Playtesting "Trojan War" From: Steve Pritchard <Steve@spelbind.demon.co.uk> Date: Sun, 13 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000 I must agree with Phil (is this a first?) on the subject of playtesters. Whenever we try out a new game, we try _very_ hard to find people who are both keen, and willing to put up with game glitches and rule changes while we run through the turns. These people are very few and far between, and sadly when most players start dropping behind in a playtest they tend to do exactly the same as they would in a paying game, i.e. drop out. Now, though there are players who stick in normal games to the bitter end, it seems even harder to find those whole do it for FREE in a playtest. Why? Surely if you are getting the game for free, and have the chance to decide the course and design of a new game, it's worth sticking in there and finding out how everything turns out, isn't it? LTWARS, HAND OF THE DEMON and our newby Apocalyptic game are all under playtest and the first two have suffered from useless testers. The third is on its very first turn - wonder how many of the people who asked to test it will not get around to sending in their first set of orders? I'll bet on 10% of them! I will then go on to agree with Bob - if playtesters were asked to pay to play their positions in a new game, then that's is asking for more trouble than is the norm. There you go; an argument for people to flame me over..... Steve Pritchard ******************************************************** * The only thing in life that's guaranteed is failure, * * To succeed you must be willing to take risks. * ******************************************************** Arutha ConDoin - Prince of Krondor Referenced By Up