800 Steps
My Social Links:
  • Tabletop Gaming
    • Blog
    • After the Fall
    • Han Characters
    • Zoodlums
  • Contact Us
  • About
    • Former Blog

A Tale of Two RPGs

5/18/2015

0 Comments

 
Imagine a project you are working on. If you could peek into the future, would you see future-you making the same decisions that present-you is making? How would the intervening experiences affect what you would come up with?
It may seem like an impossible scenario, but I'm in the lucky situation of being able to do just this but in reverse. Present-me is looking back at past-me's work, created just a couple years ago but completely independently from a current project.
The project involves my foray into creating role-playing games. In particular, my co-designer and I recently listed the design goals for our card-based RPG (Herein called TBD for name to be determined.) A section with the exact same title exists in the 50-odd page manuscript for the more standard RPG I stopped working on two years ago. (It also happened to use cards, so I consider it a spiritual ancestor.)
How much have my goals changed? Do I still value the same aspects of good role-playing games? Let's see!
Past me wrote:
There is a number of philosophical goals that defines any game design. Often these goals compete with each other, so they must be prioritized. Here then, are the goals for this system in order of priority.

  1. 1. Story-driven. Too many games end up being flimsy excuses to go from battle to battle. These are more “roll-playing” than “role-playing” systems. Sessions should revolve around a compelling story, and all the action should contribute to its telling.
  2. 2. Imaginable. The best novels provoke vivid scenes in the readers’ imaginations. So too should a good role-playing session.
  3. 3. Realistic. The system should provide a sensible framework with as much realism as can be expected for a world with mythical creatures and potent magic.
  4. 4. Fast paced. Games should not bog down in minutia. This goal and the previous one form a delicate balance. Too much realism can hinder the pacing, while too fast and loose of a game loses realism. As a rule of thumb, the story should continue to be driven forward with very few lulls.
  5. 5. Open ended. The rules will inevitably be incomplete. The goal is not to model every possible situation but to provide rules by which the GM can sensibly resolve any events that arise.

In addition to these philosophical goals, the system is designed with several other design constraints in mind.

Advancing is fun....

Rolling dice is fun. 

Looking at our brainstorming for the recently created list of design goals and their consequences, I see some familiar faces.
Create a sense of immersion
Rules promote role-playing
Evocative narrative and detailed character description

Not an overwhelming number of rules

A system (e.g. point buy) for upgrading stats and skills
But none of those actually made it into the final cut. The design goals for TBD  target a very particular medium and audience. Here they are:
Primary
  1. Modules are made up of reusable/reshufflable components.
  2. Runs with little prep
  3. Pre-made modules (adventures)
  4. Easy to GM
  5. Delivers engaging stories
  6. Players become attached to their characters
Secondary
  1. Easy for novice GMs
  2. Easy for novice players
  3. Combat and non-combat mechanics are on par
As you can see, the objectives for TBD revolve around ease of play. My old system, being a standard book-length RPG, had no such constraints. Other TBD design goals: reusable/reshufflable components and pre-made adventures make sense given its card-based format. Those goals also complement the ease of prep and play aspects. Delivering engaging stories is the most similar goal between the two lists, and really isn't that the heart of a role-playing game?
Glaring omissions from the new list are realism and open-endedness. Design is a process of choosing between alternatives, sometimes with much difficulty. In the interest of creating an accessible card-based system, aspirations for a realistic, free-form game had to be tempered.
Initially I was surprised by the lack of overlap in these lists. Upon further reflection, I believe the difference is between a pie-in-the-sky dream design and a focused, pragmatic system. Rather than trying to build the perfect RPG for myself, we're working on a great RPG for our target market–busy people or novices who want to experience exciting adventures with little overhead. The constants, engaging, vivid stories, are what really matter, and TBD is going to bring them to life.
What are the most important aspects of RPGs in your opinion?
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Dusty (CrassPip) has been playing geek games for 30 years(!) and making his own for nearly as long. Recently, he's actually gotten games beyond the imagination stage.

    Archives

    June 2015
    May 2015
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    After The Fall
    Archon Arena
    Artwork
    Bid Bet Buy
    Brainstorming
    Card Games
    Design
    Ittbz
    Kickstarter
    Links
    Playtesting
    Production
    Prototyping
    Rpgs
    Software
    Tbd
    Vowels Are Free

Oracle bone and seal script characters adapted from Chinese Etymology site.
YouTube videos by choumeizai.
Movie posters from Chinese Movie Database. 
Images copyright their respective holders.