Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• A theatre metaphor that could just as easily have been titled "Actual Play Podcast Simulator," this game within a game within a conversation about a game is a multilayered cake of goodness. I love that this is a tool to wrap around a larger campaign, and that during the Show phase you just play whatever game you want. The whims of the audience are a lovely driving force, but also make an interesting commentary about the nature of consumptive art. That you are beholden to someone else, and that the art is not yours alone anymore.
• One of two entries to this three forged that played with a three "level" structure! I like the focus here on the middle level (where ttrpgs typically stop, imagining the lives and stories of characters) as explicitly theatrical, playing out a story, and taking on particular roles. Ultimately, this "game" winds up being kind of a structure for playing a final game (being enacted by the characters of the middle level), and I thought the tools for thinking about your imaginary audience, their whims and expectations, and their engagement in the fiction were all a lot of fun. I did wish there was a little more support for the roles of the "performers" in the middle level, but I found this to be a fun way of thinking about playing and games.
• How clear & compelling is the game's central idea? The idea of a series of plays played out by the same troupe is neat. The meta-rules to apply to other micro-games is a fascinating framework. How elegant, useful, & intuitive are the game's mechanics? I would need to see the Backstage in play to make sense of it, it seems easy to lose while learning and playing whatever game you chose for the Stage, but if remembered it looks very fun. How cohesively designed do you think the game is overall? The whole game reads very well, though it could be made clear early that you will require another game to play this one.