Per, can you take a look at this one?

Oh, and don't anyone overly worry too much about typos in this. Those will get eradicated when it's in proof.

Per has had a copy for a week or two actually, so hopefully he's read it already :)

And I always worry about typos ... because people often find it hard to look past some bad spelling or grammar and see what's underneath, even if they are trying to ignore it

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

I have read through most of it (not proofreading, though) and was going to feed some thoughts back to David - but I'm not quite there yet.

I hope it has not delayed anything - I'll get my act together and zoom in on the pages about scene setting - what pages are they in the version 7 of the rules, David, I can't seem to locate them?

Per
http://darkplaces.squarespace.com

Nothing delayed, Per. Although I'm sure I frustrate David from time-to-time. I think it's coming together and I'm finding time this weekend to read the latest version again.

So, any and all feedback welcome.

Graham's book ‘Play Unsafe’ (available from Lulu, plug) is also something that would really help someone running a game of Solipsist I think.

Dave,

I'm supposed to be doing some really important work on Umlaut, so obviously I've taken some time to look this over, I haven't read the rest of the game, so I'm probably not completely useful at this stage. Please don't see what I've said as harsh or whatever. Hopefully this'll be useful.

1

Scenes

"A scene is a slice of action from the game"

So, what about parts of the story where people are just sitting about talking and drinking coffee? If there's no action, that's not a Scene? Bear in mind that for a lot of people, action = fights/car chases.

"The players then respond in character" So, the players have to play in character and play act through the scene?

Also, does the GM play any part in the actual scene? At the moment it looks like he just sets the scene, then the players play-act their characters for a bit and then the GM sets another scene whern he decides that needs doing.

Introducing a scene

"He will describe the location, the mood, the action, and any other creatures that might populate the scene, along with whatever challenge or obstacle makes the scene worth describing. For example the GM might say :" Creatures? I'd think you might want to mention non player characters here.

2

Responding to a scene

"A Solipsist may be robbed, imprisoned or even killed at the GM’s instigation, if the Solipsist does not change reality to avoid it, but this does not alter any traits, raise or lower Infestation, or give any Tears." This sentence has 5 commas.

Interacting with a scene

So, basically, the players say they want their characters to do something and the GM decides if they succeed or fail.

Changing Reality

OK, this really needs an example to make it a bit clearer. I think what you're saying is and the previous section is "if a player wants to do something, they can either ask the GM if it's possible, (and the GM gets to decide) or they can declare that their character is changing reality and force that action to be possible."

Types of Scenes

3

Opening

So the GM gets to decide where the PCs are at the start of the adventure. Perhaps this should be discussed and agreed with the players? Players will likely have and idea of where their characters would be at any given time.

Arrival

So an Arrival scene is requested by a player and set by the GM? Is it requested, as in, can the GM prevent (or postpone) an Arrival Scene being called?

Limitations

I haven't reads the rest of the game, but are Limitations only rated by how often they appear or are they also rated by their magnitude? If a player's sick mother calls, what do the other PCs do in the scene? I don't know how many scenes you expect to have make up a story or how many limitations the PCs are likely to have, but consider the chance that a large proportion of them could be Limitation Scenes.

Obsession

"When relevant" When is it relevant? Is this explained elsewhere? I assume that the GM decides this? There needs to be guidelines for this (which there may well be elsewhere) because this looks like it might be a way for the GM to arbitrarily push Infestation onto a player. Obviously I don't know what that means (having not read the rest of the game!) but it sounds unpleasant.

Conflict

Needs examples of (and advice on) how an Obsession and a Limitation can be put into conflict with each other. Be careful here, there's a phenomenon which is sometimes called the "Batman Bang" which you probably need to think about with this sort of stuff.

Shadow

Hang on, a scene type specifically for Shadow's attacking the players. Please give an example here, because it sounds like a typical scene of this type would be along the lines of:

"You are all in McDonalds. A Shadow crashes through the window and attacks you!"

4

Thread

This section makes no sense to me. That may be because I have no idea what a thread is in this context, but again, no examples. Is this a plot thread or something less meta?

Before Play

"Before play begins there are a number of housekeeping tasks which are usually
(though not always) the job of the GM. Some of these are outside the game, such as
providing a place to play or something to eat, others, however, are part of the game."

Ooooh, I like that.

Setting

I see where you're coming from with this, but I personally think you just drop all mention of the game being played in any other setting than the modern world. "The starting setting is the modern world as you understand it." Sure, people can (and probably will) drift the game into other settings, but (IMO) that's up to them and not really the scope of the document you're creating for them to learn to play from.

Character creation

I'm tempted to say that deciding the setting and creating characters are all part of play. You suggest that PCs should be created as a group. I would say that you should not suggest it but would be better off demanding it as the first steps of play: When you get together to play Solipsist, the first thing you do is decide on the setting, then you create characters together.

