The playtest of This Means War is chugging along, alarming civilians and crushing dreams. Dreams of the characters, that is — the players love it.
After 10 games I can confidently say that this weird experiment actually works. We’ve got two wars going, ancient Baat Kazir and futuristic Novaterra, and I am tremendously pleased with how both of them are unfolding. The Waracle is absolutely doing its job and making every season feel somehow both expected and surprising.
The playtests have been great for shining light in all the nooks and crannies. The core system has been solid from the start, but I’ve been doing a lot of fine-tuning, making small changes and spotting places that needed filling in or tweaking. Plus finding better language for explaining the whole thing.
What’s next? My plan is to clean everything up and get a playtest doc ready for public release, so you too can endure the slings and arrows of fortune. How soon will that be? Hard to tell. This Means War is a much more… mechanical… game than my other designs, so I want to make sure that machine runs smoothly for you.