Rpg development

[Syranos]

I have recently begun development of my own rpg world using an until recently unexplored system. I will be posting more latter until then I am open to suggestions. The greatest asset to any roleplaying game is input. Of which I am seeking as much as possible. So send me suggestions I will seriously review all e-mails.


Here are the races as far as I've gotten them down so far:



Keltharins/Elves:

Born in the Chaos that surrounded the birthing of the universe the Keltharins are a race on a mission. While some aspire to unity there are those that seek to dominate their surrondings. Gifted with magical talent and knowledge of ancient times the Keltharin will play and important part in the future.


Vargate/Dwarves

As immovable as the mountains they call home the Vargate are powerful warriors and unparraleld craftsmen. Scattered in the sundering the Vargate hasve since formed one of the mighteiest empires to ever exist.


Talbiri/Ratmen

When the first of the ratmen emerged no one can be quite sure they just appeared. With the apperance of the ratmen came great changes. Their empire of underworld is a place of great mystery to outsiders. They prefer to remain secretive following some secret purpose. One thing is that is not secret is their hatred of the Demon lords. Thousands have witnessed their almost suicidal abandon when it comes to destroying minions of the demon lords.


Masa/Catlords

The Catlords hail from the southern continent in the wild lands. They demonstate great potential as druids and summoners(yes I have worked out a beautiful summoning system). They are rumored to be the first born of the great ones, yet no one can be sure. They have a hatred of the Lizard men and orcs that borders on Genocidal rage.

Nofrettin/Halflings

These carefree folk live peacefully throughout the land in beautiful communes. Easy going and peacful the Nofrettin have developed great communities and mastered the art of negotiation. To this end the Nofrettin merchants are the best at haggling and trading. Many great heroes have arisen from this race in time of need. There is no race better suited to socialize than the Nofrettin.


Gohvani/Lizardmen

The powerful empire of the lizard men was once a divided kingdom until the coming of the Necromancer king. His ruthless ambition and sheer willpower have forged the most powerful war machine since the Sunndering. Many lizard men have fled his iron fisted rule and have since joined other kingdoms in hopes of stopping his growing empire.


Corgani/Humans

The most powerful empires fall to the control of the youngest race. Humans have dominated all of their surrondings for the better part of ten thousand years. The Humans have spread all over the planet and have learned to be the most versatile of all races. Through  politics and outright war they have secured their position in the power game of the world.



Antagonist:



Demon Lords: The only race of beings to actually look forward to the sunndering. The Demon lords took advantage of the sunndering and broke a way from the first ones in a bid for power. They however didnot realize that this would weaken them. As the first ones were Shattered and reformed into the gods so the Demon lords were reformed into shadows of their former power.


Orcs:Cunning brutal and strong. These aren't you're daddys orcs. The orcs have forged great empires and are powerful advessaries. They seek domination plain and simple. They have an undying hatred of the Keltharins and seek to claim the secrets they keep for themselves.


Dragons:The companions of the first ones they are now no longer the holders of such profound and mystic ideas.

[Ben Lehman]

I have, at this point, a single question:  Why?

This is not meant as disparaging -- I would ask anyone who posted some information without context the same thing:  Why?

Why are you making this?  What goals does this role-playing setting attempt?  Who will be playing it?  What sort of things do you expect that they will be doing with it?

When these basic questions are answered, development is much easier (if not already finished.)  I don't mean to make them sound trivial -- they aren't, at all.  They are perhaps some of the hardest questions to answer about creative work.  But until we know the "why" of your project, we will only be able to sit back, nod, and say "okay."

yrs--
--Ben

[gabby2600]

I hate to say this, your Ideas may be good but for me there's just far too many fantasy RPG's and settings on the market. Using a Non D20 system is suicide, unless the setting goes beyond the conventions of what D20 is.

I hate D20 myself, however I would suggest if you are doing a Fantasy RPG use D20, at least you will get some sales, if only for the first 6 months.

I personally would love to see an in-depth fantasy world that offer more than what is already available (most are hackfest?s at present in my eyes), however I don't think a highly political fantasy game would work, unless you can work out thousands of years of history and political conflict (If you did this then I think you may be able to offer a depth many fantasy game fall short on.) Think about what Tolkien did, he wrote thousands of pages of background and history, reams of information about middle earth before he even wrote his first book. I'm not saying do that much work but at lest have a good strong history and that will offer a good backdrop for the world (as everything happens for a reason).

As for the Why? this is a very good one. Are you just producing a game because you think it's cool, or do you think your game has something to offer the RPG market? The games I'm currently working on have heaps of history and back ground, but each offers something more a depth to gaming that has really been neglected. The first the Wraeththu RPG cover many aspects of Relationships and gender, as well as complicated political systems. The second Derivation a modern Noir game, offers again many political conflicts, but takes you through the whole Film noir style experience, and on to a deeply rich tapestry of Conspiracy.

My Why's are because I think the industry needs something new that has never gone before and I hope to do that? Also I love creating history and epic settings which cover more than just adventuring and killing things. Plus I think most settings these days suck.

I?m not out to make millions I?ll be happy if I can finish the books and have something to show for the work I have done. If people like the game than that?s a bonus.

I don't mean to discourage you but, have a really go think about the direction you want to take. Epic or Short run game, Beginner game or for advanced players, Storytelling system or rules mongering system. Each has an advantage and a disadvantage; you need to look at them all.

[M. J. Young]

Welcome to the Forge, Syranos.

You'll find that the feedback here is often very harsh. We're serious about game design, and it means more than just "this is different because the elves have green eyes and blue hair" sort of thing.

I'm going to point you to the articles section of this site; it's almost mandatory that you read some of those as you dip into the waters here, because otherwise people will be using a technical vocabulary that is extremely useful to role playing game design but not terribly intuitive--think of it like going to your first skateboard competition, and hearing the regulars talk about all the moves using names that mean nothing to you until they're explained. Here we talk about things like stance, credibility, gamism, and much more, and we mean very specific things by these words. You're going to need to pick up some of the vocabulary to really get the maximum benefit here.

Specifically, read GNS and other matters of role playing by Ron Edwards; I think you might also benefit from reading his Fantasy Heartbreakers article. There are a lot of other good and important articles there; I'll call attention to Applied Theory in particular as a good help for game design.

Ben is right. For us to really help you with your game, we need to know not so much the details you've presented (which are mostly color--they could be a thousand different things and function much the same) but the reason you're designing this game. What are you trying to accomplish with it that hasn't been done with one of the many other fantasy games out there (of which D&D and Ars Magica are probably the tip of the iceberg)?

--M. J. Young

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Here are two of the articles that M.J. mentioned which I think will be most helpful to you.

Fantasy Heartbreakers
More Fantasy Heartbreakers

Best,
Ron