Weasel | 16 Feb 2016 9:45 a.m. PST |
Pretty much all of these have happened to me or friends of mine, so I thought I'd lighten the mood a bit. If you're the one that made them happen, you have my love :) *If you write a skirmish game, the first AAR posted online will be a company level battle.
*If you write a 6mm battalion game, your biggest fan will play it as a 15mm platoon game. *The rule the playtesters like the best, is the one they interpreted to mean the opposite of what its supposed to. *The email telling you how much they enjoyed a convention game will focus on a house rule the game organizer added. *8 people read through the book, finding and fixing countless errors, bad phrasing and awkward word choices. Everyone misses the typo on the cover. *The examples will be wrong. *The reference sheet will have errors. *There'll be at least 2 rules you never actually used yourself. *There'll be at least 1 optional rule you always use and don't really consider optional at all. *The scenario you never did playtest is the one customers say is the best balanced. *"I really like your 10mm Napoleonic game but maybe you could change these things and switch it to 15mm world war 2, and actually, I think Flames of War is a great name for a game" *There's at least one rule that got cut, because you'd been looking at the document for 36 hours straight and couldn't be bothered to finish writing the paragraph Share your own. Keep it light-hearted. |
Saber6 | 16 Feb 2016 10:12 a.m. PST |
I've seen nearly all of these. "Historically the 4/33rd Mess Kit Battalion did XYZ. Why do your rules rate Mess Kit Battalions as Q?" |
Extra Crispy | 16 Feb 2016 10:48 a.m. PST |
- The change you made on page 8 directly contradicts a rule on page 41. In 6 months no one has noticed.
- The simplest most obvious example of how to move between 2 buildings will cause endless email exchanges and mass confusion. The arcane and highly complex procedure for calling for MedEvac will generate none.
- If you write an infantry game, the first question will be how does it handle mass tanks?
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Lee Brilleaux | 16 Feb 2016 10:54 a.m. PST |
Twenty years after you publish a game, someone will contact you to ask for a clarification of page 45, paragraph 3. If you are unlucky, they will call you at midnight, because it's 9.00 where they live. |
avidgamer | 16 Feb 2016 12:13 p.m. PST |
"Why are there skirmisher rules included?! They don't belong in this game." or "Why aren't there skirmisher rules included?! They belong in this game!" |
Weasel | 16 Feb 2016 12:36 p.m. PST |
Avid – You can substitute "points values" there too :-) |
Just Jack | 16 Feb 2016 12:57 p.m. PST |
From a Playtester's Perspective: "*If you write a skirmish game, the first AAR posted online will be a company level battle." It's not my fault you wrote the perfect set of company level rules but thought they were skirmish level. And it wasn't the first AAR. "*The rule the playtesters like the best, is the one they interpreted to mean the opposite of what its supposed to." You should have been more clear in your writing. And my way was more fun anyway! "*8 people read through the book, finding and fixing countless errors, bad phrasing and awkward word choices. Everyone misses the typo on the cover." I was thrown off by all the commas. "*The examples will be wrong." AND "*The reference sheet will have errors." Man, you really suck at writing rules! "*There'll be at least 2 rules you never actually used yourself." I used every rule at least once, though probably not at the same time. "*There'll be at least 1 optional rule you always use and don't really consider optional at all." Amen. Or houserule, because the author wasn't smart enough to include it in the final version. "*The scenario you never did playtest is the one customers say is the best balanced." What scenario!? You need more scenarios! These were all tongue in cheek; well, most of them! ;) V/R, Jack |
Weasel | 16 Feb 2016 1:22 p.m. PST |
*reduces USMC Morale by 1* |
rampantlion | 16 Feb 2016 1:33 p.m. PST |
I can't wait! My first set are at the printer now and I am sure when I have them out in circulation someone/someones will shred them. |
Weasel | 16 Feb 2016 1:45 p.m. PST |
Good luck Rampant and do share a story or two with us :-) |
evilgong | 16 Feb 2016 2:39 p.m. PST |
You walk a group of testers through a game and somebody throws a freakish run of dice that pushes an interaction way into the outliers, they think, despite your assurances, this is the normal state of affairs. David Brown |
vtsaogames | 16 Feb 2016 6:29 p.m. PST |
The last typo reveals itself when looking at the printed copy. If you're lucky. Otherwise a bunch of typos. That's also when you realize a simpler way to explain the turn sequence. |
TheBeast | 16 Feb 2016 6:59 p.m. PST |
Mr. Brown, that was MY story! ;->= You forgot 'and proves it is the game they've been looking for all their adult life.' Doug |
Weasel | 16 Feb 2016 9:30 p.m. PST |
One I've been guilty of: (the accursed FiveCore displacement rule) The one line that clarifies the entire point of how to implement the rule gets left out of not one, not two but three versions of the game.
