I'm not really a publisher, but I play one on the Internet!

[jdrakeh]

Well, as the title says, I'm not really a publisher in the traditional sense (i.e., I don't earn a living publishing games). I have had some things that I've written nominated for awards (e.g., Formless Collaborative Role Playing), translated into other languages (e.g., Kumquat Tattoo, Scales), or generate a little bit of discussion on the web. But I am not a publisher. That said, I didn't really know where else to drop this thread, so I put it here.

I'm giving this whole "blogging" thing a try. I know that I'm about five years behind all of the cool kids with their new-fangled toys and that the concept of a "design blog" is really yesterday's news, but I wanted to try it all the same. Why? Well, in the ten years or so that I've been designing free RPGs and parlour games, I've never actually made my own 'house' RPG system available to the public. It simply never occurred to me to do so.

So here it is.

I'm going to go ahead and commit up front to keep the blog running until the end of 2009, whether it generates any outside interest or not. That is, whether anybody expresses an interest in what I'm doing, I'll keep making regular posts and compiling notes for my house RPG system into downloadable documents for you to use, abuse, and redistribute per the terms of the Open Game License. So how is this different from what I've done in the past?

Well, for starters, I've never really had any kind of a site dedicated solely to the developement and/or discussion of a single, specific, game that I've designed. Secondly, I've never really offered much in the way of continuing support for anything that I've written. With this blog, you'll be getting both of those things (at least until the end of 2009).

So. . . swing by. . . or don't.

[fissionessence]

I'm interested to see what kind of games you've played with this system, and what the 'character sheets' look like. So . . . I guess I'm looking forward to updates to your blog I hope you'll post here when you do update. (In this thread or a new one.) If not . . . well, hopefully I'll remember to check your blog anyway!

Thanks for posting this. I think a good 'supplement' to this kind of system would be an exhaustive 'list of suggestions' for character traits. It could be jarring for someone used to, for example, D&D 3.5 or 4E to all the sudden have a character that isn't 'mechanically supported'. Instead, they need to come up with attributes to describe their character, and it could be tricky to think of everything that the game would define in other systems. Or do you recommend that characters not have that many traits? Once again, I'm interested to see some examples and expansions for this.

~

[jdrakeh]

Originally Posted by fissionessence

Thanks for posting this.

Hey, thanks for the kind words!

I think a good 'supplement' to this kind of system would be an exhaustive 'list of suggestions' for character traits. It could be jarring for someone used to, for example, D&D 3.5 or 4E to all the sudden have a character that isn't 'mechanically supported'.

This isn't a bad idea and I have used something like that, but. . .

Instead, they need to come up with attributes to describe their character, and it could be tricky to think of everything that the game would define in other systems.

This is actually pretty easy, if you have the source RPG. Frex, in D&D 3x, races and classes would become archetypes, while skills would become abilities. Done!

Anyhow, I've updated the blog a bit, adding some discussion of Supplement I: Hawkmoor. I'm running a final editing pass on it this week and should have it posted for download soon (I was down with strep throat and a sinus infection this last week, or I would have already posted it for download).

[jdrakeh]

I've uploaded Supplement I: Hawkmoor this evening, for any who are interested.