The Free RPG Blog

How to write a free RPG - Chapter 7: Testing

2012-01-24T12:00:00.000Z

Your game needs to be tested before it’s devoured by the general public. Testing ranges from simple mechanics tests all the way through to a full blow campaign play test. If you do not have a group to test with and cannot find a kind group to test it for you, there is still testing that can be done. Testing takes a long time, be prepared for this step to take as long as the rest of the game design.

If you are following the "Release Small, Release Often" principle (described in the next Chapter) then ensure you state clearly that the game has not been tested when you perform releases.

Smoke Test

A smoke test ensures that the system won’t catch fire when you try to use it. It will only find glaring holes, not mechanic niggles (see Mechanic Edge Cases) To smoke test the game, do the following:

Make 10 characters.
Write out 4 full combats step by step. Write out what everyone says and does and draw a battle map of what happens. Ensure each combat is different from your rule examples.
Find a non-gamer to read through the whole game to check for grammar and spelling.
Update the table of contents and index.
Check your table of contents and index by randomly picking 6 items from each, located at different places in the book and check the pages are correct.
Make sure that images are near the text that talks about them.
Print out some test pages, is it too dark or too light? Is the font large enough? If you're using a background image, does it obscure the text?
Ask as a friend in a different country to print out on a different size, if you're in the US, try A4. If you're elsewhere, use US Letter.
How does it look on screen? If a friend has a tablet device, check it on there too. If not, ask the internet, a friendly RPG geek will check it out for you.

Read it again

But before you read it again, check back to the style section of Chapter 3 then read through the entire game, contents, index, everything. Make notes as read through go, do not stop to edit. Check all the captions on the images and headings on the tables. If you are linking sections of the document together (in HTML or PDF) then click every link. You might be sick of your game by now but this is a very important step, so do it. Then ask yourself these questions:

Does it fit the concept I was aiming for? Go back to when you wrote it down in Chapter 1 and check each item off.
If it does not, have I still made something worth playing?
Does it feel like the genre I am trying to represent?
Did I solve the mechanic problems I was trying to solve?
What’s best about the game?
What’s worst about the game?
Can I add any more images to spruce it up?
Is all the information I need on the Character sheet?

Trim

You’ve used too many words to describe your game. It is normal to do that, your brain is not wired for brevity when it is describing concepts. Cut down every paragraph to its bare form. Is it still intelligible? If so, keep it that way. Your second draft should be 10% shorter than the first.

Mechanic Edge Cases

The success of a mechanics system can be judged on its ability to still operate when under stress. You can stress test your system by seeing what happens when the parameters are at their limits. You cannot test all possible edge cases (especially when it comes to combinations of spells) but you can certainly pick some example worst/best case situations.

For example, if the mechanic is combat what happens when a character has maximum strength, the best weapon, highest skill, excellent armour and so on. Do you have a monster that will challenge a character like that? How many rounds will it take to kill a character like that with medium monsters? How many medium monsters will it take?

A team of 5 people all firing guns that have been upgraded 5 times should be able to kill a monster in 5 combat turns. "Upgraded 5 times" guns do 5 damage, that's 25 damage a turn. So a normal monster should have 125 hit points. Basic characters have weapons that do 1 damage will take a staggering 25 combat turns.

Ask yourself these sorts of questions for all the mechanics, paying particular attention to modifiers and special items. A sword might have a reasonable power but may unbalance the system when enchanted by more than one spell. If you find that it is difficult to find edge cases with your mechanics then perhaps the system is too complex and consider simplifying it. Spreadsheets can be useful for testing out the range of dice roles and probabilities but do not forget the affects of special powers or feats on the numbers.

Imaginary game

A good way to test your game is to run an imaginary game. Take 4 of the 10 characters you created earlier and then run through your example setting and adventures. Ensure the characters have goals that fit your setting, is it easy or difficult to create goals that are possible. Try all of the mechanics, use the characters to defeat the monsters without using your imagination (by grinding) and using imagination. During your game, try and answer the following questions:

What is the quickest way to end an encounter?
What is the best combination of skills, spells, weapons and equipment to solve each encounter?
Is there anything missing from the starting character setups that make the game impossible?
Is it fun?

Play Testing

Play testing is the act of playing the game to see if it meets your concept. It’s important to remember that a play test isn’t really a normal game. Most GMs will bend rules, ignore sections and only use 50% of a ruleset in ten sessions worth of a play. A good play test should be precisely by the rules and use as much of the ruleset as possible. You should reward the playtesters with a credit in the front of the book, or a signed copy if you are feeling flush. Make sure that your playtest group is made up of your target audience (see Chapter 1). You should playtest only when you feel the game is complete, playtesting should not be used as a tool for design, only for verification.

Playtest Pack

A playtest pack is a ready-to-go pack of information that makes it easy for the playtest group to test your game and provide feedback. To get the best from the group running your game for the first few times, you must provide additional support. When compiling your playtest pack, you can do so assuming that the player knows roleplaying games well. It should include:

A form for the player to put their name and contact details on. Give them the opportunity to opt-out of being included in the book credits.
A one page rule summary detailing the main mechanics.
Character sheets. Both blank and pre-generated. Although character creation should be part of the playtest, the players may not have the luxury of making a character.
A sample adventure that makes use of as many of the mechanics as possible.
A feedback form (see below).
A summary of what is required by the playtesters.
A Non Disclosure agreement (NDA) - optional as this is a free game after all.
Your contact details for the player to leave with.

Feedback

It is important to get feedback from everyone who plays the game. Feedback forms are the simplest way to garner information but if possible socialising with the group in a relaxed atmosphere (in a pub/bar) is a good way to dig into details. Players more likely to focus on the good things if confronted but at least you can question about particular mechanics this way. Have your notebook with you when talking to play testers, write down their good ideas then and there. Do not trust your memory to remember the details. The playtesters won't mind, they will appreciate their point of view is important.

Feedback Forms

Your feedback form is there for you to gauge whether or not you have managed to satisfy your concept. Player/GM fun is important too but it is important to note that not all players like new systems at first and the act of learning them can be tiring and less fun. You can provide two sorts of questions, check box ones and written replies. I would recommend having both as play testing can be tiring and lengthy prose without inspiration from pointed questions can be difficult. Here are some example questions:

Questions to be used with tick boxes under the headings "Strongly agree, Agree, No preference, Disagree, Strongly Disagree"

The game's rules are too light
The game's system feels like [game's genre]
The setting feels different to other games
I understood the rules
The game looks good
I was surprised that the game was free
I would play this game again

Questions to be used with plenty of space to reply.

What I liked about the game was...
What I disliked about the game was...
What I thought was missing was...

What to do with feedback

All feedback is valuable, not all of it is useful. For each of the forms and notes you have made, assign them a priority and then use your concept to check to see if you feel the feedback is useful. Concentrate on the problems that are raised rather than the solutions that the players offer. As the game designer, you are the expert. Mechanics changes will mean restarting your mechanics testing (easier if you have used a spreadsheet). Be prepared that not everyone will like your game. Thank them for the feedback but do not dwell on it.

When to stop play testing

Play testing must end when you feel that the game meets the concept you originally set out. Play testing cannot be used to find every rules hole and it is possible to play test too much. Too much play testing is procrastination, pick an end date and finish your game.

Post play test release

Ensure that you schedule time after your play test is over to update the rules and put out another release of your game. Do not make the playtesters feel that you have wasted their time by sitting on the changes for a year.

Resources

rpg.stackexchange asked What can I learn from Playtesters.
Ben Lehman argues that playtesting should be directed at a finished product, not as a means of design. And storygames discussion
Playtesters.net a place for finding tester for your game.
Wikipedia rather banal entry.

How to write a free RPG - Chapter 6: Organisation

2012-01-17T12:00:00.000Z

In this Chapter, you'll learn how to organise your free RPG. Organisation is very important because a poorly organised game can be confusing and will put people off playing it. An RPG is both read and referred to. It needs to be reference material as well as something enjoyable to read. To achieve this, you must be careful to choose a logical structure and a layout which is both pleasing and useful. This is an improved version of a previous guide to organisation.

The Structure

Organise the game in a logical structure such that it reads clearly. Explain concepts (such as Attributes) before you use them (in mechanics). You game should include the following sections in this order:

Front Cover

At the very least, it must contain the name of your game. It does not need to be a graphic but the name is a nice font. You've put a lot of work into it, I do hope you're proud of it so put your name on it, or use a pseudonym. If a GM is printing your game to convince their players to play, the better it looks the more likely the prospective GM will be able to run it.

Contents Page

A contents page should include all the major headings and sub headings. Lists of tables, images and diagrams belong in the Appendix. Try and keep the contents to a couple of pages and compress the font or line space to fit more on a page. Contents pages are used to scan from front-to-back for topic headings, if you make it too large, it does not become useful for this. Lines can be compressed as people will only scan through the Contents, they are unlikely to read it like paragraphs of prose. This is only optional if your game is under 7 pages.

Thank you / Version / Dedication

(Optional). Chances are you're going to need to thank someone for helping you through the game and this is best place for it. Might be a spouse, girlfriend (if you have both, don't include both here). Try and keep it to a page. Always put on a date. If you feel you need more than a date to uniquely describe your game, put on a version number. If you don't like software versioning (1.1, 1.2 etc) use round numbers (1,2,3,4,5...).

Introduction

The introduction is likely to be the first thing that the reader will go to after the cover, avoid fluffy marketing speak. It must include the following:

What is in the book? System? Setting? Sample adventure?
What is the genre of the setting? What are the major themes?
What will the characters do?
What sort of mechanic is it (dice/diceless/pool)?
If you game requires another book to use (such as Fate core rules), then say so here.

Character Creation

Begin this section by listing all of the steps so that the reader knows what is coming. Then describe each of the steps, giving examples when needed. Optionally, include a start-to-finish character generation. Make sure your example character will fit into the example adventure you provide. Don't put your skills inline unless there is only half a page of them. Put them in the Appendix.

Mechanics

If you have designed your own mechanics, start with an introduction to them. What sort of mechanic is it? Target number? Dice pool? After this brief introduction, deal with each mechanic area in turn. Beginning with unopposed action resolution and then opposed actions. Combat / magic / narrative mechanics last. If you have a core concept that runs through them all (such as rolling dice to meet a target number), deal with that first.

Setting

For more information on writing the Setting, see the Chapter on Settings.

Gamesmaster Section

GM sections are important and at the very minimum include an Example Adventure. The example adventure should showcase your setting without relying too much on the system. Imagine the experience the roleplayers will have: They'll sit down. Make characters and the GM will begin. Make the adventure simple to understand and also get the point of the setting. Perhaps give example characters too.

Additional setting information should also be included. If there are things the players should not know but the GM should, then include them. It is normally the GM that presents the game to play to the group so make it delicious for them too.

Appendix

Any item that disturbs the flow of explanation should go in the Appendix. Lists are the biggest culprit. Put them at the back, they won't get read through from start to finish and are used more like reference. It might feel a bit jarring to move the skill list from inside the character creation section but I assure you that it will be better off in actual use.

Examples of things that should really go in the Appendix are:

Skills
Equipment
Spells
Bestiary
Charts and Tables
Character Sheet

Back cover

I would have a bit of advertising blurb on the back and perhaps instructions to the print shop that it is ok to print for personal use. If a prospective GM has printed it and bound it nicely, the players will soon go to the back cover. Avoid suggesting that it is the best game in the world and that it will change the way people live their lives, instead pick out things that the characters would do and make those things sound exciting. Is the game about sticking a giant sword into the face of a particularly shifty looking dragon? Great! Tell us on the back cover.

Layout

Layout is a very subjective part of game design and as such, this section is really intended for those who do not know where to start. When deciding on your layout, take the following into account:

The first time your game is seen, it will be on a monitor
Many people still print the games for use at the table
Printer toner and paper are expensive

A stock layout

A stock layout is a portrait page with two columns evenly spaced. Images are placed within the text. Some packages allow you to curl the text around the jagged edge of the image (rather than being square). To maintain readability, leave a gap of at least 4mm between the graphic and your prose.

Margin thick enough to allow someone to bind the game.
Number of the chapter at the bottom in the middle. Putting it in the corner means that the person printing it cannot choose between single and double sided paper print.
Chapter names in the header are useful when used as reference.
Two columns is normally easier to read, long lines make it difficult for the eye to find the next line.
The above is portait, if you're going for landscape then consider 3 columns.
The eye naturally tracks to the top left and bottom right of the page. Put text there to keep the reader's attention. If it fits the layout well, aim to put images in the top right/bottom left of the page.

How to write a free RPG - Chapter 5: System

2012-01-10T12:00:00.000Z

The mechanics of your game provide the players with tactical and strategic choices. They will spend resources, take risks, win and lose. The mechanics must mesh with the concept of the game and support the setting. The first question you must answer is:

Do I use an existing system?

There are hundreds of free RPG systems available, all of which can be extended and modified to meet your needs. By choosing an existing system (especially a popular one), you begin with a solid, playtested base. However, you then rely upon your setting and rule extension being novel enough for people to want to play.

Before you dive in and create your own system, check the list of systems I gave in Part 2 and make sure yours is truly novel. It is much better to extend an existing system that start from scratch.

How to make mechanics

Only include mechanics for things you want the players to do in the game. Reward for the style of play you want to foster. Mechanics are a set of steps that achieve a specific outcome. You do not need to use dice, the steps can be purely conversational or use bartering with resources.

The three points of the mechanics spectrum are resource, traditional and verbal. Resource mechanics are where the player trades an in-game currency for control of the game or success. Traditional mechanics involve rolling dice and comparing to a target number. Verbal mechanics reward good ideas and rhetoric with success.

Your mechanic can be a mix of these three things. Traditional mechanics are the most widely used.

Your mechanic must give the player choice. They must choose to do something and be able to understand the likelihood of an outcome. Avoid mechanics where a single roll can cause the sudden death of the character. You do not need to have a random element to a character's action but avoid making everything automatically easy.

Make the player earn a success though clever use of their brain, either by manipulating the mechanics, setting or putting effort into the game.

Working backwards

Often it is wise to work from the mechanic you are trying to achieve back to the statistics of the character. This will avoid you getting dump statistics. Write down what part of your concept (you decided in Chapter 1) you are trying to emulate then decide on a mechanic in words that satisfies that. Finally work out what combination of skills, statistics, feats and randomness will achieve it.

I want the characters to be able to hurt the monster in imaginative ways. They must be able to inflect more damage by clever use of their gadgets, skills and environment - shooting it over and over should not lead to a win. I will need a statistic for using gadgets, skills for different gadgets (to allow specialisation) and a mechanic to make it worthwhile combining ideas and gadgets together. I'm going to use a shared dice mechanic, so the players should able able to gain more dice for working together.

The Meta Game

The Meta Game is what player-to-player interaction is called. If two players are talking about the situation from their point of view then they are Meta Gaming. If the players talk in character about the situation then that is regular roleplaying. All mechanics sit on a scale between the in character point of view and the Meta Game.

