[GB] Playtest Hall Thoughts

[Eliahad]

1. I think we should see if we can run blind playtests. Where we hand them the rulebook and the components and say, "Have fun. We'll have question and comment sheets for you at the end." Hopefully we have something where a group of 3-4 players new to the game can absorb enough of the rules to play a complete game in 2 hours.

2. I would like to have a script written out for us to use.

3. Quickstart section of the rulebook? Is there a way for us to write a 'getting started section' that will give enough of an introduction that folks can get started and only have to look up specific rules?

4. Other things, I'm sure.

[Mike]

We need a sell sheet. A one-page document that can be handed to publishers or any interested party that catches attention, pitches the game, and has all needed contact info. An image search for board game sell sheets gives a plethora of examples.

We have four 2-hour game slots. Do we want to sell them all as 4-player games, since that's a good balance for new players with time restrictions? Do we have some for 4 and some for 6? Cuz we'll probably get however many players we ask for.

[Eliahad]

[Eliahad]

4. 10 word (or so) blurb for the lottery table. (It was something like that, right?

[Mike]

[Eliahad]

Sportsball in mythological Greece with gods cheating for their champion.

10 words!

[Mike]

You're good. Bravo!

[Eliahad]

Woo!

[Mike]

[Mike]

Once we think we're ready for publishers, we need:

A well-rehearsed elevator pitch that clocks in at 2-3 minutes. This pitch gets in The Hook, an overview of the game (object, theme, number of players, play time, learn time, etc), plus whatever we think makes Godball unique.

Questions to ask publishers.

Sell sheet (also available in pdf format, ready to email to anyone who asks for it).

Copies of the rules (also available in pdf format, ready to email to anyone who asks for it).

Prototypes of the game to hand to a publisher if they want one (have two or three available for handing out).

A single document version of the print and play, available for easy sharing.

[FlameBlade]

Few things to keep in mind. When I pitched, I often get questions about how it compares to Blood Bowl. Look into those types and figure out how to distinguish.

[Eliahad]

I can already do this, because I had Blood Bowl in mind as my model for what I wanted to improve upon.

Blood Bowl has a lot of good things going for it, but it has some detriments:

1) High Cost of Entry. Fielding your own team costs a crap ton of money, especially if you want to field something beyond the base set.

2) Tons of rules. I mean tons. Beyond the basic rules, there's all the special powers. And there are edge cases upon edge cases.

3) Stats galore. I love stats, but you always have to have your team sheet nearby, and it's hard for players to know what they're up against.

4) Dice. So many dice. You could, on a bad die roll, have your star player FAIL TO PICK UP THE BALL WHEN IT'S JIST LYING ON THE GROUND AND THERE'S NO ONE AROUND. I get what they're going for, but it bugs me so much. And then the quantity of dice rolls is extreme as well. As well as being the thing that makes Blood Bowl exciting.

5) Takes forever to play. You need to dedicate a full afternoon to playing this thing. Which, again, fine, I know what they're going for, but I didn't want this game to be like that.

Okay, that's what Blood Bowl is that I don't like. I'll work on our list of how we do things differently later.

[Mike]

Good call, Flame.

[FlameBlade]

Just saying: don't go into Blood Bowl comparison. But only do so if someone asks.

But to ward off questions, do try to tweak the pitch so it's distinct from anything that we have seen.

[Eliahad]

Now I understand what you are suggesting.

[Eliahad]

[FlameBlade]

[Mike]

Thank you for the input.

We're going to take all of this and add in the list of stuff above (It's a game for 2-6 players. It takes about 15 minutes to learn and then 60-90 minutes to play a full game. On your turn your hero gets to make all sorts of tactical moves--sprinting, throwing, shoving, etc--based on how many actions you can afford. But then you also get to play one card--one god power--that represents your patron deity breaking the rules for you in all sorts of epic ways... blah blah blah.)

The whole thing should be a well-paced 2-3 minutes. There will also be the quicker "speed dating" version, as well as a slightly more involved version for times that we have a real appointment and have a block of time set aside. We need to prepare talking points to convey the uniqueness and excitement of Godball without getting bogged down in irrelevant details. They don't want to hear about why we eliminated reactions, and they really don't care about our amazing origin story.

We also need a set of questions to ask them: do you see this fitting into your stable of games? What sort of things are you looking for right now? What direction do you see for your company? (And if they give us a no, then) Who would you recommend that we pitch Godball to?

That sort of thing.