Where is Ygg?

[Christoffer Lernö]

Are you wondering why Ygg isn't happening? All these discussions and no real solid rules or new stuff forthcoming. Right?

This is the usual pattern: I have an idea of how to solve things. I write it up on the forge and get different answers. Finally we come to a sort of stand-off. There is not much more which can be contributed here, the rest I have to do myself. Participants of the thread probably see the problem as "resolved".

So I go home, try to make something out of it, and discover that the remaining 50% which is left to be worked out reveals hidden problems which can't easily be worked out. Back to square one. Since people already stopped posting on the subject and feel seem to feel "the problem is resolved, go and write it down" I can't really bring up the subject again. So I post on another problem, hoping I will have some more inspiration some other day. ... and so the problem continues...

Look at the combat system where I incorporated and advantage mechanic into the roll. Just a matter of balancing the advantages. Right? I thought of karma resolution, but the problem is more subtle than that. There were both reasons to keep it karma based as well as adding fortune in some situations. Either would involve increases in handling time.

Add to that I remembered new combat situations I wanted the system to handle. Situations not necessarily handled well by the advantage system. There might be a reason to revert to the original system. Besides the original system had a "feat"-like system to plug into the system. With the advantage resolution and karma resolution it did not fit in so naturally anymore. However the feats where there because it fitted well with the feel of the rest of the game and it helped creating martial arts as seperated from normal fighting skills.

Would I need to throw out this as well? And so on and so on. Similar things going on with the magic system and the skill resolution.

So basically I'm redesigning ad infinitum. I actually have much less of a system now than when I came to the forge. I arrived with skill system, magic system of sorts and combat. Now I only have the setting pretty much and everything else is fairly floating, except for bits and pieces which has neat solutions.

There's so much I want for Ygg you know :) So I keep redesigning. I'm just telling you why, not asking for advice how here, although I suspect I might get some regardless.

Anyway, that's what's happening. And the impatient "what do you think?" are merely expressions of this problem which me having all of these 50% solutions which don't fit together and which I don't know if they're worth the effort to crack. I don't know if you think "yes, that's so cool please do it" of "yeah, that could work". Of course that reflect my own indifference to it. Anyway, I think I'll hang back and discuss these problems in more general terms and get answer to all my many problems. After that maybe I have enough confidence to dedicate myself to a solution. Or something like that.

The good news is that I'm very confident about the setting though. And what I want the system to handle both in terms of results and feeling.

Well, that's pretty much all I had on my mind right now.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Christoffer,

My response: Cool. I know I speak for others by saying that your imaginative commitment to your setting is impressive. There is no deadline beyond what you set for yourself, so rest assured that when you post some of your conclusions, we will be ready to see'em.

Best,
Ron

[Le Joueur]

Are you wondering why Ygg isn't happening? All these discussions and no real solid rules or new stuff forthcoming. Right?

This is the usual pattern: I have an idea of how to solve things....

...So I go home, try to make something out of it, and discover that the remaining 50% which is left to be worked out reveals hidden problems which can't easily be worked out. Back to square one....

...I can't really bring up the subject again. So I post on another problem, hoping I will have some more inspiration some other day. ...And so the problem continues...

...So basically I'm redesigning ad infinitum....

There's so much I want for Ygg you know :) So I keep redesigning. I'm just telling you why, not asking for advice how here, although I suspect I might get some regardless.

I have to disagree with the "square one" comment.  The game might be 'back there,' but you aren't.  You've learned something; that puts you at 'square two.'  I know it doesn't seem like you've gotten anywhere (considering how many squares you can see), but every journey starts with a single step.  And then another, and another.  If you concentrate on the goal instead of being bogged down by steps you haven't taken, things shouldn't seem so grim.

We went through two almost total over-hauls with Scattershot and I've been writing at it for more than ten years.  Deadlines suck, I do what I like.  One thing we learned over the years (and this was responsible for the second total rewrite) was we needed a design goal to work towards.  Now, I'm not saying you should create one complete tomorrow; I just want to get you thinking in that direction.

We call ours 'our design specifications.'  Until recently, some of these included things like; "simple enough for newcomers," "familiar-seeming to old school (from the 80s) gamers," "complexity in three phases; basic, intermediate, and advanced," and "create a whole interrelated product line to submit to a game company."  We also have things about major functional cores like supporting Transition, allowing 'fast action' on lisencing properties (like movie tie-ins), and the like.  It gave us an idea of what we were doing; a series of genre-specific books that each have 'the whole system' in them with any number of 'satellites' containing merely the 'basic' mechanics.  Whenever a major component or change is proposed it has to support or at least not interfere with all of the design specifications.

(I got the idea from an episode of Batman: the Animated Series, when the mechanic who built the Batmobile mentioned he spent over a year making up the design specifications before sitting down to design.  The idea is he figured how fast it had to go before he decided on the type of engine it would have, and the like.)

They have been a real boon to the work (especially now, as a new father, I've had so much less time to develop Scattershot).  They function as both goals and limitations, informing the work and keeping it 'on track.'  Best of all, it gives a quick read to 'how far' we've come and 'what is left.'  Another thing I think really important; they tell me who I am writing to, without that the work really stayed unfocussed.  I highly recommend them.

Fang Langford

[Gordon C. Landis]

In some ways, I'm the last person who should be offering this advice, but it's a classic . . .

"The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good"

I guess I should leave it at that.

Gordon