Meta Gaming mechanics can add variety to your game but must be used with care as they are often outside the sphere of knowledge of the character. The upshot is that the character may be taking actions for which they have no justification. A mantra for many roleplay groups is "What would your character do?" and that is often broken by the meta-game.

Only you can be the judge of whether Meta Game mechanics fit into your system. The mechanic types listed below include how "meta" they are.

For Chgowiz, I have a Meta Game mechanic where the players share dice. The characters do not know about the pool of dice that is being used for their actions, so it sits firmly in the Meta Game. A description of it is at the end of the mechanic types section below.

What to make mechanics for

Only make mechanics for things you want the players to do in your game. Some typical ones are:

Character creation

The creation of a character sets the benchmark against which everything in the world is judged.

Unopposed actions

The character interacting with the world alone are actions. These include riding a horse, sailing and navigation. In these cases, there is no-one opposing the character, its just the character against the world. These actions will be performed a lot.

Opposed actions

Where a character is trying to do something and another character is trying to stop them. These include persuading an NPC to open the gate to the castle. A character is trying to get the NPC to do something and the NPC's sense of duty is opposing it.

Combat

Combat can come in may different forms: unarmed, with close quarters weapons, ranged, vehicle, space craft and so on. Combat also should have a method of doing harm to the opponent. This can be the same mechanic as an opposed action. Combat is usually broken up into rounds where each character takes it in turn to do an action.

Help the players make quick choices and keep the game moving by presenting the choices in a combat action clearly. The player can then spend their thinking time working out what their character would do rather than what options there are.

Wounding and healing

Invulnerable characters are less interesting to play than vulnerable ones. Have a mechanic to keep track of how much hurt the character has been through and how much more they can take before they can take no more actions. Having a decreasing point value (Hit Points) is a traditional solution but you can also choose narrative effects that affect the player's decisions. Taking damage might also incur a penalty to performing actions. Ensure you include a way for the characters to heal too.

For Chgowiz, I want the effect of being damage to be more narrative. As characters take damage, they can pick up disadvantages - making it more difficult to play. As the characters are clones, dying is not a problem, so the damage affects can be outrageous.

Lethality

Measure lethality as the amount of game time it takes for a healthy character to die with average weapons/equipment in an average fight. Is lethality so high that the player will never get a chance to retreat? If that's not part of your concept then consider changing it.

Performing "Magic"

Magic (or doing technical actions in modern/Sci Fi) does not need its own system but you can add novel flavour to your system with it. Ensure that the magic system related to the setting - a society based on magic being easy should not have a system where runes need to be drawn accurately over several turns.

Controlling the narrative

Controlling the narrative means that the players get to decide the outcome of things.

Character improvement

If the roleplaying game is designed to be run over a series of sessions, then it is important to hand out a reward that can be used to improve the character.

Character Creation

Character creation is the cornerstone of any system. Do not stint on it. A prospective GM might well make a few characters to see what it is like. Ensure it is slick, majestic and well described. For the players, it is the first time they will interact with your game and it is important that the process is well explained. Character creation does not need to be quick, some players enjoy an involved creation session, especially if the character will last through a long campaign. Be true to the concept you laid out.

Characters tend to made of some or all of the following parts:

Attributes - a fixed number of inherent abilities of the character. Include: Strength, Intelligence and so on.
Skills - a list of learnt abilities, often picked from a list in the setting.
Feats/Traits - extraordinary abilities that the general populace do no possess, these can be both disadvantageous too.
Health - a way of tracking the amount of damage the character can take before they fall over.
Fluff - description, character name, organisations they belong to, age or anything pertinent. It's the only place in the RPG where fluff is acceptable and prompts the player to flesh out the character.

If you want the game to be learnt quickly, try and keep to familiar terms. If your game is more epic in scale, feel free to break out the Thesaurus and pick words more familiar to your genre.

Avoid adding one of the above unless there is a rule that makes use of it. If you have a 'Psyonic strength' ability and no psyonic rules then the Attribute will be useless.

Ensure you include an example character creation, explaining the choices made at each point.

Random roll vs Point assign

Most roleplaying games use either random roll, point assign or a combination of the two (sum the rolls of 10 dice and assign). Random roll mechanics lead to faster character generation but can leave the player with a character they didn't want to play. Point assign creation tends to be slower, leads to optimisation but leaves the player with the character they think they want to play.

Backstory creation

Flow charts or randomly rolled tables can be used to create the backstory of your characters. Some players might find it too restrictive, others liberating. If you include one these mechanisms, I recommend it is optional.

Collaborative creation

Some character creation mechanisms use play a way of creating a character. In these collaborative methods, players play out scenes. The outcomes of those scenes determine or modify the facets of the character.

For Chgowiz, the players will create a 'Genome' - a root from which each clone is then generated. The Genome will have attributes and skills and will be chosen with point assign. Advantages and Disadvantages will then be randomly rolled per clone. If the clone is difficult to play because of a tough combination Disavdantages and Advantages, it is ok because Clones are expendable.

Types of mechanics

There are an enormous number of variants of dice, resource and narrative mechanic. Below are just a taste of four of the simplest mechanics many systems build upon. Most roleplaying games depend on mechanics using character properties (attributes and skills) combined with a random element.

Target number

Used for: Unopposed actions, Opposed actions, combat, magic
Format: Character Properties + Modifiers + Dice roll >= Target number

A target number mechanic is the simplest form of mechanic. A Character's Properties are combined (such as the sum of appropriate Attribute and Skill) with modifiers and a die roll. The result is then compared to a target number that is set by the Gamesmaster. In most cases, the higher the target number, the more difficult the task. For opposed rolls, the target number is a roll of the opponent. This can be slower as two dice are rolled, two equations summed before the comparison can be done.

As long as the properties are kept in low digits, the calculations are easy. Avoid applying too may modifiers. Some systems use tables to set the target numbers, this improves simulation of the mechanic but can be slow.Speed can be maintained by having the result of some calculations written on a character sheet. These are sometimes written down as secondary statistics.

Pros

Easy to balance
Quick
Versatile

Cons

Linear probability scale
Mathematics can be difficult with large numbers
There is a temptation to add many modifiers elsewhere (such as modifiers on weapons)
Does not foster communication at the table

Meta Gaming?

This is not Meta Gaming because the rolling of dice represents the actual actions of the character.

Dice pool

Used for: Unopposed actions, Opposed actions, combat, magic
Format: Roll as may dice as you have in character properties, remove dice for modifiers, count the number of dice that roll over a given number. To succeed, you need a number of successes.

Dice pool mechanics rely on counting the number of dice that successfully roll over a number. This can be a length process when you are rolling 20 dice but the mathematics remains simple because you are not performing additions or subtractions. Modifiers are applied by removing dice (either before or after the roll).

Pros

Quick
Modifiers do not involve maths
Versatile
Feels good to heft cupped hands full of dice

Cons

Can need a lot of dice
Counting can take longer than comparing a single number
Balance is more tricky
Does not foster communication at the table
Probability of success more difficult to estimate than for target number rolls

Meta Gaming?

This is not Meta Gaming because the rolling of dice represents the actual actions of the character.

Resource Pool

Used for: Boosting actions, controlling the narrative
Format: Character has a pool of points that they can spend when required

Resource pools reduce the randomness in your game by giving the player a tactical choice whether to spend the points from their pool or save them for later. This mechanic is sometimes used to allow the player to control the narrative. It can also be used to re-roll dice, boost outcomes.

Pros

Gives the player an tactical choice
Simple to understand
Player feels an element of control
Fosters communication at the table

Cons

Slower than dice rolling
Balance difficult

Meta Gaming?

Resources management tends to be a Meta Gaming task because it is not the character who is spending a point to boost an action, or taking hold of the narrative. The player is the one that is deciding to spend the pool point. If you use a resource pool for something that the character controls (such as a magical pool of energy) then this is not a Meta Game mechanic.

Voting

Used for: Controlling the narrative
Format: Players vote on the outcome

Voting reduces the randomness of outcomes by putting those back into the hands of the players. Some voting mechanisms are used with resource pools so that players have to use their votes tactically. Voting can be secret or public. This mechanic can add a level of competition at the table, make sure that fits in with the concept of your game.

Pros

Gives the players the feeling of more control
Adds tension and atmosphere to the table
Fosters communication at the table

Cons

Slower than dice rolling
Slows the pace of the whole game if used liberally
Secret voting even slower!

Meta Gaming?

This is a Meta Game mechanic. Players voting on outcomes is detached from the characters themselves.

Chgowiz uses a modification of the Target Number mechanic. To do an action, they add Attibute, Skill and a die roll versus a target number. Even if the Attribute and Skill combined are more than the target number, they still much roll a die. Where it differs is that all the players share a pool of dice in the middle. When someone does an action, they take a die from the middle. By doing so, they are depriving other players of dice. This is a Meta Game mechanic because the character do not realise that they are about to fail because the players have run out of dice!

Crunch

Crunch is the name given to the feeling that there are a lot of rules to remember to play the game. You should try and strike a balance between a simple system where the tactical decisions are quick and a crunchy system where there are lots of options, modifiers and special rules. Too few rules and you're giving the player fewer tactical options, there is less game system to manipulate. Too many options and the system becomes overwhelming. Lite rules tend to be quicker to player whereas crunchy rules do a better job of representing the game world. Only you can decide whether the system fits the concept you decided on at the start.

Crunch often creeps into a system in the form of special rules for spells, monsters or equipment. These extra rules might look innocuous on their own but when the GM tries to apply all the caveats from different parts of the rules then the game grinds to a halt.

How to write a free RPG - Chapter 4: Setting

2012-01-03T12:00:00.000Z

In this Chapter, you will learn how to write an unique setting; what to include and how to avoid common pitfalls. The setting is the imaginary world that will act upon the characters and that the characters will change with their actions. Even if you are writing a generic roleplaying game system (such as Fate, Risus or Five by Five) then you should still consider writing an example setting that showcases the unique features of the system. Show the prospective GM what can be done with the system, it will help you differentiate your game from all the other games out there. Make sure your setting is a place where things happen, fill it with conflicting organisations and danger.

Creating a setting is a huge task and this guide is far from complete, acting only as a starting point.

Implicit vs Explicit Settings

Your setting can either be explicit or implicit. An explicit setting is one where you create maps, locations, a range of NPCs, plot hooks and so on. An implicit setting is where you do not write any of that but you do create a bestiary, spells or rules that constrain how the game is played. For example, for spell casting, the difference might be:

Explicit Setting: Magic is rare and difficult to perform, it is controlled by an Archmage who lives in a tower.
Implicit Setting: To cast a spell, roll 2D20. On two rolls of 20, the spell passes. Otherwise nothing happens.

The explicit setting lays out in black and white that magic is difficult but adds the flavour of the Archmage. The implicit setting makes spell casting difficult through rules but means that the GM is free to decide on how it is implemented in the setting they create.

If you are not writing a full setting, I recommend you take the middle ground, noting that magic is difficult and then demonstrating why. A free RPG should make life easy for the GM and as such create an explicit setting and let the GM ignore it if they wish. Be aware that you may inadvertently write an implicit setting by system or resources.

Building your world

Novel settings are best described from a top down point of view. Begin with the major themes of the game and how they interact. Try and keep the themes limited in number and intertwined. Expand on each of the themes, adding only detail that the GM or players might need to play. Stop when you have described the parts of your setting that the player characters directly interact with. Unless going to the toilet is something the player characters will be asked to do a lot, do not describe it. World building is a huge topic, which is very dependent on the genre of RPG you are creating. Here are some general tips:

Make the world exciting. If the world is mundane, there will be no desire to explore it.
Ensure that organisations, Gods, nations, NPCs are in conflict with others. Give them opposed goals and motivations. This conflict will make your world more interesting.
Before you start writing, list all the aspects you want in the setting and then list the things you do not.
Give the characters something to do that is interesting.
Avoid absolutes - it is better to say that there are few Gnomes left after the Gnomageddon rather than none at all.
Assume that if you include a location, the players will try to go there. If you include an NPC, assume that they will shoot it in the face.
From top-down, you don't have to draw the whole map or include all the races, you're only specifying the big themes.
Give your places, organisations and NPCs more than one weakness. A single weakness can be difficult for players to spot.
If providing a broad description, use an adjective. 'On a mountain' is less inspiring than 'On a craggy mountain'. Big list of adjectives

Be as fantastical as you can. If you want a flying upside down mountain, then do so. If you want the heads of state of two major nuclear powers to be having an extramarital affair then go for it.

The Chgowiz RPG is set in your home town and your home set in a world seen through the eyes of a crazy person. The Government are all powerful and view the people of your fine town as worthless test subjects. As a Chgowiz Clone, you are part of an elite army and fight for the Government to protect the people against huge mutant monsters, who want to trample and burn your home town! Little do you know that the Government sent the monsters in the first place.

What to include

Only include the minimum setting description needed to meet the themes you specified in your concept. Settings are typically where game bloat occurs. When defining the concept in Chapter 1, you defined a number of themes (such as dangerous magic, continents at war or space federations) start by describing these themes. When describing a theme, begin with what is known from the general populace's point of view and then add information that the heroic characters would know. Here is a list of entities you might wish to include:

Locations

Locations should act as seeds for adventures as well as the places they take place. If you cannot think of a good plot or reason a player might want to go there then don't include it. To create the a location:

Begin with the geography and an adjective. Examples: on a windswept glacier, on the edge of a cliff, surrounded by rivers, on a lonely plain, snug in a valley, clinging to the side of a mountain, sprawling across a savanna, by the golden beach or in a sweaty jungle. If you are having difficulty, put the noun of the geography (such as Jungle) into Google Images.
Provide an overview mention its architecture (broadly). A tall stone tower of arches and pillars, a squat village of stone and thatch buildings or a gleaming metallic space station.
Describe its prominent (or extraordinary) features. These should be places the players will want to go. Try and make the prominent features unfamiliar. If you describe Sauron's Tower then the players will automatically associate the tower with the Lord of the Rings.
Give the purpose of the place. Why does it exist? Who made it? Why should there be a village there? What purpose does it serve? Do not feel you have to explain away every location but purpose can make a mundane place feel special.
Give the place a name. Use a thesaurus to help find a word that describes it.

In the Chgowiz RPG, I am cheating here. The players will be playing in their home town. Building a map of local places and roads will be part of character creation. To make it more interesting, some locations will have a previously unknown secret fact. For example, the mall might be a meeting place for a Druidic chapter.

People and races

Describe the people who live in your world. The people will make up the majority of the people your player characters will interact with. You can add flavour to your setting by introducing different races with physiology, philosophy and wisdom. Racial differences do not need to be large and can be the source of great prejudice. With prejudice comes conflict, which in turn makes your setting more interesting.

It is wise to keep in mind the role your player characters have in the setting: Are they the good guys or bad? Are they made up from the different race or all one?

Organisations

This is a generic name given to groups of NPCs that work together. An Organisation might be the inhabitants of a place who share a common goal or a secret society.

