Tag: Maze Of The 4 Queens

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End of 2022 Wrap-up, 2023 Kick-off!

November and December 2022 have been somewhat of slow months for Loop ‘n’ Loot. Between work at the school supervising my students making their own video game (60 students for 5 week in a single title, it has been an adventure, check out their game RAM on itch.io!) and the Christmas holiday break, not many hours were dedicated to design the latest iteration of the game (which is v9, by the way).

Nevertheless, we went to HexCon in Trondheim and I manage to squeeze one playtest in December. Both of them confirmed my lastest design choices, that I now have to present in the core rule book:

  • Simplification of the the number of Slots: 2 Hands, 1 Head, 1 Torso, 1 Legs and 4 Backpack. We simplified a lot since the very beginning and the 18 slots for items! I’m still pondering over the number of “Brain” Slots for Traits…
  • Solidification of memories: Made of two words, the player creates a memory that can be used to draw 1 more card before resolving a Test. See the HexCon link above for a longer explanation.
  • Item Cards: All items that are tied to Action/Reaction (ex: a Hand Weapon has an Attack Action, a Shield a Block Reaction) are now playing cards that can be used during Test. A Hand weapon that is a 8 Clubs can be added to the cards in hand to make a Combination for the Attack Action. Item cards also implies “Trait cards” which is another limonade to brew…
  • New status effects: Bleed replaces Poison, Poison replaces Disease, Blind has a new mechanic (you can’t look at your own hand, haha).
  • A3 Character sheet format, to put the item cards on it. Yet to be designed.
  • Game balancing: It will be a continuous task over the coming months to tweak values, here and there. Nothing major, but I have to make nothing is too broken… I think the first order of business is put Defense at 1 for Humanoid instead of 0.

If I were to wrap-up the 2022 year for Loop ‘n’ Loot: Amazing! Lots of conventions (Arcon, MidgardCon, RegnCon and HexCon) presenting the game and meeting new enthousiastic gamers, lots of playtest with friends… And overall, I believe the v9 of the game might actually be the one that ends up to be the Early Access version later in 2023!

Speaking of 2023, let’s make a wishlist of what should happen for Loop ‘n’ Loot:

  • Releasing the game in Early Access on Itch.io! I’m thinking of using this platform to release the game at first, gather some feedback and maybe balance some numbers and add desired features. But a release, even a EA, implies that I must finish the core rule book content first…
  • Finishing the Maze of the 4 Queens content! I’m missing backstories, final monsters, some rooms, a lot of random generator tables… I’m still working on that book parallely to the core book. This is the first module for the TTRPG and there is a lot left to do, so as much as I want to to the #Dungeon23 challenge I can’t afford to spread my efforts :/ But if you want to make a #Dungeon23 for Loop ‘n’ Loot, just ping me 🙂
  • Starting on a setting book for Loop ‘n’ Loot! Loop ‘n’ Loot core book is designed to be settingless, so anyone can adapt the rules to a fantasy, sci-fi, urban, etc. setting easily. A bit like FATE, or DnD with Brancalonia, Ravenloft and Dark Sun for instance. BUT, marketing-wise it is way more appealing for customers to have a setting book attached to the core rule book! That book would have lore, a map, ready to play adventure sites and support multiple session campaign. And it’s the part where I want to involve the most the community…
  • Growing the community! We use discord most of foremost (here is a permanent link if you are not part of it yet) and I want to use the space a bit more, notably via surveys to help me shape the future of the game and that setting book I just mentioned.
  • Balancing the game! Which means… MOAR PLAYTESTS! It also mean more DMs. Once again, every is organised via Discord, so just jump in!
  • Going to more conventions! I’ll be going to Arcon again for instance but I think it would be beneficial to also go to some conventions abroad (i.e. out of Norway) to help increasing the awareness around the game (and maybe have a getaway weekend with my fiancee :p). I’m also planning to visit some local gaming club in Norway is they are within driving distance of Oslo. My first stop will likely be the one in Hamar.
  • Setting-up a Kofi page! And propose there some extra print-&-play content at a minimum fee, like for instance the Item/Traits Cards.
  • Kickstarting the paper core rule book! Will it happen in 2023? Will it be on kickstarter? I don’t know, it’s post EA and many of the previous bullet points must be done first… It also implies logistical issues that need to be foresee first.

That is already quite a lot for 2023. So enough talking, more designing! Let’s conclude this post with another sneak peak of the core book:

See ya again on Discord or for the January 2023 Wrap-up!

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Playtest at RegnCon ’22

The previous weekend, I was in Bergen to present Loop ‘n’ Loot at RegnCon XXX (literally the convention of rain, which is accurate given it always rains in Bergen). It was the occasion to see familiar faces, meet new ones and play some games!

