[S/Lay w/Me] The Tome of Mechanical Wonders
Joe J Prince:
While we await Gregor's comments...
I had a lot of fun playing, especially considering I don't normally like 2-player RPGs. I was initially a bit concerned that my lack of genre familiarity would be a problem (I know Conan is king of a place called Kullifornya). As it turned out it mattered not a jot - though Heraldo's weird tech didn't quite turn out how I'd envisaged it.
It was refreshing (sadly) to play an indie game that just worked with no need for prep. I really liked the lists I got to choose from as a player, open enough to do what you want but tight enough to give you a concept and get things moving. Nice to have clarity of what you're supposed to do on a turn too, keeps the story ticking along. I wasn't sure exactly what authority I had during Gregor's goes, so was pretty quiet (though Gregor's skill at storytelling was definitely a factor here).
A few of the dice rolls felt a bit disconnected from the fiction. In our short game I got stabbed (thrice), shot, poisoned and thrown 200ft off a balcony. Yet I totally owned the dice rolls. It seemed a little odd the whupping Heraldo got when he was comfortably winning the match - I know it was all colour but still...
It seems a bit tough for the monster to win - theres a good chance of rolling a 1 on 4-6 dice, even without toppling the tower.
Oh, Caleb and Ricardo shot Rembrandt before Heraldo stabbed him in the eye and threw him overboard - all part of the same killing the monster go. Rembrandt revealed the poison by murdering Gudemon, not stabbing a book - minor point but much cooler!
Lots of good stuff, yet despite my skaven fetish I wasn't quite ready to 'embrace' the rat-girl. I felt Heraldo should take her out for some wine and cheese first at the very least.
I'm interested to see how it plays with the monster and lover one and the same.
Is S/Lay with Me an ashcan? It looks like one, but plays like a finished game so I dunno if you're looking for more feedback or not Ron.
Cheers
Joe
Gregor Hutton:
About Goes.
I found Goes to be easy and fun. I think we both did. I guess there will always be a bit of finding your comfort with the other player - Joe and I get on very well and I could happily listen to him all day! I guess I'm also a motormouth so our Goes tended to have more of the "Going" player than the other. But I didn't feel it was just "you speak-I speak" stuff. I do feel that over play this will also self-correct into a comfort zone, I certainly felt it going that way. The bottom line is that on your Go you have veto, but that it's enjoyable (for me anyway) to have the other player role-playing their hero and adding dialogue, colour and ideas (!) too. I liked when Joe suggested the Rat King had seven heads - yes! He now does.
It was also good that Joe didn't know who the Monster was (Gudemoon? The Rat King? No! My rat assassin, Rembrandt.) and by introducing the Lover specifically in the first scene that was a nice way of "outing" her suitably later on.
Oh, I suppose I should also mention Spione at this point. I really like Goes in Spione, but Joe found that game less accessible/comfortable for him. I think the difference that S/Lay w/Me has is that in S/Lay w/Me Joe had a character in a way that you don't get one in Spione. Also, the words in the hero's description are untouchable by the "I" player (well, I can mess about with them but I can't break or destroy them definably), whereas in Spione that stuff is _all_ up for grabs. Characters are also there to be played and emerge. Purely differences in the fiction that the games are helping produce.
For me, I like both. But for Joe I figured the playing of "your character" had a big draw and was an enjoyable part of play.
And I found Goes to be as easy as Spione. Also the advice on what you can't do in this phase of play, or on a Go, was super clear and helpful. (I noted to myself that the three phases of play were like It Was a Mutual Decision with its clearly defined beginning/middle/end with similarly clear rules about what to do in each phase). The book is short but to the point, and we only need to look at a couple of pages in any phase of play. Great!
The Match.
Looking back I am not too concerned about the chances of the "I" player rolling a 1 and so making all "You" dice of 2 and over "Good Dice". I felt that with ongoing play there will always be more things needing resolved than there are going to be Good Dice around. I could see a lowest roll of a 3, even, by the "I" player as being potentially very dangerous for a Hero.
I guess I also saw the score in the match, and the lowest die, as more of a metric of how the fortunes of the story will go rather than a justifiable win or loss by either party, or a reflection of what is happening in the fiction. I mean Conan gets thumped senseless, out-thought, conned, beaten, tricked, etc. as much as he slays incidental characters by the hatful, muddles through, endures bravely or cleverly plots and hides. The fictional stuff is this roller coaster of ups and downs, twists and turns and leading to a head.
Endings.
I really liked the ending phase where we didn't get out of the story until it had all been resolved by Goes. In fact, given that we were no longer shooting for a Monster or Goal/Lover thing on each Go, it meant that we were focused on dealing with the issues at hand and for Joe to pcik his victories. So that was very enjoyable for me, and I think it was telling that characters sprang anew in the end-game that will probably live on in future adventures.
Content.
Oh, final comment was that I liked that the content wasn't just "Conan" or whatever. The phrases are open to such a wide interpretation but are definable enough starting points to kick off some sweet ideas. We had a phantasmagorical fantasy that worked for both of us. I think we'd fine tune it with more play. Joe was more the tech and goggles and I was more the furry rat-chests and ennunciating assassins. I guess when I play "You" I'll gravitate more to the REH side of things, but playing with Joe I'm going to find an enjoyable space that he wants to play in too.
Overall, great game. Loved it.
PS. Yes, Joe! Well noted on the corrections. Also in the description above I forgot to mention the Captain of the ship who was in the Rat King's presence, getting his reward for grassing you up to the Rat Thieves. And he got his ship sunk too. Maybe he'll turn up in a future on a new ship angry as all hell with Heraldo?
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