I return three months later to talk about my experience actually trying this game with a small group for a couple sessions before school work got in the way!
I have like, some critique of what made this game difficult for us, but overall I still think it's pretty cool and did really inspire my group in creating characters and exploring their dynamics.
My group was all Persona fans, 3/4 of us had GM experience, and the fourth had never touched a ttrpg in his life. (Congrats on making the first ttrpg he's played btw!) We had so much fun playing around with the archetypes and making the sort of persona characters we (all trans) wanted to see in the world: a trans male Lovers, nb-egg currently a mean nerd girl Magician, butch lesbian Emperor, etc. I am so glad that this game's flexibility allowed that.
We ran into a little trouble making characters bc so many of the options in "this is what makes you stand out" seems to be necessary to others, so it was difficult to actually pick any. For example with the Chariot "always getting into fights" and " a delinquent status" the first seems to lead into the other, so it felt if we picked one, we also had to pick the other.
The bigger struggle for us was making a story that felt like Persona, because even with all it's intimate friendship mechanics, the Persona series is a very story/plot-driven game, and trying to improv a Persona plot with 3 other people was very difficult, and actually made a couple of us try brainstorming what a GMed Persona game might look like. Next time we play I may suggest we talk longer before the game about story, and then start playing in medias res so we don't have to improvise discovering the Reversal.
In contrast to that critique, I think the Belonging Outside Belonging system is an excellent thematic choice for a Persona game, with how many outcasts there are in the video games and how tight knit the Persona-users become as a team. I am super excited to see what this over-100-page revamped edition is going to look like when it eventually comes out.
I do really hope to revisit this when my group has the time again! or hopefully whenever Reignited is released👀! We got super attached to our characters and what we might be able to do with them.
Thanks so much for making this game, and putting it in the Racial Justice Bundle so I was able to learn about it. I hope you keep making awesome games!