feedback pad for “Beta” edition: https://pad.systemli.org/p/qE96y9-LaqsqcASk_Ysc-keep

WARNING: because [reasons, and last-minute changes probably in the wrong direction] the “alpha” edition's gameplay is quite unbalanced. The Leak apparently tends to often win, much more than the Empire. A patch set (modifying slightly the rules and the cards to try to make “alpha” more balanced) is being discussed on this wiki page: https://challengepower.info/institutefordissentanddatalove/wekillleaks-alpha-patchset

this sentence: the empire with 4 points of legit and 3 points of viol can play a card which level is 4 and 3, or 1 and 2. / the last part is super confusing, as it could also be 3 and 2, anything where l⇐4 and v⇐3 < to better explain in the rules, maybe a list of 3 or 4 pairs of values?

notes:

• empire player complains vehemently that the PSY OP card's reduction of their legitimacy is unfair, especially given its low cost in legitimacy and likelihood that the action they want to interrupt could be costing the same 1 legitimacy they could be interrupting the removal of < valid comment! thanks… actually only happens if capacity >5. so it's usually used to counter “big” leaks that could be more damaging than 1 legitimacy.. maybe raising this threshold to 6 or 7?

• one player says: “both sides should have two different resources”… “i would like a symmetry there” > asymmetry is the “name” of this game somehow…

> is this asymmetry intended to be advantageous to the leak, or empire? we think it feels like a disadvantage to the empire

  > If the game gets balanced it would be nobody's advantage. just maybe an interest in switching side to try both slightly different gameplays... obviously one doesnt run one Empire the same way one runs a small publishing organisation... Empire has this "moral' choice of chosing between the "way of the violence" and the "way of legitimacy".. those were not too distinct on one-before-the-last iteration. subtle modifications in the way of differentiating the two had a huge impact on the difficulty for The Empire. after more discussions and playtest feedback, an avenue for making it easier could maybe be more "choose +1 legitimacy or +1 violence". they are a recent edition, and there are maybe 3-4 such cards across the Empire's deck. maybe they could be 6, 7, 8... so as many chances to go one way or another, or alter the balance...?

• another says: “what if… there was one leak player versus two different empire players (each with their own empire deck)” <3

• an observer who hasn't played yet says: “the violence token is hard to read numbers through, and unique tokens aren't strictly necessary since the columns are also labeled” < further edition of the tokens may be 19mm instead of 17, making them more readable. < they actually are now of 18mm, but with a wider shape/hole. readiability is much better, from most angles

--- Suggestion: to invert PLAY phase and DRAW phase (to draw before playing) < brilliant. this works!

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note: T+I chose to play their first round with open hands, despite understanding it is intended to be played with closed hands.

Fake News says “pick 1 card” but doesn't use the word “random”, while Hacktivists says “picks 2 random”. It seems clear Fake News must be a random choice too, given closed hands, but the inconsistency in phrasing is confusing.

Question: What capacity applies for interrupt cards played during opponent's turn? (seems capacity is reset at end of turn, but, it is not explicitly stated.)

Removing MIC repression (using Merc Files): which stat to decrement? (MIC had a choice of which to +1). could be Leak's choice, or could be whatever Empire chose when they played MIC… but then that would need to be remembered.

removing State of Emergency: is the persistent +1 subtracted at moment of decision to remove it, or only after the turn? (latter makes more sense to me, but it is ambiguous and resulted in some discussion of which it should be.) This could be clarified by editing the CARD LEVELS section of the manual to s/it brought get subtracted/it brought get subtracted at the end of the turn/

Draw Phase instructions: is it allowed to (1) not play a card, (2) draw 1 card, and then (3) subsequently discard two and draw two more? We think so, but not certain.

post-mortem: game started out neck in neck but then The Leak pulled ahead and got to 10 while Empire never exceeded 5,5. Despite substantial lead, it took a long time for The Leak to exhaust Empire's legitimacy. Ended with violence 3 and capacity 10.

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Some feedback to the WEKILL / / LEAKS card game I happily play tested not so long ago:

• could be nice to have a pictogram for each type, especially a distinctive one for action cards that can be played out of turn
• on the card “massive protests” was I believe the word “neuralgic”. Despite it being my first language, I don't really know this word (fixed)
• thematic difference between empire and leaks cards would help (e.g. blue/red rim around cards)
• the cards refer to a lot of real events, but I wouldn't be able to find them if I didn't know them befire… Maybe something like “Learn more, lookup <search term>” would help turn an insider reference into a pedagogic opportunity < absolutely, work-in-progress towards 1.0!
• at the game play, the introduction and explanation - although very good - took 30 minutes after a 10 min delay, leading to only about 15 min gameplay for me :/ future playtest events should 1/ have shorter intro 2/ let players figure out the rules from the manual 3/ last at least 90min
• generally really nice idea, and would love to support getting a deck! <3

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'should there be a “plea deal” card?' :) < maybe for 1.0.. or future extension :)

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Censorship Resistant Servers says “if censorship or ddos is in play, discard them. while in play, censorship or ddos can't be played”, and Gag Order says “can't be played if Censorship Resistant Servers is in play”.

• the word “discard” is confusing here; that word should be used for cards being discarded from the hand but for removing cards from the table it should say something else like “removed from play”. < great

• Either Gag Order should be also mentioned on Censorship Resistant Servers' list of cards it prevents from being played, or (better) that list should be removed from the Censorship Resistant Servers and the blocking information should only be on the cards being blocked (eg, the way it is on Gag Order it should also be on Censorship and DDOS).

-- War For an Asian Island costs 5,7 and gives +1, +2, amplifying the imbalance of legitimacy vs violence --

Empire won a game with 3,4,4 starting state when leak had a not-very-good starting hand. --

Advanced Source Protection's ongoing damage is too strong, can be devastating

Leak got to 13 cap before winning