Before You Begin
Thank you for playtesting. Genuinely. You're holding something unfinishedâa game that works in my head but hasn't been stress-tested by people who aren't me. That's where you come in.
This document is a working draft. Some sections are polished. Some are held together with hope and placeholder text. The math has been checked, but math and play are different animals. I need to know what happens when real people sit down with these rules and try to tell stories with them.
What You're Testing
unGOD Magica is a tabletop RPG about hidden practitioners of magic competing for a single Wish on Walpurgisnacht. The campaign structure is a three-month pilgrimage to a host city, followed by one night where the rules change and only one person gets what they want.
The core loop: build dice pools from Metres, Limits, Assets, and Spells. Roll against a Danger Class. Navigate consequences. Protect the Veil. Pursue your Wish.
The tone: urban fantasy with teeth. Mundane lives that matter. Magic that costs. Bloodlines with expectations. The question isn't whether you can winâit's what you're willing to lose.
What I Need From You
Not all feedback is equally useful at this stage. Here's what helps most:
Clarity
Did you understand the rules? Where did you get confused? Where did you have to re-read something three times? Where did the table argue about what a rule meant?
"We couldn't figure out how Break Rolls interact with spells" is gold. "This was confusing" is less useful without specifics.
Feel
Did the dice produce interesting results? Did Success with Consequences create drama or just annoyance? Did the Veil feel like meaningful pressure or bookkeeping? Did character creation produce characters you wanted to play?
"Rolling felt flat" or "I never wanted to risk my Assets" tells me something's wrong with the incentive structure.
Friction
Where did play slow down? What required too much calculation? What got forgotten constantly? What did you house-rule on the fly because the written rule didn't work?
House rules are data. They tell me where the design failed to anticipate real play.
Gaps
What did you need that wasn't in the document? What situation came up that the rules didn't cover? What question did someone ask that nobody could answer?
"We didn't know how to handle X" means I need to write a section on X.
What I Don't Need Yet
Line editing. Typos and grammar can wait. I'll do a full pass before publication.
"Have you considered a different dice system?" The core dice mechanic is set. I'm testing this system, not shopping for a new one.
Lore expansion requests. "You should add a bloodline for X" is fun but premature. Let's make sure the existing eighteen work first.
Comparison to other games. I'm aware this has DNA from various places. I don't need to know what it reminds you ofâI need to know if it works.
How to Report
After your session (or campaign, if you're ambitious), send me:
- Session length and player count
- Characters created (Bloodline, Class, rough concept)
- What happened (brief summaryâa paragraph is fine)
- What worked
- What didn't
- Specific questions or confusions
You can structure this however you want. Bullet points, narrative, voice memo transcriptâI'll take it. The more specific, the better.
Known Issues
- The Spell Grimoire needs better organizationâfinding spells mid-session is slower than it should be
- Some Class abilities may be over- or under-tuned; I'm watching Striver and Transgressor especially
- The Walpurgisnacht rules are the least tested sectionâif you get there, your feedback is invaluable
- The Asset Break Roll might be too punishing or not punishing enough; I genuinely don't know yet
Finally
Play the game wrong. Break it. Find the edge cases. Tell me when you had fun and when you didn't. Be honestâpolite dishonesty wastes both our times.
This is the part where the game stops being mine and starts being ours. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
â Elliott