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Favour of the Crowd's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Design | #3 | 4.222 | 4.222 |
| Overall | #9 | 3.704 | 3.704 |
| Originality | #10 | 3.889 | 3.889 |
| Adherence to the Theme | #12 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Does Large also boost Bow attacks? If so, Large + Quickshot seems a scary set that would kinda mitigate the movement penalty.
Any thoughts on other Showmanship elements to boost Favor? Taunting or Exotic weapons like Nets and Tridents from pop culture coliseums would be a fun touch for fan favor.
I'd also be interested to see some neutral elements like Trained Animals or Neutral factions that act as a buffer in the early turns to further prevent early player deaths!
Thanks for the game!
Well spotted. Yeah large should have an additional clause saying it doesn't work with the bow. Will have to add that in the updated version.
It's funny you mention the exotic weapons and animals. The net and spear weapon and non player creatures were in my original notes doc for this. Creatures I didn't know how to fit into the page limit and the net I couldn't figure how to make it work.
I think the next time I update this the showman/crowd favour will have a bit of a rework to make it more interesting and dynamic. Maybe ill find a way to get the animals in and help alleviate some of the early player deaths.
Thanks for all of your feedback, it's much appreciated!
So my two cents about the game:
- I really enjoy the way the game revolves around getting the crowd's approval, feels somewhat in line with what you'd expect from actual gladiators fighting in an arena. It could actually be easily transposed to modern day wrestling, in which fights are often following a pre-written scenario.
- The model customization is top notch, I really felt that I could create different types of teams and play different strategies with each fighter being designed for a specific task.
- Some rules could be clarified, such as the backstab but overall it is pretty easy to understand the general concept.
I really would like to see a more developped version of this system. It could be interesting to get some inspiration from Blood Bowl and the impact of the fans and the crowd on the game (for instance having something similar to a "Fan Factor" that could lead to specific events when a player favoured by the crowd gets killed).
Overall this is a very interesting kitchen-table game! Thank you for designing this!
Thank you for your feedback. I'm really glad the tone and theme was translated well. Moving it into modern day wrestling would be cool actually.
Thanks so much, there were so many skills and abilities i could have added, im debating doing an extra sheet with a load more skills at some point, though ill get a few more games under my belt as it is now to see what needs more variety. The next version will clarify some of the rules and try and clear things up which are a little vague at the moment.
I'm really glad you liked it, i've got a few ideas for where to take the game. And thanks for recommending Blood Bowl, ill have to look into it as I haven't played it before and see what I can draw from it. Thanks so much for all of your kind words!
- A couple of questions: How many Wounds does an attack do? How do you get "behind" somebody (according to Backstab)?
Some thoughts. I like the approach; that you want to kill your opponent after a specific round. But I don't think this creates interesting gameplay on its own, as there's nothing else for your models to do! What do you expect models will be doing on Turns 1 & 2? I suspect they'll be attacking, since there's nothing else to do. So you, player, will be keeping track of Favour, but this won't actually affect your decisions or the gameplay, only, perhaps, the outcome.
Stunning leads to your opponent gaining negative favor, which makes executing them easier, but only if you manage to randomly stun them, which you're less likely to do since you're down a model. These interconnected systems are a good start but it needs a lot of work; currently it leads to a lot of book-keeping and will not contribute anything to the game, since it isn't going to change the way the players take actions or make players approach the game any differently.
There's a lot of other nitpicks, but the main one I'll go into is that you've got a lot of steps to resolve combat and a lot of book-keeping, but the end result will be that you won't be making many decisions; once you're in close you're going to roll until the opponent is dead.
The other thing is that you've got a game that has almost zero focus on synergy. Each model will essentially function on its own, independently of what's going on around it, and they seem to have no control over larger outcomes or a bigger picture.
I think you've got a good start but you need to zero in on what the player is doing and how they'll be approaching the game.
I agree regarding wounds and backstab, it should be specified that attacking needs to be done with the miniature facing the target.
bear in mind nomoredroids that the winner is the one who gets more glory points, which are earned mostly by wounding.
the favour mechanic seems interesting but confuses me. You get more likey executed if you have negative favour I suppose? it's not clear who gets the favour or whose favour you check when doing what. Also, I can't find this recoup thing. I suppose it's a riposte if you manage to defend or something?
I agree I missed the miniature facing rule, ill add it as a reminder on the itch page and if I do an update ill make sure to clarify.
You're correct about Glory, this was added to ensure players don't try and kill enemies in the first round with their strong abilities but still try and get some wounds in early.
I'll have to clarify the Favour too. The idea is doing negative attacks (attacking stunned enemies, killing enemies at the start & certain abilities) all give the fighter who has activated negative favour.
Recoup is mentioned under the Turn Order. Recouping is where your fighter regains Stamina. So having positive favour was meant to signify being cheered on by the crowd and recovering more. While Negative favour reduces the amount of Stamina you recover as the crowd is booing you.
Hey, thanks for taking the time to go through the game and commenting on it, i do appreciate all of your feedback.
I definitely missed clarifying some core rules:
I'll definitely take all of your feedback onboard if i do an updated version. Favour and the rounds system was meant to make the player think about positioning their fighters and not just aiming to go in and kill straight away. But i think you're right and it may need some more work and more agency/ options for the players to do.