Thursday, July 11, 2024

RPG Norm Bias

I shared my diceless rules with my playtesters and was met with some very strong negative feedback. Is this just a bias for the RPG norm, or are my rules truly bad? I don't think that I can know the answer to that question without getting my rules to the table. But, then I have to ask, "Can my playtesters be objective?"

  
  

Perhaps the "RPG norm" bias will color the opinions of my play testers, but the same must certainly be true of anyone who picks up a copy of my zine. What I want to avoid is an initial "these rules suck" reaction. If they really do suck, okay, I need to start over. If they're just different, then I need to find a way to make them approachable.

At first, when I got the negative reactions to what I had written, I was angry. I am proud of what I have here. I think Little Colony is a great little project and maybe one of the best things I've done. Receiving a bunch of negative feedback (and zero positive) took a bit of the wind out of my sails. I want to stay enthusiastic about this creation.

I do have a plan C. I can use a simple 2d6 roll high mechanic and make Little Colony like every other RPG that's already out there without changing the character creation, setting, and world building components that have proven to work so well. I can do that, and I know it will work. So, why does that feel like giving up?

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