Ribbit.

The last two weeks have been crazy with Hell for Leather rearrangements. I’ve ditched new rules, brought back old ones and stitched in a new scene structure. You’ll be able to see the difference from the new two page Cheat Sheet. Too-wit too-woo!

I just need to run it through a couple more playtests and then whammo, it’ll be done. Right?

I was enormously impressed with the quality of submissions. In this post I outline what I’ve learned, point you to the runners up and finally close with the winner.

If you write a contest, make it easy to enter.

That’s what I learned from this project. By that, not only do I mean make it simple and clean, but also make it attractive. I’d originally titled the contest “Build me a Frame.” As soon as I called it “Write 7 Lines in 10 Days” people took interest. It seems obvious in hindsight.

If you want to break English, make sure you tell people that’s what you’re doing.

In Hell for Leather Checkpoints don’t mean locations, they mean tasks. This was completely miscommunicated. Unless you play specific kinds of shooty video games, the word “Checkpoint” means a point at which a check is made. Did I highlight the difference in the contest? Did I go out of my way to translate my intention? Check the submissions. They shout my mistake.

Runners Up

Which leads me on to the runners up. My god, your brains are big and generous. There were some beauties in there that I’d love to use in the book—but the checkpoints didn’t fit the template. Check out Group Therapy, Virus, Frankenstein Prison (Forge), 19th Century China (Forge), Eyes in the Skies, Fragile Future, Zombie Football Team or the Lovecraftian School Trip (Forge). Amazing artistry.

That made it a little easier to choose the runners up (which feature on the Hell for Leather wiki). All of these are awesome and unexpected. Well done guys. Here they are:

The French Wars of Religion by Eoin Corrigan (Cobweb)
Aztec by Jason Hickey
Rome by Daniel Z. Klein
Terran Resistance by Hudson
Inside the Code by Ben Wright
Angel Apocalypse by Christopher Heath (Forge)
Rumble Fruit by Joe McDonald

Winner

Before I announce the winner, a special nod to Ron Edwards, Joe Murphy, Joe McDonald and Pete for trying to bend the game. You are rebellious and inspiring.

Now, on to the potatoes of the contest. Baruuummmm Baruuuuump! Congratulations to Sam Zeitlin for his winning entry, The Most Dangerous Game. It’s off kilter, colourful and open to massive interpretation, yet it’s clean, simple and direct. Maximum points for elegance.

Well done everyone and thanks for helping out!

Sebastian.

The Most Dangerous Game (by Sam Zeitlin)

Setting: Victorian, steamships, tropical jungles, waistcoats, hansom cabs,
Adversary: The Somerset Gentlemen’s Club & Hunting Lodge
Gore Threshold: 4
Connection: Survivors of the wreck of the SS Jeddah
Drop-off: The rocky beach of Ship-Trap island
Objective: London, England
Checkpoints: Escape the Colonel’s island, hijack the RMS Oceanic, kill Lord Chancellor Chelmsford

You betcha.

At the beginning of 2G1N, George Cotronis (cover artist for Don’t Lose your Mind) offered artwork (worth $200) for Best Horror/Dark/Violent game.  Just a few hours ago, Hell for Leather won that prize. A great victory for shallow, gory violence! Hurrah!

In other competition news, Hell 4 Leather, my co-pilot’s entry, took main stage and won the Best Game award. I like to think my advice and support was integral to that victory (please read the irony). Before I leap back into my work, just a quick congrats to Joe. He’s got vision and gaming panache. Bravo!

Since I finished Hell for Leather last week, I’ve been struggling with the absence of closure. I  know it’s not finished, yet I’m desperate to get it finished. Between now and February I need to give the thing a serious run for its money, and I need some critical feedback from a blind audience, but I can’t control when that happens or how much it will happen.

So what do I do now? Try to push for a layout on a text that I know is incomplete? That MUST be a waste of time. Try to get a remote playgroup to read, run and write it up? There’s no guarantee that’ll happen, no matter how much promo and networking I attempt online. Harangue my own group for some more feedback? I’ve already busted up their weekly game for a month.

I’ve got to look for another source. It’s time to hit the Irish Gaming scene.

