Awesomely inspiring game! I only played it a couple times, but it's been exhilarating. The characters are a bit unbalanced, but the dynamics and strategic approach are spot on!
Keep up the good work!
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Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far and that the pacing has felt dynamic!
I'm looking to give Demon Crawl a bit of a makeover with some new Slayers at some point in the vague future, so if you have any balance suggestions or observations from what you've played I'd love to hear them and keep them in mind going forward!
The Vermin Druid relies too heavily on luck for his powers to be effective, and that made it next to useless in my games.
While the War Machine, on the other hand, could almost single-handedly slay everything in the rooms. It makes sense, in a way, but relying so much less on chance makes it OP in the hands of a tactically minded player.
The Maid is great for support, but a bit weaker on her own, though it makes sense with her theme.
The Sorcerer's Research feature should be addressed in the rules to clarify it can be used before the first encounter as well, prompting characters to better investigate what waits for them and take full advantage of it. It would be interesting if it applied to Chain Lightning as well.
If I get the chance to play it again, I'll give some more feedback.
Thank you so much for the feedback! As someone who can only playtest this so much, this is invaluable!
The Vermin Shepherd has been a tricky one to balance, but I think (especially in the healing department) it'll end up having more fixed values in the future. Additionally the rules could be a bit cleaner on how managing Creeps works on the Player Side.
War Machine is bonkers and was somewhat envisioned as a Doomguy-esc Solo-able class. Unrelenting may be the single strongest Talent in the game so that may get reworked. I am also curious if the rules for Rip & Tear were clear? (Specifically that it did not apply to Solos / Bosses).
An early build of the Sorcerer actually did let you change Chain Lightning! ... And it was super broken haha. In a far future reworking of the Rules though it may be more feasible (Elements are changing slightly, as a result of playtesting with another (much slower) tactics system I'm working on.
Thank you again so much for this feedback! I'm not entirely sure when I'll get the chance to work on this system more, but Demon Crawl 2.0 will be a vast improvement over the original.
Fixed values would help the Shepherd a great deal, making it as tactically-minded as the rest of the characters.
Well, the War Machine is a Doomguy-esque Solo-able slayer, I'll give you that. Rip & Tear wasn't immediately clear, I admit, but after looking up Creeps in the rules we got it right.
About the Sorcerer, maybe letting them change Chain Lightning or Fireball with each Rest, or putting up a limit where they can't deal the same damage type would enhance flexibility without breaking balance.
I'm looking forward to Demon Crawl future developments, and I can tell you I'm not the only one. If I manage other sessions, I'll get back to you.