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With the design and writing portion of Aetherverse complete, other than the expected editing and continued revision, it's time for me to start moving on with getting the word out that the game exists. This is part of the long, steady push towards doing a Kickstarter for a "pretty" digital copy and print book, so it is fairly important that a wide audience at the very least knows about the game system and what it is all about. To that end, I'm asking the community what they like to know about a game system before they consider putting time and thought into playing it.

These can be questions that you have about this game system in particular, or it can just be a rhetorical question that you like to see answered regarding any ruleset you might consider playing. You don't even need to post questions, but instead share the expectations that you have for a game's selling points (battle reports, demos, etc). Linking to examples out there of clever or interesting game websites is welcome as well, if you saw something particularly clever or eye-catching. This also is not limited to miniature games, either: I consider Aetherverse to be focused on being a "rules system" which makes selling it have more in common with role playing games or board games, rather than the average wargame that is largely an excuse to push lead.

There are a few things that I know I'll need to be putting together over the next month or so:
-A battle report or two
-A revision of the Army Design System demo
-A brief summary of all of the game's features

However there are many different expectations amongst gamers regarding what they want to know about a new system, so that's why this thread exists.

Thanks in advance for your time and thought!
-M8B

In addition to the usual genre and fluff statements that every game seems to be covered with, what I want to know about any game I'm considering is.

1) How many units it's intended to handle. Don't give the usual BS line of "able to handle small skirmishes up to mass battles."

2) How long I can expect an average game to last.

3) How complex the rules are. This can be hard to do objectively, but I'd like to know whether I'm looking at something like Song of Blades and Heroes or Advanced Squad Leader.

A note about whether the ruleset includes basic and advanced level rules might be nice also.

4) What scale or scale's the game functions best at. It's ok to include a range of scales, but "works with any scale" is a cop-out.

5) A basic description of game mechanics. Things like
-What dice are used
-What kind of turn system or activaiton mechanic is used.
-What the author thinks makes the rules unique or interesting

6) If the game includes rules for unit creation.

7) If the game includes pre-made army lists and how many. Every game -even generic games- should include some of these. It always baffles me when a game doesn't include them or only includes one faction (Gruntz, I'm looking at YOU!)

Best of luck as you promote your game!

 Eilif wrote:
In addition to the usual genre and fluff statements that every game seems to be covered with, what I want to know about any game I'm considering is.

1) How many units it's intended to handle. Don't give the usual BS line of "able to handle small skirmishes up to mass battles."

But... but...

Oh, fine.

All good suggestions. A number of them I do (or know that I will) cover, but definitely some very important reminders of things I hadn't thought of yet.