Today I did another playtest of Panorama - the worldbuilding game, formerly called Frontiers. I’m liking the name Panorama and it will probably be the final title.

The main addition here was a ‘status’ card (I need a better name for it). It lets a player go back to previous character (and maybe organization) and add some additional details like scheme, items, fears, etc. This is to address previous feedback that players wanted to revist characters.

This playtest was with just two other players and it went well. Neither had played microscope before but they quickly groked the rules. We built a near future, post-apocaylptic world where most of humanity had been killed by a pandemic; the setting was San Angeles (San Diego to LA megalopolis). Before long, we had some interesting factions and characters with good motivations. We didn’t end up testing the ‘status’ card but we also only played three rounds (before switching to Eclipse =) and eating dinner).

I’m happy with how it went and I have a few ideas for new things to add. I’ll toy with one ‘History’ card where players can add past events that were significant to the world. I’ll also think about extention rules that allow players to jump forward in time and update the tableau accordingly.

My next playtest is scheduled for Sunday and I’ll likely post the rules after that!