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McKinstry | 16 Feb 2016 10:17 p.m. PST |
My favorite moment from a learning session with a set of naval rules for RJW, Question – "I want to stream a balloon for shell spotting." Answer -"You cannot because a) the Russians didn't have a balloon on their ships b) it would not work at 15 kts c) it isn't in the rules." Response – "but they could have if…." Actual gamers playing set of rules are fantastic at testing to destruction. A corollary is play testing a game for a Con. Run it 20 times at home, polish it and the minute you run it at a Con, someone will do something straight out of left field. I cannot say how many games I've played at Cons where the GM says he's been running it for years and nobody ever tried X – usually resulting in a massive win or loss ending the game in half the planned time. |
Ottoathome | 16 Feb 2016 10:18 p.m. PST |
In my experience… I try my darndest to not let typo's get through. My wife, who was a newspaper editor and proofreader, catches most of them. Some get through. It doesn't matter, no one ever gets them, their spelling and grammar are worse than mine. You write a set of rules. Two years later you are going back to look something up you find an egregious error that completely reverses the effect, and tells you to do the opposite of what you should do. No one in the group has noticed. The guy in the group who you've been gaming with for a decade who EVERY game asks you how many die does a machine gun roll? You tell him it depends on how many units are in the hex, that it rolls one die for each unit in the hex. There are twelve units in the hex. Blank stare follows… "Ok" he asks, how many dice do I roll." Ten years later he's still asking the same question! Even worse! Three turns later he's asking the same question. "Your game is great! It's just like "Umpires, Ego's and Liars." It's nothing at like those rules." You point out to the person that it is, in fact, nothing like them." There's a blank stare, a moment of silence and then "Yeah, that's what I said, it's just like Umpires, Ego's and Liars." That moment of silence was the brain rebooting. I tell ya! watching people try and teach themselves the rules is like watching the retarded play with power tools. |
DuckanCover | 16 Feb 2016 11:40 p.m. PST |
"One I've been guilty of: (the accursed FiveCore displacement rule) The one line that clarifies the entire point of how to implement the rule gets left out of not one, not two but three versions of the game." Weasel- if the explanation has been corrected to your satisfaction in "Sage Wisdom", I'll be sure to highlight that point in my print copy for future reference. Duck |
Narratio | 17 Feb 2016 3:19 a.m. PST |
Internet purchases. "Where can I find an Urdu translation of that great game "Blue coats kill brown coats"? Why didn't you do one? May I do one for you, my hourly rates are cheap!" Ahh yes, skirmish rules. "The British bayonet was 4 inches longer than the German bayonet so, in melee, they don't have to to check to see hits first, they should always cause damage first… right?" |
Andy Skinner | 17 Feb 2016 4:10 a.m. PST |
From when I was going to playtest one of Weasel's rulesets: You send rules to someone for playtest, and it convinces them they want to return to that old set they used to play. andy |
Weasel | 17 Feb 2016 8:10 a.m. PST |
Duck – it is :0 Andy – ah right, I should have put that one on the list :-) |
Parzival | 17 Feb 2016 1:23 p.m. PST |
