The Great Conjunction II (RPG Design Contest)

[Wik]

...Let the games begin!


Have you ever found yourself reading an RPG, only to exclaim "Why, a trained monkey could do better!?" Well, now is your chance to be that trained monkey. It's time, my fellow Enworldians, to put our money where our collective mouth is.

How? A one month RPG design contest. That's right - starting now, all you lucky entrants get until February 1st, 2010, to put together a complete role-playing game. Good luck!

The Big Theme

This year's big theme? It's an easy one.... Discovery. Exploration, the discovery of the unknown, and unraveling mystery. An "Old school" theme of RPGs that sometimes gets overlooked in the modern era of RPGs. Let's bring back that sense of discovery in RPGs! How? Well, that's up to you!

Other Things to Incorporate

There are also some sub-themes, which can be used as you see fit. These sub-themes are 1) A Criminal Element, 2) Religious Mania, 3) Hazardous Magic, and 3) Sentient Constructs.

Work/Submission Window

You can start now, if you'd like - only submissions that have a creation date from 2010 will be considered. You have until midnight, February 1st, 2010 to get something in to me. Late entries are not going to be accepted.

Size of Submissions

There is a maximum document size of 50 pages - which is plenty to work with. As Jdrakeh pointed out last year, that's Holmes BD&D rules + 10 pages. Think about that for a second, and realize this means you have a LOT of room for design work.

Where to Submit

Post a link or a copy of your work in this very thread. Make sure I can read it! I'd prefer it if submissions are in PDF form, but MS Word documents are also great.

How judging works

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I will be following a criteria when I judge. After all, there is a prize to be won, so let's make sure things are fair. (I did mention the prize, didn't I? No? Oh, well then... there's a prize).

Here's the relevant info: http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...2-announcement-thread-rpg-design-contest.html




Okay, there it is. Feel free to ask any questions you'd like, and by all means, post stuff early so you can get feedback! Now, with all that said, get to work, trained monkeys! Mush, mush!

 

[jdrakeh]

I'm in, provided that "real life" doesn't get in the way again.

 

[Jack7]

If it's Discovery, Exploration, Mystery, and a Criminal element, then I'm in.

That's for Damn sure.
All of those are interests of mine.

I even had a dream this morning about a crime organization out of Russia using a new type of communications/encryption device. I wrote and sketched it this morning when I woke up 'cause I could build it myself. But I'm gonna forward the idea on to some of my buddies.

Anywho, I got some ideas about how to play this contest. (Actually I was anticipating the contest would be about psychic abilities, but this is far better and more timely to me.)

I'll study the project components in detail later, work up a basic proposal and design sketch, and maybe I'll get a rough outline worked up before work starts next Monday.

I hope nothing will interfere and I'll get to finish it. I also hope a lot of people will compete. If there's anything that needs to be brought back to modern RPGs it's real Exploration and Discovery.

Very good project idea.

 

[Wik]

Looking forward to both of your entries! And, funnily enough Jack, I was thinking of "psychic abilities" as one of the initial themes.

I should point out now that the list of sub-themes were randomly generated. I had a longer list, and I randomly rolled some to see what would come up. Turns out they worked pretty well - I have a few ideas for each. I'll probably try to put something together... but I have no idea what, yet.

 

[Jack7]

I've developed a few title possibilities:

THE LOST ARTS OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY

TRAVERSAL

THE TRESVADDER


Right now I favor Traversal.

I've written up a very rough outline, some design parameters, and created two documents, one for design notes, the other as the actual project framework structure.

But one thing I've also decided on from the last contest. It will intentionally, in style and format, be unlike any RPG book or manual I've ever seen.

And I'm gonna make mine genre non-specific.

 

[Wik]

I've written up a very rough outline, some design parameters, and created two documents, one for design notes, the other as the actual project framework structure.

Yeah, that's what I did for mine last year. It's a good system to work with.

 

[Jack7]

I also now have a Work Plan/Schedule.

Dividing the month into work days I have basically 20 of those, not counting today. I have allocated 13 days for the construction of the work, which will compel me to average between 3.8 and 4 pages per day.

If I lose time on a particular work day then I hope to make that up on free time during the weekends.

This will leave me between 7 and 10 days for editing, re-writes from my initial draft, to collect supplementary materials, and to make corrections, redactions, and additions.

If I can maintain that schedule I will finish a little bit early.

 

[jmucchiello]

So far I've thrown out a dozen ideas as either needs more space or "been done to death". Still at the drawing board.

 

[RandomCitizenX]

Have my basic mechanic in mind as well as the setting, just need to work in one of the sub themes. Hopefully life and work will allow me to finish the job this time.

 

[Wik]

I've got an idea kicking around in my head, too. It's going to involve pirate ships, tropical islands, and criminal havens. And the PCs get their own ship to explore with. Equal parts Firefly, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Isle of Dread. I want to design the whole thing to be the perfect system for a "west marches" style of game (for those unfamiliar with the West Marches...
ars ludi » Grand Experiments: West Marches )

As for the system itself... I don't know. Still unsure about that.