Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• A travelling game of a travelling troupe, where the characters and the gamemaster role moves around the table like the people of the fiction. It's a great idea, and this game delivers a solid execution of that. Everything support this idea, and the town challenges move quickly. My only worry is the random player goals, as referencing rules secretly at the start of every scene might bog down play. Otherwise, this is a solid little game but one that doesn't really grab me. I found myself wishing for more performance in the text itself, as while it is very efficient it can be a tad dry and utilitarian. But that also creates a clear explanation of the game, and left me with a very clear picture of play through out the experience. I'd love to see this get a more thorough coat of paint in the form of layout or art as this game definitely deserves that lovely treatment.
• How clear & compelling is the game's central idea? The game has a very clear central throughline, and builds to a central theme very well. There is an issue with the order information is presented, in that it separates the description of what each part contains and how to mechanically use it, so some editing would make it read easier. How elegant, useful, & intuitive are the game's mechanics? I really like the use of cards to create scenarios and character aspects, combined with the dice to sort out results How cohesively designed do you think the game is overall? The text reads together very well, with a common writing style throughout, the mechanics are a bit disconnected from theme in presentation.
• This game took a pretty interesting journey into some cool design spaces! I'm very intrigued by the premise of creating a whole group (er, troupe) of people, and becoming enmeshed in local problems. I think the choice to share GM duties and characters is a good way of getting in a collaborative mindset. When I think about trying to take on those GM duties, though, I wish there was a little more support for how to generate, as the game calls for, "vibrant, interesting, and enticing" scenes and characters in the town. The card drawing for randomized motivation generation goes a long way to push scenes along, though, and the character hooks is a really good way to keep characters feeling consistent/help players feel comfortable embodying characters they might not feel in charge of.