Aim: what do they want to achieve?
Resources: What resources do they have at their disposal? Use general terms such as 'Can influence the creation of law.' rather than 'Has 4 councillors under payment'.
Public knowledge: What will the characters know about the organisation?
Reach: Do they operate only in the city or countrywide, across a continent or throughout the galaxy?
Activities: What do the organisation get up to? What do they not do? How do they raise cash?
Allies and Enemies: Who are the organisation friends with, who do they hate? How do they interact, is is subtle or openly hostile?

For the Chgowiz RPG, The Government are the most important organisation as they provide the monsters, the Clones and the Gadgets!

Aim: To take over the world with an amazing army of either Chgowzi Clones or Giant Monsters (whichever comes off best).
Resources: Huge amounts of gadgets and monsters. They can do all the usual stuff a Government an do too.
Public knowledge: The public are thick, they think the Government are nice and care about them!
Reach: The Government are countrywide but like to think they have global reach.
Activities: Sending in Monsters into small towns to see how destructive they can be. Sending in Chgowiz cloned soldiers to mop up the monsters.
Allies and Enemies: The Chgowiz RPG is too simple to have them fight another organisation. In a sense, they are constantly fighting themselves.

Flora and Fauna

Plants and animals breathes life into your setting. Avoid creating an entire ecosystem. Choose some plants and animals and give them a twist to make them different. Then decide how they interact with each other. Include a Bestiary too

Pantheon

If Gods figure in your setting then be sure to describe them by what they do and why people praise them. Long back stories and history are only interesting to Classics scholars.

Common NPCs

Kings, Lords, famous heroes, arch villains, well known craftsmen, heads of guilds, merchants can all add to a setting's depth. Don't forget that if you include an NPC, you should expect someone to shoot it in the face. For an NPC to be interesting, they must have a goal, stereotypes are fine but the goal must be easy for the GM to understand. The complexity will come when the game is played. Make sure you include at least two NPCs that have conflicting goals. It is through conflict that interesting stories are formed.

Agent Backstard is the Clone's contact at the Government, Backstard will provide them with just enough information on the monsters. He's a tall, gaunt man with shiny black hair that begins every answer with 'Yes yes yes', even if the answer turns out to be 'No'. He doesn't come across as trustworthy because he isn't.
T is the equipment man and called only by his codename "T". He is scatterbrained and finds it difficult grasp that his creations are used for fighting. He can be contacted at any time over the radio and can parachute equipment in.
Doctor Socks is a fictional man created by the Government. He is blamed for creating the giant monsters. He is pictured as a cackling old man in a plaid arm chair.

Geography

A map is a useful tool to show the scope and scale of the play area. Concentrate detail to one area of the map rather than spreading it out, you should give the GM somewhere well described to start their campaign and yet allow plenty of area for them to expand.

Recent History

Include large events in the recent history, particularly if they explain why the world is the way it is. Try and include a couple of events in the recent couple of weeks that would effect everyone or that would signal that there is going to be a big change. Recent History can be useful for the GM to create plot hooks.

GM Information

Give the GM some extra details on the places you mentioned. Help the GM create adventures by providing plot hook ideas by posing "What if..." questions. Explain how you intend the setting to be used and what themes you had in mind when you designed. You need to be explicit because it is difficult for a prospective GM to understand the nuances of a new setting through the text.

Sample Adventure

A sample adventure should showcase the novel parts of the setting (and system) and demonstrate why the GM should run the game. The sample adventure should be aimed at starting characters so that the GM can run the adventure straight off. Keep the adventure simple to achieve and include some combat or excitement.

Making your game different

During the ideas phase, you had to ask yourself "What's its closest rival and how is it different?". Many free RPGs go ignored because what they offer is barely distinguishable from commercial PRGs that the prospective GM already owns. Here are some techniques you can use to avoid common themes. I refer to genres specifically here but only because it is fantasy where the greatest overlap occurs.

Avoid standard fantasy elements

The definition of player character races is the first place where you can depart from fantasy lore. You may have an excellent idea for Elven creatures but the word 'Elves' brings along a huge amount of baggage. Use a different name and you are free from the strictures of fantasy canon. The only exception is 'Humans'. You don't have to put Humans in your game but if you do, then it is an understandable benchmark. If having Elves, Humans and Dwarves defines fantasy to you then do put them in but be aware that your game is running down a well trodden path.

Go back to the folklore source

So much of Eddings, Tolkein, D&D and other great fantasy proponents is inspired by northern European folklore and history. So can you! I'm no expert in folklore, and neither is Wikipedia. You don't have to be to pillage for inspiration.

For Chgowiz, there are two folklore sources: Godzilla (the original 1954 film) and Chgowiz himself. I've got hold of the original film (trailer below) and emailed Chgowiz for source information.

Japanese version is way more terrifying - probably because my Japanese is minimal!

Read other games

In research, there are two schools of thought: Ignorance provides you with freedom and knowledge allows you to avoid other's mistakes. Having tried both academically and in roleplay, I can recommend the latter. By reading other games, you will be able to find a niche for your own game by reading what is already out there. You might think Norse mythology is different enough but then you find Midgard by Ben Redmond or The Beast of Limfjord by Nathan Russell.

Invert a popular theme

By taking a popular theme and turning it upside down you can end up with a very different type of game. For example, magic in most games is wielded by Wizards. Instead, what if magic was the purview of the general populace? Or in Science Fiction what if the human race could not survive on planet surfaces and were stuck in space craft forever.

Borrow from outside the genre

With care, you can take concepts from outside fantasy and build them into your fantasy universe. While watching a Sci Fi or CSI:Miami, think about how various things would look in the fantasy world. Robots might be magical constructs - beings moulded from natural detritus and bound together as a servant. Perhaps your game is about fantasy Crime Scene Investigation: the Dwarf is missing a head, find the head, find the killer. To go further with this idea, you might want to crash two (or more) very different genres head on. Steam-punk-fantasy, Space-Opera-Supers, Cyberpunk-Anime-Supers, Modern-Fantasy.

Take from the natural world

The natural world is an awful place. So inhumane! Lift some of the terrible things animals do to each other and place them into societies. Imagine a player group stumbling into a society of mostly ladies and young boys only to find out that the local custom is for the woman to eat her lover after conception! When projected onto sentient species, the actions of nature reads like a nightmare.

The Chgowiz monsters will be taking a lot of their inspiration from nature. I used the BBC's Live n Deadly programme for inspiration.

Other resources

Writing a Campaign Setting Sourcebook - more geared towards published settings but poses interesting questions
Wikipedia article on settings - useful if you are looking to avoid common themes
RoleplayingTip.com advice - scroll half way down to World Building section
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions - a huge list of questions that urge you to make sense of your setting
The Habitable Zone - useful for hard Sci Fi, where planets with terran
Gnome Stew - Modular Campaign Settings
Gnome Stew - Collaborative world building

How to write a free RPG - Chapter 3: Writing and style

2011-12-27T12:00:00.000Z

In this Chapter, we will look at the act of writing itself. By the end you will know some habits to keep and pitfalls to avoid. The second part of this chapter focuses on style and details how writing in a particular way can help the GM and players pick it up.

The first rule of writing an RPG is to keep writing. Do not edit until you have a full first draft of the game. The first draft will be poor but you need to have a complete game before a proper edit can occur. If you get stuck on an area, make a note in the document (I use a load of Xs like 'XXXXXXXXXX' to make it easier to pick the notes out) and move on. Writing a roleplaying game is a little like writing a novel, some of the ideas included here are applied to both and you can plunder novel writing resources if you get stuck.

Getting it finished

Any large project requires dedication to complete. Initially, you will have a fire and passion of enthusiasm, which will last about one third into the project. If you manage to force through that barrier, the next drop in enthusiasm comes at two third through. If you can get through those then the chance of you completing is extremely high. Here are some habits and tips to help you push through those barriers.

Set a deadline to have a 'test' version of the document. Stick to it. Produce whatever you can by that date. Whatever you have at that date, release it to the community - even if it is far from finished.
Schedule small releases to the free RPG community. Release small, release often.
Collect feedback from the community but don't edit your game right away - wait until it is finished.
Don't re-read the game until it is finished.
Set aside a time each day or week when you sit down to write. Do write outside of this time but never miss it. Use a calendar to set a regular appointment with a reminder to send you an email/text/tweet.
If you have control over the computer you're writing on, set up a new user account that does not have access to games and puts parental filters on games/RPG forums sites to reduce the distraction.
Use whatever time you have, great progress can be made even in a half-and-hour lunch break or while the newborn baby is sleeping.
Schedule what TV programs you are going to watch and watch only those. Never channel-hop.
Open a dialogue with friends and family (non-gamers too) about what you are trying to achieve. By talking about the game, you will find it easier to keep motivated. They might also enquire how it is going and that acts as a softly softly pep talk. Show them the work you have put in.
Write the game in any order. Later in this guide, you will learn about ways to organise your game. Organise it last, write it first.
[Optional] Play appropriate music to the genre you're writing in for inspiration. Soundtracks to films that inspire your genre are useful.
When you feel like you’re flagging, print out an attractive chunk of your game (like a picture you found) and put it on the wall next to where you create.

Good practise

Write these best practise tips on post-it notes and stick them near the place where you write.

Never delete text forever - when cutting a section, copy into a 'scraps' document, label it and leave it for later (I do this with graphics too).
Do an off-site backup your work weekly. Either upload to a free file storage (such as Google Docs) or put on an old USB thumb drive and hand to a friend or put it in your desk at work/locker at college.
If you are stuck finding a name for something, use Thesaurus.com to help find similar words. Mash similar words together.
If writing starts to slow, move onto the next section.

Writing rule Examples

A good example is essential to making your game playable. Examples should be both compound and independent. Compound examples are where one example leads on from a previous example, for example, if you describe an example character John Smith with a Strength of 9 in one example, John Smith should have a strength of 9 in all examples thereafter. Independent examples do not rely upon previous examples to be understood. A single example should be enough to demonstrate a ruling. Remember that the GM uses the book as a reference, so lean towards independent examples or repeat the important parts of John Smith.

A good example takes a small part of the rules and demonstrates it. Larger examples can build upon the simple, atomic examples but be sure to include both. Atomic examples are good for reference, longer examples are better when the book is read through at first.

Good rule example for 'Choosing to fail':
Chgowiz Clone 4123 wants to shoot at Godzilla with a Turbo-Mega-Cannon. His Brawn attribute is 5 and his Guns skill is 5, giving him 10 (Attribute + Skill). The shot is normal difficulty so he needs 12 to pass. There are only 2 dice in the pool in the middle and shooting will burn one of those.

The player knows that although shooting Godzilla would hurt it, one of the other players is going to try and ram Godzilla with a tank next turn and will probably need all the dice he can get to pass it! Instead, Chgowiz Clone 4123 decide to choose to fail. The other players decide that the shot misses and blows a chunk of the Post Office away, removing cover for another Clone character. Oops! The GM awards another die into the middle for comedy of it all. There are now 3 dice in the middle and the tank driving Clone is much more likely to hit!

Actual play examples can be useful but be careful to keep them curt and to the point - you do not have to write precisely how people speak. If you have particularly tricky parts to your system, include more than one example. It is unlikely that your audience will be completely new to roleplay.

Style

Poor writing style can make your game inpenetrable. Good style can make a complex game appear simple. Write the book the way it is supposed to be played:

Optional rules are fine, mark them clearly as such.
Do not load down the game with 'The GM can ignore this if he/she likes...'
Avoid an overly chatty style of writing, it adds words and does not help the reader. Strike a balance between being interesting to read and being informative. Check the example below.
Justifications of why a rule is prefered over another belongs on a website.
Describe your game objectively and compare it to others only if you are extending the rules or using it as a basis. It is OK to say "Using Fudge rules but with more dice rolling" but not "It's like D&D but lighter and more fun".
Avoid elaborating in too much detail on a part of the system which is not core to the concept.
Do not add anything to the RPG that is not going to enhance the concept. If you have an idea for a tangent, write it in a notebook and use it later.
Avoid including your design process, that is best left on the website or internet forum.

Bad writing example:
Chgowiz uses a completely new and brilliant system where the players share a bunch of dice in the middle of the table. It's so much better than all other roleplaying games because there is normally no penalty to just rolling a skill as many times as you like, here you use up a shared dice when you do it. Sure, fewer dice are rolled but then it means more when they are. I chose this rule to force people to work together, which works really well. The GM puts more dice in when the players have good ideas or do cool things or have fun but you can ignore than if you want. It's up to, it's your game.

Better writing example:
Chgowiz uses a shard pool of dice in the middle of the table. When the game starts, 2 for every player are put into the middle. When a player wants to do an action, they must roll a dice from the centre of the table. This dice is 'burnt' and handed back to the GM. When the players do something fun, clever or choose to fail an action, the GM awards them by putting dice back into the middle. When the dice run out, all actions fail until the GM puts more back in.

Writing Chgowiz the RPG

I am frighteningly verbose (you've probably noticed in other posts) almost to the point of being lost in a paragraph of text and completely forgetting what it was I was trying to say in the first place. The style tends to lean toward the scientific, which is OK for Icar but didn't feel right for Chgowiz. I lightened the tone by writing quotes and paragraph-long stories in callout boxes for flavour. The rules could remain clean of chatty text while lightening it for those reading through.

I have also had time issues recently, given changes in job (for the worse then for the better) and being the father of a toddler who likes to play with parents. Also Minecraft has consumed my soul. In a nice way. I am getting back my routine that involves writing for an hour once my son is in bed.

Rather than write straight into InDesign (which is how I wrote Cloudship Atlantis, Commando and Icar), I used Google Docs, as a simple text editor. This way there are no distractions by messing around with graphics or layout.

How to write a free RPG - Chapter 2: Research

2011-12-20T12:00:00.000Z

Research is the act of gathering information to strengthen your game. If approached with gusto and the right mindset, research can be very enjoyable. By the end of this chapter, you will know how to research, what to research and when to stop.

The benefits of researching before you design are:

Helps avoid reproducing a game that's already out there
Ensures your facts are straight
Aids inspiration

How much research?

It is important to set a limit on the amount of time you spend researching. By capping the amount of research you do, you will limit the scope of information you have to sift through. Do not set a cap on quantity as it is quality that matters. Set one of the following caps.

By date. Set a date and be finished by then.
By duration. Set a number of hours and stick to it.

How to research

The method I prefer to use (both for RPGs and academically) has three steps: Grab, Sort and Filter. Repeat this process until you run out of your self-allotted time.

Grab

You run round grabbing whatever you see that is appropriate. This requires a lot of Googling (see Where to Research) followed by pasting into a note taking tool. Good tools I've used are Google Docs, Evernote and your notebook. Don't worry about tagging, organising or even reading your information in depth. Just collect it: text, images, quotes, search terms, links, YouTube videos - anything!

Sort

For each piece of research you find, group it into one of these categories:

Core. Information that you know you will need.
Inspiration. For those items that just light your mind up but does not have an obvious application.
Off Topic. Some of the things you grabbed might turn out to be not useful. Don't throw them away because you might need them for another game.

Filter

For each of the categories you sorted, order them in importance. The very top item should be absolutely key to your game. Be ruthless in your filtering, too much information is overwhelming. Get to the nub of what your game is about.

