I am pleased to report that my design work has been progressing apace. I thought you fine folks might want an update.
1) I am officially out of the running for Game Chef 2010, but I have learned a great deal from the thoughtful reviews and the feedback I have acquired. My plan is to revise the game rather heavily and transition A Sojourn in Alexandria into a more versatile GM-less game with more structured resolution mechanics. This is going on the backburner. but eventually a more refined product will be released into the wild.
2) I am now undertaking some more serious alpha playtesting of the Spark RPG with my local crew. I will run a 5-session long game in a post apocalyptic Ottawa. At present we have a techno-wizard, a telekinetic thief and a military-ops samurai. I am experimenting with some novel mechanics for encouraging previews of future sessions with Fate (XP) and I have great hopes that this will add something solid to the gameplay.
Now, there are some fairly significant elements of the existing system that I am not currently terribly comfortable with. I am trying to determine how I might modify the system to streamline and prevent some of the need for delicate counterbalancing. My current design has “Glories” which are for all intents and purposes, mechanically complex merits and flaws. I think that I might be able to streamline and cut out some of the fiddly bits. I will keep you posted!
Do any of you gentle-beings in the aether have any questions for me? Now’s the time to ask!