Home made game systems

[FriarRosing]

The other day for fun and as a thought experiment/exorcise I was considering making up my own, home made game system. After about half an hour of thought, I figured screw it. I don't think I'm much of a game designer at heart.

But I was wondering, how many of you have attempted to make up your own system? Even just for fun or to see what it was like. Did you ever run it? If so, how long did the games/campaign/whatever last? What was your experience? Did people who played with you actually like it? Did you learn anything interesting from it?

Someday I may try and make my own. I think if I did it now the main thing I would learn would be this: that I should probably leave game design up to the pros.

 

[Mark Hope]

The other day for fun and as a thought experiment/exorcise I was considering making up my own, home made game system. After about half an hour of thought, I figured screw it. I don't think I'm much of a game designer at heart.

But I was wondering, how many of you have attempted to make up your own system? Even just for fun or to see what it was like. Did you ever run it? If so, how long did the games/campaign/whatever last? What was your experience? Did people who played with you actually like it? Did you learn anything interesting from it?

Someday I may try and make my own. I think if I did it now the main thing I would learn would be this: that I should probably leave game design up to the pros.

I started gaming with a home-made system. There were quite a few influences that led me to do it (if you are really interested, I wrote a post about this in another thread a couple of years back) but the short version is that I had heard about D&D from a couple of friends but was unable to get hold of the books. So drawing on their descriptions of gameplay and various other nuggets of exposure to gaming, I went home and made my own pseudo-RPG called "Castle".

The (now seemingly rather odd) premise of the game was that you had to adventure through this huge, sprawling castle in search of the Castle Lord (who was the GM). When you found them, you got to take over GMing. Later games strayed from this concept into more traditional adventuring, but that was how it started out.

My sister and I played it all the time and were joined by some friends later on. It kept us busy for about a year or so until we took our next holiday over in the UK, when I was able to pick up the Basic and Expert boxed sets. We went on to play D&D but would return to Castle from time to time (my sister actually preferred Castle to D&D, lol).

As for learning something from it? Its vaguely adverserial nature taught me that the GM needs to entertain the players first and foremost and be impartial when it comes to rules decisions (erring on the side of cool rather than rule). It taught me that my dad would quite happily set fire to everything he could as a means of progressing through the adventure! It taught me that making maps and populating dungeons can be as much fun as actual play (I don't really feel this now, but certainly did at the time). Mostly, though, it taught me how utterly cool gaming is as a pastime, and led to a wonderfully engrossing hobby that keeps me amused and entertained to this day, over 26 years later .

 

[Aus_Snow]

I made one when I was 11, and inflicted it on several other schoolkids, at school. But actually, it played OK. All things considered, I mean. Percentile, open-ended, eight stats, pretty wacky abilities - but oh well, 'twas fun.

As for leaving it to the pros, I have to s*, or maybe snort. So many of them. . . aren't. And even the ones that are or were, make enough mistakes, some of them pretty darn big or glaring, that one begins to wonder. . .

I'm currently making another system, as well as gradually hammering out two variant systems, one d20 and the other not. I haven't tried out the new system, as it's unfinished, but the two variants, I have - they've both met with a good amount of success and positive feedback, so far.

I guess I'm just crazy, but honestly, I think the world still needs more game systems. And system variants. So my advice is: go for it!

* this was a word, and not a rude one. but never mind that. . .

 

[ExploderWizard]

I am currently working on one. Taking ideas from OD&D through 4E, adding some of my own stuff and seeing what comes of it. Its fun to work on and I can't wait to playtest it. Don't feel like you can't attempt to create something just because you aren't a pro. Every time you make a house rule then you are taking your first steps in game design. Even if you don't think that you want to put the effort into writing your own game, it might be worth keeping a notebook around for writing down any good ideas that occur to you for later. Over time these may accumulate into something that you can work with.

 

[Grazzt]

But I was wondering, how many of you have attempted to make up your own system? Even just for fun or to see what it was like. Did you ever run it? If so, how long did the games/campaign/whatever last? What was your experience? Did people who played with you actually like it? Did you learn anything interesting from it?

I did (me and two friends actually).

Back in 1986 when I was 15. Based on professional wrestling at the time (WWF, NWA, AWA, WCCW, etc). You could play an established wrestler or create your own and go up against the likes of Flair, the (original) Four Horseman, Hogan, The Road Warriors, Iron Sheik, blah blah blah...

It used a roll under %' mechanic for all actions, had a wear-down mechanic (to simulate fatigue), rules for run-ins, gaining/losing heat if you were a Heel, rules for critical hits which dealt damage directly to the body part attacked, including broken bones, and a lot of other wrestling-related stuff. We eventually even added rules for stuff outside the ring (interviews and such).

We started out as the only ones playing it (during lunch at school, before school in the commons area, etc). Pretty soon other peeps caught wind of it and wanted in. So- at one time we had upwards of about 20-30 different peeps using the stuff at our high school. I know the peeps I gamed with (about 6 of us) we played once or more a week til high school was over. Then we played a couple of times a month for the next couple of years. By '92 or so it pretty much died out for us (real life got in the way; wrestling on tv started sucking big time; we still played D&D, etc)

 

[ExploderWizard]

I did (me and two friends actually).

Back in 1986 when I was 15. Based on professional wrestling at the time (WWF, NWA, AWA, WCCW, etc). You could play an established wrestler or create your own and go up against the likes of Flair, the (original) Four Horseman, Hogan, The Road Warriors, Iron Sheik, blah blah blah...

It used a roll under %' mechanic for all actions, had a wear-down mechanic (to simulate fatigue), rules for run-ins, gaining/losing heat if you were a Heel, rules for critical hits which dealt damage directly to the body part attacked, including broken bones, and a lot of other wrestling-related stuff. We eventually even added rules for stuff outside the ring (interviews and such).

Pure win. Pro wrestling has lots of opportunities for roleplaying even during combat. I've played Ivan Koloff as a character in other RPGs, but it sounds like it would have been a perfect fit in yours.

 

[Afrodyte]

I made up my own system (Kathanaksaya) and used it for a Matrix game I ran with a very large group. It was a blast. I have to type it up again so I can play.

 

[Rel]

I really enjoy tweaking systems to make the work better for me and my group. But I've never made one from whole cloth that worked worth a damn.

My 7 year old daughter however...

(Link is to the Story Games board where there is a discussion of her Game in a Jar RPG. The entire rules are posted within the thread further down.)

 

[Roadkill101]

I've designed two game systems.
The first I designed back in 1997 and ran through late 2006. None of my players said anything negative about it, at least not to me. It didn't work for groups of 4+ players as the combat system was kinda klunky slowing down play a lot.
The second system is a major overhaul of the first and has been in use since early 2007. Again my players have voiced no complaints against the system, though I'm seeing a bit of a problem with they way I handled the application of stat modifiers in some places.
I took time to write up the second system, explaining how everything works, then printed out copies for my players. If you're a system junkie and would like a copy (free), email me at roadkill10bb @ gmail dot com, and I'll send you the file (need to be able to open MS Word and Excel file extensions .doc and .xls).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I really enjoy tweaking systems to make the work better for me and my group. But I've never made one from whole cloth that worked worth a damn.

My 7 year old daughter however...

(Link is to the Story Games board where there is a discussion of her Game in a Jar RPG. The entire rules are posted within the thread further down.)

Ah, Game in a Jar! I really hope your daughter will get the job at WotC for D&D 6th edition... Raven Crowking, Wulf Ratbane, this is one of the talents of the future.