Project Exodium RPG

[killxo]

since mid february of this year i've been working on a new rpg. im a college student, so i've only been working on it about 2-3 hours a day.

i setup a blog to post information about the game. you can view it here: Project Exodium: Role Playing Game | Just another WordPress.com site

i've been doing alot research and scouting for people who might be interested in working on the game with me. i also happened to have found out about the OGL/SRD , etc. i had no idea it existed, and it seems like a good idea to use the OGL SRD and not the 4e. the 4e version seems too restrictive... plus i only really want to use a various amount of rules from the 3.5SRD, mainly combat and how dice rolls work for checks and such. i'm not going to be using the same races/classes or level up system; no feats or anything like that from 3.5e or 4e.

if you have any suggestions on the game , or any info/tips on OGL i should know about, it would be much appreciated. if anyone wants to work on the game, make a comment and i'll contact you

 

[Wik]

if you have any suggestions on the game , or any info/tips on OGL i should know about, it would be much appreciated. if anyone wants to work on the game, make a comment and i'll contact you

Well, if you only just found out about the OGL.... I'd do a bit more research on what's out there. Because the SRD's been around for ten years, and it sounds like you might not have enough breadth of experience to make an RP system that's going to be anything beyond the dozens of other games floating around on the net.

Home projects are fun and all, and I don't want to dissuade you. But it sounds like you'd be better off using your little spare time (college is rough) playing a game that already exists, rather than trying to write your own when you don't really know the existing games.

 

[killxo]

thanks for the advice. obviously these games are alot older than me, i'm only 19, so i would imagine this stuff is aged. although im sure the 4e version of the SRD isnt as old, but i like the 3.5e better.

and you have a point in terms of not knowing much about the other games. but i have played a laaarrggee amount of RPG's. now sure, the RPG's im talking about are video games and not pen-and-paper games. but i very much so understand what makes an attractive rpg. i browse the /v/ forums on 4chan.org , and i see lots and lots of discussions, yes people do troll on there but they're obvious trolls, about why X game is bad and why X game is good. and playing RPG games on various systems for most of my life, i have a lot of experience with them. so making a game myself, i pull from other games i've played; and i'm creating it in the perspective of a gamer. gamers nowadays are quite the critics when it comes to games. that's because we know what we like and know what were looking for.

but this is a project i plan on working on for years, and even if a game does not come out of it, i still have a unique story i have come up with that i could turn into books and keep it and possibly try to pitch it to a company.

 

[Aus_Snow]

im sure the 4e version of the SRD isnt as old

That, and there isn't one.

Different license... different everything, really.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

One thing that you're going to want to do is to set some design goals, so that you'll know what you're working towards. Check out what The Jester is doing in his Building the Perfect D&D thread, for an example of a set of design goals.

Also, think about who the game is going to be designed for. If you're coming at this from the perspective of someone who has played a lot of CRPGs, you'll have a different set of experiences and a different lingo than someone who is coming from a tabletop war game, or a boardgamer, or someone who has played traditional rpgs.

 

[killxo]

That, and there isn't one.

Different license... different everything, really.

heh yeah. only thing i read about the differences was the 4e one was more "restrictive". so i want to go with one that gives more freedom and isnt necesarilly a new "4e D&D campaign"

One thing that you're going to want to do is to set some design goals, so that you'll know what you're working towards. Check out what The Jester is doing in his Building the Perfect D&D thread, for an example of a set of design goals.

Also, think about who the game is going to be designed for. If you're coming at this from the perspective of someone who has played a lot of CRPGs, you'll have a different set of experiences and a different lingo than someone who is coming from a tabletop war game, or a boardgamer, or someone who has played traditional rpgs.

oh yes , i do have goals. i go one step at a time actually. although if ideas pop into my head, i write them down; but i focus on things and finish them then move onto the next task.

like right now i've got 4 different races backstory's done, the over all backstory done, the types of weapons and different magics (although im currently creating all the skills for said weapons and magics), and i came up with a different skill system compared to the one D&D uses. those things actually are all on the blog. but as i said, i complete one part at a time and try my best to make it unique and good. but i do plan on eventually doing various test runs of the completed game and then re-balancing everything; like changing a spell from 2d6 to 2d4 or something like that. you get the idea.

thanks for the info from both of you

 

[Wik]

thanks for the advice. obviously these games are alot older than me, i'm only 19, so i would imagine this stuff is aged. although im sure the 4e version of the SRD isnt as old, but i like the 3.5e better.

Well, the SRD came out when you were around nine. So it's not THAT old. Please don't make me feel like a grandpa when I'm not even thirty, thankyouverymuch.

but i have played a laaarrggee amount of RPG's. now sure, the RPG's im talking about are video games and not pen-and-paper games.