What to research for?

Research is best performed in those areas where you are going to diverge from what you already know. For example, if you know what roleplaying system you are going to use then do not research lots of roleplaying mechanics. If you are creating your own diceless system or you do not know what system to use then it is worth researching those areas. It is comforting to read research that is familiar but that comforting feeling normally means you are wasting time cementing what you already know.

A list of things to research for:

For each of the main themes of your game, find five relevant web pages. Try finding a YouTube video that represents part of your game concept.
Read around inside the genre of your setting. For example, if its Fantasy, read something other than Tolkein.
Find an existing game that is the closest match for your concept. What does it do well? What does it do badly? Is your concept different enough to be worthwhile?
If your ideas are based around a new System, try and find an existing system that has the same benefits or drawbacks.
Read a few other free RPGs that are similar to yours. Take notes on how they are organised and how they describe complex things. Do they do it well or poorly? You can find lists of free RPGs in either my free directory or the venerable John H. Kim's Free RPGs on the Web.
Read those free RPGs that people are always recommending (Risus, Sketch, Fudge, Fate, Dungeonslayers, Five By Five, Lady Blackbird, Warrior Rogue and Mage). What makes them good? Why do people like them? What can you do in a similar way?
Read a few reviews of Free RPGs (from this blog or elsewhere) and check out the common themes. Most of the common problems I have found will be listed in the course of this guide but other reviewers come up with excellent points too.
Collect a bunch of images (or deviantArt or Flickr) that help you define the feel of your game. These are not images you necessarily use in the final game (so can be copyrighted images you find at random) but will be useful for inspiration.
Ask on forums about the concept, do people think it is a good idea? Perhaps someone may know that it has been done before.

Where to research?

The best research is from the source. If you are creating about a place, go there. If it is media (Books, TV, film) then consume that media. The local library and Wikipedia are also useful but beware that these sources can be third hand. If you are writing a game about the world in which we live, try and find an expert in the precise area - for example you might want to ask a grandparent about life in the 1950s.

Google can also be a wealth of information. Google Streetview can help you describe a place in the modern world (if you cannot go there) and Google Maps can be used for inspiration. Be careful not to copy copyrighted material. Google Images can be used to help inspiration by typing in keywords associated with your concept.

Research for chgowiz: The RPG

For research, I gave myself just two evenings (about 4 hours). Below is the end result of my grab, sort and filter. I have grouped them by some of the What to Research topics and have left out things that are Off Topic.

For each of the main themes of your game, find five relevant web pages

Giant monsters:

Cloned soldiers:

Corrupt Government, City Desctruction (regarding science and military)

Gadgets

Find an existing game that is the closest match for your concept

The Paranoia RPG did cloning well but I want death to be more of a pain in the rump. I also want each clone to be slightly different to the last one. This means that when you die, you might end up with a clone that isn't as good as the last one. I could add a little mutation in with each Chgowiz, giving every character a unique trait. I don't want them to be mutants, though - that's too far. Perhaps a stat boost or different special power.

If your ideas are based around a new System, try and find an existing system that has the same benefits or drawbacks.

My ideas are based around a new system (for the purpose of the guide). The action/combat system will use a similar system to Cloudship Atlantis, which has a bunch of dice all the players share. The benefit is that players have to work together and sometimes choose to fail. The drawbacks is that if the players are tired and not getting into the game, they will find it difficult to generate more dice. The city will need to be created in a joint story-games way. The monster will be randomly rolled like in Elliot 'Kumakami' Brown's wonderful Feast of Goblins.

Collect a bunch of images

Ask on a forum

Here's my thread on 1KM1KT.

How to write a free RPG - Chapter 1: Inspiration

2011-12-14T12:29:00.000Z

The goal of this chapter is to create a concept from which you will be able to write the rest of the game. The concept is:

A brief overview
Description of boundaries
Target audience
How it is different from other games

Do not try and write a roleplaying game without a strong concept. You may produce something but you will find that it will be indistinguishable from other games.

The Idea

Before you write anything down, you need an idea. From this seed, you will construct a concept and that will guide everything you write. The idea need only be a single word or short phrase. We will flesh it out later. If you have an idea, write it down in pencil in the middle of a piece of paper. We will use this phrase as the name of the game for now.

My idea is the Chgowiz RPG, first introduced in my Guide to Organising an RPG. Although it's an idea I've already had, I will still go through the process to bottom it out.

If you do not have an idea

If you do not have an idea but know you want to make an RPG about something, here is how you come up with that seed.

Take two things you like and mash them together. For example, The A-Team meets 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Take a thing you like and invert something important about it. For example, The Terminator universe where an archaelogical dig turns up proof that it was the Terminators that made the humans.
Open a dictionary at a random page and take the first word. Do this five times and write a roleplaying game about that.
Check out the list of insanity on the 1KM1KT forum/.
Ask for ideas on a forum.
Read outside of RPG blogs, such as Boing Boing, Strange Maps or your favourite news broadcaster.
Open a text editor. Start writing. Write whatever comes into your head and don't stop for 3 minutes. It can be anything at all. Do not think while you are writing, just let it straight from the brain. Don't worry about proper sentances either.
Write a 500 word story set in a very specific time and place. Make sure you have a beginning, middle and end. Then build your game to represent that world.
Create a new game by fixing things you do not like about other games.
Grab a local newspaper, find something mundane on page 5. What would it take to make that extraordinary? Write a game about the world if that was to happen.

Generating an idea from other RPGs

Existing RPGs can be used for generating ideas but you must be careful not to plagiarise them. There is an Old School movement that seek to reproduce the feel of the original RPGs, you could try finding a modern RPG and creating a retro version of it. Alternatively, form an idea by fixing problems in existing games. Try filling in the following sentances:

I like RPG _________ but ____________ annoys me. I will do _____________ to fix that.
I wish there was an RPG that encourages _______________ type of behaviour.
I wish there was a game that used _______________.

Expanding your idea

Write down at least four major themes associated with your idea. These should be broad genre ideas, such as: magic, space travel, evil empire, gods walking about, corporations, psyonics, zombies, non-human races. Write each of these themes around your central idea and draw lines from the central idea to each theme. Avoid using broad genres (Fantasy, Sci Fi etc) as themes.

For each of these themes, write down at least four components of them. Two should support the theme, two should be detrimental. For example, if your theme is magic, your supporting components might be 'easy to do', 'powerful' and the detrimental components might be 'illegal', 'dangerous'. Put a + sign in a circle by the supporting components and - sign in a circle by the detrimental components. By having both supporting and detrimental components, this will create conflict and provide you with the seeds of a balanced setting.

Trial by Questioning

Answer each of the following questions. Do not proceed until you know all the answers.

What will the players do?
What is fun about it?
Why am I designing it?
Who will play it?
What do I want to do with it?
Are you going to publish it in print on demand?
Is it suitable for Campaigns or One-Shots?
What's its closest rival and how is it different?

What will the players do?
The players will be killing giant mutant monsters by working out their weakness and using cool toys. The characters might die quite often but that won't be a big problem as there are loads of clones.

Why is that fun?
Each monster has different weakness that will need to be discovered. Killing things is fun. Using cool toys is fun. The monsters will be smashing up the players' home town.

Why am I designing it? Am I going to play it?
I am designing it for an example. I am going to try and play it.

Who will play it?
Male teens to 30 somethings.

Is it suitable for Campaigns or One-Shots?
One shot.

What do I want to do with it?
Upload it to 1KM1KT and spread it around the net. Not interested in publishing a hard cover.

What's its closest rival and how is it different?
I am not entirely sure, I think Mutants and Masterminds comes close, as does Mutant Chronicles.

What style of game will it be?

It is not important to tie down exactly the style of play the game will engender but it will help you decide whether or not to include something later one. On each of the graphs below, put a spot where you would like your game to be.

Co-operation
Players co-operate		Players compete
Shared resources		Individual resources
Mechanics
Rules for everything		General rules
No dice		Lots of dice
Easy to die		Hard to kill
Character creation
Random (quick)		Point buy (slower)
Choose from a list		Players make it up
Rapidly changing characters		Static characters (no advancement)
Tactical
Grids + miniatures		Scrawled piece of paper
Precision measurements		Purely descriptive
Style
Personal quest		World changing consequences
Humourous		Serious
Realistic		Cinematic

Here is what I chose for the Chgowiz RPG, roll over the graphics to see my thoughts behind each one.

Players co-operate		Players compete
Shared resources		Individual resources
Rules for everything		General rules
No dice		Lots of dice
Easy to die		Hard to kill
Random (quick)		Point buy (slower)
Choose from a list		Players make it up
Rapidly changing characters		Static characters (no advancement)
Grids + miniatures		Scrawled piece of paper
Precision measurements		Purely descriptive
Personal quest		World changing consequences
Humourous		Serious
Realistic		Cinematic

Pitch it

In the future, a GM is going to pitch the game to a group of players. The act of pitching will force you to more tightly define what it is you are trying to achieve. If you discover that you are repeating yourself a lot, then this is a good thing, it means that you have a tightly defined idea of what the game is about. Do all of these pitching activities:

Describe your game in 5 words.
Elevator pitch, describe your game verbally in 12 seconds. Keep trying until you can.
Create a marketing blurb that you might read on a post. No more than 25 words, no less than 12.
Draw an advert for your game on a bit of paper.

1. Describe your game in 5 words.
Giant monsters versus cloned soldiers
or
Monsters, Soldiers, Guns, Clones, Gadgets

2. Elevator pitch, describe your game verbally in 12 seconds. Keep trying until you can.
In Chgowiz The RPG, you play cloned super soldiers tasked with taking down giant monsters who are wrecking your town.

3. Create a marketing blurb that you might read on a post. No more than 25 words, no less than 12.
They are clone soldiers. They have the toys. They have the target. Can they stop the giant monsters from trashing your town?

Now pitch it to your roleplaying group. Is it the sort of game they would like to play? Is the premise fatally flawed? Your friends will provide you with an important grounding. Can you imagine playing this game? If you can, you're a long way towards an idea that will work. Is the idea exciting to you? If it isn't then it will come across in your writing.

Create the Concept

You should now have a good idea of what your game is about and so it is time to write your Concept. Your Concept is a statement about what the game is going to achieve and how it might achieve it. Write down in no less than 200 words what your game is about, incorporating all the elements in this chapter.

Chgowiz The RPG is a roleplaying game set in the near future where a corrupt government keep accidentally unleashing giant monsters onto the general populace. The players play a fearless army of Chgowiz Soldier clones who must destroy the monsters by finding their weaknesses and using cool toys to bring them down. The core system is lite but with lots of options, which adds a fair amount of crunch. The players are invited to describe their home town with a simple map for the monster to destroy.

How to write a free RPG - Prologue

2011-11-08T17:09:00.000Z

In this series of posts, you will learn how to create free pencil and a paper RPG from scratch. It covers Inspiration, Research, Writing, System, Setting, Organisation, Testing and Publication. This guide might be useful for commercial games but it is really intended for the hobbyist who has an idea in their heads and needs to flush it out before the therapy bill sky-rockets. The guide is arranged in steps, each step split into instructions and example. In the example, I will be building an RPG as I go. Each step has work for you to join in to.

Please do not be upset by the authoritarian language I use. At no point in the future will masked FRPGB Police smash down your door with a printed copy of the monolithic Fear RPG if you fail to comply. I use curt language so that skim-readers can get benefit too.

What you need

To design a free roleplaying game, you will need the following tools.

Pencil
Paper
Computer
An install of a free document creator with PDF output such as Scribus
An idea

Prologue

Have you ever played a roleplaying game? Then you possess ample qualifications for writing one. There is a roleplaying game in each and every person who has played one. If you have the will and an idea then this guide will show you how.

Creating an RPG demands perspiration and perseverance. It is daunting to think about the end result: a book packed full of rules and ideas that can be used by a group of roleplayers to entertain themselves for many sessions of play. Scared? That's OK. Being terrified is normal. Instead of worrying about the end result, expect the anxiety and lunch on the fear. You're not the first to feel this way, you won't be the last.

Do not give up. Not unless I say so. When you feel yourself flagging, go to your favourite community and post up your entry. If you're not in a community, get into one. Try 1000 Monkeys, 1000 Typewriters (1KM1KT), it is a community for writers of free RPGs, just like you.

Do not plan to wait for the finished game but release often and in small increments. It is much easier to keep up motivation if others are following your progress and giving you support.

Using a notebook

The common tool for all writers is a notebook. Keep one with you at all times. Although I have a powerful smartphone/laptop/desktop/digital device, it is much easier to scribble down an idea - perhaps with a picture - on paper. Moleskines are globally recognised as the standard but a notebook is a personal item and should be easy to carry everywhere. Find one that fits your pocket. Have a pen handy too.

Sections

As I publish each section, I will list them below. The guide is quite large and will be released in instalments over the holiday season.

Coming soon...

Chapter 8: Publishing - 31st January

The Chgowiz RPG

I am creating a game as an example of the techniques I've described in this series. It will only be a simple affair for the purpose of demonstration. I've decide to create The Chgowiz RPG that I suggested in my previous guide. Chgowiz is sadly no longer blogging but as a gesture of thanks, I'm going to write the game anyway. Where you see the little icon on the left, it's an example from the game.

The Chgowiz RPG is not finished yet - hopefully it will be by the time this blog series completes.

Challenged? Need a challenge? How about NaGa DeMon?

2011-10-26T09:41:00.000+01:00

Friend, philanthropist, 24 Hour Movie Mashup contest winner, fellow blogger and all round nice chap Nathan Russell likes a challenge. He also like to challenge others. Each year, the brave Ozzie co-ordinates the NaGa DeMon - National Game Design Month. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, where one writes a novel in a month, Nathan challenges you to write and play a game in a month!

Impossible!

Poppycock! I've seen droves of fearless philanthropists hammer out a playable game in 24 hours. Some of those will view this challenge as a trifle.

Do it because it is hard

Each and every reader will have a game they want to play gurgling inside them. It is the voice you can't silence, the thirst you cannot drench, the hunger you cannot satiate. Keeping it bottled up is not doing you any good; release it into the world, you will feel better for it. What better time than doing it with other like minded philanthropist?

This November, write a game. Play the game. Tell everyone about it.

Vote for Old School Hack for best Free RPG at the Ennies

2011-07-17T14:14:00.001+01:00

It's your turn to give something back to the philanthropists. It's your turn to help spread the word of free RPGs. Do it by voting for Old School Hack for best free RPG at the Ennies this year.

Philanthropy

I believe that the best free RPG award should go to a philanthropist who has created and shared their work for the love of doing so. I do not think it should go to a commercial 'starter ruleset', which is nothing more than a cut-down marketing ploy. With some many superb free RPGs released each year, I think it is tragic that the Ennies rarely manage to have a category brimming with free goodness.

The only truly free RPG is Old School Hack, which I am sure you agree is a delightful game* that harks back to the early days of roleplaying but at the same time adds a modern verve to it.

Want to do more?

