I promise to write about something else next time, in fact I have something in the pipeline that could be exciting.
So Navigator is one week old. This morning I uploaded an updated PDF with the amendments suggested so far.
To give you a few numbers, the playtest doc has been downloaded 191 times and I have had 10 people make a contribution. So far they have contributed $31.66 which gives me $22.16.
For context, RMu playtest was downloaded under 150 times. To order print proofs as premium softcover and premium hardcover will cost $17 plus delivery.
Download numbers do turn people into playtesters. We know this from RMu, there we have a long established and loyal following and yet we only ever see less than half a dozen voices, if you strip out JDale. JDale does an amazing job of fielding all the questions. Although I think I detected a hint of frustration this morning in the size rules discussion. I can easily see why, we had the same discussion a few years ago and now they are trying to finalise the books for editing it comes up again.
From a feedback point of view I have received feedback from four people, including Terefang who has been most helpful and constructive.
Four is not a big enough cohort so I still have work to do. There is an interesting balancing act here. The game is basically a layering on of RM style attack and critical tables, HARP style magic and a few extras like action points for the combat round but on to an existing game. The underlying game has been playtested to destruction by being very close to the original D&D and even in its Sci Fi incarnation it has had extensive testing and has had thousands of groups playing it since its release.
The question is, have a fundamentally broken anything? That remains to be seen.
One piece of feedback I got from a Reddit user was this.
I followed your link and saw “Star Master” and “tables.” I did RoleMaster back in the day. These days I much prefer low crunch. That isn’t much in the way of feedback, but this might be.
ShakeSharp – Reddit
I didn’t receive much feedback on a recent request. I read this article, which made me think I should answer its questions when I ask for feedback. If you do, maybe you will have more nibbles on your feedback hook.
Good luck!
SS
I have read up and answered the questions and it was indeed helpful. The interesting thing was the opening sentence. For me this isn’t an issue. I am not expecting to sell thousands of copies. I haven’t invested tens of thousands of dollars in buying the old ICE stock and intellectual property and I haven’t spent eight years or more writing my version. As this is a fun project there are no labour costs, and I don’t think anyone at ICE has been paid either, except artists. My $22.16 just about covers an expense I am expecting to spend in a few months time. The whole project is self funding.
For ICE, the problem of a “Done Rolemaster in the past, don’t want to even bother reading the book.” attitude could be a bigger problem to overcome.
This first week was almost exclusively Twitter marketing. This next week I am going to branch out a bit, but this is where my lack of resources will show. Having said that, my Wild West game got an average of 8 downloads a week, given a big spike at the front and a long tailing off. So 190 in week one is a really good start.
Breaking News…
Part way through writing this post, I have just had an email with a document full of feedback (Thanks Alex). I haven’t read it yet but this is exactly what I have been hoping for.
I have also always wanted to be able to use “Breaking News” as a title.
I will give the feedback a good reading through today. This also proves that the playtest is real and happening!