How Do I Know When I'm Ready For Playtesting?

[MercenaryX]

I've been working on a tactical pen and paper RPG and I have some basic guidelines for creating a character, the character sheet, making use of the armory, and some primary combat rules.  Now I know I have a ton of work to do on the project before I color it finished - but I don't know when I should go into initial testing.  I want to know before I make a ton of rule for one system if it works and is fun, but at the same time I don't want to introduce it so early that people just look at me and say, "I have no idea what to even do with this."  Some rules are written on paper and have yet to be added to the official document (and parts of the document are outdated and I'm currently working on changing them).  If you want to take a look, heres a link to the page http://jasonmccorddesigns.wordpress.com/astronovus/

But what does everyone here think?  How can I tell if I'm ready for Alpha testing?

[KalastRaven]

  I want to know before I make a ton of rule for one system if it works and is fun

Before you have others test it, you should be sure it works.   Have you performed some self-testing by making characters and engaging in mock battles?  You must be confident in your own system before letting others play with it.

On reading the combat rules, I was confused on a certain point.   I wonder if Combat Priority is the same from turn to turn, or if it is rolled during every movement step?   If it's the former, I recommend moving the rule out of the movement step description.     

[MercenaryX]

Oh thank you! I haven't proofread any of this yet, I've mostly been just making sure the crucial pieces are assembled first - but I never would've noticed that.  Thanks :-)  I'll work on rewording that part :-)

[David Berg]

Hi Jason, you might want to check out a recent discussion here on this very topic.

[dindenver]

MX,
  The answer to your playtesting question is, it depends on your ability to get playtesters and their disposition. For instance, if you can only get playtesters that want to play a full campaign, then you will have to do a lot of testing by playing against yourself.
  But if you can identify one or two people that are analytical and flexible with changing rules, then you can do some initial proof of concept with them before exposing the game to more mainstream gamers.
  Finally, if you have access to a ready pool of playtesters, then playtest early and often.
  Good luck with your design!

[Velexia]

I'm a fairly tired at the moment (it's very late) so this might color my reaction a little...

The game looks interesting, and possibly ready for playtesting, but I can't be sure...  because every pertinent rule appears to be buried in the midst of a wall of text.  Being tired as I am, I really can't be bothered to read the entire wall (of text) for each rule, to figure out how things work.

I think changing the layout and formatting a bit so that important (and basic) rules can be easily picked out would help a lot.