My biggie, just discovered, was for a quick space combat game (not GOBS) where combat results might cause a ship to become "damaged." In reworking the rules recently, I discovered that I neglected to state what being "damaged" did to a ship: as written, there was almost no difference between a damaged ship and an undamaged one! My intent, and my way of playing, was that a damaged ship couldn't take offensive actions. So I basically had "the rule I play but forgot to actually write." Doh! |
Extra Crispy | 17 Feb 2016 3:55 p.m. PST |
You explain that melee is EXTREMELY deadly and fast and should be used only as a LAST RESORT. Turn one Player 4 launches a Banzai charge. Hrrmmm. |
etotheipi | 18 Feb 2016 8:38 a.m. PST |
Consoling the player who complains, "But I killed the most opponents…" in a non-attrition objective based scenario. Having someone praise your eloquent prose describing the scenario terrain laydown then asking what page the referenced diagram was supposed to be on. Using awesome, colorful names for the characters throughout a scenario and realizing you published it with the generic unit names on the stats reference sheet. Publishing a .pdf scenario with three copies of the same unit chit markers page in it instead of three pages of chit markers with different insignia. |
Weasel | 18 Feb 2016 8:52 a.m. PST |
Some of those sound oddly specific :-) A smaller one but one that I'm sure is familiar: *Changing a rule. No matter how hard you try, at least one reference to the old rule will be hanging out somewhere. |
Great War Ace | 18 Feb 2016 7:08 p.m. PST |
You have been playing the same game for over thirty years. You go to look up a specific rule and it isn't there. You look for it and it isn't anywhere. The entire games comes to a halt as everyone tries to find "the rule". Turns out that "the rule" is a house or club rule only, and yet everyone swears they read it "somewhere". Our air war rules are riddled with examples of this. The author is dead. Safely beyond our reach…. |
ochoin | 19 Feb 2016 6:37 a.m. PST |
I try my darndest to not let typo's get through. Ottoathome: you seem to struggle a bit with possessive case. I'd be glad to proofread your stuff for you. |
TheBeast | 21 Feb 2016 5:06 a.m. PST |
The guy in the group who you've been gaming with for a decade who EVERY game asks you how many die does a machine gun roll? You tell him it depends on how many units are in the hex, that it rolls one die for each unit in the hex. There are twelve units in the hex. Blank stare follows… "Ok" he asks, how many dice do I roll." Ten years later he's still asking the same question! Even worse! Three turns later he's asking the same question. Randy, is that you? Why are you making fun of me here??? ;->= Doug |
etotheipi | 21 Feb 2016 11:30 a.m. PST |
And, of course, the best thing about publishing rules online: Uhm <delete><delete>, I think you <delete><delete><delete> must have some<delete>how gotten a <delete><delete> defective .pdf. Here, <type><type><type> I'll send <type> you a correct <type><type><type> version in <type><type> just a <type><type><type> minute … |
Weasel | 21 Feb 2016 1:46 p.m. PST |
Any time a copy/paste goes wrong :) |
Wolfhag | 29 Feb 2016 12:31 p.m. PST |
"These rules can't be right. I lost 3 Tiger I's and only knocked out 2 Sherman's. I should have knocked out 15 Sherman's." I pointed out that one Tiger was KO from a lucky turret ring hit. Another took a hit on the mantlet that knocked out the gun sight. The third one had a Sherman sneak up behind it and put a round into the rear engine compartment. Just bad luck and poor positioning. I told him if the rules reflected historical reality before the game started one Tiger would be broken down and another out of gas. Wolfhag |
etotheipi | 02 Mar 2016 5:52 a.m. PST |
My favourite playetester comment, "These rules suck for insurrections! Don't you have anything else for that peasant's revolt game we did a couple months ago? That one rocked!" Same game. |