I put out a focused call for playtesters for Durance, a small game that started as a Game Chef entry, and got 30 groups to commit to playing it blind. I was surprised and gratified! I assume half of them
Nine Roosevelts Update
We playtested Nine Roosevelts Against the Impossible last night and it went well. The bones are strong but it isn’t ready for prime time yet. I can see the fun in it and playing helped me understand what needs to
Surgeons Needed
Do you have a steady hand and a penchant for histrionic, scenery-chewing outbursts? Is your medical license a sham, and is the bandaged patient in 32-A really your twin sister? If so, I need some informal help testing out various
Love in the Time of Seið
Me and Matthijs Holter wrote a game! It’s called Love in the Time of Seið and it is pretty neat – sort of a quick-play hack of Matthijs’ game Archipelago II, which I well and truly adore. This is a
Paging Dr. Playtest
Here are two surgical procedures, a pyloric valve enlargement and a selective vagotomy. The instructions are on individual sheets, and both use the same chart sheet (you’ll need two of MH01). I’d love to have some people try them out
Dying Cowboy Update
I got a chance to playtest Cowboys With Big Hearts again on Saturday at Ice Station Nerdly. It went surprisingly well! Here are the 54 cards: I printed out the card content onto Avery 5263 labels and stuck them on
Camp Nerdly 3
I’m back from the fourth Camp Nerdly, and being back feels good, like a corner has been turned. It was wonderful to reconnect with my scattered friends and feel the Nerdly vibe again. It was especially good to hang out
First Playtest of Carolina Death Crawl
Me, Clinton, Shane, and Remi playtested Carolina Death Crawl today and it went … OK. I learned a lot about how the game works and what it’s weaknesses are currently, which is great. Of course these guys always bring it,
“Fixing” Dreamation
Dreamation doesn’t really need much fixing, but Vinny Salzillo, who organizes and runs it, brought the indie community a list of concerns that he’d like help addressing. It’s to our mutual benefit to straighten this stuff out, even the bits
In Praise of Playtesters
Thanks, playtesters. Seriously, no act of kindness could be more selfless or fraught with peril or ultimately valuable to a game designer. Will it be fun? Probably not. It will probably freeze up, or break, or crash and burn, and