MAGFest 2022 was a great experience! I learned more about encounter balance for both Alter Arms and Skrap Packs, and met a number of wonderful people with some great stories to tell through the games and feedback to provide. With Alter Arms , the main feedback I got was in terms of learning the system and encounter balance: Coming into the game with characters with at least one advancement can be fun when multiple special abilities are applied to actions, but it can be overwhelming for new players learning the new system. The different kinds of actions a character can take, the bonuses they can create for themselves and their allies, and managing the pressure their characters are under can be a lot to take in all at once. What I've found by comparing the MAGFest 2022 playtests to other playtests is that the game is easiest taught in steps: at PAX Unplugged I brought characters in before they had any transformations or special abilities. They were left to solve problems with just
I'll be at MAGFest 2022 (Gaylord Convention Center, National Harbor, MD, Jan 6-8, 1PM until close) as part of the Indie Tabletop Showcase, a venue where tabletop designers can demo their games. There, I'll be running Alter Arms , a tokusatsu-inspired tabletop role playing game where players take the role of heroes who gain a variety of powers by taking on different forms, and combining the abilities of those different forms together to pull off spectacular feats! I'll also be running Skrap Packs , a rules-lite, card-based tabletop role playing game where players build decks of cards, with each card representing an item they've scavenged. They'll use these items in creative ways, to solve problems, even combining them together to build new and unique tools! I'll have a rundown of feedback of the games sometime in the following week. My next demos after MAGFest will be: Alter Arms: Jan 15, 2PM-4PM Eastern via Discord where I'm starting an ongoing campaig