Chief Technical Officer
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In the coming weeks, we'll be kicking off playtests for new class decks, and other projects in the pipeline (Org play season 1, the set after Wrath, etc.), and we could use some more playtesters.
We need people who own at least one complete Adventure Path, because our playtests will often require you to test individual new components in scenarios built using mostly existing cards (for example, we might have a new character who needs to be run through a bunch of different scenarios, or we might have a new scenario that needs to be built with a bunch of existing monsters). We also need people who can usually commit to playing a whole bunch on fairly short notice—for example, we might say that we need you to play a character through several scenarios within a few days. And, of course, we need people who have a pretty decent understanding of the game. For example, we might say we need you to test a scenario from Adventure Deck 5 using level-appropriate characters, so you need to have a pretty good idea how to achieve that. You should care about things like the difference between searching and examining, and know which one of those requires you to shuffle the deck afterwards.
You're going to have to be creative to test things—we'll be providing you with bits of text, and you'll need to convert them into a form you can use for testing. (Many playtesters print out bits of text and sleeve them with other cards. Which means you'll need a lot of sleeves and a lot of other cards.)
It's also important that you understand that playtesting is different from playing the game for fun. You will doubtless have a lot of fun, but the primary reason you are playtesting is to help us find places where it's *not* fun. Sometimes, that means throughly getting to know the unfun parts, and deliberately choosing to have less fun than you would if you were not playtesting. You'll have to deal with scenarios that are frustrating. You'll have to deal with scenarios that you can't win. Your characters will die, and you need to not care. You can't approach it like you do playing through an AP—your goal is not to win, it's to make the game better. If all you want is to say "I finished the next AP three months before it came out," we don't want you in the playtest. We're looking for people who want to say "I made that AP more fun for everyone."
It's also important that you approach it as playtesting, not looktesting. As Mike likes to say, "Don't tell me what you think will happen. Tell me what happened." Your initial reactions are important, but nowhere near as important as your play experiences. If you think something is broken, we'll probably expect you to back that up with an actual game situation that demonstrates it.
We need playtest groups of all sizes (from 1 to 6 players). If you like, your entire group can participate on the playtest forums, or you can act as a conduit for your group.
If you've read through all this and you're still interested, please drop a note to swallowtail@paizo.com. We'll need the email address connected to your paizo.com account, as well as the email addresses of anybody in your group who would like to participate in the playtest forums. (And don't worry if it takes a week or two to get a response.)
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Also, know that I am not as nice to playtesters as I am on the forums. I will give you broken things and know that they are broken. I will prod you with questions you won't understand, and never tell you why I did so. I will ask you for mountains of data and not share my conclusions based on your responses. And I will tell you that you can't discuss anything you see even after we're done with it.
My co-designers are much nicer, but I'm working on curing them of it.
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Will solo play data be useful?
Very much so.
I am currently playtesting a PACG adventure that I wrote several months ago with a design partner for a re-release over on BGG. I know the pain and disappointment and feeling like death is inevitable and scenarios too easy or too hard. I enjoy the process of helping to fix games. I would love to volunteer to playtest the new class decks.
I am also no stranger to non-disclosure agreements. ;)
I really want to say yes... but I've got a lot on my plate right now and I can't spare the time.
Is it odd that I think of what Mike Selinker posted as amusing rather than scary?
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Is this an all-or-nothing proposition? I could do one of those three things (class decks, season 1, next AP), but likely wouldn't have the time to do all three - assuming, of course, that the amount of playtesting required for each item is equal in intensity to that which has been required in the past for AP-testing.
My wife and I already play so much Pathfinder that I can't imagine playtesting could possibly *increase* our playtime. SIGN US UP. What do I need to do to get on the mailing list for that.
We have a subscription to the Adventure path and currently own all released material for the game, including Class Decks (which we incorporate into our Skull and Shackles campaign). We are playing through both a RotR and S/S campaign on two different tables in the house.
My email is tpfiscus at gmail dot com
Thanks, Vic and Mike!
I'm interested. I would be playtesting solo - but I could run multiple characters at once. Would that be helpful, or would that not work, since it's the same person controlling both/all characters?
I would actually find it easier to play test groups of 2-3 characters by myself than 1 or 4+ as that's where I have the vast majority of my experience.
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Also, I would like to hear the answer Calthaer's question as well, preferably with elaboration.
My wife and I already play so much Pathfinder that I can't imagine playtesting could possibly *increase* our playtime. SIGN US UP. What do I need to do to get on the mailing list for that.
We have a subscription to the Adventure path and currently own all released material for the game, including Class Decks (which we incorporate into our Skull and Shackles campaign). We are playing through both a RotR and S/S campaign on two different tables in the house.
