Autore Topic: [miet] True Men Don't Kill Coyotes  (Letto 11648 volte)

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Re:[miet] True Men Don't Kill Coyotes
« Risposta #15 il: 2012-04-22 13:13:49 »
Dato che le recensioni che ricevo non passano da questo forum, ve le copincollo:


Recensione di Dan Marushack:
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True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes

The game starts with some caveats about not being “easy to playtest”, but it seems like a complete enough game to me to be eligible for the competition, although there would be some logistical barriers if people wanted to actually play it. It’s definitely aimed at a more “experiential” kind of play, closer to a jeepform experience than something you might see in a tabletop RPG that focuses on designed interactions.

Using dancing around a fire to achieve a different psychological state is an interesting technique to build a game around (I just read a book that argues that the development of this feature of human psychology was a key to creating group cohesion and trust which enabled early human tribes to function like “superorganisms” rather than a collection of purely self-interested individuals, so it’s some pretty deep and powerful stuff). Many of the character descriptions are specific enough to fire the imagination but vague enough to be conducive to the dreamlike feel the game is going for. They also felt like archetypes that many people could be comfortable playing rather than references to specific mythology, folklore, or tradition. That seems like a smart way to go since people might be intimidated if they felt the need to portray something authentically. Some of the ingredients are used more strongly than others, but overall it seems like a good use of the ingredients.

The game says it’s aimed at a “cathartic experience”. I’m not sure catharsis is going to be reliably achieved since there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot that will bring people’s personal emotions out, but I can see how the game could lead to a general heightened state of emotions. The “blood” mechanic could eventually produce 2*NumPlayers statements that can’t be contradicted. If I were preparing to play I’d worry that it might be difficult to keep that many things straight, especially with all the dancing and other statements going on. I imagine that stopping to correct mistakes and get people back on the same page would be pretty disruptive to the effect this game is trying to achieve, so knowing that I might have to accurately remember a bunch of things would probably make me nervous. I also wonder if the “slips of paper in your pocket” technique might be a little clunky in play (when visualizing what play would be like, I imagined the people near the fire squatting down which makes pockets hard to access). Another area of concern for me would be the “when everyone has stated to have killed the coyote god” endgame condition, which strikes me as a little fuzzy. Since it won’t be easy to discuss things without breaking the mood it might be easier to have a crisper and more concrete trigger so that it’s simultaneously self-evident to everyone when to start the endgame. Maybe the ability to read body-language, etc., will make that a non-issue when actually played, though. While I think most of the character descriptions are likely to work the way they’re intended, I’m not sure I understand the Mimic or the Mingle.

I’m not familiar with what people normally expect from games like this in finished form, but from what I can tell it already has everything that would be needed to test it. There are some things that could be done to facilitate large group play, like distilling the rules to a single page that could be easily handed out to each player, but I think the next step to developing it further would be to see if it actually produces the aimed-for emotional effect on players.

- Dan Maruschak
"E non guardare troppo a lungo dentro alla lavatrice, o anche la lavatrice guarderà dentro di te"
Revan Adler, Match d'Improvvisazione Teatrale, Giugno 2009
Trash Meets Steel
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Re:[miet] True Men Don't Kill Coyotes
« Risposta #16 il: 2012-04-22 13:14:21 »
Recensione di Joel:


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There’s a lot in this game that I’m excited about. Playing up the ritual nature of gaming to the point where the subject of the game IS ritual is very cool. I’m all about using games as transformative experiences, so the cathartic nature of Real Men Don’t Kill Coyotes appeals to me as well.

I struggle with the way that cathartic experience is presented in the text, though. The game simply tells you, bluntly, “The object of the game is to have some sort of cathartic experience,” and seems to rely on declarations like this to get me, the player, to the place where that can happen. This continues in a couple of spots throughout the text: “You’ll feel when it’s time” to start talking, and “You’ll know when it’s gone” at the end of the ritual. I found myself longing for more guidance than that… if I’m truly playing for vulnerability and catharsis, I need to know that this process is taking me there safely and with intention. Not safely in terms of protecting me from vulnerability and intensity, but safely in the sense that the game, like my fellow players, is by my side, upholding me in the endeavor.