This afternoon, I’ll post some advertisements on the Irish Gaming forums, and investigate the local Uni gaming clubs. I’ll have to bribe with beer, no doubt, but that’s worth it if I can get some useful feedback. This may yield some good results, but not quickly, and not regularly. Which brings me on to the second part of the plan.

Chill the fuck out. Aka Patience. There’s no point rushing it. My goal was to print for Conpulsion in March, but is that realistic? What if it doesn’t happen? Is that really a big problem?

Network locally and chill the fuck out. That’s my goal for Hell for Leather until next year. In the mean time, it’s back to Way of the Agent.

It’s all over, the competition has ended, and it’s time for me to reminisce.

Busy Bee

What a gaming month. Since the competition started, I wrote a game, playtested it for 20 hours, visited Ireland’s biggest gaming convention and hosted two on-line RPG sessions. I’ve been sleeping erratically, ideas bouncing and spewing out with irreverent enthusiasm, keeping me awake until dawn. I’ve been eating like a student, ignoring my friends and arguing with myself on the street. I feel like a yo-yo that’s been made to ‘walk the dog,’ sometimes rolling or spinning on the spot, sometimes shooting off into the ether, pulled away on someone else’s whim. It has been manic, introverted and productive. And Hell for Leather is the result.

Drawing Board

I should probably take some time to talk about a few design issues while they’re fresh in my head. At the outset, I imagined a GM-lite co-operative game with a toolbox for facilitation. That is, I expected a trad game with some clever charts and knobs, so GM-ing would be zero prep and adversarial. There were four stats in the game, and you rolled inside a target. As a player, you were trying to build up ‘safety points,’ which brought you closer to your ‘safe haven.’ The GM could spend points (earned from your mistakes), to oppose you, or just add colour. Blah, blah, blah and so on.

The only thing I kept from the original draft was the Conflict Target (the bowls style dice solution). Some of the changes came in early, after Joe Prince took a peek. The GM vanished, the number of stats were reduced, and a new kind of currency for the game was formed, all thanks to the support of Joe Prince and a couple of my peers. The rest of the changes came during playtesting. For the last five weeks I’ve been forcing my gamer mates to toss dice at other dice, and it’s been a blast. In between sessions, I’d scribble new ideas, test new theories, and ask for more advice on-line.

Support

That’s how I got introduced to the Collective Endeavour, and particularly to Joe Murphy, an old hand on the circuit who I had the pleasure of meeting in Dublin for a coffee. Joe, among many people I have talked to about the game, helped me to streamline a few of my concepts and tighten the final product.

I was walking home from work the night before last, and I thought to myself, did I actually write this game? Sometimes I try to find an idea that was mine, that was really, 100% my idea. I get pulled around in a sequence of conversations. Was that a suggestion, or a comment, or a seed sown? Did I write any of this or did I just edit a bunch of good ideas into something fun? Either way, I’m proud of how it plays, though I’m not sure I’ve translated that correctly yet. Until I get the text right, this is a small thank you to all the people who helped me (in whatever way) to finish this submission PDF. Cheers lads.

Sebastian.

Supporters: Daniel Klein, Eoin Corrigan, Jason Hickey & Roger White

Critique: Dan Maruschak, Joe Murphy & Joe Prince

Playtesters: Alex Tang, Daniel Klein, Eoin Corrigan, Jason Hickey, Joe Sullivan, Roger White & Susan Holmgren

Games: Inspectres (Jared A. Sorenson) – In a Wicked Age (Vincent Baker) – Prime Time Adventures (Matt Wilson)

Books: The Running Man (Richard Bachman)

Thank you!

If you haven’t yet downloaded the FREEEE copy of Hell for Leather, what are you waiting for? I need your feedback today! The competition closes in six days and I’d like to credit you and to include your recommendations before I upload the last draft for submission.

If you have any comments on the game, use this post to make your suggestions. You’re the best guys! Thanks.

Until I get the particulars sorted, here is a taster.  This is the Conflict Target, as used in Hell for Leather for conflict resolution.  Enjoy!

I’m probably going to have to redo this thing completely if I go to print, as the resolution isn’t so hot. Stupid, stupid Sebastian. So no worries if you have critiques. Leave your comments below…