Kickstarter Update #13
After all the cables had been wound just right. Cameras polished and fit back into their snug foam inserts. Tripods returned to whatever circle of hell is sequestered by ‘things you will always stub your toes on and trip’. Sound engineer Mary the Saint said, “You guys are incredibly entertaining. I can’t wait to play the game!” I was positively beaming.
This little nugget is going to be the last morsel my confidence will get to feed on for the next month as I hem and haw over every minute phrase that is no longer under my control.
After that it will be a free-for-all public lashing. Depending on real life events, both the actual playthrough and a fully formatted version of Goblyn Market will be available to the world in about a month!
For the players, it didn’t go exactly to plan (they rarely do in the Goblyn Market!). Highlights include a torrential downpour on the fields of an abandoned dueling ground where Smythe got shot and Crowely saved the night. A blustering patron of the theater cancels their show (featuring a two headed giraffe sized zebra ‘gazelle’) after witnessing production disaster on top of disaster. And a clutch of occultists was convinced to smuggle narcotics into a reputable home for wayward children loom factory. I would be remiss in failing to mention a mysterious woman who hands out lemon drops to the disenfranchised to grow an empire of crime.
What makes these stories so amazing to me is these are the tales woven by the players. Only one of those scenes was fully actualized in the adventure notes. The other two were guided by clues and framed by the available locations. At no point and time did I foresee the sabotage of a stage guillotine (nothing lethal!!) nor that shutting a show down would be a logical next step. And they were. And it was delightfully fun.
Bonus notes: 1) Mary the saint is so amazing at her job she made sure the echoing sound of a ticking clock is heard throughout the recording to mimic the ever-present Tootle Pip! (er, happy accident but insanely on point for the feeling of the game.) 2) A player was so convincing during a curse we didn’t even notice. I can’t wait to do the watch back to see if I recognize it when it happens! They said it was so nerve racking whenever it came back to them, they had to ad lib the entire turn.
Updated: A Most Wicked Wig
In anticipation of the ruleset being finalized and sent to print I have updated the free adventure for Goblyn Market available at my itch.io page: A Most Wicked Wig in Bonmont by Paroxysm by Design (itch.io). The Character Creation support doc has been updated too: Character Creation for Goblin Market by Paroxysm by Design (itch.io)!
Playtesting Mutant City Blues
I was lucky enough to get drafted into a playtest group for a new adventure written for Mutant City Blues based off of the GUMSHOE system by Pelgrane Press. This is my first foray into getting to actually play the game despite purchasing the physical book during my initial foray into collecting RPG systems almost a year ago. The reason this is so exciting for me is I’m also hoping to create adventures for the game as well. Hopefully this will give me a springboard into the fascinating Law & Order with low powered superheroes genre I need!