need some help getting started

[Björn K. Johansson]

Hi!

I am new to this forum and my name is Björn. I am trying to create an RPG but it is still mostly in my head. I have tried getting some ideas on paper but as my inspiration veins I abandon the document. Then later I try to get another idea down because maybe this time all the pieces will fit  and reveal how I will make this game.  So I now turn to you for help. I need some advice about in which end I need to begin so that my RPG can develop and maybe someday be finished. So now I will tell you some of the ideas that is in my head.

The game is an Fantasy/steamtech world where a great evil has conquered the known world with the power of industry and steam. The human beings in the world is utterly suppressed and have been so for a very long time. So long that they no longer have the will to fight back. These humans work all their life in gigantic cities that is covered in filthy smoke that colors everything black. Here now comes the main idea: in this world of no hope children are born that are deformed. Some are born with pointy ears and grow up to be tall and gaunt (sickly thin) but they are very agile. Some grow up to be short,stocky and very muscular. And even some are born that have grayish skin tone, huge fangs and they are big and muscular (you get the point). The Evil who controls everything demand that these creatures are to be enslaved or killed and so many of these people end up in either coal mines or dead. But some times the parents love for their child is so great that it awakens them from hopelessness and they flee from the cities and from the control of Evil so that the child can grow up free. This is a very great part of my concept that these children has the power to awaken the humans and help them to be free. Magic also start to exist as these deformed children are born. But it is not strong yet but maybe some day...

So what is this evil? In my head it is some kind of deity. Some form of evil that has been banish to this world because that was the only way to rescue the rest of the creation. So some deities sacrificed this world for a greater good, and in the process damning  everyone living in it to a living hell...

I have more ideas in my head but that is the core of my project.

So any ideas are welcome. Where do I begin? Should I have full background story before I try to implement rules or rules first?

Here is some conceptart for the "elves" that my fiancés sister has painted.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjornjson/861228626/

Sorry for my mediocre English.
//Björn

[Filip Luszczyk]

I'd suggest to start from turning the general concept into something that can be playtested. For this, you probably don't need to have all the setting details on paper, as long as you know where you're going with it. Once you're done with some general playtesting, you should have a better idea what to change, what to focus on, and whether you actually want to commit yourself to finishing the project. Then, you can start writing down the playtest document. There's still a long way from this stage to complete game, of course.

Also, if it's your first RPG, you might want to try small and do some design excercises. 24 hour design, possibly, or some short design challenge that will help you develop basic skills - like the one that has just started down in the Endeavor forum today

[Björn K. Johansson]

I'd suggest to start from turning the general concept into something that can be playtested. For this, you probably don't need to have all the setting details on paper, as long as you know where you're going with it. Once you're done with some general playtesting, you should have a better idea what to change, what to focus on, and whether you actually want to commit yourself to finishing the project. Then, you can start writing down the playtest document. There's still a long way from this stage to complete game, of course.

Also, if it's your first RPG, you might want to try small and do some design excercises. 24 hour design, possibly, or some short design challenge that will help you develop basic skills - like the one that has just started down in the Endeavor forum today

Thanks for the reply. Design challenges sounds like a good way to get some experience. I will try to put down some more on paper and to concentrate what I have so it easier can be play tested. Maybe also have some very simple rules attached to it so you can see some differences in the different "races". I was thinking in the beginning to using some version of D20 system so shouldn't be to difficult using some simple version of that.

//Björn

[Seth M. Drebitko]

I like the sounds of your concept very nifty. I would say the first steps are to answer some questions like:

What do the players do? (for example some games specifically lend themselves to styles of play, like seventh sea having the players be swash buckling pirates)

How involved of rules do you want? (for example d20 is a mechanically dense system in my opinion because of all the various classes and such)

What medium of resolution will you use? (For example my design is using tarot cards, while standard games use dice)

With these three methods in play I would simply sit down with a group of people and write out a few sample scenes. The next step considering you medium for resolution is to go through with those people and decide how mechanically you feel things should interact in the game. This backwards method of creation is greatly advantageous because once you have decided everything you can run through the scene rolling dice (or what ever) and just keep fine tuning your system off of the same scenes for consistent results.

