I Play Games Request Line
A magical thing has happened since I started working on I Play Games! the folks who make the games started asking me to play the games. So, in celebration of Fire Works Day I am starting The I Play Games! Request Line. If you have made a game and you want me to post a play record and review to I Play Games!, I will. If you want my opinion on any game just ask.
-John Lennon
Not really
Actually, I'd have to say that Mr. Lennon has been a helpful participant on this site, and if anything - is a good credit to the name sake.
Besides, there are plenty of other people with the same surname.
There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.
Speaking of John
He has been missing for some time now. He was working with Keeton on expanding 1KM1KT for posting articles, but he has been gone since. I have sent him one or two e-mails asking how he was, but he hasn't replied. I left it at that because I didn't want to harass him, just see how he was doing.
At your leisure and in any order you choose
My 'I Play' requests:
And of course Adventuria when all 222 of it's pages are completed. It may also interest you to know that I am working on another one page solo RPG based off of a MST3K movie. It's a one pager I've had in the works since starting the 2007 challenge. I plan on finishing it in a week, maybe more, maybe less. I'm sure I'll add it to me request list when it's done.
Peace, Errin : )
In case you were interested...
Here's a cut n paste from 1km1kt of my initial synopsis of what my upcoming Leave The Bronx RPG will be:
"The one pager I am working on (and I might do more than one for this challenge, just like I did about 3 last challenge) is called 'Leave The Bronx'. It is inspired by a bad film called 'Escape 2000' that was featured in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode; I believe 'Escape 2000' was loosely inspired by 'Escape From New York', if that helps give a picture of what genre I am dealing with. 'Leave The Bronx' will be about escaping from the city of New York in the dystopic future wherein an evil corporation is clearing out the poor from New York by using 'Deinfestation Squads' to kill them. You will play a lowlife freedom fighter intent on surviving by escaping via a route both above ground and below ground.
I'm thinking the system for it will involve a character having so many life points initially that will slowly be lost due to events and attrition as the character tries to leave the Bronx and escape New York. Each game will be about 20 turns; If a character can get to the end of those 20 turns with at least 1 life point intact, it will be a victory for the player. If the character loses all their life points before the game ends, it will be a defeat for the player. Victory can be guaged by how many life points you end the game with; Defeat can be guaged by how few turns a character lasted before losing all their life points.
I'm also going to base 'Leave The Bronx' on poker cards rather than dice. But, it will be a modified poker deck, with all the face cards taken out. That will only leave aces through tens, which will represent 1 through ten, making such a deck behave as a virtual ten-sided die. Each turn, a player draws a card for what their character encounters. If it is a red card, it will be an above ground encounter. If it is a black card, it will be a below ground encounter. The number of the card (aces count as 1) determines what the specific encounter will be based upon one table for above ground and one table for below ground. Most every encounter will challenge the player in some way to defend their life points from being lost."
Peace, Errin : )
Parameters?
Could you say a little more about what you're willing/able to review and how? So far, its just been a pair of one page solo games - does this indicate a lack of other players or a deficiency of time? Are there certain genres that you prefer or would like to avoid?
I've already gotten feedback on D&B, and Dead EISS isn't in a playable state. Days of Plunder or Lone General might need a review, though they're low priority projects.
What I really need is to get around to actually writing some games to be critiqued, but thats just a personal thing. Anyway....
You might not have read any of my stuff yet, but I want to thank you anyway. I've received a few E-mails about my games before, and its alway wonderful to know people are actually playing these things, rather than simply considering their design.
There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.
Gangland
I don't think it is feasible for me to play Days of Plunder or Lone General due to space issues. I did however find my way over to your site (that has some broken links on it by the way) to find another game you made called Gangland. (Oo better version on 1km1kt!) I might just be able to play that game soon. So, I am likely going to review that game instead. I just read the rules and you don't need a lot of space, just dice. Btw, my piece of advice on designing war games and space: find the common size play mats commonly available with squares or hexes and work with those sizes, if you do not want to just suggest an exact playing mat. It is a shame you don't want me to do D&B, I love those kinds of games and I enjoyed your essay on zombie psych.I might do a little shout out and just put "I Play Dead & Back" with a link any way.
-John Lennon
Play what you want to play, go where you want to go
Actually, its perfectly fine with me if you want to play "Dead and Back" or Sputnik Lost. You could play Eastern Front, Overthrow, Click-MMORPG, or Rings of Jerusalem as well, though the first two in that list are not amongst my better efforts.
Dead and Back stands on its own, though there is a lot of potential story to be found on this site in a number of documents. (Cold Hard Truth, Undead Fairy Tails, located Here and Reanimate Stats) Its not a rules light/one page/solo rpg in the least, so I don't know what your time and player commitment is.
Gangland is in some need of an update, I've just never gotten around to finishing the third document that lays out some of the rules fixes suggested on the 1km1kt.net forums, and a few "micro-settings" that give 2 pages of background info apiece.
