#gamechef2013 reviews: 9-12 w/ 3 French Game

Game Chef English 2013

9. Icon Theatre Proudly Presents... by Joe J

Twitter Pitch: "Icon Theatre Proudly Presents..." is a game for 3 or more players in which you create a radio drama with an eclectic set of characters.

The Good: It's a fun, quick little improvisation game that's a lot of fun. The characters are extreme and the situations are entertaining. I loved the breaks being the moments where you try to take control and change the situation.

The Bad: Except that I didn't care much for the characters really. I get why it was done, and what's going on but I was kind of ambivalent about the characters. Also, if you don't like improv games you will hate it, and that's just kind of the thing you accept on the design level but it's something I should mention.

The Other: RPS as a mechanic is fine, the fact that you have to win one-on-one battles with the others at the beginning could be the longest mini game game ever. Shouts of "Let me win already" are ringing through my head.

Would I play it? With a group of people who like improv games. Otherwise I'm just shouting at myself about a commercial break for things that don't exist.

10. The Spy by TheBoyd

Twitter Pitch: Story game intended to create short episodic stories about a Secret Agent. No dice or traditional GM/Player relations.

The Good: Short and to the point spy game. Love the fact that there is one main character and the other players are there more to act like the GM throwing out complications.

The Bad: I would have liked more direction in regards to things like how the General determines what lines are in a briefing, and what the lines at the briefing do? Is it one line per scene? Is it one idea and you can build on it. Little more description here would have helped.

The Other: Brevity is the soul of wit, but I'd like to have had a few more little details in regards to what's going on. Maybe even just a paragraph detailing a situation, just something to get us into spy mode.

Would I play it? Here's your briefing agent, good luck.

11. The Heavens and the Hells by Daniel Stull

Twitter Pitch: A post-apocalyptic RPG where the players have to choose a side -- Heaven, Hell, or Humanity.

The Good: Lots of choices here to drive the game. I love the idea that you have working for the side of angels, or demons or saying screw you both get the hell away.

The Bad: Meh? Not that every rule set needs to be ground breaking and original but it felt a little too much like the d6 system ... like actually the d6 system from WEG.

The Other: Back to the idea of choices, I just wish that the choice didn't feel so clear cut. Angels very good, Demons very bad ... I guess there's this weird sense of misplaced individuality that would tell them both to screw off? I just want a little more grey to muddy these waters.

Would I play it? Unfortunately No. Lots of other Heaven and Hell games, and lack of shades of grey make me think no.

12. P O L A R I T Y -- A game with no middle ground  by Maurice Tousignant

Twitter Pitch: The world has gone dark. They came from Us. It's now Us vs Them. You are one of Us. a unique 2d6 system where one die goes up and one goes down.

The Good: The post-apocalytpic setting is always a good one, and the fact that there are humans who have survived and the humans who have been corrupted by whatever They are.

The Bad: Man, the way this is written is so rubbing me the wrong way. It's trying very much for the "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT" game kind of thing which is seriously off putting. Yes, it's a game about success and failure and no other option, but a lot of games have that.

The Other: You might want to consider a little more help for the conflict rolls, like what's the difficulty numbers that should get added. Otherwise your math is kind of skewed. If you both roll 2d6 and one is + for you and - for your opponent then it's a net 0, kind of like rolling 4df there. But your skills can give you +4 and +5

Would I play it? Not really. It may just be me, but reading the game was hard just because of the tone of the writing. This is an example of something that just grated on me and made me immediately not want to play.

French Game Chef 2013

3. Torii par John Grümph

Twitter Pitch: Tokyo, de nos jours. Les pj sont des freeters. Ils se connaissent depuis longtemps, parfois depuis l'enfance, et partagent bon plan et galères. L'un d'entre eux devient par hasard l'héritier de la charge de défenseur des neuf mondes. Il entraîne alors ses camarades dans des aventures guerrières, au coeur de contrées lointains accessibles par des portails magiques, afin de lutter contre les invasions de terribles ogres des glaces et retrouver la mythique lanterne de la premère aube. [Tokyo. People with risky work, and friends since infancy, find out that one of them becomes the defender of the nine worlds. This defender drags his friends into adventures through magical portals to defend the nine worlds against terrible ice ogres to find the latern of fist light.]


Le Bon [The Good]: Wow. Le Dessin de celui ci et excellent aussi! L'idée des cartes et comment ils fonctionne c'est vraiment le bijou de ce jeu ici. [Wow, the design here is amazing too! The cards and how they work is really the gem of this game.]

Le Mauvais [The Bad]: Un, et c'est encore un bête noire pour moi mais quand on utilize une autre culture pour le jeu montre vos sources et vos info. Je sais que vous voulez crée un jeu qui est informé par l'Animé du Japon mais c'est frustrant pour moi parce-que a l'Ouest on fétiche l'Est et ça cause des problems. Dans le jeu, j'aimerais voir les carte utilizer à travers tous le jeux au lieu d'avoir utilisé un dée. [Look, this is a pet peeve of mine, but when you use another culture you need to source your information and your research. I know this was intended to be an Anime game, but it's frustrating because the West tends to fetishize the East which is problematic. In the game itself I'd rather have seen the cards used throughout rather than including a die mechanic.]

L'Autre [The Other]: Peut-être vous pouvez utilizer les cartes et crée un jeu de carte seulement? Les mechanisms sont assez intéressant que j'aimerai joué just ce jeux la. [Maybe you could use the card mechanic to make a card game? The mechanics are interesting enough that I'd play just the card game.]

Jouons [Would I play it]? Le bête noire est assez pour moi que je dirai non.