Just, y'know, games and stuff.
Ideas always come in packs
Posted 20th January 2009 at 07:52 AM by Wik
It seems like whenever I'm working on one project (in this case, my RPG Design entry, "The Awakening"), I get flooded with hundreds of other ideas that I just won't be able to tackle. Today, I got no less than THREE RPG ideas - we're talking system, setting, the whole kit and kaboodle.
One, in fact, came to me on my walk to work. In the fifteen minutes between leaving my apartment and swiping my ID Card through the front door, I had a system that fully supported the setting I had in mind.
Now, I know that were I to actually try to develop this idea, I'd run into snags with the system. But the great thing about these half-formed ideas is that, because we never fully work on them, they always seem as if they're perfect. I'm sure that if I had gone with this idea of the day instead of The Awakening, then I'd be writing right now about this great idea for a post-apocalyptic RPG where the PCs actually "level" during play. Or some such nonsense.
The idea in question? Well, the setting is a cross between The X-Files and the HBO series Rome, with a bit of Call of Cthulu thrown in for good measure. The system? A very rules-light (we're talking Dread, here) engine that befits an investigative RPG. Players would write down their character's defining aspects, and could be as specialized or as broad as they'd like. So, I could write down "Fighting", while you could write down "Fighting in Imperial Legions", while another would write down "Gladiatorial Fighting with the Spatha and a Trident". Whenever a test comes up, you choose the aspect that is closest to the situation at hand, and roll a dice - a d4 if the skill has absolutely no relation, a d6 if they're only barely related (ie, you're drawing straws), a d8 if you have a broad skill that covers it, or your uber-specialized aspect could belong under the same general category, a d10 if you're close, and a d12 if you're spot on. If you beat a 4, you succeed.
That's the basics of the system. Of course, there are other touches, but that's the core mechanic.
Other ideas I had today? A 4e setting in the vein of Dark Sun or Mad Max. A steampunk version of Shadowrun set in the Wild West with some Native American imagery. And a modernish (early 1800s) fantasy setting where the PCs can each shapechange into an animal, and would somehow have to navigate both the human world and the animal one.
In other news, I got absolutely no work done on my actual project today. Instead, I watched South Park on my iPod.
yyyyyyyYYYYup.
One, in fact, came to me on my walk to work. In the fifteen minutes between leaving my apartment and swiping my ID Card through the front door, I had a system that fully supported the setting I had in mind.
Now, I know that were I to actually try to develop this idea, I'd run into snags with the system. But the great thing about these half-formed ideas is that, because we never fully work on them, they always seem as if they're perfect. I'm sure that if I had gone with this idea of the day instead of The Awakening, then I'd be writing right now about this great idea for a post-apocalyptic RPG where the PCs actually "level" during play. Or some such nonsense.
The idea in question? Well, the setting is a cross between The X-Files and the HBO series Rome, with a bit of Call of Cthulu thrown in for good measure. The system? A very rules-light (we're talking Dread, here) engine that befits an investigative RPG. Players would write down their character's defining aspects, and could be as specialized or as broad as they'd like. So, I could write down "Fighting", while you could write down "Fighting in Imperial Legions", while another would write down "Gladiatorial Fighting with the Spatha and a Trident". Whenever a test comes up, you choose the aspect that is closest to the situation at hand, and roll a dice - a d4 if the skill has absolutely no relation, a d6 if they're only barely related (ie, you're drawing straws), a d8 if you have a broad skill that covers it, or your uber-specialized aspect could belong under the same general category, a d10 if you're close, and a d12 if you're spot on. If you beat a 4, you succeed.
That's the basics of the system. Of course, there are other touches, but that's the core mechanic.
Other ideas I had today? A 4e setting in the vein of Dark Sun or Mad Max. A steampunk version of Shadowrun set in the Wild West with some Native American imagery. And a modernish (early 1800s) fantasy setting where the PCs can each shapechange into an animal, and would somehow have to navigate both the human world and the animal one.
In other news, I got absolutely no work done on my actual project today. Instead, I watched South Park on my iPod.
yyyyyyyYYYYup.
Tags: ideas, rome, rpg design
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I also sometimes have several great ideas in a row. Now, if I only had the time to actually develop all of them...Posted 20th January 2009 at 04:47 PM by Jürgen Hubert
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