Eat the Meappets

[Onix]

I want to make the adventure more flexible and I'll eventually have some art for it. Is there anything I'm missing or that seems confusing?

I'd like to make the weird stuff that Meappets do, a little better explained. If you have any suggestions for that, or if it seems like it's already understandable, let me know. I know what's in my head, but I don't know if I've translated it to the page properly.

[Evil Scientist]

Man, this is dark stuff!! And kinda cool I really like the system, especially the depleting dice aspect. The higher dice steps are kind of confusing, though... I feel that they "kill" the simplicity of the design. Probably they come handy as an optional rule for powerful character, but why not cap Meappet rolls at d20?

Okay, some more comments.

I think this has to be structured differently. I think the problem is that the Energy System and the setting are not integrated. If you look at the structure of the document, it's:

1. Short description of the game and it's goals -- this is good and important!! Meappet character descriptions, but with lots of mechanics-related info, which wasn't introduced properly.

2. A huge 7-page chunk on the Energy System, but it is described as a generic system, without any links to Meappets.

There is one link, on page 5:
"Player characters start off with a number
of dice in their dice pool. The
recommended starting number is ten (10)
die for player characters but Eat The
Meappets, characters start with 8d for
their energy pool."

The Energy System is not described in the text as something existing besides this game, so this paragraph is hard to comprehend! Why are my Meappets only 8, and who are the player characters that get 10? The human enemy NPCs?

3. Back to Meappet Street, two pages.


Overall, I think with some more editing and fine-tuning this can turn into a wonderful game!

[Onix]

Good input.

Yes, the system is one I'm using for a bunch of other games I'm working on that have a lot more complexity than this needs. I already pared it down by a lot and had the higher dice steps in my sights to remove but I wanted to throw this out there to get started. I'll put that on the chopping block. I started to put in some examples but haven't gotten it done yet. It needs a lot of cleaning up.

Can you elaborate on your #1? I think you're looking for what I think the game needs, a clearer explanation of the Meappet world, but I'm not exactly sure how to accomplish that. What holes need filling?

[Evil Scientist]

[Onix]

Ok, understood. I was thinking of the adventure as a separate section that is kept away from the player's prying eyes by being further from the introduction and character generation.

[Evil Scientist]

Aaaa, okay, that makes sense!

[Onix]

I think it needs a bit more introduction and at the beginning of character generation a story that introduces a potential character concept. That might make the mechanical aspects more digestible.

[Evil Scientist]

The depleting dice mechanic is really cool. It reminds me of "Elder Signs", a Call of Cthulhu themed board game, which uses a dice pool. There are cards (e.g. curses or soul-sucking demons) that "lock" a dice when they appear on the table. These cards have a small square drawn on them, and you have to put a dice from the pool from there. You have to "free" the dice by using up bonus cards (spells).

[Onix]

I actually came up with it when I misunderstood a post on RPGGeek. I thought it sounded like an interesting fatigue mechanic. I've seen similar things done with ammo and resource depletion. So far it's made for really fun play. There is a lot of strategy that can be overwhelming. I'm hoping to have a little strategy guide for more complicated games. There are definitely best practices. The problem I've had for the system is that it offers way to many choices for a system novice. It's really cool when someone becomes even partly proficient, but I need to have a simplified ruleset for beginners. This game should fit that bill nicely. Now I need to strip out all the options that aren't really needed.

[Rob Lang]

(I'm halfway through reading it and then something interrupts me... I'll get back to you! Like what I see so far)