A big announcement -- "As Told By...."

[Michael Hopcroft]

Now THIS is actually a BIG, Important announcmeent.

Seraphim Guard has reached a licence agreement with NDP Comics to produce a role-playing game based on their manga series "As Told By...". It will be "The game of funny fairy tales", and the central theme is that the players will take a classic fairy tale in each session and twist it to their own comedic ends.

NDP Comics is an indpeendent comics publisher based in Seattle, Washington.

The game will be fast, funny and give players a great deal of flexibility. D20 compatibility has yet to be determined, although since all the games will effectively be one-shots it seems pointless to build characters designed to advance in level.

Your comments are welcome. Our contract gives us eighteeen months to produce a game -- we hope to do it in five.

[Valamir]

Go with your gut.  Fast, funny, flexible = good.
d20 = bad (for this).
I can't even imagine the majority of the d20 market interested in playing a d20 cracked Fairly Tales anyway.

[Michael Hopcroft]

If I were to pander to the majority of the D20 market I'd be writing "The Complete guide to Nekojin" and making a complete fool of myself.

Although that book would probably sell, I'd probably feel terrible about myself right after writing it.

[Blacksad]

D20 compatibility has yet to be determined, although since all the games will effectively be one-shots it seems pointless to build characters designed to advance in level.

Your comments are welcome. Our contract gives us eighteeen months to produce a game -- we hope to do it in five.

Instead of taking it from the d20 perspective of what a character is,
You could provide quick and dirty rules to build monsters:
-pick the monster category (humanoid, fey, dragon, beast, etc...)
-advances as appropriate
-buy special abilities (using the list from the DMG)

like twisted charming prince  cost: 5 humanoid hit dice (1 CR per 3 HD)
Humanoid HD 5d8 (22 hp); BaB +3 ; Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1;
16 skill points +int mod*8 (max rank 8); 2 Feats;

That would require a bit of d20 work if you want a precise system (CR improvement per HD for each monster category) , otherwise you could use the existing table, and all you'll need would be separating the special abilities in the existing categories (do not modify CR, +1CR or +2CR) and provide a table of default abilities, size, number of special abilities per HD (as opposed to the minimal version in various MM).

With some caution to respect the D20 license (the creation and advancement process can't be in, you could get inspiration from the anime SRD on how to circumvent that).

Though, by doing a great number of tables to do quick monster creation, you could have a working d20 conversion (and one that could interest d20 GM as is).

regards,

Pierre-Louis C. Morel

P.S. and to get rid of fraction, multiply all cost

[DevP]

Go for d20 compatible, as you wish, but if it is indeed one-shot material, I'd say go for some uber-rules light systems. The kind with 30-60 second long character creations, and 1-3 minutes to read the rules. (A bit of an exaggeration, but for oneshots for potential newbies, it could be good.) Hell, see if the creators of the Pool or such would mind being bundled with the package (so folks could play via d20 or the Other Thing).

Let me (in particular) or us (in general) if you need feedback. It looks to be fun.

[xiombarg]

I think a rules-light system would be much, much better than d20 for this. And I'm saying this as someone who LIKES d20.

If you must go d20, I suggest using the Mutants and Masterminds version of the system -- it's easier to just "build" a character, of any power level, that way, for one-shots.