TOMB OF THE TIMELESS MASTER PLAYTEST REPORT (WANDERING HEROES)

I have a somewhat tricky job today because I am writing a playtest report for a session I ran Sunday putting two players through (Ben and Michelle) through the Tomb of the Timeless Master but I have another group also going through it this coming Saturday. For this reason I am going to attempt a spoiler free playtest report, then on the following week I will write a comparison of both groups experiences. 

The Tomb of the Timeless Master is a dungeon that will be part of our gazetteer in Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate. The playtest session went smoothly and the challenges and combats were suitable for characters of Qi Level 3. Characters with Lightness Kung Fu (Qinggong) definitely have an edge in some challenges (something we say in our last session of the campaign when the other party arrived at the Tomb: HERE) because it gives them better access to portions of the complex. However there are plenty of other obstacles and challenges demanding different sets of skills and techniques. 

The players explored about 1/4th of the map and will hopefully get through the remainder in the next session or two. From what portion they've experienced so far there seems to be a good amount of material to interact with. I will be adding in a more details and tweaking a couple of NPC entries based on the playtest. 

I found a few places where text needed further explanation of clarification. I also noticed a small error on the character sheet during the playtest (which I fixed). 

What skill sets are represented in the party make a difference as well (this is generally true of the game because it has a lot of skills). What this has meant in play, and what it means for things like dungeons, is hirelings are going to be important if the party has any gaps (for example characters without Survival Skills will possibly want to hire mountain guides). This is something I've noticed over the last year and half of play testing.

The Network system definitely works for dungeon exploration in its current form, which is something we made a point when we revised it for Sertorius. 

We will see how things go this Saturday and Sunday.