I have had a tremendous amount of fun making Regency. Thinking out all the various tropes, planning the mini games, and digging in to a time period that I find to be so much fun. It is truly something I love and care about. I spend much of my time nowadays day dreaming about this game and how I can make it more interesting and more dynamic.
And then I had to start thinking about math.
Specifically, the statistics of dice rolling and the various ways I could impact my game. What would be a success? What would be a failure? What dice will be rolled?
These questions have been spinning around in my head and making me dizzy. There are so many charts on dice rolling statistics, websites to help you, but it all is a bit much for someone who got a C in Math most years. Yet, that is the core function of the game.
The current plan is to play with a D10 based system, sixes and higher being a success, and dice being added together from the Skills and Personality to make up the original roll. Then the question becomes how many dice can a Player obtain from their Skills and Personality? And based on that, should the difficult be changed? Which brings me right back to math.
However, I can do all the math I want. I could learn all about statistics and likelihood and probabilities, but I won’t know anything until I play test the Alpha version of this game.
That’s terrifying to me.
I would never call myself a perfectionist. I’m not exceptionally orderly and I would never be called clean. I’m a fairly disorganized, do it at the last minute, and hope for the best kind of girl. Yet, every time play testing is mentioned, I freeze up. I am so excited about this game and this idea that abject failure is terrifying. I don’t want the game to be boring or unplayable.
But that’s what play testing is for. Its to test. its to change things. Its to make it go from a subpar game into something people can enjoy. I can dig my heels in all I want but this game will go absolutely no where unless I actually test it. I would like to just make something perfect on the first try, but apparently that’s unlikely for mere mortals. I just have to grit my teeth and start prepping for a play test game.
I think I may have planned the play testing bit out of order unfortunately.
The first thing I’ve planned for play testing is the menu for the day of. I want to host it as a tea party, with all the bells and whistles. There is nothing more Regency than tea time and talking. Tarts, creams, teas, and sweets will be overflowing from the table. If I’m going to play Regency, I’m going to play it right.
Next, I’ve started building up a County for the game. I’ll probably include this County as a sample County moving forward. It will have all the bells and whistles, and tons of interesting NPCs to contend with. A Dowager Duchess, a sweet dressmaker, and even a town Rake. I’m filling this town with ideas and characters and plots for people to uncover and explore.
The third thing is something I haven’t done, but ought to have done first. I need to find players. I will be beginning my search to find people who might be interested in playing a new, untested RPG about that takes place in the Regency Era. Fingers crossed I find some Jane Austen fans in town.
That’s my quick little update. All that’s left is the two new Tropes. I present to you the Spare and the Meddler. Two common characters in Regency era media, they will be marvelous (or disastrous) additions to any Family.
Many-Sided Dice 
Leave a Reply