[Queen of Thorns] Ronnies feedback
Tim C Koppang:
For what it’s worth, I’ve found this thread both personally useful and intriguing (meaning I now want to try out the game!). I think it raises a lot of good points about the tension between tracked and untracked play; and how much a game trusts the players to create functional and rewarding experiences. In my experience, there has to be a certain freedom to succeed or fail, even if that freedom is within the context of a tracked story arc. If the balance tips too far away from the players towards a fixed outcome, then, while there may be the appearance of tension and drama, the experience ultimately ends up repetitive or empty.
Eric J. Boyd:
Tim, I'm glad the discussion has proved useful to you. I'd be very interested in hearing any war stories you have from designing Mars Colony with respect to balancing to provide sufficient freedom to get fruitful play while still sticking with a core arc. That may need to be in a different thread or via PM, though.
Ron, we're on the same page with respect to intra-party tension; it's been very helpful to think that issue through in this thread.
Your dice allocation tweak sounds very promising. Just to make sure I understand what you're suggesting: Players would need to decide if they're going to take action in a scene or sit on the sidelines (maybe helping one of the acting characters). Then, everyone who's taking action rolls their dice without revealing the result, secretly allocates their +'s, and only then reveals what they've decided to the rest of the players. That way we avoid any dice allocation by committee or group pressure to allocate in a particular manner. If you want a say in things, then take action and roll dice. Is that right?
To help enhance individuality, I also think I'll adopt your suggestion to have each character get only some of the items that currently constitute character creation. Then, I'll likely expand on the changes that happen to the characters during play as a result of their quest, maybe tying the changes directly to things the character has done during play.
Ron Edwards:
Hi Eric,
Cool - although I don't claim my suggestions are the makers-or-breakers for the game, they're the best I've got for the issues I've brought up, or tried to.
We didn't discuss the limitation on choosing items for characters, so I'll put my reasoning here for the record: that if everyone feels guilty about the woman getting kidnapped, then I think the distinct impact of guilt (and here choose any of those items) is diluted.
You understood my suggestion about the dice allocation exactly.
Best, Ron
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