The Mushroom Press Design Blog

Hexes…. Again.

At this point Saga of a Strange World is on its fifth version. I remind you, this is the game I am selling for free. I really thought that I would be able to squirt this thing out in a couple of weeks. I truly did.

So I’m going to use the two-month blunder of its design as a chance to pontificate on the necessity of playtesting.

Every single Thursday (and this really should become a podcast) I run a playtest of my latest system for whichever game I’m designing. My long-suffering friends dutifully learn a new system, or a revised version of that same system, and attempt to roleplay through the mire of half-formed rules.

These playtests have been enlightening and agonizing. In addition to the much-needed ego puncture, they invariably reveal the flaws, critical and small, that exist within a body of rules.

Case in point. After the initial two weeks of design, I had enough done in Saga to give it to one of my play testers to run. I got to be a player. He ran us through a two-session scenario purely of his own devising, informed only by the rules and whatever mad rantings I puked out to him as he frantically read the test rules.

His story and characters were awesome. My system was not. It predicted a weird, unintuitive word were people were born wizards or hedge-wizards and could never get any better through study or practice (I hadn’t intended that). It made a world were, although you were guaranteed to win any given fight, you better choose the biggest bad guy or you would be a bleeding stump by the time his 

three buddies fought you in succession.

It made a game where you succeeded before you rolled, but you were always a loser in the end. It sucked hard.

So I went back to first principles. I redesigned the entire combat system, adding a hex-based movement grid and pass/fail rolls. I made a robust reputation system, revised and expanded the magic rules, created an “emergent” in-game economy (one that shows up in play, rather than one dictated by the rules) etc., etc.

I did a ton of work. And since it was pretty skeletal by the time it got revamped, I ran the next test session.

I won’t call it a disaster. It flew, but awkwardly. Like a chicken that dreamt of being a condor.

The combat system was a zero-sum game, like Risk. However, that format is very, very carefully balanced in Risk. Not so here. Combats swung back and forth ad nauseam. The emergent trade economy of Settlers of Catan is also, as it turns out, very carefully balanced. Mine quickly become a confused mess.

And magic… It had dominated the first tests, quickly becoming a player and GM favorite. Determined to keep it dangerous, I over-balanced it into oblivion. Nobody was casting spells anymore, either because of the risk or because of the obscene amount of complexity making it incomprehensible.

So I went back to the drawing board… Again. I redesigned the movement system to be more risk-like, with organic looking “areas” replacing the hexes. I re-redesigned the combat system so it had a “diminishing returns” to reduce the swing. I pulled out 9/10ths of the casting rules and disentangled them from the resource mechanics, opting for a risk-management system. I clarified and studied the bronze-age economy (for which there is an impressive body of research).

Finally, the last (as in “most previous” not “final”) playtest. I ran again, this time echoing the previous two-session outing. It went over well! The combat was deadly and tactical. The magic was dangerous and strong. The reputation system dovetailed nicely with the natural roleplaying. The resource system created fun, in-character bartering and dealing. It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE!!!

So only minor problems arose from this test. Ranged combat was too strong. Magic needed more 

reliability to balance its risks. And my beloved “areas” didn’t have a place anymore. Their tactical need vanished once I allowed more than one character to strike from an area.

So I've had to replace every instance of “area” with “hex” in the text. Again. C’est la vie.