The Combat Primer is up! Check it out in the Downloads section or right
here.
Wow. It's weird to have it out there in the big old internet like that. I'm proud of it, and very happy, but it's been such a long haul to get it ready that it just feels different to have it out there. Wow. It feels great, actually. I hope people dig into it and start to explore the possibilities.
Now, about that playtest...
It was with the club at school today. It went pretty well. We had about 90 minutes. We managed to fit in one large combat (5 PCs, 2 major NPCs, a horde of zombies, bystanders, etc.), one small combat, a chase scene, and a social encounter. Oh, and we also created characters at the start of it, and 3 of the people had never played before. So I'm very happy with the quick pace of the game.
Anyone that wants to, feel free to jump in. Hopefully some of you who were there are going to post! Here are my thoughts:
* Combat was fun. It was not the most strategic session because of the way things developed with the wolf child's Whirlwind Strike. I think that one needs a cap. Also, with large groups of PCs facing just one NPC (or vice versa), the correct tactics tend to be straightforward: everyone piles on. So, good but I missed that extra "oomph" of tactics that I'm used to from SK. In the final battle, however, that was totally awesome how Mike pulled off the Anticipate called shot. I had no idea when he was looking at the witch's Curse sheet that that was what he was doing.
* The chase went smoothly. I'm liking how the mechanics flow smoothly from chase into combat and out. One point to consider is the Dooms (difficulties). Seems like they were a little low. On the other hand, the mud snakes probably would have been more of a consideration if it had been an ongoing campaign (and thus a poisonous snake bite and the characteristic damage would have had harsher consequences).
* Social encounter was great to get a different angle. It would have been nice to try the more improv-y elements in a second one, but that will have to wait for next time!