I had three pools over the weekend, so 15 hours of play with 15 different players and I used the opportunity to test the latest version of the rules as well as see how the Maze of the 4 Queens is resilient over multiple runs.

Among the positive evolutions of the game, let’s note:

  • 2 out of 3 groups died. Several times. Which is by design. The group who did not die had maybe a bit more luck with the randomness and almost always got the better initiative in combat, in addition to playing it safe. The various adjustments have paid off so far.
  • The combat seemed to be capped at 2 or 3 turns before one side got obliterated, which is – once again – as per design. So, cool!
  • I’m genuinely happy with the randomness and the emergent stories that the Maze creates. A group ended the playtest in a very satisfying way as they looted all the amphoras in a cellar and started a new vintage wine trade company. 
  • More players got to test the freeform magic system and they seemed to like it.
  • The new Attributes and draw mechanics. I remove the fixed hand size to have it depend on the Attributes (putting emphasis on “my character is more sneaky than you”), giving extra cards given tools, environment, time… On paper, it works. Sometimes it felt a bit underwhelming to draw only 2 cards to solve a test. In a way, the new drawing mechanic feels quite similar to the narrative dice from the Genesys system and, as a GM, I need to put more emphasis on how the players intend to revolve an action to give them the adequate hand size.

Among the things that I mixed feelings:

  • The new iteration of Soul Traits was not part of the playtest but I’m still thinking about it and what it could be. It seems like the playtesters enjoy absorbing souls a lot, and getting monster traits. I’m afraid the next iteration of the soul mechanics removes that excitement. But it’s a problem of a future playtest to determine.
  • I made small equipment cards to facilitate the playtest while giving or switching equipment pieces. It was not greatly efficient. I would need to create color-coded equipment pieces to find what I need more quickly. Or find a different system.
  • My brilliant idea of a character sheet pamphlet is looking less and less attractive, especially with all these tiny pieces of paper for representing equipment and flipping the character sheet back and forth. Maybe a boring single-sided sheet will have to be the way to go.

All in all, I can safely say that everyone liked to play Loot ‘n’ Loot. They enjoyed the game mechanics with the cards, they liked adventuring in the Maze of the 4 Queens, they appreciated my NPCs and how I roleplayed them…

Speaking of roleplay, a 1-hour improv’ course was available for those who wanted to know more about that kind of acting. I signed up for it and it was quite fun; it was not really targeted at role-players but I think I got one or two extra tips I could use.

It was a fun convention, with free ice-cream, free pop-corn, free fruits and free cakes! I met new people, got to spread a bit of love around my game and I hope to have something physical to show at RegnCon XXXI.

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Playtest at Midgard Con ‘22

The previous weekend, I was demo-ing the latest iteration of Loop ‘n’ Loot at Midgard Con. A nice convention in the middle of a viking-ish village in Borre (Norway). The weather was really not with us and it rained for 3 days straight, which provoked two collateral effects:

  • Everyone was packed in the main Gildehallen
  • With close doors, the fire pit burnt smoke like crazy (tearing eyes, coughing and bad smell on the clothes)

If we forget about the smoke, it’s really a nice convention with a lot of ambiance! I heard some people used the occasion to play their grand finale D&D campaign there to enjoy the viking mood around them. There was even a LARP fight tournament! The organizer Karl Thomas is super nice and managed to make us at home (quite litterally as he lended us his cabin so we could spend the night!). In other words, Norwegians gamers, save the date for 2023!

I felt the convention was more oriented towards board games than roleplaying games and I had a bit of a hard time filling my table past the first one. But, heh, I could use the time to play some board games (Vikings, Welcome to the Dungeon, Jorvik). Some of them were played in a tournament structure and my fiancée managed to finish third at Vikings, securing some nice loot at the end :).

I also secured two spots to play RPG as a player. One was a homebrew OSR dungeon crawling that ended in a lot of mushrooms and the other one was the first playtest for Murder in Yonderville, a low-prep humorous murder investigation. It was actually so easy to play I ended up being a GM for it for about 2 hours and it was fun to play. As a GM, based on the card I drew, I had to create an investigation in a mining dwarf over a hellgate, as the tavern wench was killed by the shop keeper (hired by the Inn keeper). SIC. It is a fun improv’ exercise for the GM. I believe a kickstater will happen before the end of the year and you can follow the progress over their Facebook page.