Thanks Rich, much appreciated.

My initial feeling is that we maybe need some stuff on setting up the game world at the beginning as part of character creation, "holding ideas lightly", and getting the players to drive play (rather than having the GM drag players this way or that).

I'm curious, why there and not in this chapter? Is it because you expect people to not read all the way through before starting the game (a perfectly fair assumption, I have to say)?

I had tried to break it into clear sections, making a character, resolving a reality change, structuring a game, and saw them as building logically in sequence (i.e. you can understand the rules without seeing how a character is made, and you can't see how a game is structured without having seen the rules first.

Make sense?

...but it is not my intention to have that advice in the character creation chapter. Does this make it any clearer?

It will all be clear on my notes.

No problem, much appreciated!

Oh nice catch, I hadn't spotted how action would probably be interpreted. I wanted a word more interesting than "a series of events" and was using action in the movie sense, just meaning what happens in the game ... hmmm ... might need another word!

I think I meant *describe the actions of their character* .... only I don't think that works either.

That is to some extent true, and I was trying to move away from the previous version, which had a very invasive GM, which is how I traditionally GM :) I need to say that the GM controls those elements of the scene that are not the PC's, which I thought I had, and controls the NPCs

OOops, yep!

I love commas :P

Yes, if they decide not to change reality, which is an explicit and mechanical resolution mechanic, then their success or failure is totally up to the GM. Trust me, it makes sense in the context of the game ... or I hope it does!

That's it exactly, mind if I steal that wording? There are loads of examples of changing reality in the previous chapter, but another won't hurt.

I'm in two minds about that. Letting the player's decide is often a recipie for a confused and pointless start to your game. Maybe I should just note that this is part of the story creation, i.e. the players have input on the sort of story being played.

In our playtests the GM didn't postpone or prevent them, they happened as soon as it was possible (i.e. the current scene was finished first in some cases). I think postponement is probably as bad as preventing, once you can postpone you could postpone forever couldn't you.

They are rated by magnitude, so a low magnitude sick mother has little effect. Their main roll is in determining target numbers for change reality tests.

It's generally a reward actually :)

Anyway, when is it relevant, that's the hardest question in the game! I think your post on the trait thread had the answer for me, it is the GM's role in the game to arbitrate whether traits are relevant.

Yes ... I'm not even sure I should have this as a scene type, Shadows cover a lot of it. Can you tell me more about the Batman Bang?

They get the whole next chapter to themselves actually, and half of the first chapter, and some parts of the previous chapter :)

Both actually ... it's totally out of context without the rest of the rules, my appologies for that

Great!

Solid advice there. i wrote it in because the question was asked, but I think you have a neater answer. i.e. "it just is"

Yep, I could certainly go with that. I should probably say that in the introduction to the whole rules section as well.

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

Ummm .... no :)

I'll wait for the notes to make everything clear :D

Pokes Gregor .... notes? :)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

It is on the list of things to do.

You are being overworked again aren't you :)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

Hi. I had a read through the document last week and had some similar points to make as Rich. Would it be more useful to write up my thoughts here or in email?

Thanks for the offer Joe, I think it would be easier here, if that's okay, since then I can compare things all together. What's point of a discussion forum if I ask for private comments after all? :)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

I was hoping to do some writing on this over the Christmas period. Any chance of those comments you all have stored away in your heads (or in Per's case left on the train :P)?

Pretty please?

(I'd email, but I don't have Joe's email)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

How is development going, by the way? I don't think I've got any concrete useful help to give at the moment, but by way of encouragement I really do have to say that this is probably the Indie product I'm most looking forward to at the moment :) Hang on in there!

Ash

Oh that's so nice Ash, thanks!

Development is not going badly, and I'm a lot happier with the new GM advice and play structure than I was with the old one, since I think it makes much clear what was in my head, but didn't have the tools to articulate. I think we will still be well on track to have it printed and released by March (in time for Conpulsion in Edinburgh).

On the downside I don't think we have had any reports back from any of the groups who agreed to do the playtesting of version 5/6, good or bad, which probably means it was never played. I don't have, sadly, a lot of contacts with suitable gaming groups who might be able to do playtesting and give me feedback, and I would like some more! :)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

Sorry to hear about playtesting being a problem. I'd offer to help, but I have extreme difficulty pulling together a group of testers at the best of times, and since it's now the christmas holidays and all my student friends have gone home it's even harder to find a group!

Ash

Yeah I know what you mean!

I'm not sure if it's just sitting on people's piles somewhere, but I have had copies out with people for 3-4 months now, which is about as long as I can expect to wait and still think I might get a response.

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually