Confessions of a Hack Game Designer

[James Gasik]

I'm sure some of you have been there. You decide, "you know what, I'm going to make my own game!". It's as simple or complex as you want, the rules will work the way you intend them to, and you can quickly adjust for corner cases and odd interactions, buffing or nerfing things as needed (once you find a group of s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶r̶s̶ friends to help you playtest!).

Maybe it took you a week, cobbling together bits and pieces of systems you like. Maybe it took you months or years, but eventually you say "at last, rules for everything!".

Then you realize in horror that you need to create enemies. NPC's. Monsters. And somehow figure out how to make enough of them that feel different and interesting, as well as determine what, exactly, is a balanced encounter.

You maybe laughed at how other games systems fumbled at this exact sort of thing in the past. But now you're staring down the barrel of a project that's going to take more time to finish than the entire rest of your game combined, and you have no idea of how to proceed.

It's more than a little humbling, to be honest. And forces you to take back some of the nasty things you may have said over the years, when attempting to use an opponent from an official game product, and find it to be over or underpowered.

 

[Reynard]

I'm sure some of you have been there. You decide, "you know what, I'm going to make my own game!". It's as simple or complex as you want, the rules will work the way you intend them to, and you can quickly adjust for corner cases and odd interactions, buffing or nerfing things as needed (once you find a group of s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶r̶s̶ friends to help you playtest!).

Maybe it took you a week, cobbling together bits and pieces of systems you like. Maybe it took you months or years, but eventually you say "at last, rules for everything!".

Then you realize in horror that you need to create enemies. NPC's. Monsters. And somehow figure out how to make enough of them that feel different and interesting, as well as determine what, exactly, is a balanced encounter.

You maybe laughed at how other games systems fumbled at this exact sort of thing in the past. But now you're staring down the barrel of a project that's going to take more time to finish than the entire rest of your game combined, and you have no idea of how to proceed.

It's more than a little humbling, to be honest. And forces you to take back some of the nasty things you may have said over the years, when attempting to use an opponent from an official game product, and find it to be over or underpowered.

Playtest, playtest, playtest.

 

[James Gasik]

Playtest, playtest, playtest.

Pretty much. But it's hard to talk people into playing any new game, lol, let alone some homebrewed monstrosity.

 

[Reynard]

Pretty much. But it's hard to talk people into playing any new game, lol, let alone some homebrewed monstrosity.

What are you making?

 

[kenada]

Then you realize in horror that you need to create enemies. NPC's. Monsters. And somehow figure out how to make enough of them that feel different and interesting, as well as determine what, exactly, is a balanced encounter.

That’s why I based my homebrew system on OSE. I just use the bestiary from OSE and the Rules Cyclopedia (as necessary), swapping out the combat matrix for one with the saving throw progression I use. NPCs are easy because players make all the rolls (except monsters in combat, basically). I once tried to do my own Fate Core hack, but I’m not making that mistake again (needing to stat up all the NPCs and monsters myself).

I will say it’s interesting how starting from a basic idea like “all mechanics should have teeth” can result in converge development. Torchbearer is a love letter to B/X, and it’s all about mechanics with teeth. I sometimes find myself developing along similar lines, and it forces me to ask whether that’s something my group would find fun.

For example, B/X requires you to rest regularly, but it’s kind of perfunctory. You do it every 6th turn, or you take a penalty. There’s no cost to resting, so you just do it. However, if you give it teeth, you get the Grind (or something like it). I’m not sure my players would like that, so I need to rethink what costs I want associated with exploration.

 

[James Gasik]

What are you making?

Well, the system doesn't have a name yet. It started life as a Science Fantasy system, but as I worked on it, I realized it would function quite well as a generic fantasy system. I took my main inspiration from Earthdawn and the old FASERIP Marvel Super Heroes game.

So instead of modifiers, it uses dice for it's resolution system, with each die being able to "explode" once (reroll the die and add that number to the total) and attempt to hit a particular target number, with a result of double that number being an extraordinary success. As characters progress, they can gain "skill dice" that add to the rolls of a particular ability score.

So far, it dispenses with skills, making everything an ability check, though your background and role (a sort of vague "character class") might give you bonuses for a particular use of a score.

Each race has a one or more Powers, magical abilities that can grant active or passive abilities, and you can eventually refine your Powers to do more than the baseline (a "Power Stunt").

You can slowly acquire other Powers, as the potential for any Power exists in any individual. This has made race creation a snap, as instead of race traits, I can say "ok, Elves have Extraordinary Beauty, Longevity, and Infravision Powers"- nothing unique to Elves, but every Elf has.

Magic items are the same way, they grant the use of a Power to those who acquire them. There is a magic system, but other than the ability to perform Cantrips, it's all Rituals that take too long to be used in combat, but, to those who seek out and learn their use, can grant a lot of utility.

Some Roles favor certain Powers, but most Roles give you a choice of one of three. For example, a Warrior could choose Ability Boost, increasing one of their ability scores one rank, Weaponskill, which gives them a larger die to attack with melee weapons and unarmed combat, or Combat Sense, a limited precognitive ability that gives you a split second of warning and increases your ability to defend yourself.

 

[James Gasik]

That’s why I based my homebrew system on OSE. I just use the bestiary from OSE and the Rules Cyclopedia (as necessary), swapping out the combat matrix for one with the saving throw progression I use. NPCs are easy because players make all the rolls (except monsters in combat, basically). I once tried to do my own Fate Core hack, but I’m not making that mistake again (needing to stat up all the NPCs and monsters myself).

I will say it’s interesting how starting from a basic idea like “all mechanics should have teeth” can result in converge development. Torchbearer is a love letter to B/X, and it’s all about mechanics with teeth. I sometimes find myself developing along similar lines, and it forces me to ask whether that’s something my group would find fun.

For example, B/X requires you to rest regularly, but it’s kind of perfunctory. You do it every 6th turn, or you take a penalty. There’s no cost to resting, so you just do it. However, if you give it teeth, you get the Grind (or something like it). I’m not sure my players would like that, so I need to rethink what costs I want associated with exploration.

Yes I realize I messed up when I didn't base it on a system that has this all figured out already, lol.

 

[aia_2]

I'm sure some of you have been there. You decide, "you know what, I'm going to make my own game!". It's as simple or complex as you want, the rules will work the way you intend them to, and you can quickly adjust for corner cases and odd interactions, buffing or nerfing things as needed (once you find a group of s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶r̶s̶ friends to help you playtest!).

Maybe it took you a week, cobbling together bits and pieces of systems you like. Maybe it took you months or years, but eventually you say "at last, rules for everything!".

Then you realize in horror that you need to create enemies. NPC's. Monsters. And somehow figure out how to make enough of them that feel different and interesting, as well as determine what, exactly, is a balanced encounter.

You maybe laughed at how other games systems fumbled at this exact sort of thing in the past. But now you're staring down the barrel of a project that's going to take more time to finish than the entire rest of your game combined, and you have no idea of how to proceed.

It's more than a little humbling, to be honest. And forces you to take back some of the nasty things you may have said over the years, when attempting to use an opponent from an official game product, and find it to be over or underpowered.

And you forgot several other aspects you need to complete a game: firstly a setting! Then a mythology useful to define supernatural creatures! Then the history of the stetting! Then the cosmogony! Then adventure modules!
I am in the middle of this process as well, i am not scared as i am not in hurry...
What i really miss is playtest: i need to think how to deploy a "true" playtest with ppl external to the group...
Ah, and among all these missing pieces, i have also started a second rulebook with optional/advanced rules!
Well, looking with an optimistic approach: i am preparing smtg to do when i retire!

 

[James Gasik]

And you forgot several other aspects you need to complete a game: firstly a setting! Then a mythology useful to define supernatural creatures! Then the history of the stetting! Then the cosmogony! Then adventure modules!
I am in the middle of this process as well, i am not scared as i am not in hurry...
What i really miss is playtest: i need to think how to deploy a "true" playtest with ppl external to the group...
Ah, and among all these missing pieces, i have also started a second rulebook with optional/advanced rules!
Well, looking with an optimistic approach: i am preparing smtg to do when i retire!

The setting is actually the easy part for me, I have tons of lore I've created over the years for campaigns that never manifested, so I already have a rough pantheon of Gods and some basic race lore. As a hack designer, this is my one saving grace, lol.

 

[aia_2]

The setting is actually the easy part for me, I have tons of lore I've created over the years for campaigns that never manifested, so I already have a rough pantheon of Gods and some basic race lore. As a hack designer, this is my one saving grace, lol.

Me too! I actually started from a different apporach: i have two main messages underlying my setting (along with other two i developed within the core rules) and these are the cornerstones of everything...