Do you have a steady hand and a penchant for histrionic, scenery-chewing outbursts? Is your medical license a sham, and is the bandaged patient in 32-A really your twin sister? If so, I need some informal help testing out various bits of Medical Hospital. I’m at a point where I would benefit from feedback on both the rules and the current approach to surgical procedures, which means it may be arts and crafts time at your kitchen table!
Turns out Medical Hospital has a lot of moving parts. There’s a die mechanic that relies on three dice that are always visible on the table. There are 18 objects that can be bought and stolen during the game with the currency you gain (or lose) through surgery, and the surgery itself is very equipment and paper intensive. The currency also needs to be tracked. The easiest way to handle all this is to atomize each of the 18 elements onto a little card, which can literally change hands. People understand this. But it poses two problems. First, production – packaging 18 cards is just a pain on a number of levels. And second, it clutters the playing area to an insane degree, and playtesting shows this is not OK. The surgery itself is hugely cluttered and full of mess (which is very appropriate and fun).
So I’m thinking about trying to consolidate all the stuff onto pages that you can write on, record sheets that tell you:
1. Who the player-surgeons are
2. How much currency they currently have
3. The status of the dice, as well as instruction about what that means
4. The status of each object and who controls it
That’s a lot.
Here’s a Here’s a revised example…I am actively killing my darlings. Complications are gone, relegated to an optional component. Here’s some post-playtest detritus.
I am not sure if this remains too dense, too complex, too hard to use. Let me know what you think, approaching it strictly from the point of view of the usability of the materials. Thanks!
Dreamation 2010 was frickin’ awesome.
Cowboys With Big Hearts needs some GM advice and structure. I’m thinking: To “unlock” your Keepsake, at any time you have a flashback tying you to the orphans. Until then you can’t use it. Or maybe you have to tie the keepsake to the orphans in the flashback. That might be fun. Then it is color scene/big conflict/color/big/color/showdown. So maybe: Phoenix / Apaches / Train robber friends / rockslide / weirdo preacher / Death Brothers (that was the Dreamation game), with stuff slotted in as a GM prefers, with many options. I don’t think the rules can be well presented on cards.
Medical Hospital – procedure timing was wrong, wrong, wrong. Trauma doesn’t work right. You need to be able to earn Pull in roleplaying scenes (by hitting the A-Plot maybe?) but I want to avoid state tracking so badly! If the RP game can stand alone like the arts-and-crafts game can, that is a good thing. Big thanks to Eric, Witt and Laura who “got it” and really chewed the scenery. The game is cluttered with stuff, which I need to think about. Lots of bits swirling around. Viz the RP half of the play space:
My interest in structured freeform is rekindled. I want to write a larp now. I want to play in a larp now, perhaps before writing one. A conversation with John S. and Frank M. really got me thinking about how to port what is good about what I already do to a different medium.
Seven sessions of Fiasco were run – three by me – and it wasn’t enough. I’m so grateful for the warm reception the game has gotten. I’m also happy that I can run it endlessly and not get tired of it. I couldn’t run three games of Grey Ranks that way, or The Roach.
Here are two surgical procedures, a pyloric valve enlargement and a selective vagotomy. The instructions are on individual sheets, and both use the same chart sheet (you’ll need two of MH01). I’d love to have some people try them out and tell me how long they took (in seconds from picking up the scissors to putting them down), and if the instructions were clear enough. You need scissors, sticky notes (which stand in for sutures, to close the cuts you make) and a sharp pencil for poking. Dr. Lattimore can explain it better than I can. Thanks! Give it a try!
Mark Leyner fans rejoice! I’ve decided to focus my efforts on the abdomen for Medical Hospital. Other cool sets of procedures will come later, but the abdomen is totally disgusting and offers a lot of variety. Here’s the list:
CLASS C
LYSIS OF ADHESIONS
TRADITIONAL OPEN APPENDECTOMY
PERITONEOVENOUS SHUNT
UMBILICAL HERNIORRHAPHY
GASTROSTOMY
INGUINAL HERNIA REPAIR
CLASS B
ANTRECTOMY/VAGOTOMY; OR PEPTIC ULCER GASTRECTOMY/ VAGOTOMY
SPLENECTOMY (PARTIAL OR TOTAL)
ANTERIOR ADRENALECTOMY
PYLOROPLASTY/VAGOTOMY
SMALL BOWEL RESECTION
MECKEL’S DIVERTICULECTOMY
CLASS A
ADENOCARCINOMA GASTRECTOMY
HEPATECTOMY (PARTIAL OR TOTAL)
ORTHOTOPIC HEPATIC TRANSPLANT
BILLROTH 1 GASTRODUODENOSTOMY
So 16 Procedures, most of them in the gut, two with stuff going on in the neck as well. This is a really good way to focus my efforts, and the trauma cases will still be grisly whole body affairs. I’ll add a Class A dealing with the pancreas but I don’t have one yet.
