✍︎ Respite in the Selva - Post session soliloquies and design thoughts ❶
version played: 0.35
On Pandolfo's run
I loved Pandolfo's run! It felt playable and fun, to me at least, despite not having all the details i'd love to have yet (empty tables, temporary rulings, etc) And to think that it only took 34 versions to get to this point.. I am already itching to start a new run and hopefully come across the marks left by the merchant.
On finding marks left behind
This excitement, however, leads me to the question: how can i deterministically find the marks left by characters who got claimed by the Selva Lugana?
I know Pandolfo fell prey of something (specifically, of a starved predator), in a covered ground roll that consisted of a ruin, but that's pretty much it. I am not sure I love the idea of asking the oracle whether i find the marks any time i roll a ruin covered ground roll. I mean, I could do that: i don't love the idea but i don't hate it either, but not quite yet.
An option could be to have a grid or map of some sort and record covered ground rolls on it during play, another would be to wait until the end of the run, get the number of total covered ground in that run and only then add the marks to the map. It feels overly complicated for no reason.
On listening to the winds
The answer, though, I believe might be found once again in my beloved winds: whenever i ask, at the beginning of each covered ground phase, what wind blows in our direction?, I am effectively listening to the Selva herself. She suggests to me where and how i am traversing her, aided or hindered by the winds.
- i have d6 winds
- imagine the Selva Lugana as a big hex in which each wind blows from one of the hex sides, on my covered ground roll, i move towards the direction of the prevailing wind
- eventually, i will land on a covered ground where the marks were left
- i am still not sure what the scale of the hex should be, but that sounds like a problem for a different soliloquy
Something i wish to improve and place a stronger accent on is the birthwind.
On beasts
A note on beasts: I absolutely adored how quickly I could go from not having a beast to having a beast. The combo of type + tag is really working for me. It helps me spark ideas on the spot. Of course, I would like to expand the beasts generation system with one or two more tables and with attributing effects to tags and types, but it was a satisfying part of the run for me, for sure.
On items
Something else i would love to prioritize and I enjoyed thoroughly is the inventory system: similarly to the beasts generation system, i appreciated having a combinatory system for my items but i will want to expand it with at least another couple of tables (to actually generate items with a type and tags) and by attributing effects to the types and tags. I do not know yet what i want to do with innformation as an item type.
On covered ground
Covered ground should ultimately try to tie in to terrain. I also found it fun to have a mechanic to reroll on covered ground if chosen. I'd like to add bonus/malus to covered ground rolls but i think that will come when the Drit is replaced by the Andèr in the table of winds. Each terrain doesn't have much of an identity yet, but it will (will it take 34 more iterations? alas!)
The Ponàl should probably always reveal a hidden path or - nevertheless - something interesting. It's the wind that brings the unseen, after all.
On skills and paths
In terms of skills, I didn't use any in Pandolfo's run and that's due to the fact that i still am not super sure about what i want skills to be in the game. More to come on this.
This also makes me think that i should define interesting identities for each path: yes, Pandolfo was a Merchant, but other than narratively, that information bore no effect. Let me put a pin on this.
On goal encounters
Having goal encounters is very pleasant: it gives me the opportunity to think about why i am traversing the Selva Lugana in the first place. Should they be in every run? Probably yes. Goals are powerful and help getting me started quickly.
On high stakes and low numbers
I love how high stakes it feels to have low HP and low DMG and that both values are increasable/decreasable through the other systems.
On the game loop
The main game loop is quick and easy, it's short enough that i can fit a session during lunch time, but i found myself also re-thinking about the session and expanding the story while grocery shopping/ I am finding it quite liberating and flexible in that regard.
I cannot wait until some other poor desperate finds and takes Pandolfo's cursed weapon.