Last Res0rt - The RPG [CRP Entry] [COMPLETED]

[madunkieg]

I wanted to give some fast first impressions, so here goes. The game is reliant upon the comic for a lot. I've started reading the comic, but it will take me a while.

Setting:
It seems to be space opera with some new-age style spiritual elements. There's a gladitorial story presented as a reality show within in the comic, but that doesn't appear in the game, and so the name of the game is a bit mystifying if you haven't read the comic.

Presentation:
The art is almost professional-level. It evokes a slightly less-than-serious setting, but not something completely zany or comical. As for layout, it uses huge fonts and large margins to stretch out a small amount of text. The images behind the text make it annoying to read more than a few lines at a time.

Missing bits:
The game is currently missing a technology/equipment section and needs one. Despite the presence of a history, it still needs a setting, something to establish how things work at the time of play. I guess that's supposed to come from the comic, but I haven't got a clear sense of it from what I've read of the comic (or its exposition sections) so far. Experience points are also mentioned, but never come up again.

Areas of conflict:
- racial stereotypes: there are no explicit conflicts, so races can work together, but stereotypes can lead to standard misjudgements and differences
- good/evil ideological stereotypes: a standard reversal - the ones that reflect archetypical good are pompous and prejudiced, the stereotypically evil archetypes are just misunderstood

System:
Success test vs target number. d6, roll and add attribute. 1 and 6 fixed fail/success, so the actual variable range is only 4. Attributes range from 1-6, plus bonuses (up to +3). There are no opposed rolls as near as I can tell, nor are there any consequence mechanics (e.g. hit points), meaning the success or failure of an action does not clearly lead to a result. Given that the comic is filled with violence, this makes the system singularly unhelpful. Equipment doesn't seem to matter (something at odds with the comic).

Characters:
Characters are developed primarily through selecting two types of stereotypes. As such, they come across as a chosen power combination. This reflects well the opening depictions of the characters in the comic, which are initially presented very shallowly. Personality is mostly affectation.
I'm not sure what to do if you roll a refinement stat higher than the potential stat. Reroll? Lower it to the potential stat? And as for role, it is hard to come up with accessories if you don't know what accessories in this universe are like. Examples may be found in the comic, but I'm not sure what counts as an accessory. An earring? A violin case? A weapon?

Suggestions:
There are huge gaps in this game that need to be filled in, both in rules and in setting, on the grand scale and in the details. So much so that it's difficult to give suggestions because I can't tell where you're trying to go with it, though reading more of the comic may help a little. This game desperately needs to go back to the brainstorming stage.

Hopefully I'll be able to give better feedback and suggestions after reading the comic.

[lastres0rt]

See if the comic helps fill in any gaps.

I'll still need to go ahead and add more setting information to the book, just to make it easier for someone who sees the game before the series. (I shied away from covering the titular reality show "too" deeply because I was hoping to encourage Extended Universe campaigns, as opposed to just playing the characters in the comic / coming up with their own Mary Sues. In hindsight, I may have to bring in some of it to pull the game in full circle.)

I'll go ahead and agree that an equipment/tech section is needed, as well as a stiffer game system. I waffled between a more laid-back LARPing environment and a harder tabletop system, but mostly... I just ran out of room. >_> That shouldn't be an issue in later versions.

[madunkieg]

[SheikhJahbooty]

I've been going through my own peculiar slice of hell, so I've been going through the entries slower than I'd have liked.



While I'll agree that more information on the worlds and species and devices of Last Res0rt would be welcome additions to the game, the lack of those in a 30 page contest entry is entirely excusable.

There is however something that boggled me, because it seemed like an important aspect of the comic, and it wasn't present in the game at all.

Characters should be able to totally kick butt when that which they consider important is threatened. For example, I imagine that Addy is pretty tough. I also imagine that when Addy's modesty is threatened, she will shred a room full of scoundrels to get at some decent clothes.

This is probably not a big deal, just a freeform trait or two, what's important to your character? Family? Modesty? Your belief that you are not undead? Threaten that, and you get a big bonus, or roll more than one die, or get do-overs or something. Probably only one page change for when you do the proper rules, and I think it will add a lot to the game, since right now characters aren't a lot more than 15 to 20 stats. But if a character is 15 stats and something that's really important to the character, that starts to feel like a real character, someone to care about.

This is just a suggestion and you don't need to take it, but I think this or something similar would go a long way towards making the game more match the comic.

[lastres0rt]

Mama like!

I'm debating making it two factors -- both to cover something the character actually feels strongly about, as well as someone the character feels strongly about -- though this may be my plot sense tingling there more than my gaming sense, especially as most players won't be as strongly aligned to other characters the way they are in the comic, perhaps.

...

In other news, I've been receiving (and continuing to receive!) plenty of good feedback on the game both here and on the comic site, including a few minor typos. >_> still, getting a hundred-odd folks to go through the game isn't bad at all.

One more week to go until we hear the results. Time is flying through way too fast...

[SheikhJahbooty]

That totally makes sense.

A lot of games make you point your character at one or more other characters. Probably the worst (or best... the game that does it the most emphatically) is Hot War, where probably the most important part of your character sheet is your relationships.

You know what might be cool (even though I'm not really sure how you would do it right now) is if the values don't cancel out if they come into conflict, but instead they get unpredictable.

I.e. Joe
hates Sally
and
loves money

So if Joe does something against his arch enemy Sally, he gets a bonus.
If Joe does something for a large sum of money, he gets a bonus.
If Joe steals a large sum of money from Sally he gets a double bonus.
If Joe helps Sally for a large sum of money the bonus is totally random (maybe the bonus is large because it is a lot of money, but maybe the bonus is small because he hates doing anything to help Sally).
If Joe gives up a large amount of money to stick it to Sally the bonus is similarly random.