Hi, I like finding nuggets like your game. I had to open it because the description doesn’t tell (enough?much?) about the system. I’m glad I did because I found Expression tokens. Is it your idea or have you seen it in another game ? It looks like a distillation of BoB. Anyway. The game is clear, content astonishing and the Expression mechanic is excellent.
Viewing post in Yatra: Ashcan Preview comments
Hey! Yeah, I literally just threw it up last night before going to bed; so it is a bit unpolished---especially as an ashcan.
For Expression; its not something I've seen in another game specifically (though I do read a lot and osmosis can occur without notice.) The designed intent was to use a meta-currency to supplement the big action currency (Karma) in a way that allows players to get a sense of agency over how they interact with one another. The ideal way of gathering Expression is part of how I intend to handle travel, wherein travel is a means of:
- Moving through an environment, in weather; which determines mood.
- Rolling on a topic that the conversation of the party has reached after hours of travel through said mood/with said mood.
- Allowing the party to determine how they are engaging with the topic, allowing them to speak to a backstory, or to lie, or to not feel like commenting.
- And then, encounter something on the path or a destination, where this expression might be further utilized.
The hope and goal is to make travel a means of introspection: how much do you trust your fellows to tell the truth, how much do you wish to keep intimate of yourself, does it matter to tell exaggerated/tall tales to people you may never see again?
Backstories and deciding what other characters know about you is always something I'd like to see explored more; so this was the general idea.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, I'm certainly looking to finishing it as a project.
- Brian