Challenge Accepted!

[The Soloist]

Ah yes, because I wouldn't give you my name yes? And my hesitancy comes from interactions just like yours. You didn't get your way, as I politely declined and so you withdrew, only to throw criticism on a feed asking for participation. Is it any wonder that I hesitate? I have stated repeatedly I am here for community, both to get to know the current one, and to develope my own at some point. This is less about marketing and more about a home for my game. Once I know I am not with a bunch of reddit style engagers, I might be tempted to release more info. But the majority of my actions have been to test the waters first.

No. It's about your complete failure at being forthright. Saying we want things for free, as if we are grifters, is not the right approach. This community is very generous in helping out indie publishers.

[FREE Advice]
RPG publishers these days create a QuickStart PDF that contains the basics system of the RPG, pregenerated characters and a small one-hour adventure. Potential customers can try it, comment on it, give you feedback before you go to print and decide if the game is for them or not. It's the best and fastest way to create a buzz and find buyers.[FREE Advice].

In any case, I do really wish you good luck with your project. I won't interfere anymore.

 

[1QD]

Which cons did you run your game at? How many players joined? What kind of playtesting are you doing?

It would be helpful if you went into more detail about rules and character creation. As someone said, can we see a completed character?

From my perspective your game currently looks a lot like Rifts on steroids. But I have very little to go on.

Terminal City Table Top convention. I ran four people for 20 minutes for a period of two days. I got written reviews from about half of the people who played I would say. Character creation is very customized which is why I am hesitant to get into details atm for reasons already explained. It seems I may back off from here for a while and come back when I am closer to a kick starter. This way I can feel better about handing out things to hopefully less hostile people.

I remember Rifts. They had big books for everything. I liked thier creativity, but keeping up with book cost was a thing. I have 3 expansions in the works, about 200 pages each with another 2 on the way. Each one takes 1 profession and basically writes a book on it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My second postgraduate degree is an MBA in Sports & Entertainment Marketing. Our school’s program worked with small startup record labels to established local food chains to big name franchises like the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers.

I’ve never seen a successful product rollout like this.

Businesses that conduct product research actually get samples of their product into the hands of the public.* That way, they’re not operating in an echo chamber.

You seem to have a fear about leaks of your IP. I understand that, but it’s coming with an opportunity cost of missing out on potentially valuable feedback. This site is FULL of veteran gamers and published wargame/CRPG/TTRPG writers & content creators. Most of them have been quite helpful to those asking for assistance.

But you have to give something to get something.





* tangent: I have been part of test groups for Matchbox cars, the McRib, Chick-Fil-A, Magic Shell chocolate syrup and several others. I usually seem to be in the minority opinion, judging by what hits the markets.

 

[1QD]

No. It's about your complete failure at being forthright. Saying we want things for free, as if we are grifters, is not the right approach. This community is very generous in helping out indie publishers.

The impression I was given, was that the community was very generous when it came to taking other peoples ideas and making them for thier own.

[FREE Advice]
RPG publishers these days create a QuickStart PDF that contains the basics system of the RPG, pregenerated characters and a small one-hour adventure. Potential customers can try it, comment on it, give you feedback before you go to print and decide if the game is for them or not. It's the best and fastest way to create a buzz and find buyers.[FREE Advice].

Thank you. My hesitation on this is how to present my system in a few page pdf. I do not have a rules lite system.

In any case, I do really wish you good luck with your project. I won't interfere anymore.

I understand.

 

[billd91]

* tangent: I have been part of test groups for Matchbox cars, the McRib, Chick-Fil-A, Magic Shell chocolate syrup and several others. I usually seem to be in the minority opinion, judging by what hits the markets.

Wait... did you dis the McRib?!?

 

[Morrus]

But the salesman will also be careful as he walks down the road towards the house plans on selling to. He doesn't wish to be robbed. He will plan his route as best he can. I haven't even been here a week, and already the calls for mechanics and free stuff, which when I am ready i would gladly do. People seem simutaniously sick of hearing about it and wanting the details all at once.

Nobody wants to steal your stuff. Trust me, there is enough high quality free stuff on the internet to last anybody a lifetime. What they are saying is that without proof of life, this just all sounds like so much vapourware. Add that to the weird way your friend/player introduced themselves without being transparent about who they are, and your general defensiveness and repeated claims that you're essentially 'auditioning' us to see if we're worthy of your presence, you've somehow managed to rub everybody the wrong way. When it's either you or it's everybody else, it might behoove you to consider that it might be you.

We see hundreds of games here. Many of us are game developers ourselves. There are people on here who have worked in the industry for years, in companies big and small. Nobody wants to steal your stuff.

If you want to check out a community, one which is well-established and large, and which has seen thousands of publishers and games come and go, don't just throw open the door and declare yourself the Next Big Thing(tm). Join, participate in conversations, get to know people, let them get to know you. You don't even need to mention your game; just participate in the community.

Nobody wants to steal your stuff.

