RoCKit: a role-playing construction kit in search of comment

[Bob Bell]

Hello. I recently started work on a project to resurrect some very old rpg ideas of mine from the early 1980's and was interested in some feedback. I am new to on-line rpg sites such as the forge and so this will probably be old-hat to you guys, but it is all new to me.

I have gotten a spiffy internet connection and set up a web-site, typed in rules and converted them to pdf form. I envision a web-distributed pdf rpg construction kit--an indie rpg of sorts for general use, and only envision publishing if there seems to be interest or some other reason such as the long-term development of an integrated setting, which seems to be a requirement for publishing  . . . although when I originally started this I had bigger delusions of grandeur, I have definitely tempered them. Wow, it has been a load of work just to do what I have!

The rules are generic and do not contain: a setting, artwork, or fancy page design, although I do hope to remedy the latter two items before year's end. The first few gamers I showed the rules to all complained about this, so I may be completely missing the boat. The rules had what I felt were some awesome ideas for the time period in which I originally formulated them, but I know that so many gamers were thinking the same things and so many rpgs have been published that they are pretty much guaranteed to be old news.

There is also an rpg dice rolling page that I wrote in javascript on one of the pages, and I'd like feedback on that as well.

Please check out my web-site and tell me what you think. It can be reached from two addresses:
http://www.bobsgames.net  or
http://www.rockitlabs.com

I have forums set up, so you can leave comments on the site.
Thanks!
Bob Bell

[ErrathofKosh]

I only had time to read part of these rules, but they seem very well organized.  Ron or someone else will be better able to tell you if they are old news or not ( and how coherent they are...), but i would like to point you to Simulationism: the Right to Dream and System Does Matter, as well as the rest of the articles here at the Forge.  I, for one, will be looking into your system further...

Welcome to the Forge


Jonathan

[ErrathofKosh]

Oh yeah, that's a kickass way to do magic!

[greedo1379]

Looks really cool!

[Bob Bell]

Thanks for the comments ErrathofKosh and greedo1379. Wow, some of the articles on here are deep into it. Simulationism: the Right to Dream will take two reads at least. Lots of great ideas and thoughts though.

My site got about 50 hits since I posted, but only 2 comments. Do you recommend that I post specific parts I want comment on here, such as the basics of the magic mechanic? Also, is there a good way to get playtesters that will actually play the rules and give feedback--I have had a hellacious time just getting some of the members of the local university's Gamers Guild to playtest once, (which seemed to go well). A group of people I don't know that would comitt to a series of playtests or sessions is the thing I think I would value the most.

Oh yeah, that's a kickass way to do magic!

Any specifics would be nice, so that I might enhance on the good stuff... Do you just generally like the concept of free-forming magic along with the power progression? Anything new or unusual jump out at you?

Questions:
  Have you been reading the Core, or the longer chapters files?
  Of what you have read, do you see any intrinsic problems with parts?
  Are the stats too extensive? When I walked a few people through character creation that are D&D players they didn't balk much at 3 stats but choked at a table of stats based on the big 3 physical, mental, spiritual + senses and 6 deep. Understandably, perhaps most of the stats won't come into play for each character...
  Do you view any of the options so far as not meshing well with the basic Action mechanic?

  I rewrote the Large Scale Battle rules to make more sense and made some edits today, since I had some free time :-), so the combat chapter has changed just a little. If you downloaded the pdf to read on combat you might want to get the updated two files Combat and LSB.

Finally... Is there a way I can ask "Ron or someone else" to take a look-see? I realize my post isn't old, but some later posts have lots of replies already. Probably because I didn't ask specific questions.


Thanks again!
bob

[ErrathofKosh]

Oh yeah, that's a kickass way to do magic!

Any specifics would be nice, so that I might enhance on the good stuff... Do you just generally like the concept of free-forming magic along with the power progression? Anything new or unusual jump out at you?

The specific part of the magic system I like is the 4 material properties, along with the the idea of magic number determined by element.  Those here at the Forge would call that a Sim design.  (That's short for Simulationism.)  I really enjoy the structure of your game (I'm ready the Core rules right now), but I feel like you've included some ideas about GM power and other such things that are "traditional".  While that's not necessarily bad, you should consider the reason behind including these ideas.  

BTW, have you read/heard of Rolemaster by ICE.  It uses a similar D100 resolution mechanic.  That's not to say that yours is "old news", as there seem to be a world of differences between what you've got and RM.  I think that looking at some of the stuff they've done could be enlightening.

As far as the number of posts you receive, don't despair, it just takes a little time sometimes for a post to get noticed.  

And one last thing...  Here's some more reading:

Fantasy Heartbreakers
More Fantasy Heartbreakers



Hope this helps...

Jonathan