1) Yes! It means you get 2 foraged items (such as Pretty Rocks, Seaweed, Sea Mushroom etc. You can choose any combination as long as it doesn't include the requested item) or 1 human artifact from the quest giver.
2) It's made for a solo game in mind for a game jam but I think it works with a GM or GM-less duo or group play. The below are some ideas I have:
- Maybe the goal is to work to fill the museum together as a group, or each player can have their own collections in a competitive or non-competitive way.
- If there's a GM, then the GM doesn't need to follow or use any aspect of the NPC table or other random tables. They are free to make up their specific ones for the story and the player(s).
- For example, I think it's fun for the GM to think of community news for their own stories/settings
- It can go by turn (like a board game) or just whenever someone wants to make a move, they announce it and use an Action Point to do so
- Or maybe pool the AP together. In this case, instead of each player having 3 AP, there is a base 3 AP, and each player add 1 AP to the pool (solo player doesn't add AP). The players can then decide what to do as a group.
- Add in more requests so let's say each player adds 3 more requests. Or if the players like a competitive game, just add 1 request per extra player and people need to fight for quests
- A location still can only be Searched once after 3 Exploration, but it can be a team effort now cause they can share the responsibility for Exploring a location, then one can Search the location to save APs. If it's a competitive game, maybe payers can steal other player's location. But in this case, I'd probably add a rule that a player can hire a Villager to guard a location with foraged items or AP for a day so the player is not completely helpless...
- There doesn't need to have a Heart Meter between PCs so the relationships between PCs can feel more organic.
- The community news is shared between players. So they compete against each other in a tournament. And they build the community buildings as a team (so each can contribute some resources and everyone gets the benefits).