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Four interesting games from Metatopia 2017


A little over a week ago I was lucky enough to attend Metatopia, a tabletop game developer’s convention held annually in Morristown, Nj. There, not only was I able to get feedback from other developers on two of the role playing games I am developing (more on those later), but I also got to check out some games being developed by other designers and - along with other playtesters - got to offer feedback. They are still in production, and likely to change, even drastically, before final publication, but I thought it would be neat to talk about them and what I thought about them.

I tried to link the names of the creators to their social media accounts in case you want to know more.

CHARACTER CLASS POLITICS

One of the first developers I got to meet was Michael Meinburg, who developed a live action role playing game (where players live out the scenario of the game, not just simulate it on the tabletop) called The Autocrats’ Gala. The game was set in a dystopia where players took on the role of Autocrats who control the government, Luminaries who represent the media, and the Cogs, who represent the common man. Incorporating worker-placement mechanics borrowed from European board games, players attempt to fulfill the agenda of their role, which can come at the detriment of others. There’s a major element of subterfuge involved as no one is fully aware of anyone else’s motivation.

The session was mostly to discuss the idea of the game and how the mechanics can work out to convey the mindset that Michael wanted the game to have. One of the things we discussed was how, at this stage in development, there wasn’t really an end-point for the play. Players can pursue their motivations for as long as they want, which is fine considering politics rarely have win-conditions and the point of a role playing game is the story that’s developed naturally by the players. But we believed that by giving players some sort of goal they must meet so they have some sense of accomplishment by the end of a session, they will feel more engaged with their characters and what other players were doing.

A major thought I had was that it would be interesting if there was a way to get players of different classes to work together, such as by creating crisis that require everyone to play a part in order for the nation they are all a part of to not be destroyed. This would force players to consider if their actions to harm another player could come back to haunt them, as they would need their aid in resolving an issue that impacts everyone. Do you destroy the iron baron’s mine to financially weaken them, but risk not having the nation protected by the weapons they produce when enemies are at the gate?

I definitely want to give it a try when it's more fleshed out to see where he takes it!

BREAKING THE PRIME DIRECTIVE WITH THE HELP OF BIG ‘OL ROBOTS

Interstellar interventions, developed by Wrecking Ball Game Labs and presented by Henry Ulrich, is a game set in a far future where humanity is spread across the galaxy in a confederate association of planets that largely are unaware of one another’s existence.

A controlling group of sometimes-rival governments, religions, corporations and other such ominous groups control just about everything that goes on at the galactic scale, but are invested in every planet’s politics because they all contribute in some way to the larger universe. When one of these planets falls out of line, which in our playtest involved a local warlord taking over a mine that contributed to the galactic economy, different factions will send agents to step in and resolve the issue.

Playtesters all took a role of agents sent by one of the different galactic factions that wanted to resolve the warlord problem. Our characters were pretty rules-lite, with each of us having the same kind of skills, which gave us a bonus value to dice rolls we performed to complete goals. We determined what gear we came in with, and how it could be used to help us in the game. This was in addition to unique bonuses we received as a result of the faction that was backing us. I thought the faction bonus was a nice touch, as it created both a narrative and mechanical effect in the game; what we could do was influenced by our relationship to a governing body.

The big thing about Interstellar Interventions is that players are able to take control of giant robots in order to help them to complete objectives. Every playtester started the game with their own personal mech that they could enter at any point in order to use its suite of weapons like missile pods, rail guns and giant swords. Using a mech is more involved, providing you with options to jam enemy weaponry, quickly move across the battlefield and target specific pieces of the enemy’s body. It played like a nice streamlined version of Battletech.

It makes sense that more attention goes into the mech gameplay as opposed to the humans, as that is the gameplay hook. This did contribute to my one issue with the game though: it was all about the robots. I played the majority of the time as my human character infiltrating an enemy-held mine, making few rolls to provide context for how I was infiltrating. I did pretty well, getting in unseen and outrunning pursuers as I escaped, but I was the only one who entered. The rest of the party stayed back at mission control, echoing their player’s concern: When do we get to our robots?

And when they did get in their robots to destroy my pursuers, they had a blast. I felt pretty envious of them, as I didn’t get till my own giant robot till most of the combat was just about over.

The concept of the game, both mechanically and thematically, is sound, and could possibly be great, but there is a dichotomy between the two styles of play that makes the game unengaging unless you’re playing it a certain way. I think this could be alleviated by carrying over some of the giant robot mechanics over to the human side and vice versa: as is, my equipment on my human is mostly there for thematic purposes, explaining if I pull a hidden pistol from the small of my back or concern myself with how conspicuous I am having a rifle slung over my shoulder. Both have the same effect, just in a different way.

It would be cool if the same equipment that made it difficult for enemies to target us, observe from a distance, or send drone to scout ahead, could be used by our humans, giving us a larger set of verbs to use to accomplish our goals. This includes the target-based combat; It’s more interesting to know that my shot at the enemy soldier glanced them rather than hit the center of mass.

TEMPTING FATE FOR FUN AND PROFIT