In the end, I had one playtest for Loop ‘n’ Loot with the lastest version of the rules. It was fun, as usual, both from my point of view and from the players’ who seemed to enjoyed their smoky evening. Among the hurdle I noticed:

  • The use of the attributes tied to the best possible combination is often forgotten (even by yours truly) as players just put the best combination they have in hand. The Referee has to be carefully about it all the time, which is mental load I want to remove. I have since worked on a solution (an elegant one, in my humble opinion, that also solidifies other mechanics).
  • The mechanics “I attack under Clubs, you have to defend under Clubs” is also often forgotten (even by your truly). It’s something that has been bugging me since the beginning as I felt it make sense but is not fun and somewhat circonvoluted. But my previous fix is also fixing that one! Two birds, one stone.
  • The PC still have a hard time to die. What can I say, I’m too nice! But as Alice says, No More Mr Nice Guy! I’m nerfing pretty hard the Ration item, the Medecine Kit item and the Rest mechanic!
  • On the positive side, the new character creation is not breaking nor hindering the gameplay. The revised Trait are indeed better to manage in combat.

Other than that, it was fun to roleplay zealous skeletons, to look at players destroy loot out of fear for a goddess judment and fight cleverly against a group of (nasty but nerfed) zombies… The highest point of the playtest was when the players managed to pay a Necrologist with a fire nymph’s crown to soul-bind a ghost into a rubber chicken! None of that is scripted in the Maze of 4 Queens but everything is possible with creative players!

I’ll be in Bergen this very weekend to playtest my game at RegnCon! I will my latest iteration of the rules, including the new Attributes system. If you are in the city of rain and plan to go to the convention, come and say hi!

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August 2022 Wrap-Up

August Wrap-Up time! A lot of things have happened in the game design sphere as well as in the editing world of Loop ‘n’ Loot:

  • The “Defense” mechanic is now officially replacing the “Soak” one. Basically, when you declare an Action with the “Damage” keyword against a Target, the Target’s Defense value is indicating how many cards must be at least committed for the Action to connect. In other words, it’s harder to bash a dude in Heavy Armor than a naked one. This new mechanic implies tweaks on several minor parts of the game, like items or traits balancing.
  • Two new pages have appeared in the core rules book. The item price page has been refactored for more content and easier parsing.
  • A good chunk of Traits has been removed (or recycled into Items/Spell ideas) as there were underwhelming or “off-brand”. The remaining ones are currently being revamped to be upgradable over the course of multiple runs (you can call that “meta-progression).
  • All “Thrown” weapons have been merged with Ranged weapons, as they were mechanically the same.
  • Kept working on Maze of the 4 Queens, as of today I’m only missing 6 rooms in the book. Some tables have been started (random events, random loot) and things that won’t show anywhere.
  • I have also cleaned my playtest setting into a playable booklet, which I intend to sell for a minimal price on Ko-fi when the Core Rule Book gets released.
All in all, things are moving forwards!
If you live in Norway, don’t forget to put the following events in your calendar as Loop ‘n’ Loot will be demo’d at:
  • MidgardCon (Borre NO) – 30 September – 2 October 2022
  • Regncon XXX (Bergen NO) – 7-9 October 2022
  • Hexcon (Trondheim NO) – 5-6 November 2022
It’s your chance to playtest the game system as well as the WIP version of Maze of the 4 Queens.

And to conclude the August Wrap-Up, the aforementioned new double page in the core book!

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July 2022 Wrap-Up

July has been somewhat of a slow month with well-deserved vacation abroad. But I managed to sneak in some work the past couple of weeks once back in Norway.

  • A combat playtest happened with my French group, to discuss my planned evolution of Soak. Bottom line, I want to remove Soak.
    • Reason 1: There is a lot of “subtraction time” in combat, which also includes repeated noise turn after turn (“You take 9 Damage, I ignore 1 Soak because of my Vicious1 , subtract your Soak, that’s your Wounds”).
    • Reason 2: I want to simplify the game wherever I can. At the moment, we have Damage and Wound, two different concepts around life loss. I’d like to streamline them to a single one.
    • Reason 3: I want the game to be viewed as “fun lethal”, you can die pretty fast if you are careless but that’s OK. The concept of Soak, reducing damage (therefore giving at least the associated idea of protection/you’re safe), is antinomic to my goal.
    • The replacement system will assess all of these, speed up combat and be more tied up with cards.
  • A lot of pondering to simplify the game and get a snappier experience for the players and less “mental charge” on the Referee. The number of enemy types is decreased from 3 to 2, the number of Equipment slots from 9 to 8, still pondering with merging Legs Slot and Trinket Slot to go down to 7.
  • A good chunk of work was on Maze of the 4 Queens, the first module for Loop ‘n’ Loot. It has been playtested during Arcon 38, the validated rooms have been put in a book layout (29 rooms, 11 left to design). They also each got 4 random events. I did a bit of refactoring on the dungeon creation as well adding more opportunities for just corridors. I removed the glitch effect (ex: a probability to have a room fully underwater for instance) because too much mental charge on the Referee.

And to conclude, here is a sneak peak of that module!

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