Hello! I downloaded this game last night after finding it on twitter. I was just thinking the other day about how cool a TMA rpg would be, and dang, are you working on like the best possible one! I've just finished re-reading it, so here are my notes in consecutive order.
On page 3 - "Regardless if you are trying to escape from a ravenous monster, or persuading a suspicious cultist, or uncovering a piece of ancient lore." It should probably be attached to the previous sentence ("And that is how you play, regardless if you are...")
I like how clear everything is written so far! It's very straightforward, with examples usually as needed.
The six stats are basic and are recognizable to people who've played ttrpgs before - there's no reason to reinvent the wheel and these all seem useful for the kind of play people are gonna get into. Plus fitting Dexterity into Speed makes solid sense!
As you work more on this I think it'd be quite useful at the end to have a How to Play/Session Overview section, using some basic characters fighting some sort of monster/attempting a difficult task. I've seen it done in a few other books and it's a good refresher to see, as the reader, how everything works together, and to see if you've understood it quite right.
On page 5, in the Task Difficulty chart - 'Imposable' should be 'Impossible'.
I'm liking how you can Modify Difficulty - adds a bit of flavour for roleplaying, but through actual mechanics. Nice!
Question: Are you able to have more than one of the same Asset helping you? Example: Helpful Companion + Helpful Companion + Good Equipment, or could you only do Helpful Companion + Good Equipment?
It's neat that Long Rests take 1 week to complete - I think this encourages a more investigative, slower play, with bursts of stress in between.
On page 10: "what fear scared your character..." 'Scared' should probably be changed to 'Scarred,' as the second can be used for emotional trauma or a physical scar.
On page 10: "Your Scar affects what your starting Pools of Physical, Mental, and Spirit." This should be changed to "Your Scar affects what your starting Pools of Physical, Mental, and Spirit are," or "Your Scar affects your starting Pools of Physical, Mental, and Spirit."
On page 12: "Edge can reduce the cost of a task 0." This should read as "Edge can reduce the cost of a task to 0."
Question: For skills, I'm assuming you can only start with Trained ones? And through roleplay and experience can upgrade it to Specialized?
I'm more of a milestone, 'it's been three sessions, go on and level up' kind of gal myself but the way experience points are laid out here is very streamlined, and doesn't exactly put all the onus on the GM, especially at the end of the session. Nice mechanics for a recap.
On page 14: "they must face something they fear and dealt with it," should be "they must have faced something they fear(ed) and dealt with it," or "they must face something they fear and deal with it."
Thank you for allowing players to take the higher roll after being able to reroll!
I love the More Than Human Option!! It makes total sense with what we've heard in the show, and it's a great way to still have your character show up in sessions without them dying/retiring to some far off farm, never to be seen again. The work you put into the character matters, and this option seems... I don't know, respectful somehow? It's just cool, and I was so happy to read it.
The Patron's boons and quirks all seem very fitting to me! Cool powers while fitting with what we've seen in the show so far.
Random thoughts on 'em:
- It'd be nice to have a wider variety of quirks, but if not they work well from what I've seen so far.
- Is the Hunt much about killing anymore? I think Daisy had said in the Dead Horse episode that catching her prey was the most disappointing part, but I'm not sure how to make that work within the game (it may work as a quirk unique to the Hunt?)
- The Slaughter is usually associated with music; it'd be cool to see that reflected in a quirk or boon! Or maybe in some flavour text as you continue to work on the game
- Ok, I just re-read Infectious Hate, with the "All humanoids that can hear you..." That works for the music aspect!
- Do you think you'll be writing a section for the rest of the Fears? The Lonely (fog, losing your way) and the Buried (claustrophobia, walls pressing in) would inspire some pretty evocative boons!
- People love their character sheets! A basic one would be good to have as you work on the game.
The three phases are a great tool to use (also, thanks for having a GM-dedicated section!)
On page 27: "fair" should be "fare."
So yeah! So far I adore this, and was very pleased when reading through it. You've got some unique mechanics that I'm intrigued to see work when playing, and I can't wait to see any updates.
Also: when you feel it's ready, or if you just want to promote it now, tumblr has a pretty active TMA fandom - it'd be good to post it there to get the word out; and as well, if you're ever looking for online playtesters, I'd love to help : D