Got a blog? Got a website? Do you inhabit forums? Then you can make a difference by going on and on about how Old School Hack is the only truly free RPG in the running and that Kirin deserves it for doing such a good job. Please do use the image above and link it to wherever you like (here, OSH's website, your blog, wherever). If you click on it, it will take you to Picasa where you have options to link to the picture.

Thank you

On behalf of the free RPG community, thank you for voting for Old School Hack. We're a niche of a niche but it is wonderful to see one of our number receive global recognition for their hard work and philanthropy.

* Layout still troubles me. I've not slept. I know I'm in the tiny minority on that matter. Perhaps even by myself.

Winner of the 1KM1KT Movie Mashup Competition - The Droog Family Songbook by Nathan "Barking Mad" Russell

2011-07-08T21:09:00.000+01:00

Few roleplaying games make my brain feel dirty. After reading Nathan Russell's The Droog Family Songbook, a mashup of A Clockwork Orange and The Sound of Music, I will be scraping filth off my consciousness for weeks. Nathan has blended Nuns, Nazi and ultraviolence in a dystopian view of the past. It's such a remarkable slice of head-forgettery that it is difficult to believe anyone could have spawned it in 24 hours.

Von Droogs

Your character is a member of the Von Droog family. A charming pod of ultraviolent Austrians living in a Nazi infested the mountain range. It's 1995 and the hills are alive with the sound of fascists. Each Droog has three (just a few) favourite things and you are desperate to save them. They could be people, objects or places. You set the look of your character, pick and name and that is all. This is a storygame, after all.

Unmechanical

The game hinges around creating scenes where each player in turn takes the spotlight to defend their favourite things against the jack boot of the Nazis. It's a night off for your GM because everybody plays. The prime antagonist in any scene is played by the Scene Leader (sort of GM for that scene). Setting scenes and playing through them is well described. This is typical storygame fair and a scene ends in a climax where the player manages to win over the antagonist and either save their favourite thing or see it destroyed/killed/maimed/sent to live in Luton.

The spotlight player (the Von Droog) can choose leave the scene outcome to fate by rolling dice, winner narrating the ending or to inact ultraviolence to save their favourite thing from harm. Ultraviolence demands that the player describe the horrific and uncomfortable violence in vessel bursting detail. Perhaps more disturbing still is that tied fate rolls lead to singing (or rhyming at least).

Denouement

The closing mechanic that decides how your character ends up after the ordeal is the Denouement Chart. You marry up the number of favourite things you saved and the number of times you used ultraviolence. The more you save with the least Ultraviolence you use the better but there is no winning here, just different kinds of success. Do you end up weak and broken, a violent psychotic or a folk hero? Your choices during the game decides.

In 24 hours?

Droog Family Songbook is attractive to look at, well laid out with good use of language throughout. Nathan has crafted evocative notes from Alex Von Droog that really help bed down the otherwise thin setting. As Nathan points out in his blog, the mechanics are familiar, but I think they are appropriate to the two films, which are blended beautifully. If I were to recommend edits, I'd lighten the background to improve contrast, fatten up the setting and add a silhouette of Alex on the front cover. The singing mechanic could indeed be better but I think that it fits well enough.

Bloody Hell

The Droog Family Songbook picks you up, shakes you and kicks you over a garden wall. It blends dark humour and uncomfortable surreality together, which might not be to everyone's taste. Most of all, the game is novel form of cranial fornication which leaves you stunned into wondering what it is like to play. Very few roleplaying games can do that. This one can.

Well done, Nathan! The £30 in Amazonness is coming your way.

Dave Millar's wonderful tool! (Mapping tool, that is)

2011-06-21T12:53:00.001+01:00

Dave Millar doesn’t roleplay. He doesn’t GM either. He doesn’t tumble D10s. What he does is rock. Dave’s Mapper is a free online mapping tool that takes the community Geomorphs and allows you to generate maps, either by random or by semi-random switch and rotate. He has played a huge part in powering the Geomorph movement by providing a breath-taking online tool. Let’s take a look at the superb features bit by bit.

You might be baffled as to why a non-roleplayer might want to expend considerable time and effort in a hobby he doesn’t partake in. To understand it, you need to understand the mind of the web developer who does things not just for cash but because they are just too cool to not be done.

Features

Dave's mapper is brimming with features that make it not just useful but fun to use. Let's start at the top left and work our way around clockwise. Where possible, I've included shortcut keys in [square brackets].

Main menu

Clicking New Map will bring about the end of the world. Or at least that's what they want you to think. What it will actually do is create a brand new map randomly selecting from the options (see below). Dave's Blog is a mapper-centric news output that will keep you up to date with developments. Help/About does exactly what it says on the tin. There is a handy key that shows all the common symbols. This is an interesting additional because it helps define a language for new mappers to use to make their own. Supporters are those wonderful people who have donated tiles, ideas, feedback and lunch and Facebook points you at a fan page. You can get there easily by hitting 'Like This' on the top menu.

View

The left hand button on view opens up a PNG version of your map, which you can download to your favourite paint application or upload into Obsidian Portal. The 'Hide Image Menu' button closes the tile menu - which I'll come to on the map section below.

Map size

As the tiles make up a grid, this specifies the width and height of that grid. The largest map I managed was 50x50 but if you would like the PNG feature, 8x8 is your limit. Edge tiles (that go on the edges and corners to enclose the map) are additional, so if you're using these add 2 onto each dimension.

Mode Modes

Map modes deal with tile layout. From left to right:

Normal map [shift + n] - Using stock tiles, lined up neatly in a grid and no edge tiles.
Stagger map rows [s] - Lines up the tiles so that they are staggered like brickwork.
Stagger map rows, show rows end capped [shift - s] - Much more useful than just staggering rows, this one neatens the edges by using end caps.
Close off dungeon edges [c] - My favourite, this uses half-size geomorphs to seal the map.

Grid Mode

Dave has kindly produced a light blue grid that overlays the map. It's handy if you're going to print for miniatures. There are two sizes available: 5m per square or 10m. If you are like me and prefer hand-wavey explanations of distance, you can turn it off.

Map Mode (or type)

The second map mode is really a type of map. Whether you have an underground map or an above ground city. Your choices are:

Dungeons. Created by 'intelligent' beings for whom caves are just too disorganised.
Caverns. Natural formations.
Dungeons / Caverns mix. Rough hewn edges and purposeful design mashed together.
City. A mix of buildings, roads and post-apocalyptic landscapes. Cities don't edge edge tiles.

Map features

If you click one of the map tiles, you get some choices. From left to right, you can rotate the tile 90 degrees, swap the tile with another, remove the tile and replace with another (randomly) and finally remove the tile and place with an entrance/exit tile. This is an extremely powerful little menu that provides you with loads of control.

Stocker

The room stocker is a handy little tool for helping you decide what is in each of the rooms. It is most useful in the dungeon/cavern maps and helps the DM who is in something of a rush.

Tile List

Dave would be the first to note that the mapper is nothing without the tiles and on the left hand side you have a list of all the tile sets available. Some look good together, others do not. This is very much a personal preference.

Examples

Where the mapper comes into its own is in conjunction with your imagination. The random tiles suggest an idea, leaving you to switch tiles, rotate and form your own narrative. For these two dungeons below, click the image for a larger one.

Errol Boltwog's Unfinished Lair

Using tile sets from Dave Millar, Dyson Logos and M.S. Jackson. Size: 2x2, Close off dungeon edges, No grid and Dungeon Cavern Mix.

Errol Boltwog never finished anything. He never finished the pontoon under the bridge where he lived happily with his wife. He never finished the hut for the children, nor their tree-house. Not until after they had long left home. His lair - the status symbol of any respected Ogre family - was never finished either. Sure, it had grand plans based around a circular temple to the south east and long colonnades that stretched back and forth. Building the traps just took the fun out of it and he lost interest, abandoning it after years of work. To the north are the dark and dank natural caverns where passers by often shelter from the weather. Many never realise the realise the workmanship that went into the rest of it and the treasure that lies within.

Burley-Upon-Pew

Using tile sets from Amanda Michaels and Risus Monkey. Size: 3x3, Normal Map, No grid and City tiles.

Inhabited entirely by middle class commuters, Burley-Upon-Pew used to be a lovely little town. Shortly after the event, the delightful little streets became a war ground between them and a hurriedly assembled army of frankly useless warriors. The streets have taken a hell of a battering as the small market town held back against them. Now, some time after the event, this corner of Burley-Upon-Pew is the last surviving outpost of humanity.

Powered by Subway

Dave is still working on new featutres and he has an impressive roadmap of ideas. I've had numerous conversations with Dave about the mapper over the last year and he is the most personable web developer I've met. If you have a tile set or an idea for a feature, he would love you to get in touch.

Dave does none of this for cash, instead he asks that you buy him lunch using a paypal link at the bottom. At the very least, let's get blogging about this superb app.

Readers! Make a map using the tool and post it here!

Now it's your turn. Let's see what delight you can create with the wonderful mapper. There's no prize but let's see what your fevered minds can come up with. Go create!

I love mash! The 24 Hour Movie Mashup competition entries

2011-06-15T23:09:00.004+01:00

The joyous task of judging the expertly mashed movie roleplaying games has begun! I've thrown myself into the reading but why should I do so alone, you should join in too, dear reader. I hear you say, "But why, Dr Lang? I have an evening in the pursuit of leisure on the croquet lawn, followed by a night cap at one's club!". Pray take a few moments to review the wares below, each slaved over by their starved and tired authors in just 24 hours!

If you're hungry for more information than the little tid-bits I've included here, then 1KM1KT regular, Jonathan Lavallee has been reviewing them as the competition progressed. To allow myself purity of judgement, I've not read the reviews yet but I am sure they're cracking. Jon even had a go himself! I've added a link to Jon's blog with each game.

Spade Vs Indy

Indiana Jones + The Maltese Falcon
Who could pit Sam Spade against Indiana Jones? Only the mad mind of Tamás "Evil Scientist" Kisbali. The game revolves around two core players: a private eye and a professor of archaeology who are pitted against each other. It is a non-co-operative goal driven game with all the flair of the 20s and 30s. The other players play supporting characters and the mechanics uses two decks of cards. Jon's Review

Ghost Runner The 9th Layer

Ghostbusters + Bladerunner
A Ghost Runner hunts ghosts that have been trapped into cybernetic shells. How utterly mind bendingly cool is that? It's 2099, there's been a global fisticuffs that's ended badly for everyone. Technology and corporations did rather well, though. The system is a mashup of Spirit of the Century with FATE and Aspect points too. A slick, stylish game indeed. We have Greg “Shinobicow” Schuste to thank for introducing that superb concept! Jon's Review

The Great Garbage War

Mars Attacks + Wall_E
Humans have are returning to the rubbish-filled earth to recolonise it. Unfortunately, the Martians have had the same idea. It's fat humans on hover chairs vs Green men with glass helmets and cute robots thrown into the mix. Alistair Morrison wraps this in a nice D6 dice pool mechanic serves on a simple but effective layout. Jon's Review

Djinnbusters

Alladin + Ghoastbusters
Hunt ghosts in the world of 1001 Arabian nights (with a Disney twist). You'll be packing untested, unlicensed ~~nuclear accelerator~~ oil lamp to run errands for Iago, who has his feathered ear to the spectral ground. Lightweight system of player-chosen traits, with D6 as the die and a target number to hit. Frankly, it's nuts and so might Jens Thuresson, its author, be. Jon's review.

A Fist Full of Darkness

Fist Full Of Dollars + Dark City
Set in the 19th Century, here you plunged into a dirty, bustling city. When "awoken", the clocks stop and you will find yourself amongst the alien race of The Examiners, who experiment on humanity in this stopped state. Patrick Gamblin blends some fascinating ideas with a dice pool mechanic. Short, sweet and delightful to read. Jon's review.

Alone in the Woods

Home Alone + Robin Hood: Men in tights
While Robin Hood is off womanising, the Merry Men are all wasted on grog and the Sheriff of Nottingham keeps sending in troops to the forest. All that's left to hold them back are the youngest of Robin's followers - a group of 13 year-olds. You. Mechanics follow the phases of Home Alone by planning, setup and then springing the traps. Another Greg “Shinobicow” Schuste game, he who cannot spend longer than 24 hours on an idea! Jon's review.

West Side Horror

West Side Story + Little Shop of Horrors
As a gang member, you need to find a monster and the down-on-his-luck guy who is feeding it. Jonathan Lavallee intertwines the two films brilliantly, you even create the monster in character generation. He uses the Geasa system, which fits well. Jon's thoughts on his game

All the king's men

Apocalypse Now + Robin Hood
"Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Robin squats in the bush, he gets stronger". Under the employ of King John, you're going into the ~~jungle~~ forest to find Robin, who's gone rogue. Remarkably well researched take by Geoff Lamb. Uses an interesting dice pool mechanic with stress built in. Jon's review.

Princes of Arabia

Aladdin + Raiders of the Lost Ark
Aldo "Maledictus" Ojeda asks you to go thieving in Arabia as a member of the Thieves Guild. Magic is subtly woven in this light hearted take on 1001 Arabian Nights and the system is very, very light indeed. A wonderfully presented dive into the world of pinching stuff. It's short but of a very high quality. Jon's review.

The Droog Family Songbook

Clockwork Orange + The Sound of Music
Bloody hell, Nathan Russell. That is all. Bloody hell.

Jon's managed a review.

Take an axe to your modern RPG with Old School Hack by Kirin Robinson

2011-06-07T12:00:00.006+01:00

Old School Hack by Kirin Robinson is a lite fantasy roleplaying game inspired by the "Old School" style. You play archetypal fantasy fodder and engage in adventures of daring do and mashing monsters and villains IN THE FACE. Its mechanics are simple, bright and infused with silly.

I've not really played D, D&D, AD&D, D&D&D, AD&D&D&AD&D. I've heard of them and I know I'm very much in a minority of one; but I tried it and its not for me. I am, perhaps, not the best person to review a game that is inspired from its roots but I rather enjoyed reading it so I'm going to anyway. Complaints about my ignorance to: RobDoesNotCareASingleJot@gmail.com.

Slasher making

Your character is boxed into one of the following classes: Fighter (choppy choppy), Magic User (whizzy fizzy), Cleric (holy moley), Thief (sneaky beaky), Elf (girly campy), Dwarf (roughty toughty) and Goblin (cheeky bastard). The randomly rolled attributes are Brawn, Daring, Commitment, Awareness, Charm, Cunning. Commitment being the odd one there - it's about willpower.

Talents come next, each character class starts with one. A Talent is special thing your character can do and each class has their own list. Talents include bonuses to weapon use, special magical abilities or bonuses on attribute checks. You then pile on sharp and pointy things (weapons), some armour, money and finally a goal. Every character gets a goal and there is a short list to choose from or be inspired by.

Argy-bargey

Combat is a typical roll-initiative, take in turns, attack, move, defend affair. You choose what you want to do and it goes in a certain order. All quite simple. Mashing faces is where it gets interesting...

First you need to know what the armour class of the defender is. The armour class acts as the target number you need to roll over. Buffoons entering a fight without any protection start at 8 and the more metalwork you strap to yourself, the higher it goes. You then roll 2D10, add them together. If your weapon is designed for the place you're using it in (called arena), you get a +2, being a fighter adds +1 and so on. You do at least one point of damage, with hardcore weapons doing more.

