Tales of Kthonic Waters - Demo

Hi Nickkat, thank you so much for trying the demo and providing feedback! I am glad the games setting is immersive for ya. 

Quick question, I just want to make sure you're playing the game right. You drew 2 cards yes? And you know you can stack them in any order? 

I allowed freely stacking the cards in any order so players can choose what Narrative Vector and what Relevant Skill best fit the narrative they want to express with the prompt. This gives some choice, but not too much. It's all about creating some breathing room, but not absolute freedom. Of course if you drew the same Suit (Skill) for both cards, you'd be stuck with no choice but to use that skill regardless of whatever you picked for the vector.

Let me explain my design rationale here: I am wary of introducing too much freedom; because restrictions are what drives creativity. 

The fact you had to come up crazy ideas to make Rizz work in the context of the Mer Cockroaches is actually the point of the game. 

The other issue is that certain types of gamers may be tempted to always choose what gives them a mechanical advantage (always pick the skill that gives them the most dice to roll), and that's not how I want people to play this game.

The only absolute freedom is the freedom to interpret, and that's the way it should be for these kind of games. 

If I were you in that particular situation, I would just plop in a random new character, and tie it to rizz to deal with the Mer Cockroaches. For example; the roaches aren't a real threat yet until the new moon, so the next day you went to town and found a professional exterminator who you managed to flirt with and get a date and a discount out of.  They agreed to drop by to flame thrower the roaches and then pick you up for a date. Is it a huge stretch? Yes.....but bad Movies do it all the time. Ideally, you would be utilizing the Narrative Vector and not just pulling a deus ex machina out of nowhere. 

You know, I was actually contemplating axing even the ability to arrange the 2 drawn cards in any order. But that would be a drastic change to the existing rule set. It's been something I've been thinking about (I probably won't do it, because this is asking a lot of improvisational effort from players). 

I can't promise you I will be willing to change anything, but I am still refining the game even now. Thanks for trying the Demo! Feel free to ask any more questions. I love to hear from y'all. 

Thank you so much for giving the game a shot! If you have any questions or concerns, do hit me up.