The focus of testing Disco Candybar has been, for a few weeks now, establishing what the baseline system for combat is and what the least complex version of it is. That stripped-down, streamlined sample of combat would be my “Chapter 1” experience, made for “Level 1” characters (and players).

For those unfamiliar with adventure and role playing games, many use a “leveling” system to allow for and control the rate of character growth. Characters start at level 1, then at paced intervals, characters gain levels that come with new abilities and increased stats. Often, these levels are tied to achievements; beat 10 monsters, go up a level. Earn so many points from achieving goals, go up a level. Finish your training under an experienced tutor, go up a level.

After several weeks of playing Disco Candybar with testers, some of them experienced game designers, it’s become clear that what I thought was level 1 is not the simplest introduction to the system.

To reinforce that lesson, when I tried to write out the rules for the combat system, they were notably longer than I wanted them to be. It’s one thing to be able to teach someone a game in person and step-by-step. They can answer questions, you can pivot to where their attention is going, and so on. Written rules can’t do that. And if I’m trying to explain multiple things at once, like how the enemies work, how your characters work, and how to make them interact with each other all at once, that can get complex.

So either my level 1 experience is not really a level 1 experience, but a level 2 or 3, or…

I need a level 0 experience to warm the players up.

What I like about keeping the “level 1” designation for the goblin encounter I’ve built is that it’s probably the first time players will see all the baseline mechanics and component types in play at once. It’s a true start-of-the-actual–journey moment. If I want to keep this as the launch of the (eventually) epic story, the game needs something before that.

It needs a prologue.

It needs a “level 0”. Maybe even less.

It needs to start with heroes who don’t know they’re heroes yet, or who aren’t equipped – figuratively or literally – to go on grand adventures and fight perilous battles.

It needs a scene where players shoo the rats out of the tavern kitchen. Not giant ones that wield weapons like people, just basic, regular rats. These rats could follow the system for how enemies take their turns, but without any real tension or danger. You’re going to win the encounter, even if you try to fail. But you’ll see how to use the game parts to run the enemy AI.

There’s possibly, as one tester suggested, an arm-wrestling match to help players learn how a small subset of hero components work in a non-threatening, can’t really lose scenario.

There’s the moment they find the gear they’ll need to be adventuring heroes, and that can be all about selecting your character’s role in the party and the game.

I need a “training montage” where the heroes learn to use their newfound gear against inanimate objects — makeshift training dummies. (This is probably the true “level 1” of it all, just where the prologue is wrapping up.)

And before the goblins, whom I’ve seen have a level of tension and complexity that doesn’t yet need to be there, I probably need a very basic combat scenario with enemies less threatening than the goblins. Right now, each goblin has a special ability that can trigger in addition to their normal attacks. The wolves (new to the plan for Chapter 1) that the players will face before the goblins won’t have those.

That’s the new plan. Chapter 0, and some new content that lets the goblin fight be the climax of Chapter 1, rather than the kickoff.

And if learning how to play with the non literal storybook components is level 0, then opening the box, finding the Lore Book, and reading page one is level less-than-zero.

Time for me to start building training montages.

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