MCDM officially announces their RPG

I think I am going to have to resub to their Patreon for this. I am very curious about his design process, as a freelancer myself, and I am actually at the early stages of my first project as a developer rather than a writer. I'm using Savage Worlds because I don't want to have to design a whole new system while also learning how to build a product from the ground up, but I still think it will be valuable to see.
 

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It's not about converting the rules; it's about converting the vibe.
The only shared mechanics between C&C and AD&D are hit points, levels, and the attribute names and ranges. All the resolution mechanics are different. Even the modifiers by attribute are different.

They are, simply put, using the same stats in very different ways, which, from a "Can I grab this module and convert it on the fly" sure, if you think of that as "compatible"... but I find that level to be better described as convertible.

See, as a rules oriented person, C&C is barely even a look alike. All the resolution works differently from AD&D (which is what it attempts to emulate the look and tone of), excepting Attribute generation and the basics of magic.
 

I'd argue the opposite - D&D didn't try to mimic epic fantasy, it created its own genre of fantasy which has merged in with epic fantasy over time. A lot of modern epic fantasy owes a debt to D&D rather than the other way around due to how hard TSR pushed the genre books in the late 80s and early 90s. You don't get that with other genres really - except for maybe the urban fantasy genre which does seem to owe a debt to Vampre the Masquerade (I doubt we get, say, the Underworld movies without Vampire for example).
Vampire, genre-wise, was derivative from the outset; Ann Rice's Vampire series (pooks) predates the game. So does Bureau 13 (both game and novels)...ISTR it also post-dating Forever Knight, which is quite close in tone. Chill (RPG) predates it by a decade. What it did was get good press and latch itself into untapped markets. There also were a number of urban horror comics in the 30's and 80's... Blade comes to mind, as does the not great movie based upon that comic.

With or without VTM, Buffy would still have been spawned. There already were people playing GURPS Horror, Chill, Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic, Justice Inc (Hero System 1e, set early 20th C), MSPE... What Vampire did differently was put the monsters as party members (Tho' Justice Inc can be monster PCs, that's not the intent.)
I'll note that MSPE isn't strictly urban horror, but it's modernish setting-wise, and very compatible with T&T/M!M! monsters, and can be merged with same to provide monstrous opponents.
 


I get my vibes from the rules. C&C to me feels quite different from all D&D official editions. And I truly cannot comprehend how it is others don't get their vibe from the mechanics, except perhaps by playstyles that avoid using mechanics. A playstyle I just don't like as player nor as GM.
I see where you're coming from but I think the GM has a huge part. The GM really sets the vibe for the game, but the question becomes: are the rules helping that vibe or getting in the way? I played C&C with a really good GM recently and the mechanics really fit their running style. I have also played Rolemaster with the same GM and while the game was good, the vibe they wanted was really not what the RM rules provided.
 


This game doesn’t seem to be shaping up to something I want at this point. However watching the process, having the access to see the pizza get made is deeply fascinating to me and has been useful for my own personal reasons.
Just wondering: is this all happening on the Patreon at the moment? Just hoping I didn't miss any Youtube videos.
 

Just wondering: is this all happening on the Patreon at the moment? Just hoping I didn't miss any Youtube videos.
Yea. I think there’s one YouTube video about it so far. There is discussion on twitch and in the discord, which I also find fascinating, but the patreon is the focus.
 

I dunno if I said it here yet.

This game doesn’t seem to be shaping up to something I want at this point. However watching the process, having the access to see the pizza get made is deeply fascinating to me and has been useful for my own personal reasons.
Yeah, that's me with a lot of Colville's non-DM advice videos. I routinely disagree with his book and art criticism, for instance, but he does a great job of explaining his thought processes and worldview and even if we end up in different places, I enjoy watching him work through it.

The same with what I've seen of his talk about this game, which doesn't appeal to me. It's rare to get someone explicitly talk about game design in such informed and clear terms in public.
 


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