 

[1QD]

My second postgraduate degree is an MBA in Sports & Entertainment Marketing. Our school’s program worked with small startup record labels to established local food chains to big name franchises like the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers.

I’ve never seen a successful product rollout like this.

Businesses that conduct product research actually get samples of their product into the hands of the public.* That way, they’re not operating in an echo chamber.

You seem to have a fear about leaks of your IP. I understand that, but it’s coming with an opportunity cost of missing out on potentially valuable feedback.





* tangent: I have been part of test groups for Matchbox cars, the McRib, Chick-Fil-A, Magic Shell chocolate syrup and several others. I usually seem to be in the minority opinion, judging by what hits the markets.

Yeah I am getting a feel for what is wanted by the community. I realize I am bumbling badly here but this is my first time, and I am doing this completely solo. The art, the writing the legal stuff, all me. I am literally experiencing a crash course on how not to market, just like tradmark representation. Not fun when you don't have the schooling.

That said I am going to take a break from this site. Try and come up with a pdf that meets the suggested requirements to interact.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Wait... did you dis the McRib?!?

Absolutely!

The incarceration I taste-tested was bland and- for lack of a better term- gristly, with a weak sauce.

I’ve had it 2 times since then, a decade+ apart. I will say that the version that made it to market was an improvement. But I’m surrounded by places that do BBQ sandwiches MUCH better.

 

[Deset Gled]

I remember Rifts. They had big books for everything...

If you're still around to read it, I have one other suggestion.

You mention Rifts, but it's been a super niche (i.e. barely worth noting) prouct for decades. In other posts you mention D&D, but it seems you havent played since about 2e and didn't even know who WotC is. Frankly, it sounds like your knowledge of gaming is 20-30 years behind the current market.

It's one thing to say you want to play old games. It's another entirely to publish a new game without any knowledge of what's currently going on. Before you are serious about going further, you should at least play D&D 5e. And probably 4e. And 3e. And check out the OSR. And Critical Role. And Daggerheart, and Shadowdark, and at least one Powered by the Apocalypse game. And based on some of the way you've described your game, read the history of Synnibarr.

You may find things you think are groundbreaking are old news. You may find some of the ideas you though were basic are groundbreaking. But it's hard to be disruptive if you have no idea what your disrupting.

 

[John Dallman]

If people wish to participate in a challenge that is up to them. I do not control this behaviour. They do get a bit in return. They know now that there is a system that might easily handle thier character concepts. This in turn may lead into more questions and build interest. That sounds more like a mutual benefit to me.

I'm afraid you are operating under a misapprehension. The denizens here are familiar, between them, with a large fraction of the thousands of RPGs that are available in English. Approximately none of them have a character concept that they want to play that they can't find a system to represent in a satisfactory way.

The "represent anything that makes any sense, and many things that don't" niche has several games in it, but they tend to be more complicated than games that are intended for a specific kind of story, setting, or playstyle. If they aren't, they tend to be lacking in some other way. So people may well be interested in a game that represents many kinds of characters readily.

There are, however, some huge caveats in that interest:

• A universal game system that is easy to use for both character generation and play, and satisfactory for a wide range of settings, stories and playstyles appears to be a genuinely difficult problem. Many people have tried to design one, and nobody has succeeded, that we've heard of.
• It is universally observed that game designers find their own rules easy to use, flexible, and generally satisfactory. The game designer's view of their game does not predict how much other people will like it at all. In 46 years playing RPGs, I've played a lot of people's personal systems, and helped with debugging several. That's a lot of work, and none of them have been run by anyone other than their authors.

You've given one-paragraph descriptions of how you think some character concepts would be implemented in your rules. You've passed a basic test, in that you haven't said "Oh, it can't do that" but you haven't provided game-mechanical details. The general things you've said about the game haven't outlined it well enough to let us deduce anything.

You have been saying that it can do pretty much anything, but talk is cheap. If you want people to engage with a system, you have to let them try it out for themselves. That's why people are asking for rules summaries, or a filled-in character sheet.

But the salesman will also be careful as he walks down the road towards the house plans on selling to. He doesn't wish to be robbed. He will plan his route as best he can. I haven't even been here a week, and already the calls for mechanics and free stuff, which when I am ready i would gladly do. People seem simultaneously sick of hearing about it and wanting the details all at once.

We're fed up of being told "It's wonderful!" and not being able to evaluate this for ourselves. From some of the things you've been saying, I'm getting an impression that you're mostly familiar with D&D family games. Have you played or read:

1. Dungeon World, or other Powered by the Apocalypse games?
2. Savage Worlds?
3. Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest or another BRP game?
4. Hero System, or GURPS?
5. Traveller?
6. Toon, Teenagers from Outer Space or Paranoia?
7. Shadowrun?
8. Vampire, Werewolf or Mage?
9. Amber Diceless Roleplaying?

Those are just a few well-known games with very different mechanics and worldviews to D&D. If you're unfamiliar with several of them, it seems likely that you don't know enough about the state of the art to produce a commercial game.