Heroine Hack: Soap Opera Companion

Hang around me long enough, and you will hear me complimenting Levi Kornelsen. In particular, I've mentioned before how much I like his Soap Opera hack. This plug-in motivates players to add melodrama into their game in order to re-fuel in-game currency.

Here is a way to use this hack in your Heroine game. These rules give the Companions an alternate way to gain Drama Points
The Companion move Get In Trouble is replaced with Gain a Relationship. See the hack for description of this move. A Companion who gains a relationship automatically gains 3 DP. She does not need to roll 2d6. When you gain a relationship, you add drama and distraction to the story, so the Heroine has more to think about than simply accomplishing her goal and defeating Challenges.
The Companion move Remember a Way Out is replaced with Escalate a Relationship. This move costs 2 DP. You can escalate relationships as often as you have points to do so. When you escalate, you take a relationship to the next level, and this decreases or distracts from the negative results of the Challenge at the end of this chapter.

Companions may form relationships with the Heroine, with NPCs, or with each other. Each Companion may have more than one relationship. Companions who have relationships with each other do not have to have the same relationship. Peter might consider the Wolf his Anathema, and the Wolf might consider Peter his Exemplar.

If you give these alternate rules a try, or if you have any questions, email me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com or reach out to me on Google+.

Draft Swap

Do you have a game that's in the early stages of design? Like me, do you have a project that is something more than an annotated elevator pitch and something less than a playtest-ready game? If so, consider doing a Draft Swap.

A Draft Swap is an agreement between two game designers to spend a fixed amount of time working on each other's game-in-development. No money changes hands. No contracts are required. The two designers simply agree on a minimum amount of time to spend developing the other person's game and a deadline for completing the Draft Swap.

 

Gabe, a first time author with a lot of board game experience, offers to Draft Swap his rules light shopping simulator, Flea Swap Spree. Sasha, an experienced game designer, agrees. She hopes Gabe might add some sort of board-gaming element to Maple Autumn, her cooperative story game about leaves falling from a tree. Gabe and Sasha agree to spend at least one hour writing additional rules and designing additional elements for each other's games. They set a deadline of two weeks.

 

There are three additional rules for a Draft Swap:

1. If you publish or otherwise release your game after it has been Draft Swapped, you must credit the other game designer as collaborator, editor, developer, or some equivalent title.

2. You should strive to do three things for the other person's game. You should add at least one design element that you think it is missing. You should try to add to whatever fun elements are already there. You should make the game easier to playtest, which usually means clarifying the existing rules.

3. You should not ask the original designer for help. You must work on the Draft Swap alone. (If you don't understand something about the original designer's notes, ask it on the first day of the Draft Swap.)

[Rolling Intentions Podcast] W/ Josh Jordan - Heroine Video Special

Yesterday I played Heroine with Jason from Rolling Intentions and Bug from Once Upon a D6. We had a good time. I actually played the Heroine character, which is rare for me.
Please check out the video if you are curious how the game plays out. This is a good example of a light-hearted session inspired by MMORPGs. Warning: we get silly.

Rolling Intentions Interview

Check out this episode of Rolling Intentions. I had a great time talking to Jason about Heroine.

 

 

Confession about Actual Play

Rolling Intentions recently posted an Actual Play recording of a session of Heroine. They did a great job, both with the recording and with using the game to tell an entertaining story.
But I have a confession to make. I had a lot of anxiety listening to the recording. I had to pause it and listen to something else three or four times. I absolutely could not get through the recording in one sitting, even though it was only 75 minutes long.
This has nothing to with their recording. I was having strange feelings listening to someone play my game in a way that was completely outside of my control. I've read AP reports of Heroine before, but there's something different about listening to the session moment by moment. I felt like I was a parent watching my child's first day of kindergarten from the other side of a one way mirror. I wanted to be able to help, but I knew it was time to let her stand on her own. I know that sounds pretty dramatic, but I'm being honest. I was much more emotional listening to it than I expected to be.
Ultimately, I'm relieved that the guys had a good time with the game. If you like AP recordings, I encourage you to check out their podcast. But if you are a game designer, be warned that it can feel pretty intense the first time you listen to someone else play your game.

Heroine Actual Play Recording by Rolling Intentions Podcast

The guys over at the Rolling Intentions Podcast have posted their actual play (AP) recording of Heroine. If you enjoy listening to actual play like I do, please go check out their site.

Heroine: Girls Elsewhere

Daniel Solis sent me the initial layout for Girls Elsewhere today. This is the second Heroine book. It contains alternate settings submitted by several other game designers.
The book is looking great so far, and I'm excited to be able to share it with you soon.
All the backers of the Heroine Kickstarter who received a pdf of Heroine will also receive a pdf of Girls Elsewhere. I also intend to sell hardcopies and pdfs to the general public. The tentative release date is July. Stay tuned.