Hello. I have some feedback/questions for the developers to consider for the full game release.
Let me first start by saying I think I love this game and system so my comments here are completely from a constructive perspective.
What has a turn?
Rules say, “You may choose any hero, villain, or the environment who hasn’t yet had a turn this round (a round ends once every active hero, villain, and environment has acted).” However there is mention of the scene tracker’s turn (see below) and also some challenges have actions. Should both of these be included in the possible choices for next turn? If not when does the scene tracker go and when do challenges take actions?
Scene tracker iteration
The rules say in different places to add a check to the tracker on the scene tracker’s turn and the environment’s turn. This is unclear. I think it should be one or the other. According to the above the scene tracker does not get a turn so maybe it should? And there is not always an environment. If there is no environment does the scene tracker not automatically iterate every round? If it should iterate every round then it should not be tied to an environment’s turn since there is not always an environment. Does a checkmark happen on both the scene tracker turn and the environment turn? Why does the description about environment in the rules mention nothing about checking the scene tracker?
Scaling
The above notwithstanding I think the idea is the scene tracker iterates every round. In addition separate challenges and overcomes can add or subtract checkmarks. I really love the GYRO system of raising the stakes and unlocking hero options but I do have a concern about the scaling. If there are only two heroes that’s only two action for each scene tracker check. If there are 5 there are 5 actions for each check. That seems to put smaller groups at a major disadvantage. I know the adventures scale some things (like one minion per hero) but a lot of the tougher challenges are absolute no matter your team size. Can you give some thought to scaling challenges for smaller teams but without changing the scene tracker or GYRO system?
Adventure design
One of the things I love about the starter kit is also a concern for open world campaigns. The starter kit comes with a lot of adventure materials that give great details about environments, challenges, and adversaries as well as custom scene tracker info. I love what’s in there but what about running this game outside of published adventures? If I want to run an open game it will be a little difficult to ad lib scenes when all of this is required. There is an inherent balancing aspect to creating scenes that might not be condusive to on-the-fly open world gaming. Can you please add (a lot of) modular environments, challenges, and adversaries to the full RPG book as well as deconstruct the anatomy of a scene tracker so I can balance this?