On a side note the coolest thing I could see in this is having piles of cliché fantasy race traits and at character creation (or through out the game depending on if they keep evolving) being able to construct your very own mutant fantasy race specifically for your character.

(I'll be posting something like this up in the endeavors section)
Regards, Seth
Aegri Somnia Press
Dreaming outside the box.

[Callan S.]

It sounds like the big issues have already been answered - some great being already decided to sacrifice this world. Some parents already decided to rebel and flee the city.

I think bringing uncertainty into those questions is the key - have the parents really decided to rebel and leave, or do they fall back into oppressed ways? Did the great being really damn them all to save the rest of creation, or did he not do so fully, threatening the rest of the universe but leaving this world a chance. Did he? Or perhaps he fully damned this world - we don't know, only play will tell.

Do you think the mechanics of your game could center around resolving those? Rather than doing to hit rolls?

[Björn K. Johansson]

What do the players do? (for example some games specifically lend themselves to styles of play, like seventh sea having the players be swash buckling pirates)

The idea is that players play either awakened humans or one of these deformed children and they must find a way to free the world. They could also only find a way to live in peace but the Evil will of course try to capture/kill them.

ow involved of rules do you want? (for example d20 is a mechanically dense system in my opinion because of all the various classes and such)

What medium of resolution will you use? (For example my design is using tarot cards, while standard games use dice)

tricky question. I want a system that invites to a descriptive playing style. Not just "I attack" *roll dice* "10 damage". I system with freedom but with rules

//Björn

[Seth M. Drebitko]

The idea is that players play either awakened humans or one of these deformed children and they must find a way to free the world. They could also only find a way to live in peace but the Evil will of course try to capture/kill them.

I like that you have a very specific character goal in mind (something I lack) what might be interesting in this case is focusing on some of the more prominent concepts as driving statistics for a character.
Some concepts you have noted would be:
play either awakened humans or one of these deformed children (possibly who am I)
must find a way to free the world (what am I fighting for)
Evil will of course try to capture/kill them (what haunts me)

I want a system that invites to a descriptive playing style. Not just "I attack" *roll dice* "10 damage". I system with freedom but with rules

With this many people are becoming very open to new concepts which could allow you to perform a variety of different things mechanically. Some ideas for descriptive game play might be to turn the resolution into descriptive task.

For example me and some friends got together and were bored waiting for others to get to game. We quickly just started bsing and came upon an interesting quick little mechanic. Each player has three stats body, mind, personality, all of which relate to a number of one or two card words the person can create. At any given time the person can have a number of cards in hand equal to the average of their stats. When attempting to take action the players take turns laying cards down to try and trump one another. For example:

Jack decides to swing his sword at Richard. Jack plays a card that he wrote the word violently and states "I "violently" thrust my blade towards his heart", to which Richard placed a card defiantly stating "I defiantly lock hilt to hilt closing in to bash him with the top of my head"

Like I said though we were just bsing never finished up. Mostly just trying to show an example of how something like what you want might work.

Regards, Seth (If none of that made sense I am sleepy and will fix it in the morning lol)

[Filip Luszczyk]

tricky question. I want a system that invites to a descriptive playing style. Not just "I attack" *roll dice* "10 damage". I system with freedom but with rules

Well, the most obvious options are:

-bonuses given for cool narration (e.g. stunt bonuses from Exalted) or even effectiveness based entirely on the amount of detail provided (see Wushu).
-"fanmail" awards - everyone has a pool of points that can be given to other for doing cool things; the pool could be finite, or tied to some replenishing economy (e.g. fanmail from PTA, gift dice from The Shadow of Yesterday).
-actions formed from a combination of individual cinematic moves (e.g. Fireborn).

All in all, you might want to check out Wushu and TSoY, and possibly use one of these systems for your game, not to develop your own rules from sratch. Both are under Creative Commons licenses, and have versions freely available online.