As to the wargames, I'm not big on laying out money for models. When I do play these types of games, I tend to go for using bottle caps, chess pieces, or note card chits. As I recall, both of those games should fit on the average dining room table. (as a resident of a US suburb, could my standards for a kitchen be larger than most?)
One of the major I'm into RPGs is that you spend 25 dollars on a book, another 5 for a complete dice set, and you have everything you need. Not many other forms of entertainment can give you so much play time for so little initial cost.
Given that its been 4 or 5 years since I updated that site, the broken links don't surprise me at all. I've been mining to find another hosting service and replace it entirely, but I've never really found the motivation to do so.
Actually, that tends to be my problem with everything. In theory I've got 5 or 6 more projects in various states of completion and plenty of free time, but never really get around to them. Two more one page games (one where you play people in a Jurassic Park like setting, and one where you play the dinosaurs...), two war games based on the rules from Days of Plunder (for WWII torpedo boats and submarines respectively), a third war game with anime giant robots, more material for D&B and Gangland, a new medieval game, a game about ninjas based on the percentile system from GL...
Yes, I am somewhat OCD.
Acknowledgment and feedback are always appreciated. Its pretty rare for me to get a chance to test my games myself. (my player's are not known for being orderly or trying new rules) However, I've gotten more comments on some than others - which is why I suggested testing Dop/LG first.
Good day and good luck with whatever you end up playing.
There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.
Is Eastern Front...
The World War 2 RPG wherein you play a member of the Russian army armed with very little? I always thought that one was a cool RPG, but I never knew you wrote it, Jason. I guess we all have games that we wish could have come out a little better, but I think any game you've made is playworthy.
Peace, Errin : )
Thanks for the complement
It was the first 24 hour rpg I designed, back when the nexus for such games was 24hourrpg.com, not 1km1kt.net. Some of those early games are still very good. EF has see some on and off revisions, I even started making a book in the lab, but it wasn't quite a top priority project. I need to concentrate less on making new games, and more on finishing the 17 or so I've started.
Look at it again, its not so bad, but its far more sparse than it should be. I'd keep the tendency system (roll to act with/against an attribute) but I think combat needs to be changed. More importantly, actual background about the war and equipment should be provided for reference. Unfortunately, I can't actually read cyrlic, so gathering information about a Russian soldier's day to say life is a bit difficult. (Though I did find a book by Gerogi Zhukov in English a few years ago.)
There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.
I never use miniatures either...
But I do like the vinyl grid playing mats miniatures gamers use, because they allow me to play and now design a lot of different games with the same something I pay under $10 for once. You can even write on some of them with water based ink and work out a board game. It has helped me a lot playing MACE and working out dungeons, for recent examples. I'm in a small, city apt. so, I don't even have a dining room table, that biases me the other way. I just think it is easier to use the mat with a grid for things like scale and defining a play area. I'm with you,I'm cheap when I spend on gaming stuff, I only ever buy things that I know I'll play a lot or use to play many different games. (common playing pieces that last) The mat fits my second criteria.
I think I'm going to do that short review of D&B since you didn't mean to discourage me. I'll simply use more words and no play records, because you seem not to need it. I've already played it actually, its fun. SL may also get a mention, just for its cool gag lay out, but I don't have a lot to say about it.
Any Game
As you guessed I have a lack of players,I only have my Rebecca to play consistently with with anymore. But,I play and have played many games,and since joining up here I am playing more and more of your games (yes,your games) at 1km1kt.net.I think I listed the games I like and don't like in my bio.I can't list every game I play or have played right now, but it will all make it there eventually. the list includes card games,board games,video games and no mmorp's or sports. I hope that helps.
-John Lennon
Have you forgotten about your comrades in space?
Sputnik Lost could be an appropriate game for John to playtest and review. It's a one page RPG that could easily be tested solo. Whattaya say, Jason?
Peace, Errin : )
Neyet - Our heroes are remembered
The catch is, SL is a conventional, albeit short, rpg - there's no pre-made scenario/room generator. Lone General is solitaire (supposedly) and the pirate game is just a simple war game.
Given that Sputnik Lost is only one side of the page, I suppose I could challenge myself to write a solo adventure for the other half of the sheet.
Another element is that I'm rather worried about play testing and making rules understandable. SL is more of a matter of style and unusual presentation. User-friendliness was a bit less of an issue.
Of course, I'm not going to stop anyone from reviewing my games. My first 24 hour game actually has a review on rpg.net (albeit an unflattering one)
I'm trying to think of some solo games of my own at the moment. One has a medieval concept (Treasure, Traps, and Trolls) and the other is about navigating the non-Eucludian corridors of a starship with a malfunctioning Schrodinger FTL drive.
There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.
Slander
"Yeah keep laughing, I need time to reload my crossbow."
Use your own name dude. John Lennon was shot and killed by a crazed fan. unless of course you are a ghost writer. I can understand secrecy, sorta....sorry if that's your real name.
At Least Pick a Living Beatle,
Christopher Marnati