Well, I'd argue that pen and paper RPGs are fundementally different from video game RPGs. They have different design goals, and the real life component of PNP RPGs means that you may have to format things different (for example, in computer RPGs, hit points tend to go in the thousands, because the game tracks numerous variables and this high threshold allows for a lot of fluidity. Do that in a Pen and Paper RPG, and the game would get bogged down in math).

What works for one does not work for the other, necessarily. I still think you'd be better off playing a few different pnp RPGs before you start trying to tackle writing one yourself.

so making a game myself, i pull from other games i've played; and i'm creating it in the perspective of a gamer. gamers nowadays are quite the critics when it comes to games. that's because we know what we like and know what were looking for.

Well, it sounds to me like you want to create your own video game. If you haven't played a lot of pnp RPGs, you don't really know what you're looking for yet, in a PNP RPG. Which is fine, you're only 19. I think it might be good to try and start with a core system (such as the SRD), and play in your new world for a while, house-ruling and tinkering as you go. You'd have more fun, it'd be less work, and I think it'd be more enlightening.

Also, you're in college. I hate to say it, but you should spend more time doing school work, and less time writing an RPG. hate to be all grown-uppy, but there it is.

but this is a project i plan on working on for years, and even if a game does not come out of it, i still have a unique story i have come up with that i could turn into books and keep it and possibly try to pitch it to a company.

So why not write it as a story? Writing a story is hard work, too, but it'd probably be easier than writing an RPG for someone in your situation. Basically, you're saying you want to build a car from scratch, but mostly your background consists of riding motorcycles.

Writing your story from a novel perspective will still be hard work. It'll be a huge project. But I think it'd be one that you would better pull off at this point, and will result in a project you'll be much more proud of.

And no offence, but I wouldn't even THINK of pitching anything to a company right now. That way leads to madness and sadness. You're someone who has just started taking his first steps, and you're already dreaming of running... and people in those situations inevitably fall flat on their face.

Now, all my negativity aside, I wholly recommend you do something creative, absolutely! Don't take anything I say as a deterrant, but try to consider what I am saying and wonder exactly what your goals are, here. Remember, success is just saying "yes" one more time than everyone else says "no".

 

[killxo]

Now, all my negativity aside, I wholly recommend you do something creative, absolutely! .

u can disregard the quote, i just made that huge wall o' text smaller.

i do agree with what you're saying, in that what you say makes sense. i'll start with this: in response to you thinking i want it to be a video game, yes that would be a wonderful thing. but i know for a fact that wont happen anytime soon, so im not hoping for that or going in that direction.

secondly, this is a long-term project for me. i do want it to be an epic scale story that players can enjoy themselves creating their path through it. the reason why i dont say "i want it to be like this (insert media type here)" is because i do not know if it will become a PNP,single player rpg, MMO etc. i'm focusing on creating it as a whole;the story , the spells, the systems , the rules etc. because really, any PNP could become a video game; and most video games could be made into a PNP. as you said , the format of both are different. i know video games very well, but i also have some experience to understand what PNP's are like, and yes i am still learning. i am more or less taking ideas from video games and converting them into a workable format that you'd see in a PNP game.

the whole project started with me realizing that i need to do something creative. and i have a passion for gaming in general so i started off just writing stuff down for a game. i'm a very creative person so i enjoy doing all of this. i have alot to learn about PNP's and how i can create something unique using my past knowledge of RPG's. the whole project is something i will keep and will hopefully be something i can share with everyone in the world, regardless of what format it may be in.

now you seem like a knowledge-able individual, so i have some questions; specifically about the OGL and the SRD. i'm a bit confused about the 2 acronyms. is the SRD based off the OGL? or is it the other way around? from what i understand i can use the 3.5e rules of D&D anyway i want but i have to document i'm using them , and which ones i use. i know i'm not going to be using all the 3.5e rules, as i'm using some newer systems i've come up with by myself. but i do plan on using the rules for combat and some other things(these other things are vague because i havent figured them out yet ^_^').

i know this post has gotten large but i have one more thing to ask . you all know more about PNP's than me, is there a few PNP's you can recommend i take a look at? something i can study and learn from

P.S.: my game doesnt interfere with my school work i only focus like 2-3 hrs max everyday/every other day on my game so, i wont let it mess up my school work

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Also, every time I see the thread title, I think that it says "Project Explodium". which is awesome.

 

[killxo]

Also, every time I see the thread title, I think that it says "Project Explodium". which is awesome.

lol. should make that a description for a golem of some sort. "made out of Explodium. they eventually go BANG!"