elevated State by Julius Kuutti

Twitter Pitch: A scifi roleplaying game about emotions and their power. Play a logical cyborg that is suddenly taken over by strong emotions. Struggle to maintain balance between emotions and logical thinking. Which road will lead to the Elevated State?

The Good: Clearly something inspired by Nordic LARP, where the play is really about the emotions about the characters. If this is something you're into, then this is a very good quick introduction to that kind of game where dealing with raw emotions and the fall out from them. Going from nothing to having ONE POWERFUL EMOTION RIGHT NOW is a pretty interesting concept.

The Bad: I think there just needs to be a little bit more on the set up and a bit more close out, if you understand that. I think having a scene where the players get to be emotionless would make it easier to feel the impact. There also needs to be talk about what happens at the end, after the game, because I believe that's part of the philosophy. Not only do you have an emotional game, but you provide support for the people afterwards.

The Other: I should read up more on Nordic LARP just to know, but it so doesn't interest me personally that's its hard. This was about me because the other sections were longer than what a lot of other people got ... so there.

Would I play it? No, see above.

22. Exit from Purgatory by Martin-Pierre Frenette

Twitter Pitch: A card and dice game in which the players are all dead and are trying to leave purgatory

The Good: Doing something non RPG related for Game Chef is always interested because it shakes it up, and I give you full marks for trying to make a dice and card game.

The Bad: I don't think it did what you were hoping for. There isn't much of a consistent theme, and the challenges that you're doing don't seem to match up with what's going on. I see what you're doing there, I just don't think you did it, or got near it really.

The Other: I'd take this one back to the drawing board and try again. Even if you ditch most of the Game Chef stuff, it would be a back to the drawing board thing.

Would I play it? Purgatory seems just okay for me. I'll sit here.

23. Jacob's Ladder by Johan Nordinge

Twitter Pitch: Humanity has built a Space Elevator. When they travel up, they take some things with them and other things are left behind. What will you sacrifice to save mankind?

The Good: I think having the "3 out of these 4 things will happen" and the GM gets to pick out of a list of those is great. It provides you with a way to define the kind of things you see happening, while still giving the players a lot of uncertainty as to what is going to happen.

The Bad: Thematically, the game is a little all over the place. They've built the space elevator, who controls it. We've used it to colonize other places? Wait, but how because I thought the control was still disputed and ... the game needs a lot more focus on its theme.

The Other: What type of dice? I couldn't find reference to the kind of dice you would roll.

Would I play it? Not in it's current format, which means I'm going to go forward with the "if I have to mod it, I'mma gonna say no" which may make me a hypocrite from before but ... whatever.

24. Black Cavern by Clinton Dreisbach

Twitter Pitch: You wake, cold, wet, hungry, and naked. You can see nothing. You are trapped in a black cavern. Will you ever make it home? Your memories are all the tools you have to make it back.

The Good: This could be a very, scary game. You're stuck in the dark and you don't know how you got there? There's a whole host of things that can happen, and go wrong and terrify people. Awesome.

The Bad: There's this concept you might have heard of, it is called a character sheet. With all the stuff you want them to mark, just give them some boxes with titles. Really, it doesn't have to be fancy or anything. Also, while I love the idea, and think it could have been really creepy you pull back a little bit from what it could be. I think the whole "using your memories from above and then become a denizen of the dark" needs to be something more than mechanical in nature. I don't know, it just lost me there.

The Other: Powered by Apocalypse, huh? You know I ... I give up I guess. Look, I love Monsterhearts, AW and DungeonWorld as much as the next people. They're great games, but every time I see them in a game now I'm getting annoyed. Can we get a new indie bubble?

Would I play it? Nope, unfortunately not. It lost me, and with all the games I'm looking through when it loses me, it loses me.


French Game Chef 2013

7. Contressence par Frédéric Gérard

Pitch: L'essence de l'Homme l'entraîne t-elle vers le bas ou vers le haut? Jouez le. [Does the essence of man veer towards the low, or the high. Play and find out!]

Le Bon [The Good]: L'idée de prendre l'inverse, et de voir l'humanité à travers la perception des extra-terrestres qui veulent éduquer l'humanité est amusante. Ce qui est parfait, c'est que c'est un JdR qui est joué dans une autre JdR. [I love the idea that this game is humanity through the lends of the aliens that want to educate humanity. It's also perfect, because it's an RPG you play within an RPG.]

Le Mauvais [The Bad]: Peut-être un peu plus de directive pour intégrer Contressence dans des autre jeux. Un moment who vous pouvez dire que les Wagner vont augmenter ou changes les joueurs. [Maybe a little more direction on integrating Contressence in your game. A moment when the aliens will augment or change you would be helpful.

L'Autre [The Other]: La première directive? Ha! [Ha! The Prime Directive!]

Jouons [Would I play it]? Ca dépend sur le jeux qu'on va jouer dessous Contressence. [Depends on the game with play Contressence in.]



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