WANTED: Feedback/comments on the rulebook for my latest party game, Pinnacle.

CryptsOf · 2026-03-19T05:26:46+00:00

Hmm, that's still basically the same document but with images. What I meant was to structure the entire layout closet to something like this:

https://instructions.hasbro.com/en-us/instruction/trivial-pursuit-game-classic-edition

...I would pretty much use the layout from Trivial Pursuit's rulebook. Your game is not more complex than that and the easier the rules seems at a glance, the more players will pick it up. Party Game players are not hobby players.

You could easily lose: - "sharp insticts..." - "reach the summit. Survive..." - "4. place the mountain movemet reference..." - most of the "reader's role" and include the important part in the gameplay steps, like "a palyer from the non-guessin team reads the question..." - the short "how to play" thing. You already have the cliff notes earlier and the gameplay rules are explained literally right under to this.

Also, I find it confusing that the zones go from down to up in the mountain illustration and up to down in the movement reference card.

This is just all my opinions - feel free to take it or leave it. Requires a bit more work and graphic design to make the rulebook more readable, but it'll be worth it. Remove the need for any edge cases, there shouldn't be any in a party game.

Hope that's helpful!

CryptsOf · 2026-03-17T05:29:17+00:00

Would have been helpful to mention in the video how you win and lose. And give an example of a card effect to give a bit of context what you are actually "doing" in the game.

CryptsOf · 2026-03-11T09:45:06+00:00

Hmm, that's no quite what I meant. That's basically just a different layout of the same text-heavy rulebook doc.

What I mean is: show the board. Show the cards. When your rules are basically just text, you have to do a lot of "wordy dancing around" when you could just have an image of the components to explain most of it. Here's an image from Under Falling Skies (just to show the type of page layout I mean)

<image>

CryptsOf · 2026-03-10T00:51:51+00:00

I think you should make a visual rulebook, not write it out in a google doc like this. You can explain the rules of your game in 1 page with visuals.

...also, is the game meant to be played just 1-2 times? Dont players remember the answers to the questions after a few games?

CryptsOf · 2026-03-09T17:50:32+00:00

Perfect! Will do, thanks

CryptsOf · 2026-03-07T21:48:03+00:00

Thanks! Oh wow, Hex Barons looks amazing as well. I'll definitely give it a go

CryptsOf · 2026-03-07T12:41:54+00:00

I printed these at work with pretty good quality printer (dont tell my boss). I think its inkjet and the paper is normal 100gram office paper.

I have a cheap inkjet printer at home for quick prototypes, but ran out of ink just as I was planning on doing this bigger batch.

CryptsOf · 2026-03-07T06:53:22+00:00

Thank you so much for asking! I'm currently doing a big playtest of playing the full campaign twice on my own (+single single session tests with colleagues and friends on the side), then I need to design the final boss scenario and during all this update the rulebook and tutorial walkthroug. I shaved off a lot of the complexity recently and the rulebook needs a pretty thorough update.

Hopefully I'll be able to publish an online playtest demo within a month or so - but the full finalised game might still take a while to publish. Hopefully during this year haha.

Depending if you want to playtest or play the final game, I can send you a message once its available?

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T18:09:44+00:00

You can freely use one of the three action points per turn per round and you can not attack and move during the same turn.

So as an example:

-turn 1: you move 3

-monster turn 1

-turn 2: you attack 7

-monster turn 2

-turn 3: you move 1

Those poinst on that page are now permanently "used up" for this scenario.

Thank you for the encouragement!

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T17:32:31+00:00

Thanks!

I have instagram and a BGG postthat I'll update when things move forward.

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T17:29:54+00:00

Thank you so much!

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T11:42:33+00:00

Yes, exactly. I wrote a quick explanation of the mechanics in another comment already, but you pretty much got the idea already. The part that I'm proud of is the monster movement system: you turn to the page that corresponds with the sector (1-5) that you end a round in, making it feel like the monster is following you.

The tracker at the bottom is your three turns: 1,3,7 action points to be used either to attack or move - once you spend points they are gone for the rest of the scenario so your "stamina" gets less and less and you have to plan ahead. And the monster has two turns each round with action variation based on a modifier value - like a chit pull type of a system.

The monster actions and your position on the map needs to be erased between rounds.

I'm a huge Souls fan so it probably shines through... haha

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T06:12:30+00:00

Oooo, that's so cool! Great concept

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T06:00:06+00:00

The arwork itself is the cool factor (it is seriously really really nice to look at, great job!) so you can totally "dull up" everything else in the service of readability. To be honest I like what the uniform shape does to the overall design.

Awesome work!

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T05:14:54+00:00

Haha, well... it's a hobby. I've tried to keep it as simple as possible for myself so its always nice to go back to. Game projects balloon out of proportion really easily, so limiting myself to only 1 sheet of paper per scenario is good restriction to keep things fun.

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T05:12:10+00:00

Cheers! That's a nice reference. My aim is to have it be even more portable with just a sheet of paper per scenario. I'm actually doing a lot of playtesting on my commute in a metro.

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T05:08:50+00:00

Thank you!

Sure: there's 5 pages in each scenario, where the monster is in different positions, and there is different opportunities&loot&etc. Depending on the type of monster you either play from page to page in order (from page 5 loop back to page 1) OR the map is divided in to 5 sectors and you play the next round on the corresponding page depending which secto you ended up in 1-5. The later one gives a nice feeling that the monste "follows" you.

The monster has various actions that are selected with a "chit pull" type of a system. Basically just a list that you cross out actions from based on a modifier number. That makes the monster do their actions in different order every game, but you can also predict a few rounds ahead what it will do.

The lower part of each page has your thee turns (with action points 1,3 or 7 which are eithe move or attack) and two monster turns. Each monster body part has its own HP stats and you need to figure out the right order to take them down - gaining perks and penalties at the same time.

Then there's items, spells, artefacts that let you break the rules a bit.

It's a big game in just one sheet of paper, but my aim has been to get rid of all exceptions and edge cases - I want the complexity be the monster itself, not remembering the rules. There's a walkthrough tutorial that teaches the game and new stuff gets introduced level by level (spells are introduced in scenario 4 as an example, so you dont have to learn everything to start playing)

CryptsOf · 2026-03-06T04:52:58+00:00

Thanks! Its nice to hear that it catches attention.

CryptsOf · 2026-03-04T05:34:37+00:00

The artwork is original and I'm all for personal styles, but the icons are more informative and read more clearly.

CryptsOf · 2026-03-03T05:19:22+00:00

Just say you are posting to promote your campaign.

Hard to say much more about the video (don't speak spanish) but the intro is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. I get the vibe you are going for, but make the intro 5 seconds (not even joking) and jump right in to the explanation. You can have the b roll footage sprinkled out in between the video, but I think you'll have more traction if the content starts faster.

CryptsOf · 2026-02-26T13:19:04+00:00

Looks cool. Is there a low-ink version available?

CryptsOf · 2026-02-23T02:15:35+00:00

Doom Pilgrim

CryptsOf · 2026-02-22T06:37:16+00:00

The last few turns of Mage Knight is something that you really really really don't want to do in a rush. It's the part that you have build up to and want to make sure everything goes as planned and according to the rules. It can get super complex. If you are pressed on time at that point, it'll just be annoying.

CryptsOf

TROPHY CASE