The Inside Scoop on Gaming

First off, this isn’t really my cup of tea. I’ve not played or run Priceless because it simply doesn’t appeal to me. Just thought I ought to warn you of that before we get going. Priceless is a one-shot live-action adventure for about eight players and two NPCs. (I say “about” eight because it depends on whether you want someone playing the cat and dog or not.) Priceless is available as a 16-page $2.50 pdf download from www.roguepublishing.com.

Anyway, Priceless is set during a dark and stormy night in a remote English farmhouse. The players all take the role of the Harrington children (and their pets). Something Bad has happened to Mother and the children must try to figure out what it is – without succumbing to that same evil themselves.

Apart from players, a location and some simple props, Priceless contains everything you need to play – background, some very simple rules, character details and all the plot details that you’d expect.

So why didn’t I like it?

Well, I have several problems with it but the main one is that Priceless just doesn’t appeal to me. There are live-action games and live-action games, and they aren’t all the same. I like what we in the UK call “freeforms” – frantic games with very detailed characters and zillions of plots.

Priceless isn’t like that. The characters are barely detailed (but then they are only children) and there’s only eight of them. Priceless also only has the one plot – solving the mystery. A respectable freeform would never be seen in public with anything less than ten plots.

Priceless is actually more like a round-the-table game (in fact, I found myself wondering if it would play better as a tabletop Call of Cthulhu scenario), but without the table. If that’s how you like your live-action (and there are plenty who do), then Priceless may be for you.

Perhaps the other stumbling block is that Priceless desperately needs an edit. I found myself having to re-read it just to try and figure out what’s going on – and there’s contradictory information in more than one place. I do wonder if the fact that it’s a pdf file that makes it so shoddy – I can’t believe that Rogue Publishing would have let this go out of the door if it had been a proper book. (For those that are interested, my list of editing faults is at the end of this section.)

And perhaps finally, I didn’t really like the grand finale. The game builds up to this great wager – the game’s preferred climax. (I won’t spoil it here – except to say that it’s a variant on the Prisoner’s Dilemma.) And frankly I just thought “so what.”

So that’s Priceless, I’m afraid. I wanted to like it, but eventually didn’t.

Reasons why Priceless needs an edit: - p6, N “waits in the attic until the children come in” while on p8 “[if something happens], N will arrive a few minutes later.” - p6, “N doesn’t care about winning or losing” but on p9 we are told to “emphasize N’s fervent desire for the [item]” (which would definitely lead to N winning). - p13 is the first place where N’s physical form is mentioned (it’s also mentioned on the cat’s character sheet – but, amazingly enough, nowhere else!). Oh, and p13 is actually a handout which isn’t used until part-way through the game – if at all. - speaking of the cat, it has decided to be mean to Perry because Perry was mean to it. However, Perry (nor any other character) knows anything of this. - p7 has a mysterious paragraph on befriending the evil characters. This is particularly unclear – without more detail I can’t see it working in practice. Worse, the option of being befriended isn’t mentioned on the evil character sheets – so how are the players to know that they can be befriended?

Priceless
Priceless Capsule Review by Steve Hatherley on 15/08/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse) Short, horror live-action game for up to 8 players. Needs an edit. Product: Priceless Author: Sandy Antunes Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Rogue Publishing Line: Cost: $2-50 Page count: 16 Year published: 2001 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Steve Hatherley on 15/08/02 Genre tags: Horror Live-action	First off, this isn’t really my cup of tea. I’ve not played or run Priceless because it simply doesn’t appeal to me. Just thought I ought to warn you of that before we get going. Priceless is a one-shot live-action adventure for about eight players and two NPCs. (I say “about” eight because it depends on whether you want someone playing the cat and dog or not.) Priceless is available as a 16-page $2.50 pdf download from www.roguepublishing.com. Anyway, Priceless is set during a dark and stormy night in a remote English farmhouse. The players all take the role of the Harrington children (and their pets). Something Bad has happened to Mother and the children must try to figure out what it is – without succumbing to that same evil themselves. Apart from players, a location and some simple props, Priceless contains everything you need to play – background, some very simple rules, character details and all the plot details that you’d expect. So why didn’t I like it? Well, I have several problems with it but the main one is that Priceless just doesn’t appeal to me. There are live-action games and live-action games, and they aren’t all the same. I like what we in the UK call “freeforms” – frantic games with very detailed characters and zillions of plots. Priceless isn’t like that. The characters are barely detailed (but then they are only children) and there’s only eight of them. Priceless also only has the one plot – solving the mystery. A respectable freeform would never be seen in public with anything less than ten plots. Priceless is actually more like a round-the-table game (in fact, I found myself wondering if it would play better as a tabletop Call of Cthulhu scenario), but without the table. If that’s how you like your live-action (and there are plenty who do), then Priceless may be for you. Perhaps the other stumbling block is that Priceless desperately needs an edit. I found myself having to re-read it just to try and figure out what’s going on – and there’s contradictory information in more than one place. I do wonder if the fact that it’s a pdf file that makes it so shoddy – I can’t believe that Rogue Publishing would have let this go out of the door if it had been a proper book. (For those that are interested, my list of editing faults is at the end of this section.) And perhaps finally, I didn’t really like the grand finale. The game builds up to this great wager – the game’s preferred climax. (I won’t spoil it here – except to say that it’s a variant on the Prisoner’s Dilemma.) And frankly I just thought “so what.” So that’s Priceless, I’m afraid. I wanted to like it, but eventually didn’t. Reasons why Priceless needs an edit: - p6, N “waits in the attic until the children come in” while on p8 “[if something happens], N will arrive a few minutes later.” - p6, “N doesn’t care about winning or losing” but on p9 we are told to “emphasize N’s fervent desire for the [item]” (which would definitely lead to N winning). - p13 is the first place where N’s physical form is mentioned (it’s also mentioned on the cat’s character sheet – but, amazingly enough, nowhere else!). Oh, and p13 is actually a handout which isn’t used until part-way through the game – if at all. - speaking of the cat, it has decided to be mean to Perry because Perry was mean to it. However, Perry (nor any other character) knows anything of this. - p7 has a mysterious paragraph on befriending the evil characters. This is particularly unclear – without more detail I can’t see it working in practice. Worse, the option of being befriended isn’t mentioned on the evil character sheets – so how are the players to know that they can be befriended?