A neat extra is you assign one of your dice as a "face die". If the face die rolls 10, you hit the enemy in the face and do another point of damage. Criticals can be a little bland but there is something joyous in the act of smashing something IN THE FACE. I can't even type that without the Caps Lock key on. IN THE FACE. "in the face" doesn't look right. IN THE FACE. That's better.

Other mechanicalities

The player group start with a collective bowl of awesome points in the middle of the table. When someone says or does something cool then any player at the table takes a point out of the bowl and gives it to the player. They can then spend this awesome point later. If the GM makes the game more difficult, then more points are put into the bowl in the middle of the table. Awesome points are spent boosting actions. These are kept track of until everyone has spent 12 points and then the whole group levels up. Leveling up means beefier characters.

It feels like a modern rule to my roughly hewn system sensibilities but it's a really good one as I think it encourages risk taking. I much prefer risk-taking player teams rather than those who like to plan 3 hours for a 5 minute combat. Awesome points reward one-man-swing-into-battle-on-chandelier-while-the-others-plan tactics. It is rules like this that force the game to step away from the 'tactically most efficient' wargame-like play to frankly unhinged Awesomeness. As the players hand out the awesome points, it is up to each and every group to decide on what is awesome, Old School Hack makes some suggestions but doesn't lay down the law. My player group's definition of Awesome is stabbing the friendly NPC IN THE FACE before they have had a chance to explain the adventure.

Points of interest

The monsters section is a little lite but adequately describes how you might take any monster from anywhere and give it attributes. Kirin has also created some lovely handouts for helping to remember the order of play in combat. There are also battle map markers too. I like that each class has its own sheet to print and augment the character sheet.

There is a setting, too. Not what you might think of as a setting, though. The setting description is a masterclass in how to write setting descriptions:

The game starts out in a magic-infused medieval fantasy world on the edge of civilization, this “edge” perhaps being geographical (occuring in the borderlands or a wild frontier) or historical (either chronologically taking place after some sort of cataclysm or during the decline of a great empire); it is a world where fantastic dangers exist in a multitude of old ruins and underground lairs.

Lay me out

The layout? My relationship with it is complicated. I have a love/frown/love/hate/love/meh/love/eh? relationship with the Old School Hack layout. Without copious amounts of art and splendid typography, it does look pretty. I did clap the heels of my hands together like a little girl when I first paged-down through it. Now I've had to read, and re-read for review and reference, I'm not so sure. Iconography is excellent throughout and ties together concepts but I think there is an over-use of call-outs, boxed areas and font changes. The dark grey background is too dark, the grey text too light. Some important rules are asterisked in grey text. It looks like each section was made to fit to a page, rather than writing out all the content and then laying it out.

That said, there are very clever layour tricks, such as the Going Adventuring triangle, which shows the different attributes and how to use them.

What I would do to it

Old School hack assumes you know a lot about the origins of roleplaying, which I don't. As such, it could do with some more description for ignoramusses like me. It needs more examples of using things. I would like to see some example combat and example character builds, with all the boxes filled in. I'd also like the 'Going Adventuring' bit with all the attributes described put before combat.

Conclusion

I've avoided talking about its Old School credentials because I played truent from the Old School and wasting thousands of space mutants instead. The use of Awesome Points feels modern and it is by far the most interesting mechanic here. The layout is great/terrible/lively/inspired/awful/I've no idea. Old School Hack is alive with vibrance and vitality. It dances off the page at you with a mead infused jig.

Thank you Kirin for sharing!

Why your free RPG website must be great and how to get one

2011-05-31T12:00:00.002+01:00

As a free RPG author, convincing a GM to run your game is not easy. You need to demonstrate in the blink of a discerning eye that your game has had enough thought and effort put into it to make it worth playing. If you would be delighted for other people to play your game then first impressions count above all. Your game might be a glittering gem - ideal for very person viewing your site but your 1990 HTML homebrew might well put them off before they've ever clicked download.

How to get one

Getting a free website has never been easier. The easiest and cheapest way is to have a blog and link to the game files. The benefits of blogs is that they have intuitive editors for writing about your game, a massive selection of free graphics templates and built in widgets to connect to your fanbase.

The biggest two blogging systems are Google's Blogger (which the Free RPG Blog uses) and Wordpress (which I've used elswhere).

A blog won't always let you put your game files in the same place as your blog. For game files, I recommend having a Google Docs account. You can upload big PDFs, Word documents or any other supporting file too. I also like that you manage versions there. The link doesn't need to change but the document you download can.

Having blog subliminally suggests to your visitors that there will be regular updates but do not let that stop you. On the other hand, you can use the blog to put out thoughts about your game, ask questions of the community and write fiction too. Each post can be short - only a couple of paragraphs or an image. That might be annoying on a normal web page but people's expectations of blogs are much mo rerelaxed.

If you find that lots of people want to chat about your game and comment threads aren't really enough then point them to the 1KM1KT Forum. If you end up with a lot of interest, we'll make you your own forum!

Best practises

Some commont things that might help you.

Have the download front and centre.
If the game has a nice cover, use that picture as a link to the download.
Avoid large scripts of text - try describing your game in 20 words.
Don't promise anything.
Link to other places you like.
Avoid putting lots of white text on a dark background, it's hard to read.
Welcome them and thank them for their feedback.
Avoid ads if you can.
Introduce yourself somewhere. It's nice to know the game was written by a human. If you have this section in your game, rip it out and put it on your site.
If you have a forum, expect to do most of the posting yourself. You will have to power the community, others won't do it for you. If it falls silent, it's better to not have one at all.

Examples

It's a wonder that with all that feverish creating, philanthropists have any time to create websites at all! However, they do. And there are some delightful examples. I asked the monkeys over on 1KM1KT what they thought and my good friend and fellow philanthropist Jason 'Chainsaw Aardvark' Kline came up with some super examples. So, here are some lovely sites, in no discernible order whatsoever.

Old School Hack

A professional looking home that ticks all the boxes. The game is right there ready to download, there is a simple menu and it has an evocative logo. It might be too plain for some but I like its simplicity. It also have the joyous features of social integration and forums.

Lady Blackbird

A simple home for a lite game. Lady Blackbird relies heavily on a single beautiful graphic and is a single page but it does its job very well. I particularly like the little rules pages on the right hand side, a sneak peek into what you will be getting.

Children of Fire

An evocative blood red page that draws you in to click once more. I'd like to have the downloads a little more prominent on the front page but at the same time I rather like it as it is.

Dominion

Another clean and professional looking site. The typography is particularly easy to read. Not sure everyone will like the Scribd plug-in on the front page since Scribd went evil on us. The Mysterous Anonymous Benefactor (MAB) has done a splendid job on it.

Dungeonslayers

A bold site with some cool graphics that show you what you're getting. You're getting lite, fun and dungeon hacky. And that's what you're getting. I would probably have a link to the core rules right there on the front page. The news isn't updated enough to pretend it's a rocking high-speed blog.

Disgensia

Small and neat, you can get at the game right there. The cover is close at hand too. The images are click-able and there are links to the community too. It gets my vote.

Dead and Back

The Live From The Dead Air blog is the homepage of the Dead and Back RPG (Jason again). It's a good example of using Blogger to have a blog section (where he publishes short stories from the game world) and the game on a separate page. It's not particularly pretty but it does feel like the grey grit of the game itself.

I've probably missed some corkers?

Is there a free RPG game homepage that is so staggeringly breathtaking that I should really have mentioned? Is there a homepage where you downloaded the PDF before reading the text and realising you've just downloaded "The Hot Goats' Love Nest RPG"?* Please do tell the world in the comments below!

* If you have, please keep it to yourself.
P.S. I currently hate the Icar homepage, so let's just ignore that one, OK?

Inject some wonder into your modern world with The Cursed by Michael Evans

2011-05-24T22:21:00.005+01:00

The Cursed RPG by Michael Evans is a free roleplaying game set in the modern world with elements of the supernatural interlaced with every day life. The Cursed have The Gift: the ability to reach beyond our mundane world into a supernatural realm. Each gift is different and as the name suggest, not always understood or welcomed by humanity. The world the Cursed live in is our world. The aire is an optimistic one: people are generally nice to each other but there are fringes who are bat-shit mental. There is a simple mashing together of supernatural ideas and the real world, a duality tightrope the player characters teeter on each day. The Cursed is definitely homebrew but is it the tasty scrumpy you've distilled in your shed or is it the harrowing vinegar widow maker?

You're a bit Cursed

Player Characters are Cursed. In my case, so are the players. Each have a gift (unlike my players). There are broad character classes: Shamans, Mystics, Sorcerers, Summoners, Blessed and Changelings. Each draw their power from different places. There are 5 primary statistics (attributes): Body (Strength), Health (Resistance to sickness), Mind (Intelligence), Social (Like-ability) and Soul (Willpower). You roll dice to determine your points and then assign. On top of that, you pick skills, class, spells and powers.

At the final gong, you can spend some more points to beef up the areas to bring your character together. I like this step because it admits that character creation is a process that isn't linear. No matter how hard we designers try to make the steps simple and straight forward, the process the player's imagination goes through is anything but that. The process one of my players goes through is a terrifying ordeal of GM baiting maelevolence.

A bit of mechanics

Very functional. It uses a D20. No surprises. I'm not going to dwell. Let's move on.

Your world, and a bit

Many modern RPGs say that the setting is "Where you live - Ta daa!" and this is about as welcome as a drunkard announcing descent for landing. In The Cursed, it's imperative that it is where you live because without the familiar, the extraordinary isn't. You need to base it in a place entrenched in the minds of the player group and where better than your home shire*/town/city/village/hamlet. What makes The Cursed an interesting prospect is that Michael has provided a swollen sack of evocative places, monsters and organisations for you to permeate the place you reside. Most are familiar but are gathered together and described in such a way that storylines tear of the page.

The descriptions are very much set on the personal scale. The secret societies and planes of existence where your players can visit are well described, although I would like some more indication of how they work together.

There are plenty of character driven goals to meet without resorting to battling with the FBI of becoming the chief Mason. You could run this with that scope but I feel The Cursed is brave and novel for not doing that. I like the idea of beginning a game session where the PCs have just met up for pizza after a mundane day at work and one of the group of friends runs in having seen a portal open up in the middle of a grinning mugshot on a billboard. A quick shuffle up a ladder (which is also a good description of the UK's Space Program) and the player characters (some still eating pizza) can see into the Astral Plane. Or Spirit World. Or Goblin Market. Or the World Wide Web. They notice from the bite marks in a nearby truck that something came out. It's broader than Buffy, nuttier than Neverwhere and more varied than... than... a modern fantasy story beginning with V.

I cursed, a bit

Michael has definitely applied my rabid guide to organizing a free RPG but there is still some work to do. The layout is very simple, needing full justification, reducing the paragraph indent and increasing its spacing. There's a load of white space that needs removing. I would cut back on the designer's self questions. Much better placed on the website. There is a lot of repetition and at a casual glance, it suggests that big organisations aren't important and then lists lots. You have to read most of the book to realise it's a personal-level game. Some of the bigger, less obvious spells could do with a short précis. You could end up with a rubbish character because of the point assignment. All of these can be tidied without much of a problem and did not detract from my enjoyment of the game.

My only other minor concern is that the character classes are described as being pitted against each other. As a GM, you will have to come up with a reason why different Cursed are working together or take the chicken's route and force all the players to play the same class. That might work in your group, I'd be lucky to leave the building in pieces identifiable by forensics.

A bit of a conclusion

The Cursed tastes like the homebrew you tell all of your friends about. You know, the one that you drank all night, made you merrily bellow Rollerblades into the dishevelled face of your angry neighbour at 3am before performing a mumbling collapse in a trash can 11 miles from home. The next morning, you wake without a headache and unveil to your friends this incredible elixir: that caused a 6 mile conga line, cured you of your embarrassing kneecap baldness and got you a wallet stuffed full women's phone numbers**. They take one look at the murky sludge in the plastic tub and leave, later un-friending you on Facebook. You know, that homebrew***? The Cursed is a delightful read that cannot fail to cause tickly idea bubbles in your tired grey matter. Go on, take a sip...

Thank you for sharing, Michael! :)

* Don't laugh, quite a lot of us live in a shire. I live in the Shire of Berks.
** Most of which can only have been gained during your romp through a retirement home.
*** It's just me? Oh.

How I ended my campaign - with a free campaign comic

2011-05-07T12:27:00.005+01:00

My last Icar campaign was a lot of fun. Although still Sci Fi, the characters were low powered drop outs from society. The players kept the campaign rolling along, often by random acts of violence and a good time was had by all.

I had remembered reading a Gnome Stew article the year before about ending the campaign on purpose and as the game came to a close, I decided to mark the end with a surprise comic depicting the campaign as a whole and then having a wrap party (dinner at an Italian restaurant). It took me a good couple of months to do (in the evenings and weekends), finishing off the book just as the players completed the game. This seemed fitting for a campaign where the characters would often get the munchies at the worst possible time and demand lemon cake. And the players too, come to think of it.

I like to pull the book out to remember the stories of the campaign and I know it was appreciated by the players too: a happy memento from two years worth of gaming. Now you can have it too.

Download it from Google Docs

Have you ever done anything to wrap up a campaign? Let us know in the comments...

24 Hour RPG Movie Mashup Competition

2011-02-12T13:45:00.008Z

Welcome to the 2011 24 Hour RPG Movie Mashup Competition! Hosted at 1KM1KT and sponsored by The Free RPG Blog.

If you want a chance to win the £30, here's what you need to do:

1. Pick just two films from this.

1. Ghostbusters
2. West Side Story
3. Aliens
4. The Lion King
5. Star Wars
6. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
7. Enter the Dragon
8. A Clockwork Orange
9. Beatle Juice
10. Back to the Future
11. Apocalypse Now
12. Blade Runner
13. Dr. Strangelove
14. Dawn of the Dead
15. Blues Brothers
16. From Dusk till Dawn
17. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (any of the Dollars Trilogy)
18. 2001 a Space Odyssey
19. The Hunt for Red October
20. Aladdin
21. Mars Attacks
22. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest
23. Groundhog Day
24. Little Shop of Horrors
25. Falling Down
26. The Shawshank Redemption
27. Evil Dead
28. Wall-E
29. The Sound of Music
30. Indiana Jones (any of them except the Crystal Skull)
31. 1984
32. Robin Hood (any of them)
33. The Maltese Falcon
34. Bugsy Malone
35. Home Alone
36. Independence Day
37. Zulu
38. Dambusters
39. Dark City
40. Dumbo

2. Post on 24 Hour RPG forum which two films you've chosen.

3. Spend 24 hours writing a roleplaying game on those two films.

4. Make sure you include an NPC called Keeton in your game.

5. Upload your game to 1KM1KT by 00:00 (GMT) 1st June 2011.

6. Make a thread here on 1KM1KT about your game.

(Optional but we'd like you to, please put 2011 at the start of the topic.)

