itch.io

This really helps me understand some of what I was struggling to understand from reading the game as-is.  I think adding a graphical element - an actual laid out, almost game-board like Emotional Closeness Map - that was entirely conceptual, would really bring that part home.  I would love to try this game where my physical proximity is one half of play, but my emotional proximity is also in play.  That would be amazing!!

This is the start of something very, very good.  I'm so excited to see the post-feedback version!

First Impressions:

How the text is structured, and therefore how the game is structured, is so perfect for a le Carré novel it's chilling.  Centering play around a relationship map / concept board is both functionally interesting and spot on for the genre.

The part where you write the secret part of your relationship, and, if there's nothing, you just rewrite it so that no one knows which relationships are obvious or not???  "...this is a duplicitous world, and everyone expects others to have secrets."  CHILLS.

It feels like you might be able to get some mileage out of breaking the Roles & Motivations into separate files for both presentation and gameplay?  So that the core of the games teaching-text only mentions them in broadstrokes?

Questions:

Like everyone else, i was unclear on what the cards were doing.  On my later read-throughs it becomes clear they're just there to mark things, but my first impression made me think that marking your traces, etc. was setting up for some kind of ranking? or seeing which card is higher?  Super excited to see where this mechanic ends up, after the contest.

What happens when the "Betrayal" Motivation is exposed in play?  Does that mean, in the fiction, the player is revealed to be a double-agent right there?  That feels like it would end the game, right?

I really wan to know how the Meta-Commentary Ritual Phrase Questions work in actual play.  Right now they seem like a fantastic idea, but I worry that, in actual play, having these questions asked in-character might accidentally mask their real intentions.  Someone might just answer the question in-character and forget they're being prompted to alter their play style or input.

Favorite Bits:

The first time I read through this, I listened to the OST for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by Alberto Inglesias.  So that will stick with me forever.

The structure of the game, both as an in-fiction conversation and an out-of-game conversation is excellent.  The beautiful prose setting the scene, coupled with the sparseness of the Hanging Room being something you can *easily* recreate in your home or at a con, is brilliant.  You set this up so that having just little nub pencils, some scrap papers, and a beat up deck of cards puts you *right in that space.*  So good!  Part of me wants to see that taken to the next level.  It wouldn't take much to have this whole game laid out as a series of papers that look like official documents, and are wrapped up in a manila folder.

The balanced way of executing the epilogues is clever, too.  A story-heavy group can just assign what feels best for their character, where a more competitive group could angle their narratives so they don't have to pick last!  :D  they're also perfect descriptive without being prescriptive.  So keep that, going into the next version.  It's gold.

Very impressed, very excellent way of interpreting "maps."  Super cool.

Thank you!

1 - You absolutely can play this with a different map!  In my first draft of the game I assumed people would go out and get a map like the one I was describing - but then I wondered about the accessibility to that kind of map.  I could link people to examples, but that might not solve the problem in every area.  I also realized:  the layout of the map and the nature of the map could heavily influence the style of play, and would marry up to the Oracle Cards in unique ways as well.  My final decision was:  have the game come with a single map, make notes in the (yet to be written) end of the Guidebook on how to pick a different/real world map, and also leave room for "expansion packs" that use new and different maps with strong themes.

2 - The layout for this version was mostly to decorate things, give it a prototype of the feel I want the final game to have.  As such, you're spot on - the graphic design is nominal and uninspired, just enough to get sumbission-ready.  :D  What I'm considering for the final layout however is this (Please let me know if this sounds good!):  The "Childhood Cards" will all have the look and feel of various props - baseball cards, collectible cards, a little instruction fold out for the Junksmith, etc.  Whereas the "Adult Cards" will all be generic Business Cards!  Then the deck of Oracles will mostly be the same, but with an actual note in the Guidebook that, yeah, they have different backers, but that's just to help telegraph what cards a player has and might play.

As far as I can tell, there's no reason to hide what cards you've got, right?

3 - your observations are perfect - thank you so much, and thanks for brevity, too!  We're all trying to reply with good content, but not give each other novels to finish  :D

You're definitely picking up on a theme that was much stronger during the initial design of the game.  I abandoned the notion of the game being about grown-ups reconnecting to their childhood and, in so doing, escaping that sense of jaded adulthood.  But the tone is still there.  I'd like to find a way to reincorporate that into the game so that it's an emergent concept, however, and not something i prescribe overtly.

Oh, and the card backs are place holders.  more like sketches of what i want them to loosely be in the final version.  I enjoyed making this so much that I'm definitely going to finish it, so it's uncertain what aesthetics of these designs will be used in the final version.

Thanks so much!

This brings up a really interesting design facet!  I hadn't thought of reformatting the cards and map to a 'more white' version for people that can't buy a print-on-demand version.  I really want to share this insight with all my friends here in the US who design games that then either have to be shipped overseas at a huge cost, or printed locally.

