Origins of TROS

[Jake Norwood]

Out of designers' curiosity, Jake, what were your influences for TROS?  Why did you make the design choices you did?  Why a Priorities chargen system rather than, say, universal point-build like GURPS or HERO?  Questions like that.

No intent of criticism involved -- I just like reading about how ideas travel from one work to another.

Hey.

(oh, Hi Joel! Good to see you)

Influences? Maybe every game I every played? I dunno...

The priority system was chosen because it embodied the design philosophy of TROS: you have to choose, but not without sacrificing something else. I believe the idea was from Shadowrun. It's also faster than point-systems, which is a big thing with me.

Combat: primary influence was a game called Dzikie Pola, from Poland. It was rough, but had some great ideas.

Dice: Probably more a Wick thing than a WW thing.  WW was, in fact, a game system I tried very, very hard NOT to take any influence from. I originally had a roll 1d10 sort of mechanic, but loads of dice made the math easier and gave a tactile sensation.

I'm not sure that anything else was an overt issue, except maybe some of the mood form WFRP.

Jake