Hmmm. What happens when the tower falls, though? I looked at the site and the like, preview docs, but it doesn't say what happens after the tower falls and that player leaves play... is that it? Game Over? It wouldn't make a lot of sense to just start over from the beginning with a full tower, or you'd be "resetting" a lot of the drama, right?
That player's character is removed in a dramatically appropriate way and the tower is set back up, with some of the blocks pre-pulled. I don't think you have to worry about the drama being reset. The whole process only takes a minute or two and the tower is "live" so even this process is dangerous to the PCs. While it does make pulling a little easier for the players, it has been my experience that the tension generally doesn't drop much, if at all.
Last edited by Lepermint; 02-20-2006 at 06:02 PM..
I'm less than convinced by the Jenga thing. It just seems to be another gymnic or, to use the reviewer's own words, "a new way to roll dice" with not much in terms of increased roleplaying experience. It seems, I said, because I didn't try it so I may be wrong.
Yet I have a more fundamental question and here it comes:
Character creation ...
"Characters in Dread are not described using numbers. Unlike in the vast majority of roleplaying games, characters in Dread are described using only words, much as an author describes a character in written fiction or a film buff describes a character from his favorite movie to a friend"
Sheers to that. I worked on similar lines with my GlovE project here at RPGnet some years ago.
... and action resolution ...
"Whenever a character wants to do something that isn’t clearly impossible or easily accomplished, the host (or GM, if you will) will likely require a pull. A ‘pull’ is the act of, well... pulling a block from the tower and then placing it on the tower’s uppermost level. If a pull succeeds (i.e., the player whose character is taking action manages to remove a block without toppling the tower), then the action being attempted succeeds. Conversely, if a pull fails (i.e., the player whose character is taking action topples the tower), so does the action being attempted."
Now the question: What is the relationship between the two things? How does the character's description (created in purely qualitative terms) work into the action resolution mechanics? The review provides no clues on how this happens if it happens at all.
I'm less than convinced by the Jenga thing. It just seems to be another gymnic or, to use the reviewer's own words, "a new way to roll dice" with not much in terms of increased roleplaying experience. It seems, I said, because I didn't try it so I may be wrong.
I dunno about that... I can look around at my (normal, non RPG-geek) friends and I know that more of them have a Jenga set than have, say, d10s. Or can find more than 4d6 without pulling them out of other board games. It seems to fit the goal of creating a game that "normal people" can attempt to play. A good goal.
But certainly there's nothing unique whatsoever about defining characters in terms of words. And the jenga thing just seems incredibly gimmicky, like the roulette wheel in Fast Lane. Except this is worse: players with poor hand-eye coordination and/or depth perception end up with characters who are less likely to survive.
Yet I have a more fundamental question and here it comes:
[snip]
Now the question: What is the relationship between the two things? How does the character's description (created in purely qualitative terms) work into the action resolution mechanics? The review provides no clues on how this happens if it happens at all.
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