I did plan to include a final version for publication that was print-and-play friendly (with all cards imposed onto standard paper sizes) but i had not considered the color constraints - that is brilliant.  Need to make that common knowledge.

First Impressions:

This game grabbed me IMMEDIATELY.  The premise is so, so good.  And the way you send us right to a really amazing and useful real-world tool for house layouts is SO GOOD.  I really like the use of 'thin pen tips' vs. 'thicker pen tips' - this is an excellent way to use instructions to build the maps in a way that keep straight what elements are from which side of the veil.

Questions:

The instructions make the Fae seem like 'owned' characters - one per player, with details they create on their own - but the Family feels sort of ambiguous?  Do we own them as a group?  Do we each contribute one Family Member, playing them exclusively?

Honestly, the Family almost seems like they might work better as a neutral or separate party to the Fae - have you considered not having the Family be characters played, but instead having them be a series of oracles in a deck that generates situations for the Fae to deal with?  or divvying up the roles of Fae and Family so that different players are working to flummox each other?

What should the Fae Sigil look like?  Would love some examples.

What does "repair" mean in relation to the Punctum?  Is it simply removing it?  Are you concerned that some plans might be 'easier' than other plans, in regards to dealing with a Punctum?  Should that difficulty be reflected in the way you build a die pool?

How do you play the Humans once they're aware and actively trying to 'oppose' you?

My biggest questions are around Tone.  Is this a game that plays out like Fraggle Rock or Pan's Labyrinth?  This would feed into my other question:  what are the Elves like?  Is their return a borderline horror show, or is it a celebration, like at the end of Labyrinth?  Is that up to the players?  If so, how do we get on the same page about that?

Favorite Bits

Cannot stress enough: the premise for this game is so, so good.  So fun, even if you're doing it like Guillermo del Toro or Jim Henson.

The use of the Otherkind Dice is very graceful, and actually does an excellent job of *explaining* the game as you play it.  That's awesome.  It's so good when a game both teaches and coaches you as you play.  Very clever.

First Impressions:

EXCELLENT CONCEPT.  I really freaking love this take!

The core concept (a separated team that can communicate searching for each other by POI) works perfectly for a Star Trek situation, but with simple modification could work with other situational setups.

Would love to see the layout lean into the Trekkiness more.

The Mood Table is bliss.

Questions:

Why do the player Roles have 'veto' powers - is that an element to the gameplay that's necessary?  What if these were reframed as a more 'positive' role - like answering questions or playing roles?

Example:

Captain could add dangerous creatures or hostile pursuers to other characters' scenes

Science Officer could be responsible for adding curious or peaceful sapient creatures to scenes.

Medical Officer could be responsible for adding weird or beautiful flora and fauna to the scene.

Chief Engineer could focus on detailing the architecture, ruins and consistent technology to the scenes.

Maybe, when you play your Mood die you also choose who among the other players will use that tone & prompt to add their element to the scene?

Does the tech line up with Star Trek?  What if the player isn't familiar with ST?  Do we need details on what options are available?  (For instance, why can't we just be 'beamed up' in dangerous situations?)

Are the characters separated by exploration, or was there something dangerous that landed them in this situation?  Is the game designed to be played where you pick one or the other?  (What if there was a "starting situation" oracle?)

Favorite Bits:

Love this premise.  Really want to play it to see how it works.  Would love to see the maps being generated added to the fiction - like maybe the crew has tech that is working insufficiently, so they're having to beam to each other hand-drawn images in the equivalent of Futuristic MS Paint?

I think this works as a non-dangerous "exploring and hiding among the peoples" game or as a "we each went down in different sectors and now, without all our tech, need to find each other the old-fashioned way," would love to see both versions get more support in the rules and setup.

Seriously dig this game.

First Impressions:

Love the premise for how the game is played.  Love the execution of the components of play and how it's taught and presented.  Excellent eye for aesthetics.

Questions:

Having not yet gotten to play it, I'm trying to sort out how it would play if you sent the map back and forth between you and one other person?  Given the same address/Zipcode, would that induce a sort of pattern in moving forward?

What if you further randomized the #'s for the Cartogropher Key - again, I might be missing something here - What if you had a randomly generated set of digits that were written on the outside of the letter, instead of using elements of the address?

Favorite Bits:

The absolutely dynamite way this game is put together for presentation, taking note of the orientation and how the letter folds, elements like that make this game really great to print and hold.

The premise of the activity itself is awesome, but it feels like using just one map is the better way to go, which is why I didn't rate it higher for stars in regards to this jam.  I think mailing a singular map around is the best way to achieve the goal (a detailed sandbox setting for a fantasy game), so it's only a criticism in the sense that the jam was asking for 2 or more maps doing different things.  But this is an excellent idea that I would love to see polished and put out there!

The Zip Archive has everything, the rest of the items for play are uploaded individually as well.

This game is dedicated to my good friend John Powell.