7. Check back on Saturday 1st of August 2011

...to find out who the winner is, or check here on The Free RPG Blog.

What are the rules?

Apart from the list above, you must obey the 24 hour RPG rules. The judge's decision is final. £30 will be in Amazon vouchers, emailed to you.

I want the £30 to pay my D&D habit! What is it judged on?

Poor you! Our panel of monkeys will be judging you on:

Must include an NPC called Keeton
Proximity: How close to the two films is it?
Complete: Is it complete? Could you run it?
Attractive: Is it attractive to look at?
Professional: How much effort went into layout and style?
Extras: Did they include actual cover, index, character sheet or any other cool things you get in a proper RPG?

I'm late to this party!

That's a shame, we might run another competition soon. If you wrote a 24 hour RPG but didn't get it in before 00:00 GMT 1st June 2011 then we'd still like to see it.

I want to do it again!

Enjoyed it so much that you want another go? Are you bonkers? Yes? Then please do! Have another go. Enter as many times as you like! I'm not paying for the therapy you might need at the end of it, though. ;)

Epic science fiction homebrew genius in The Artefact by Emmett O'Brian and Mike Switzer

2010-12-22T13:25:00.007Z

The Artefact by Emmett O'Brian and Mike Switzer is one of those rare epic science fiction roleplaying games that draws you in. Reading it is like watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy back to back, it takes effort, you have to persevere but it is ultimately rewarding, enjoyable and you miss it when its over*. The Artefact doesn't try to reinvent the roleplaying wheel, instead it gets covered in Chobam Armour, powered with Liquid Carbon Fuel and fixed with a particle cannon.

War! What is it good for?

The Artefact, which gives the game its name, is a huge elliptical artificial 'planetoid' that sits perfectly between the two stars of a binary system. On this suppository shaped world live three humanoid races: the Scimrahn, who are the underdogs; the Kelrath who love a good fight and to hunt the Scimrahn; and the Chezbah who are ruled by Loc - an intelligence that spreads over half the Artefact.

When humanity turned up (having escaped an overpopulated and ruined blue marble), the Artefact's cultures were already going at it hammer and tongs. We only made things worse by bringing our own form of war and disease too. Hurray for us. Humanity quickly allied with the weakest culture (idiots, did they never play Sid Meier's Civilisation?) - the Scimrahn.

You play in these early days, fighting off the brutal Kelrath, building more teleporters to Earth, discovering new technology on the Artefact, growing relationships with the Chezbah and working out what this Loc intelligence they believe in actually is. Being plopped onto the Artefact at this delicate time is a wonderful starting point - you're not the first discoverers but instead dealing with the difficult bit that comes after.

It's not Wagnerian

Or any kind of operetta, space or otherwise. This is science fiction. The Artefact is incredibly well thought out from scientific, ecological, socialogical and evolutionary standpoints. Its unusual shape leads to a irregular gravity and pressure and ecology to go with it. The bi-product of which is some interesting game play and racial differences. The superstructure of the Artefact is described without omission too, bringing everything to life. It is this exceptional detail, all described with copious images that suspends disbelief beautifully.

Character Generation

Character generation has an old-comfy-sweater-dug-out-of-the-cupboard feel to it. Your character is defined by 11 attributes: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Reflex, Dexterity, Beauty, Charisma, Intuition, IQ and Psyche. Each is randomly rolled using 1D6 x 10. Hit points are calculated by Constitution and Strength. You flesh out with occupation, age, hair colour, eye colour, underpant colour and so on.

There are two very interesting facets of a character: Stress and Fame. Stress indicates the likelihood that your character will develop some very nasty mental illnesses and Fame gives you positive (or negative) control over NPCs by augmenting your Charisma. Stress and Fame rise and fall depending on what you do in game. Experience is awarded for enriching the game at the table, which I applaud. There is a chunky list of skills to choose from (and be assigned by occupation).

Character creation is a crunchy process where reaching for a calculator (be it a clunky button one, your iPhone, iPad, iHat, iDesk or iUnderpants) might speed things up. This crunch is of the acceptable kind: calculations that will make play easier and avoids lots of calculating during play.

Occupation is a combination of choosing a reason for being on the Artefact and character class. It is easy to imagine an interesting player team made up of the following groups: The Artefact Study Organisation (ASO) is an Earth-born multinational scientific and political group who tread carefully on the Artefact. The Indo-China Alliances (I-CA) are another Earth group who think that colonisation is all important and hang the consequences! You can also be part of the indigenous Scimrahn Culture, who are fighting for survial and finally, you can be a corporate lacky.

The ASO have a good mix of military and 'soft skill' (not butchering and murdering) character classes; the I-CA is all about shooting first, denying everything and having Wikileaks publish it; the Scrimrahn have some war and locally useful characters; and the Corporate characters are military, scientific and commercial. In all, there is a broad set of options to draw from.

Mechanical

While avoiding tooth-breaking crunch, the system has enough marrow to warrant a good gnaw. Action resolution is a typical roll-under Attribute + Skill + Modifiers on a d100. When you pass, you can pass by degrees. The more you roll under your skill, the better the outcome will be. This is controlled by a terrifying-at-first fraction column but it will be quite simple during play.

Combat uses initiative to decide order of play and you declare in order and resolve together. Each turn you have a number of actions to do and have fewer options if you fail your initiative check. Combat is highly evolved and lethal. You can punch someone to death in a singly round and hit locations include groin. You can dodge bullets up to point but you will get washed away if there is a flood of lead and laser.

There are rules for waving heavy objects around (thinking more claymore than majorette) and mob rules for handling group combat. I've always had difficulty with combat of huge groups but this system seems good - taking a leaf from wargaming by treating many units as one.

Mental combat is brilliant and can give you psychosomatic diseases, disorders, neurosis and more. This is where the Stress Attribute comes in and its an idea I love to bits. Unlikely Call of Cthulhu, you do get a chance to deal with your stress levels and their associated neuroses. There is no descent into the realms of the jabbering neuroticism unless you're one of my players, which is where you begin.

If you though that might be enough rulings then hold onto your hats, there's more. You can contract diseases, encumbrance rules and an extensive vehicle combat section.

Two Hundred and Six

...pages and in a small font too. That's a large book and yet it's packed with well thought out details. There is also a bestiary; GM Section; large number of vehciles, weapons and gadgets; rules for making modifications to equipment; its own alphabet (no, really); quick reference tables and maps galore. The Artefact is a large game. If you were to print it and lob it into orbit around Jupiter then someone would definitely send a probe out to it.

I should mention the images within because they're delightful. Emmett, Aaron, Charlie, Derrick and Robert have donated a beautiful array of evocative and colourful works that break up long sections of text and help pin down the style of the game. They are proof that a huge amount of thought and effort has gone into The Artefact.

Accessibility

My largest concern with the Artefact is how easy it is to get into and sadly I am unable to espouse a single smart-arse solution for it. I spent four evenings in total reading it through but then I know I'm a strange and biased beast, it's rare that I get to read epic science fiction like The Artefact that isn't my own. It's large and the authors know it.

There could be some better descriptions of the Artefact before the maps, the typography is a little hard on the eyes (and downright wonky in places) and the image placement could be tweaked to improve readability. I would add an index and increase the granularity of the page. I would split out some of the rules and mark them as optional. I know Gamesmasters would do this anyway but I would help the budding GM by indicating those pieces that are not core to the game (Stress is far too core to left out, for example). The book could be re-ordered into more easily digested sections and some pieces could be fired into an Appendix.

Yes, alright, ok ok, I can't help it. I'll suggest having a look at my guide to organising a free RPG. It deserves to have a lovely cover made for it.

Conclusion

One couldn't write The Artefact: it could only have been evolved through thousands of hours of play and replay. A huge amount of thought and effort has gone into creating and then playing the living crap out of it. You can tell because it is tighter a boa constrictor's cuddle. It all slots together beautifully like a humongous puzzle. To make something this large, this complete is a stupefying feat. You might not like the crunch, then take the setting - it's one of the best explained pieces of novel RPG science fiction I've seen in a very long time.

Thank you for sharing!

* There's no 20 minutes of annoying tearful hugging at the end.

Bury yourself in the Metropole Luxury Coffin by Graham MacLean

2010-12-15T14:59:00.006Z

Few Cyberpunk settings force the involuntary spinal shiver of cold recognition. Most reach too far future for echoes of today to be heard. Metropole Luxury Coffin is your home for now, the last stop before forced labour camps run by the bankrupcy police. But why did a setting that is based in a single hotel win the 1KM1KT Cyberpunk Revival Project?

The frighteningly possible dystopian future

The capsule hotel Metropole Luxury Coffin is an oasis of last-chance affordability in a dystopian near future where bankruptcy squads will hunt you down if you fail to pay for walking on the sidewalk. The hotel is where you eat, sleep and scrape out a living, with the lofty aim of having a high enough credit rating to leave. Credit is king and there is so very little of it.

The telephone companies bought the banks and from that simple premise, the twisted world gestates. Your credit rating is called your Face and measured in minutes. Spend all your Minutes on doing things (opening doors, ordering food, etc) and your Face will drop. If your face hits zero, not even the art deco glass door of Metropole Luxury Coffin will open to you. The whole game is set within the confines of the Metropole, whose three hundred inhabitants are all trying to leave.

Vending machines sell you the basics needed for life: food, fashion items and pointless rubbish. Technology hinges around the most important device in the game - your phone and modifying that is as important as improving your character. You don't buy mods from corporations (you can't afford it), you fashion them from the bi-product junk of a consumerist society.

Giving your face style

Characters have few stats - one for face and one for minutes, beyound that a character is defined by style. Style is everything. Having style means that everyone will know who you are. That you're a somebody. Every character has four physical places they can apply style (Head, body, feet and accessory) and you wear things to represent a brand. A brand is a theme to your character and can be any representation of a modern brand such as cowboy, hip hop, Coca Cola or noir. There is a meaty idea-spawning list to help you choose. You give your brand a name, a description, an attitude (a belief system of sorts), a taboo (what the brand is against) and slang for that brand. Lots of people supporting the same brand is known as a tribe. Face paint and cannibalism is optional.

Imagination of the players is key here, the more tightly defined the brand, the easier the character will be to play and to interact with. In principle, I like systems where the imagination of the player is key. The only problems occur when you're creating characters after an intelligence-sapping day plugged into the work singular collective or when your players think its funny to use brands associated with genocide, extremist politics and My Little Pony. After brand, you randomly get a coffin number. As you advance through the game, you can change tribe, get groupies and improve the technology in your phone.

Mechanics

The mechanics are driven by decks of playing cards - the sort you use to leech money off family at Christmas time with poker (or snap). There are two mechanics, beat (opposed actions) and match (problem solving). In beat, players describe what they want to do and bid using face down cards. If a player doesn't like what another player is doing they can bid against it or support another player (a caveat that would fall on deaf ears in my group of misanthropes). Bid winners tend to get more control than the losers. Character health is reflected in the size of your hand, the more healthy you are, the more cards you have; and bidding you can do. A match mechanism is used for doing tricky tasks and involves the player matching card numbers against the GM. In all cases, players can help or oppose each other. Which I rather like. Jokers are used by the GM to create glitches - malfunctions with modern technology that can get the characters deeper into trouble.

Clunkpunk

Metropole Luxury Coffin wisely follows my Guide to Organising an RPG but I would like to see more flesh on the introduction, explained in simple terms. Jargon is good and appropriate in Cyberpunk but I need to be eased in. I am not sure that an thin introduction to RPGs is any other than filler. One should always write for the audience and I imagine that the audience for a free RPG - especially an off-the-wall one - is going to be seasoned players. I am not convinced that a deck of cards feels right for this sort of Cyberpunk. System and setting should blend as one but near-future dystopia doesn't scream 'deck of cards to me'.

Conclusions

How often do you read a roleplaying game and think "This is different"? Metropole Luxury Coffin presents a novel world that frightens with familiarity and entertains with arid humour. The graphics are evocative and layout appealing. Tight focus allows it to be a very different sort of Cyberpunk or an excellent insert into any existing campaign. Read it for the humour, love it for its setting, use it for its novelty.

[edit]Metropole is now on 1km1kt. Links has been updated.[/edit]

Cyberpunk Revival Project Entries and Winner

2010-10-29T18:40:00.008+01:00

The Cyberpunk Revival Project is complete and we have a winner. A big well done and thank you to all those that took part on the 1KM1KT Forum and to the mastermind of it all, Gordon McKerrel. I think you'll agree that the outpouring of imaginative re-imagining of Cyberpunk hails the competition as a great success. The 1KM1KT judges of Gordon, Jason, Elliot and I fought for our favourites and Metropole Luxury Coffin stood head and shoulders above the others. For the other authors needing feedback, I'll be reviewing a few of the entries and will pass on my notes to the others.

I urge you to peruse the entries below and please do download the wonderful Metropole Luxury Coffin.

Winner: Metropole Luxury Coffin by Graham MacLean

Set in a capsule hotel, Metropole Luxury Coffin is the home for the dregs of society. As players, you plan to escape the cramp boarding house. A focused game that is beautifully presented. I'll say no more because I will be reviewing it soon!

Cyberpunk Remix by Justin Margulski

A near future game where all the technology we were promised in the 1950s comes true. The majority of the population are boring carbon copies of each other whereas player characters are important and different. Superb writing and ideas forthing with ideas such as "where mutant rats build temples to Mickey Mouse in the sewers".

Disgensia by Aldo Ojeda Campos

Set in an enormous utopian Mega-complex, Disgensia substitutes mutations for Cyber. Imperfections and malformed humans are hated by normal society and the corporations. As characters you either fight against or for corporations. There's a slick system picked out with superb graphics created by the author. Doubly impressive as English is not Aldo's first language.

FUBAR by Michael Wenman

Although not laced with Cyberpunkitude, FUBAR is a focussed game of betrayal and revenge. The art layout is bold and atmospheric, it has grit and is very well written. You could take the principles of FUBAR and apply it to any genre. The ideas are big and broad, the final PDF beautiful.

Ghettopocolypse by Jonathan Janssen and Otis Johnson

Akira as an 1970s exploitation film, Ghettopocolypse is delightful roleplaying filth set in a gritty underworld. A pulp, tongue in cheek setting a few notches more gritty than Neuromancer. The writing is immersive, graphics evocative and although somewhat familiar, it offers a new take.

Last Res0rt by Rachel Keslensky

Based on the Last Res0rt web comic, this lite roleplaying game encapsulates the Last Res0rt in a charming package. Interesting races and wonderful graphics feel more Sci Fi than Cyberpunk but as a game wrapper for the comic, it does a great job.

Nanopunk by Kris Green

Sinister corporations have stepped in after an economic and ecological global collapse. Their solution was technological: infusing every human with nanobots that keep us healthy. Your characters play a few generations on where nanobots are part of humanity. You operate in or against the all powerful corporations. Great descriptions of nanotech and its feels a lot like the film Equilbrium.

Technogrammaton by Andrew Peregrine

The world is dominated by the Islamic faith, having branched from our history two thousand years ago. Although not complete, there is enough setting to play. A thoughtful take on Islam creates a believable and fascinating projection. I can only hope Andrew finished it.

