Hello! Picked up Panic at the Dojo after hearing about it via, of course, OSP. Glad to have found your work.
It seems right up my alley, and well-designed: lots of opportunity for interesting decisionmaking in fights and while building a character; and a clean and clear approach to framing those fights. Almost feels like a board game, especially with how symmetrically fights are designed. Several of my friends are also interested, so I may actually get to run the game!
So, caveat that I've read through but not played it yet, I have some questions of intent/clarification:
1. Song Form's details says that you are always your own ally; does this hold everywhere? e.g. can a Teacher can use Inspired tokens and '3+: Watch Closely' on themselves?
2. When Phantom or Elder Style reduces the cost of an action, does that include reducing the cost of gates beyond the first (e.g. would Sing Along be reduced from '1+ or 4+ or 6+' to '1+ or 3+ or 5+'?
3. When you Sing Along without being in Song Form (e.g. via Focused Phantom or Elder Style), you don't have a song token type selected. Is the intent that you simply can't pick the 'gain 2 tokens' mode, or something else?
4. Are Chaos tokens intended to be usable for any action (i.e. as an action pool '4'), or specifically for actions with a cost or gate of exactly '4+' (and no lower)?
5. If something like a Chaos token ("used exclusively by the X") is stolen (e.g. via Syphon Style's '2+ or 6+: Power Converter'), can the recipient use it for its native function?
6. Can a Teacher use multiple Inspired tokens in the same turn?
There's also a few things I've spotted that may be infinite loops; either I've misread something, or they would be good targets for errata:
- Fused or Frantic Phantom + Song Form + Elder Style
If Phantom and Elder Style's cost reductions stack, that would mean the free 4 action from Sing Along would be enough to meet the 6+ gate of another Sing Along, repeating the process and accumulating resources.
- Chaos token + Motivating Style's '4+ You Can Do It!'
If you copy a chaos token, you can use You Can Do It again by expending that chaos token, healing/moving/etc. as you repeat the process. If you can't target yourself, this can still be done with two characters that are fused Demon/Teachers. Inspired tokens could work similarly, but are less egregious since it isn't guaranteed.
- Frantic Phantom + Blaster Form + Vampire Style, using Flare
Distracting Style's '1+ or 2 basic tokens: Flare' can give two enemies a weakness token while using Blaster Form; if you're also using Vampire Style, that would give you two power tokens if I'm reading correctly, which can repeat the process to give those enemies an unlimited number of weakness tokens.
I do really love this system, already; that's why I'm engaging with it so much. Thank you for making it :)