I confess, also, that I was uncomfortable (and not in a good, cathartic way) with your use of Native American themes in this game. It’s not that using them at all is automatically out of line, and with these ingredients it’s something you’d expect to see in a lot of entries. Your game, however, felt off in the way it used the themes, in that the whole premise AND methodology of the game strongly mirrors aspects of Native culture as seen through outside eyes, and particularly aspects that are often appropriated by non-Natives as means of finding meaning and fulfillment by way of slumming it as savages and mystics. The fact that you roleplay Native people while stripping down and painting yourselves and actually dancing around a fire to “tribal” music puts the game in a context where I’m not comfortable engaging with. There are additional cues like the one-liner about Peyote on the title page and the quip in the Get Prepared section, “It will probably be a lot better if there are also some hot girls in there, but that’s just my opinion” lead me to feel that the game isn’t approaching Native culture from a position of respect. It looks much more like a frivolous lark where hip people of the dominant culture can get together and “act Indian” and come away with some “deep experience” that justifies it.

If you want to take this game farther, then I recommend that you do two things: first, come to terms with its relationship to Indian culture, a culture that is not only marginalized but often treated like an exotic side show to be mined by white folks for depth and spirituality and flavor. Figure out if there’s a way, if any, to have this game do its thing while approaching Native culture with respect and humility. And second, clarify the ritual to the point where players can engage in its vulnerability-facilitating practices with informed intention.
"E non guardare troppo a lungo dentro alla lavatrice, o anche la lavatrice guarderà dentro di te"
Revan Adler, Match d'Improvvisazione Teatrale, Giugno 2009
Trash Meets Steel
RPGshark

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Re:[miet] True Men Don't Kill Coyotes
« Risposta #17 il: 2012-04-22 13:14:50 »
Recensione di una scimmia anonima che scrive:


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True Men Do not Kill Coyotes

This game is like an intriguing woman. Probably I will never able to play it, but I will dream for long time, how amazing it would be experience. Because I want to play this game. Immediately! In the summer night, around bonfire, with the drums. 10 years younger …

But – as it happens with intriguing womens – I fear, that clash with reality can be painful.
 On the one hand I would like to immediately jump into the game, on the other – do not know what i should tell when the game starts. The given example, though well explains the rule of “taste the blood”, leaves me confused, what a story the author had in mind.

Also in this game is very importent to everyone playing the same game”. Maybe it will be good to include a few words about sketching the “setting”?

The biggest problem I have with finding what should knows the players and what their characters. If part of this knowledge should be secret, maybe the player-reader who organizing the game should get the role of Coyote God?
 Also it is unclear for me, why the (all) killer(s) has to admit, and why they would not want to do that. And how will players know that it is time for endgame?

“Taste of Blood” is a brilliant idea. Great “in-game” motif and also original “meta-game” rule, perfectly fitted into the game. I want to steal it: P.
 Also, the characters and their motives are well designed. But I wonder whether they should be completely randomly distributed. The ingredients used are cool, but I thing thet will be useful to remark that the explanation of why the characters have a “last chance” should be woven into the story.

My suggestion is to describe the part of the game to clarify what kind of story “the author had in mind”. Overall, the game is very original and has great potential. I would like to read its next version.
"E non guardare troppo a lungo dentro alla lavatrice, o anche la lavatrice guarderà dentro di te"
Revan Adler, Match d'Improvvisazione Teatrale, Giugno 2009
Trash Meets Steel
RPGshark

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Re:[miet] True Men Don't Kill Coyotes
« Risposta #18 il: 2012-04-26 17:29:29 »
E finalmente la quarta recensione, da parte di Szymon Gosek:


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So okay, since I am an active LARPer (whether I like it or not) I can’t walk past this one without saying: “Wow its a jeepform!”. I like that Alex, chose the non-compromise artistic approach: “You like it or you don’t, I’m not going casual or softcore.”. This game is strong and is a statement that we can make games that only a number of people will like and play.

Another part that gets me is that this game proves that rules and mechanics are not only tables and dice but gestures, movements and touch! Incorporating “Taste of Blood” in meta-game an in-game at once is incredibly well done. Also the characters are well written, they immediately cast a persona into my mind.

But as I stated: its close to a jeepform, so the players need more setting/description because its easy not to get on the same page with the story with other players. The next part I have some doubts is ‘feels-like-now’ based timing. Without some codified gesture or verbal form players can have some doubts that this is the right moment for everyone (its well done in the ending with touching!). Simply lacking those rules I can’t shake the feeling its a scenario not a game.

This can benefit strongly from forming a setting or at least stating “how I play it” as a general guide line.
"E non guardare troppo a lungo dentro alla lavatrice, o anche la lavatrice guarderà dentro di te"
Revan Adler, Match d'Improvvisazione Teatrale, Giugno 2009
Trash Meets Steel
RPGshark

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