[Dan Davenport]

Originally Posted by Demonspahn

Dan, thanks again for the review. You addressed everything pretty much. I have only one minor correction in regards to:

>Playtest: In retrospect, this is probably the best reason why PCs might not want to create the most powerful weapon possible – the greater the damage caused, the more likely the Dreamer is to wake up. Still, even that limitation doesn’t apply >after the dream's denouement.

Actually, the limitation still applies, it's just not as bad. On page 78, under Achieving the Denouement, once the denouement is achieved, the Dreamer's effective Courage rating (and thus the amount of damage from one attack) is doubled. So you can do more damage, but there is still a chance that the Dreamer will rebel.

Thanks for catching that, Peter. I realized I'd overstated that after the fact.

Originally Posted by Demonspahn

I'm glad everyone had a good time in the playtest. I've found this game to be one of the easiest to run, no matter what system we used. Certainly the easiest one to design adventures for. For awhile, we were rotating GMs every adventure or so, using the same Dreamwalking team (with the current GM either running his character as an NPC or having him sit out the mission) and it was pretty neat to see what the other GMs came up with. The supplements expand gameplay even further.

I'm hoping to continue the game with some tweaks of my own -- that "Price is Right" rolling we discussed, d20 instead of d100, and maybe streamlined stat blocks for human NPCs.

Hmmm.... Actually, a tweaked version of the Waste World mechanics might work well for Dreamwalker. (But then, I say that about a lot of games. )

Originally Posted by Demonspahn

Just wanted to say thanks to your playtesters, too. I appreciate you all taking the time to give it a try.

I was relieved to get in that playtest. It really came down to the wire. As you know, I had the review written aside from playtest comments, just because the playtests kept falling through for various reasons. I finally got that one together late in the evening last Saturday.

Originally Posted by Demonspahn

Mana was easiest and most easily recognizable. There are a lot of other weird names to remember in the game, so I tried to be simple when I could.

I have to agree with Peter on that one. Jargon for the sake of jargon is a big turn-off for me. (Which, by the way, made me happy to see the game use the term "Game Master". )

Originally Posted by Demonspahn

Ha! And Dungeons & Dragons, and Star Wars, and Vampire, and Werewolf, etc.

Heh.

That's one of the tricky things about reviewing RPGs as opposed to, say, card or board games: there are always plenty of things people could "just do on their own" without the need for a given supplement, or even for a given game. It's just a matter of how much work you're willing to do.