Saturday, August 10, 2019

#RPGaDAY 2019 - DAY 10: FOCUS

Is it ironic that the ship's in focus, but the word at the bottom isn't?
Custom dice with the Autocratik logo on them thanks to www.chimericdesigns.co.uk
Day Ten of #RPGaDAY 2019 is FOCUS. I have to say I'd be nowhere without my focus group. Back when I started work on Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space (Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game as it is now) we had a lot of playtesters who helped shape the game to become what it is today (at time of writing). One bit of advice I got while I was trying to work my way through all of the feedback from playtesting has stayed with me ever since - "You can't create anything good by committee." A small group who you trust and can rely upon to have brilliant ideas to feed back, with constructive criticism. I needed to go small.

Since then, and especially while working on WILD, I've had a small core group of trusted individuals who I occasionally bounce ideas off of. They're brilliant at making simple suggestions, pointing me in  a new and unseen direction, and thinking outside of the box.

Back when Doctor Who was in its formative stages, there were three individuals who I credited as "The Heart of the TARDIS" - Robin, Derek and Charles. Thank you! Now, with WILD, the focus group has grown a little to eight (technically ten, but two avoid social media), but without them I'd be stuck, have given up, and totally quit game writing and design, relegating myself to becoming a checkout attendant at a filling station.

I'd just like to thank them for their continued help and support over the many, many years of me working on WILD. Maybe one day it'll see the light of day.

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