Author Topic: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?  (Read 4978 times)

Offline ImperatorK

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How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« on: November 12, 2011, 06:05:08 AM »
Well?
I've got some houserules and some homebrewed base classes. I'd like to test them, but I don't know how.
The classes are just some base classes gestalted together and some other options tacked on. I want them to be tier 3. What do you suggest I should do to test them individually? A duel against a tier 3 class? I'm not sure about it. Same Game Test? But that's comparing the class to a Rogue, right?
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Offline Eldritch_Lord

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2011, 07:08:52 AM »
Well?
I've got some houserules and some homebrewed base classes. I'd like to test them, but I don't know how.
The classes are just some base classes gestalted together and some other options tacked on. I want them to be tier 3. What do you suggest I should do to test them individually? A duel against a tier 3 class? I'm not sure about it. Same Game Test? But that's comparing the class to a Rogue, right?

Duels aren't really useful at all, as (A) 1-on-1 fights against PC-classed opponents aren't representative of all the sorts of challenges a class will face in real play and (B) a handful of combats won't give you enough data points for a good assessment.  The SGT doesn't compare the class to a rogue, it measures success rate against a standard battery of encounters.  A 50/50 success rate or thereabouts will generally put you in T3 territory, while the T1 casters have higher win rates and the T5 martial types lower win rates.

I'd suggest doing a SGT to see where their strengths and weaknesses are, then running a few one-shot games with the material if you can, emphasizing those strong and weak points if possible; that will give you a feel of how they work in play and will also give you an idea of how well each works in a party.

Offline veekie

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2011, 07:32:42 AM »
Yeah, hit the problem with 4 characters, 3 block standard, 1 custom against standard encounters and judge what this does compared to the usual 4 standards.
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Offline ImperatorK

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2011, 07:56:24 AM »
Mhm.
Can SGT be run with houserules? I mean, if I made some changes to general rules, will it somehow make the SGT unusable as a test?
And also, can I test all my things at once or is it better to test them one at a time?
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Offline veekie

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2011, 09:06:09 AM »
Individually, unless you're considering the whole thing as one suite, then I suggest getting hold of a full playtest group to run it through its paces.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

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And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Mooncrow

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2011, 11:17:01 AM »
Mhm.
Can SGT be run with houserules? I mean, if I made some changes to general rules, will it somehow make the SGT unusable as a test?
And also, can I test all my things at once or is it better to test them one at a time?

Just think of it as a science experiment - introduce one variable at a time and check the results. 

Offline RobbyPants

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2011, 11:54:53 AM »
Yeah, hit the problem with 4 characters, 3 block standard, 1 custom against standard encounters and judge what this does compared to the usual 4 standards.
Mhm.
Can SGT be run with houserules? I mean, if I made some changes to general rules, will it somehow make the SGT unusable as a test?
And also, can I test all my things at once or is it better to test them one at a time?
I think these two ideas are good ways to approach things.

Running numbers on average damage and rates of success can be helpful, but it's a lot of work and you need to run those numbers in a lot of scenarios.
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Offline X-Codes

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2011, 04:15:18 PM »
...run a short game with the houserules in effect?

Offline Unbeliever

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2011, 11:28:46 AM »
...run a short game with the houserules in effect?
+1, or even just try them out for a couple of sessions, with everyone knowing they are contingent.

For modified classes, I can usually just eyeball it.  If there's something that seems out of whack at the table, I usually suck it up for a session and then go back and modify it. 

Offline RobbyPants

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #9 on: November 14, 2011, 11:59:52 AM »
...run a short game with the houserules in effect?
I've done that a bit too, but it's more of "I want to try this rule for this game" rather than a "lets run a game to test this new rule". It's still a good way to learn.
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Offline bhu

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Re: How to go about testing your homebrew/houserules?
« Reply #10 on: November 19, 2011, 06:49:38 PM »
Fire up a pbp, just mention what purpose its for