Play-test Identity - A dark solo RPG of Introspective horror
Play-test Identity, make the game better and maybe kinda get scared.
Hello and welcome! If you are reading this you might be thinking: What is Sneak Leaps? Why a new newsletter? Why are you obsessed with frog puns?
Well, I can answer most of those, and frog puns are just fun you know.
Play-testing
Play-testing is an essential part of making an RPG. The best designers can make assumptions or miss things about their work, and it is only through the eyes of others can the truly great or not great aspects of a game be seen.
The benefit and drawback of a solo RPG is that the designer can play-test it. I’ve played Identity from nearly the conceptual phase but I’ve seen all I can see myself and that is why I’ve created Sneak Leaps.
Never play-tested an RPG? You don’t need any special skills or experience. If you like playing or reading Solo RPGs, you can play-test!
Sneak Leaps
Sneak Leaps will not be a regular newsletter like the Lone Toad, which talks about all things solo RPGS and posts twice a month. Sneak Leaps will be about Croaker RPG games, a place to discuss play-testing and concepts. I don’t want to bombard readers of The Lone Toad with all my half-baked (or less-baked) ideas and concepts.
It’s a bit of an experiment so I’ll see how it goes!
Without further ado, the Identity play-test!
What is Identity?
You are driving down a back road in a storm. There is a car crash ahead. You stop to check it out. There is an exact copy of you, dead in the driver's seat. But how is that possible? Things start happening every day to you. People ignore you, vans follow you, and you hear messages on the radio. Why is this happening? That is the mystery you must solve in Identity.
Build on the Push SRD by Cezar Capacle, Identity is a slow game of introspective horror. Taking place in the mid-90s, you’ll roll random terrifying situations for your character to encounter and overcome before coming home at night to post about it on a message board, where nobody ever responds.
What you’ll get for play-testing Identity??
Afraid
An internal feeling of helping get a cool RPG into the world
Recognition in the game for now and forever
All versions of Identity into the future as it becomes bigger and better
Did I mention afraid?
Free copy of Queenless, my cozy game of exploration as a bee
A play-test swap (I’ll play-test yours if you play-test mine. But honestly, I would play-test yours anyway)
You can directly download Identity below:
Did you read, play or skim Identity? Love it? Hate it? Are you ambivalent about it? Please jump onto this link and fill out this survey. Responses will help make Identity and future Croaker RPG games better!
https://forms.gle/Bw777Zyd3rg4QZCt7
Have questions about Identity? Pop them into the comments below. I’m more than happy to answer them.
What else is cooking at Croaker RPGs?
Madness, pure madness. I’m working on a few games at the moment, Identity being the most pressing but also an update to Lost City of Cargoth (dropping the Lost City, becoming just Cargoth) that will go on sale in the next few months.
Recently I’ve been noodling on a new game based on horror slasher movies. It is still early (very early) days and I’m not sure if it will lead to anything but it’s fun to play around with.
I always whip up a cover page to make the game feel real to me. So here it is below:
The game will be based on a dice pool using D6s. Anything 4 and over is a success and it will be rolled against a Fear score. Fear will go up and down as the game advances.
To build the dice pool you use a Stat, skills, items you may find and a meta currency luck.
Working through some of the gameplay loop work at the moment. I think the balance will be around the Fear score, making tests relatively easy at the start of the game and making this chaotic and difficult at the end. Like a horror movie.
Other thoughts are making separate scenarios where each acts like a movie but where you can take a character through different ones, like horror movie sequels. The first one would be Slaughter on Smith Street. Love that alliteration!
But like I said, early days and it won’t be ready for play testing or anything until at least early 2025.
That’s it for now! I hope you’ve already downloaded Identity are are playing through your own dark horror. Feedback is so appreciated, so thank you in advance for doing that.
Cheers!
Thomas of Croaker RPGs
First Errata incoming for Identity! Already brought up in playtesting, a way to advance the story and not have the character just bouncing from horrible situation to horrible situation. Something something hope is important something something.
It will be a list of clues or story advances when you roll a strong hit (a 5 or 6) that can be used to effectively and clearly advance the agenda. Hope to have it shared in a few days for eventual inclusion in an updated Playtest 2.0.
I really like the looks of Cry's dice pool! I've downloaded Identity but haven't looked over it yet. The synopsis looks interesting though! I like that you appreciate solo RPGs and having a procedure in place. I'm fairly new to this whole thing and I have felt at a loss with so many games!