Week 11 Studio: Playtest lab

Running an actual slice of your draft with a real player, and recording what diverges from what you expected.

3 May 2027

A read-through can’t tell you where a scenario actually breaks — only a real player, making real choices you didn’t predict, can do that. This studio is dedicated table time for exactly that, paired with a short list of what to watch for while it happens.

Before the session#

If you don’t already have a group, use the playtest-matching list Nodens keeps — pairing up with another student’s draft is a completely valid way to satisfy this. Bring your scenario materials in whatever state they’re in; they don’t need to be finished, just runnable for a scene or two.

In the session#

Run 60–90 minutes with at least one real player. Keep a running note of: where they got stuck, any clue or NPC that went completely unused, any check that felt unnecessary, and any moment that surprised you — a good surprise is as much useful data as a bad one.

Afterwards#

Write these notes up as the Playtest Report, due this week. Assessment 4 is explicitly graded on whether your final scenario responds to what this session actually revealed, not just on the design being tidy on paper.