Thoughts of a Mad Scientist: Gamma Juice

Ah, Gamma Juice.... 

The sustenance of life in a bottle. The source of power I will use to make a force the world has never seen before. My gang....no... My ARMY of Grunts will be made out of Gamma Juice!

It's so brilliant yet simple and elegant. Only a paragon of my stature could ever achieve such greatness. Gamma Juice is so simple to make it is insane that no one else had thought of this before. Seriously, all you really need is luciferin, luciferase, oxygen, Plutonium, neodymium, nobelium, liquid Argon, Bromine, and a dash of Gamma Radiation(15 MeV).

Thankfully these ingredients are ooh, so common. Who doesn't have a few hundred pounds of each of those? Almost nobody...that's who, AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA. That makes it all the much more simple to generate great supplies to keep for myself. Only through my brilliance could anyone have amassed these level of resources. In the worst case scenario  I've got my atom smasher just laying around. Even if that breaks down I could use some cosmic radiation in place of the gamma rays. It's easy enough to channel.

I've got a mind on how many different molds I should use to create my Grunts. At least two maybe three.... or four....seven....teen. Variety is the spice of life after-all. I have always had an affinity for ogres and goblins with the occasional orc. merging them together should be a fun task to accomplish. Maybe I can add some cybernetics to them occasionally as well.

Terror will be wrought upon my enemies. Grunts will crash through the countryside and bring woe to who oppose me.

Gamma Juice for the win.

Protospiel Cleveland Here We Come!

Kyle and I are going to be at Protospiel Cleveland from March 9th to 11th this year. It's going to be happening at Cleveland Concoction, a small sci-fi, games, and comic convention at the Bertram Inn & Conference Center in Aurora, OH. So we get to go to a convention but what is Protospiel you ask?

Protospiel is an event where people can bring their prototype tabletop games for other game designers and publishers to check out. They play your game, you play theirs, and everyone gets constructive feedback to help make their games better. It's perfect! A group of people who are all trying to have fun and get better with one another. So much fun. 

So, before we go to Protospiel there are few things that they say people should do to prepare: 

(This info comes from http://www.protospiel.org/page2.html) 

-Mention your design goals from the start. It helps playtesters to keep things in perspective and have accurate expectations.

-Be respectful of everyone's time. Anything you can do ahead of time to sort components, have summary cards available or even plan out how you'll teach the game will be greatly appreciated.

-If it's clear a game is not working well, or that additional play isn't going to reveal much additional information, the best thing to do is stop early. You'll still get plenty of feedback and playtesters will appreciate your consideration.

-After a playtest session, fellow designers will share their thoughts about the game. Be open to their feedback, but make it clear what you're looking for. For example, do you want suggestions for rule changes or are you just looking for their thoughts on card distributions?

These are the big things that we're going to be focused on while we're there and I can't wait to see what other people are making. Hopefully we get to see you there!