My email is tpfiscus at gmail dot com
Thanks, Vic and Mike!
If you are interested, just send an email to the swallowtail address.
If you've read through all this and you're still interested, please drop a note to swallowtail@paizo.com. We'll need the email address connected to your paizo.com account, as well as the email addresses of anybody in your group who would like to participate in the playtest forums. (And don't worry if it takes a week or two to get a response.)
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Chief Technical Officer
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Is this an all-or-nothing proposition? I could do one of those three things (class decks, season 1, next AP), but likely wouldn't have the time to do all three - assuming, of course, that the amount of playtesting required for each item is equal in intensity to that which has been required in the past for AP-testing.
We'll be playtesting all of those things with the same people in the same forums (in different subforums), and they will probably overlap to some degree, but not completely. That said, if you can commit to providing a lot of feedback on one aspect, that's good enough.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I'm interested. I would be playtesting solo - but I could run multiple characters at once. Would that be helpful, or would that not work, since it's the same person controlling both/all characters?
I would actually find it easier to play test groups of 2-3 characters by myself than 1 or 4+ as that's where I have the vast majority of my experience.
Yes, that sort of thing is still helpful.
We are interested in playtesting. As a family we have played through Rise of the Runelords and into 4th Adventure of Skulls and Shackles. Each can play as solo and as a large group of 5-6 as needed for testing. We have alot of experience in playing many different board game designs.
E-mail sent! Would love to participate.
Email away.
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If you've read through all this and you're still interested, please drop a note to swallowtail@paizo.com. We'll need the email address connected to your paizo.com account, as well as the email addresses of anybody in your group who would like to participate in the playtest forums. (And don't worry if it takes a week or two to get a response.)
What sort of time investment do you believe this to be Vic?
I'm interested in helping out, I have a metric ****-tonne of Play-testing experience and I am concise in my comments and viewpoints.
However, My day job is verging on my early morning to evening job if you understand me :/ And my 'me' time is becoming scarce!
It's hard to estimate the time investment here. The developers will be posting new material on an unpredictable basis (both in terms of quantity and schedule), and it will generally need to be tested within a couple of weeks at most.
Good to know. I was a bit worried about my availability when I volunteered, but I was worried you'd need turn-arounds in the realm of 48 hours. I'm sure over the course of even 1 week I can manage time for a few sessions, especially small-group sessions, which tend to be much shorter.
Another question I had, and this may vary depending on the needs: How much of our own initiative should we be willing to take. For example, if we're asked to test this specific card in this specific scenario, but look at it and potentially see a different, bigger problem, should we look into that ourselves in addition to the test you asked, or is that just going to be a waste, since there's stuff there you know is broken?
Thanks for the Reply Vic.
If you need someone I'll be on the reserve bench
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Chief Technical Officer
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It's hard to estimate the time investment here. The developers will be posting new material on an unpredictable basis (both in terms of quantity and schedule), and it will generally need to be tested within a couple of weeks at most.
Good to know. I was a bit worried about my availability when I volunteered, but I was worried you'd need turn-arounds in the realm of 48 hours. I'm sure over the course of even 1 week I can manage time for a few sessions, especially small-group sessions, which tend to be much shorter.
Another question I had, and this may vary depending on the needs: How much of our own initiative should we be willing to take. For example, if we're asked to test this specific card in this specific scenario, but look at it and potentially see a different, bigger problem, should we look into that ourselves in addition to the test you asked, or is that just going to be a waste, since there's stuff there you know is broken?
Finding problems we didn't anticipate is possibly the most important thing!
Finding problems we didn't anticipate is possibly the most important thing!It's hard to estimate the time investment here. The developers will be posting new material on an unpredictable basis (both in terms of quantity and schedule), and it will generally need to be tested within a couple of weeks at most.
Good to know. I was a bit worried about my availability when I volunteered, but I was worried you'd need turn-arounds in the realm of 48 hours. I'm sure over the course of even 1 week I can manage time for a few sessions, especially small-group sessions, which tend to be much shorter.
Another question I had, and this may vary depending on the needs: How much of our own initiative should we be willing to take. For example, if we're asked to test this specific card in this specific scenario, but look at it and potentially see a different, bigger problem, should we look into that ourselves in addition to the test you asked, or is that just going to be a waste, since there's stuff there you know is broken?
I figured as much, but I don't want to send a bunch of responses telling you what you already new if you didn't want it :)
Actually, sending them things they already know is also data - specifically how easily discoverable it is ;)
I would greatly be interested in playtesting! I can't get enough of either of RotRL or Skull/Shackles!
I will throw my hat in the ring for play testing.
Vic posted above in this thread that they already have all the playtesters they need.