Hi :D
I appreciate the attempt to be explicit about PbtA moves and expectations. Codifying various dungeon delve bits into Discovery, Navigation, Peril, and Progress scores appears to work to support generation of this specific type of adventure. Clearly categorizing the moves according to the types of actions in the delve is also very helpful.
Thanks 🥰
Keeping track of the various modifiers and subsystems and if/then conditional outcomes is a bit more bookkeeping than my table prefers.
In an ideal world that would all be taken care of by an app. Part of the design of this game is aimed at making it "app friendly" so that Players would not even need to read the rulebook. Just open the app and follow the instructions on screen. In the meantime, this "paper prototype" requires a bit of human-powered maintenance and bookkeeping, that's true 😅
Shared refereeing as written in this game is something I’m very interested in. However, it appears that the Ref falls only to the Leader until such time as another PC escapes or dies. [...] Do you have experience or suggestions for multiple Refs in less lethal games? Have you thought of a mechanic to share the role across the other players?
Actually, yes :)
The currently online version is from April 2023, but the latest WIP document is from September 2023. I made a bunch of changes and tried to playtest them befor publishing an update... but time and IRL issues delayed that quite a bit. I'll try to get around to upload the new files as soon as possible.
One change that might interest you is to the Lead role. Before, as you noticed, the Lead was the Ref until a full-time Ref emerged.
Now instead the Lead actually leads the Ref procedures as a sort of moderator, meaning that everyone else gets to participate if they want, with the Lead managing and prompting the conversation and then, is needed or wanted, pitching in last. Here are the relevant bits...
This system ideally avoids the Lead being the sole Ref of the game, and helps everyone being more included and partecipative... if they want to, when they want to. In addition to this, the Ref Phase itself has become more structured than before, hopefully easier and clearer to handle :)
I hope this helps with your question! 😀