Truth Inc. by Jason Petrasko

A blend of near-future technologies wraps the single powerful corporation of Truth Inc. The aim of is for the characters to uncover one of the evil plots Truth Inc. is up to. Lively and humorous writing gives the game a fresh and welcome attitude.

Where have you been hiding, Lang?

Hospital to have my gallbladder out (never very serious but just protracted) and then I moved house! Everything is settling down so I can start creating again. Good to be back? You betcha!

Warrior, Rogue & Mage, so good I nearly proposed to Michael Wolf

2010-09-05T22:27:00.006+01:00

Don’t bother reading my drivel, go and download Michael ‘Stargazer’ Wolf’s splendid Warrior, Rogue and Mage. If you can still remember this blog exists after, come back.

Back? Good. Warrior, Rogue and Mage (WR&M) is a complete, light fantasy RPG. It has everything you need to play in a beautifully produced bundle.

Now and again, I get to review something by people I respect and admire. I try not to get too gushy and propose marriage. I wrote a foreword for WR&M and I would not have done that if I thought it was toilet. Secondly, it’s worth noting this this review was written over the course of two weeks and I am completing it after a tiring weekend and a glass of white wine.

Are you Warrior, Rogue or Mage? Yes.

A character is congealed around three core attributes: Warrior, Rogue and Mage. You assign 10 points between them, none starting higher than six. Each attribute represents skill groups and by assigning points you define your own personal class. Want to be a ostentatious warrior trimmed in silk that can wave a wand? No problem, Warrior of 6, Mage of 4, nothing in Rogue. How about a sneaky kleptomaniac wizard who enjoys pilfering people’s internal organs while they are still in use? Go for it, Mage of 5, Rogue of 4 and 1 in Warrior.

Three skills are splattered on next and are learnt abilities - such as Swords, Thaumaturgy and Basket Weaving (alright, not Basket Weaving). Talents add a special ability, for example Dual Wielding, Blood Mage or Weave Iron Baskets (or maybe not). Hit points tell you how many swords can be sticking into you before your head pops off; Mana records how much ethereal power you can lob and Fate allows you to grab hold of the narrative at a crucial moment to save your character from a horde of irate middle-aged craft fair ladies.

There are lists of example skills and talents, and the offer goes out to create your own (such as Basket Weaving). Everything is beautifully explained and should be a cinch to rock up a few characters in 15 minutes or so. Or, if you are one of the Buffy-esque villains that crouch slavering around my game table then its two hours to each craft identical rule-brutalising and setting-slaying characters.

Have at you!

To do anything, you roll a D6, add relevant Attribute and Skill and compare with a target number (between 5 and 13). If you can think of something that might help, you can add two. If you roll a 6, the die explodes. Not literally, you get to roll again, adding the score. And again. And again. And again. If you’re going up against someone then the higher score wins. It’s a no frills, no shocks, no tree-deforestation game system.

You can burn your Fate points to change minor details in the game world, ignore an attack or re-roll a die, or add 2 to the score. All handy things. You get Fate back for being a hero. Legolas would have Fate pouring from his effeminate pointy ears.

Combat starts with initiative to ascertain order, and then an opposed action roll to hit - but using a weapon skill. If you are wading into a gaggle of goblins wielding a charming wicker chair then you’ll need Warrior + Basket Weaving. Damage is done by weapon type (wicker chair is 3 points).

Magic

Spells are retained in a personal book, each spell burns a certain amount and Mana and the more Mana it needs, the more difficult it is to cast. Spell are handily grouped by difficulty into four Circles, fourth Circle being the most potent. I rather like that the effect of the spell can be improved if the player wishes - as long as they burn more Mana and accept the higher difficulty level. The spell list has a good solid feel to it - plenty of variety without going mad.

It really is a complete game

By this point, you’re less than halfway through the book. Most light fantasy games are curling up their tootsies and slipping off their mortal coil to join the choir invisible. This was written by Michael Wolf and that is not his style. There is an equipment list (with weapon and armour details), a GM section and a setting. As settings go, it’s light but there is enough there to get the juices going. The appendix has lists of things for quick acess, there’s contents page, optional rules (included rules for Races), a bestiary, a quick character creation summary and character sheet. There’s even a back page.

Something, Another Thing and Something Else

When reading WR&M, a nagging realisation is bound to coalesce. Using classes to represent attributes is a stroke of genius and applicable to any genre. Michael alludes to this with an optional variant Warrior, Rogue and Scholar (for settings bereft of Magic) but I think the system could be made generic. I’m not suggesting it would be better to have WR&M generic (goodness, no!) but if you were looking for a core system for your Post Apocalyptic / Cyberpunk / Sci Fi / Modern game then change the name to Something, Another Thing and Something Else, replace the collateral (skills, talents and so on) and you have a solid system.

Lambasting

Michael has cleverly managed to sidestep my usual complaints about not following my Guide to Organising an RPG by following it. The scoundrel! I will need to dig deeper this time. If Michael were ever to update WR&M, there are a few things he might want to expand.

Firstly, I would give a couple of examples of character generation - one of a stereotype to help those steeped in more classic fantasy RPGs and one that would not be possible in D&D. I would include more skills that were less combat oriented and not list them on the character sheet as there is little room for GMs wishing to provide an expanded list themselves. Although there is a section for optional rules (I approve!) there are still optional rules scattered amongst the rules - I would certainly move the Warrior, Rogue and Scholar rules there. Exploding die should be optional, it isn’t really core to what WR&M is about and every 1 in 6 dice roles may explode. Finally, I would like to see more in the GM section about the pitfalls of running the system, how to set appropriate difficulty levels and so on. That sort of information is normally readily available after you have played it awhile.

Conclusion

WR&M is the holy grail of light fantasy systems: it provides novel principles that are combined to produce a variety of outcomes. Michael wisely packed the game by licensing beautiful artwork from The Forge Studios and he clearly has a talent for layout. The prose is crisp, devoid of extraneous material and excellently laid out. Michael has set the standard that the rest of us now have to meet.

Five By Five by Jeff Moore, making me excited about generic lite systems

2010-08-10T16:36:00.004+01:00

"Hold it right there, limey ginger guy! You don't like generic systems very much. You say there is nothing between them and need a setting to make them novel." - Anonny Mouse.

You would be right, dear reader. Truly generic systems missing example settings leave me sighing forlornly. I wouldn't recommend anyone writes another one. I've always proclaimed it and I've always been wrong.

Five by Five by Jeff Moore is a free, lite and generic roleplaying game system that uses player specified traits to represent the character's ability. What makes Five by Five novel is the use of these traits and multiplication. Yes, as in multiplying stuff together. Like you did at school. Intrigued? Keep reading...

Character Generation

Your character is made up from three Traits, hit points and the neccessary adornments to make them appear real, such as a name or number of buttocks. Each Trait describes something special that a character can do relevant to the setting, such as 'Circus Performing' or 'TV Chef'. Each Trait is assigned an adjective and an associated value that represents how good you are at that Trait.

Your eyes have narrowed, you're frowning. You've seen this before. You're thinking there is little of novelty here. You're right. Stick with it. The onus is placed firmly on the shoulders of the player to think up these Traits. A fulsome list of Trait examples are provided at the back of the book but I envisage any campaign is likely to need its own set, putting the work back on the GM or player.

There are also Intensity Traits, which boost the power of another Trait. This is handy when you are trying to make a Trait powerful at the cost of taking up one of your preciously few Trait slots.

*Character advancement is dealt with by players and GM keeping track of when they roll doubles (2 of the same dice). These doubles are then saved and spent to increase your traits between sessions.

The intention here is for your character to be born from the fires of conversation. Performing tuning algorithms on character builds is your aim but to create something that you can play. A helpful example character build is included.

Mechanics - The Novel Bit

Generic systems rely heavily on their mechanics to for their novelty and Five by Five is no different.

Five by Five uses a 'D5'. Before you reach for your clutch of dice and a an angle grinder, know that a D5 is a D6 where the 6 counts as zero. To perform an action, roll two D5 and multiply them together. If the product is below or equal to the the trait's value, you pass.

I like this system because 30% of the time, the outcome is 0, which means that even for actions for which you do not have a Trait, there is still a reasonable chance you might pass. Modifiers are applied by the GM bumping the Rank up or down.

Combat begins with siezing the initiative - if you succeed then you act before the NPCs. If you do not, then you act after the NPCs. Between the players, it does not matter who goes first. Damage, healing, movement, dodging, running away and healing is all dealt with neatly and with no nasty "adding more mechanics in the back door" surprises.

The mechanics also include rules for using miniatures if you are of that bent. My players are not, having luncheoned expensively upon several Warhammer 40K armies.

More!

Five by Five proudly sports a very good GM section. Generic systems typically stumble when it comes to examples of rule use and character creation because they are so tied to the act of being generic. Jeff neatly circumvents this problem by offering general advice on creating your Traits and also advice on what to create for a setting. By raising sign posts to setting creation, you get a feel for how the game plays.

The layout of the book is excellent, clear text and wonderful artwork provided by Skorched 'Urf Studios Modern Figures Sketchbook Series. The license is CC-BY.

A very clear bias

Jeff is a friend of mine. One of those internet friends I cherish and if we were ever to meet in a bar there would be a race to buy the other man a drink. Jeff is a free RPG powerhouse and the fact I've not reviewed one of his RPGs before is so statistically inprobable that a mathematician somewhere will be writing a journal paper on it by now.

Jeff has been making use of my Guide to Organising a Free RPG to build this game, which is exceptionally flattering. If that wasn't enough, Jeff has done so publically on his blog. Having followed the designer's development diary has been fascinating for me, so reading the finished product was the icing on the cake. Given that, I'm going to have a bit of a moan.

No example setting aside...

One of the facets of all generic lite systems is that they throw a lot of the effort of game design onto the player and GM. Five by Five is another example of this - although Jeff does his best to mitigate the extra work with examples. As a GM, it is not just a case of creating a setting background and a series of adventures for your campaign (a GM would normally do), you also have to craft example Traits, equipment, spells and all the other trappings your players will expect. There are many non-generic rulesets fitting your desired genre that provide that for you, leaving you the task of world building.

As a player, not only do you have to get to grips with the new system but you have to create Traits for it too. If the setting is wild, hairy and new then that task is made all the more difficult. Chances are the setting would be wild and hairy else you would probably be using another ruleset.

The unfortunate paradox facing all lite generic systems is that where you save time by having a small system and few pages to leaf through, you have to put more effort in because less has been done for you. If you or your player group do not mind this additional effort then ignore my blathering.

Conclusions

I usually recommend Fate, Sketch or Risus as good free, generic systems. They satisfy me in wholly different ways and in my mind stand above the masses that jostle for attention. I would not have advised Jeff to write Five By Five but he didn't ask me and I'm glad he didn't. It is an excellent, novel system that deserves a place in my usual recommendations for GMs seeking a system for that campaign idea they have been gestating.

I'm not dead yet. Here's what I'm up to...

2010-07-26T21:41:00.005+01:00

If you don't write it, it won't get finished. Just write. It's the best bit of advice I can give. I've been thrashing out Icar version 4 and my goodness, it's a huge job. As means of recompense and demonstrating that I putting my money where my mouth is and taking a dollop of my own bitter medicine, here are some screen shots of Icar in its current state. I have uploaded a cringe worthy Alpha that is the very epitome of shoddy. Download and read at your peril.

This first one depicts an example of space combat. Space combat in Version 4 is very wordy and scribbles-on-paper. I looked at a complex three dimensional system but I decided that those systems are fine for board gaming but that is not why people want to play Icar.

This second grab shows the start of the skill section and demonstrates my obsession with stuffing images in amongst the text. I can't stop doing it. I'm seeking group therapy.

Sadly, I've set myself the gargantuan task of updating the Icar equipment index too. It's a Behemoth of graphics, many of which needs recreating in beautiful 300DPI high resolution rather than the shameful 72DPI I thought was adequate before. Here are some snaps of vehicles I needed to recreate because the originals were woefully out of date:

That's not all!

I do have a number of reviews in the works, have written a foreword for a delightful game by Michael "Stargazer" Wolf and and judging the frankly excellent entries for the Cyberpunk Revival Contest on 1KM1KT. Not only that but I am still penning my Guide to Writing a Free RPG from scratch. In the similar vein to my last guides but in a multi-part series.

Thank you for being patient. You can always get your dose of free over at 1000 Monkeys, 1000 Typewriters, the best free online community on the net. Ever.

Be charmed by Rustfoot's magic

2010-05-25T12:00:00.003+01:00

Rustfoot by Jens Thuresson is a delightful blog filled with novel components that you can air drop into any fantasy campaign. Written from the point of view of a wizard who travelled your world documenting places, deities, magical items and so on into a single book. Beautifully written with a humorous (often dark) lilt, the posts will entrall and entertain you. It has become my default bed-time reading, relegating the tower of books to a passable alternative.

Do you believe in magic?

Magic items in games tend to follow a pretty typical methodology thus:

Take a real world item.
Put 'magical' in front of it.
Describe it using a few words.
Add a game bonus.

Although this is functional and facilitates the creation of a huge array of magical items, you tend to end up with a lot that look like:

Magical Sword, +2 damage, forged in the flames of mount Sliceanddice.

Which, in the mind of the reductivist turns into:

Sword +2 damage.

All the majesty and cool is bled away in the heat of the moment when you just have to consider the scale of damage you are inflicting on the Ork, Globin or hapless bystander. Further restrictions or rules do help the magical item to retain some of its intrigue but that is often sadly lost. It is, after all, just another +Something Magical Doohicky.

Although most obvious in magic items, I think this problem exists throughout the fantasy genre. A village on a stream becomes just another village. A fireball spell just another lobbed ball of burning death.

Enter Rustfoot

Jens has a talent for writing, crafting fresh never-seen-before ideas as well as turning existing tropes on their heads. Even the hardened roleplayer who has games printed on papyrus and who has been roleplaying since before Gygax's place of birth had geologically disconnected from mainland Europe, would be hard pushed to say they've seen this all before.

The presentation of each item is not a cold stat-block but a delicious description through the eyes of Rustfoot. You can't help but be drawn in. The sketches included are reminiscent of the naturalists who explored the expanse of the Pacific - they do not need to be beautifully rendered by a professional, it wouldn't look like Rustfoot had created them.

Blogging drawback

Update: has added a contents page now. Superb! Thanks, Jens.. Being a blog, ~~there isn't an index so it is difficult to browse the content.~~ I've defended the same constructive criticism levelled at me, which is why I created the RPG Directory. ~~Rather than labour the point,~~ I've made a quick one below of the items Rustfoot has scribed so far.

Conclusions

Unique, novel and bound in charm with every post. I wanted to outline a favourite but I really couldn't. The magic items and spells are the most delightful and perhaps most useful to the fantasy GM. They say familiarity breeds contempt. Wrong-foot your complacent players by breathing some of Rustfoots splendid discoveries into your game.

Jens, thank you for sharing and let me be the first to demand a PDF book if it!