Do you like Cowboy Bebop? Looking for more Playtesters

[Space Cowboy]

Hey guys,

How's it going? I hope that everything is well with you.  

I am a recent UCLA Law School grad who desperately doesn't want to be an attorney. Thus, I'm writing an RPG named Wild Sphere- it's a space western set in an alternate future in the year 2150, sort of a mix between Traveller, Cowboy Bebop, and Firefly.  The game uses a unique percentile rules set that emphasizes role-playing (as opposed to roll playing), speed, simplicity, and intuitiveness.  While the actual background is totally  different from Cowboy Bebop, I'm trying to write a game that evokes the same feel, style, and atmosphere (i.e., a single bullet can kill but it is still possible to run across a field of fire and survive, technology is generally plausible and recognizable, if somewhat different, etc.).

Additionally, Wild Sphere: The Roleplaying Game has been designed in conjunction with Wild Sphere: The Wargame so it has the same nice relationship that Mechwarrior and Battletech did (you can roleplay your Character, and then jump into your giant robot and smash the city).  

WS is approaching late stage Beta (Ideally, I'd like to have everything done by the end of Decemeber, but I've got my fingers crossed on how fast my artists can produce high quality work), but I'm looking for more a few playtesters to see how the game is received by a wider audience.  In addition to playtesting in our In House Group, Wild Sphere is also being playtested with other gaming groups from San Francisco to San Diego, and as far east as Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas.

I'm quite serious about making this RPG and this franchise work. I've written 74K words (thus far), playtested since January, been to a convention with Wild Sphere, and took trips to the Bay Area (three times), San Diego (four times), Orange County (twice), Phoenix (twice), Las Vegas, Tucson, and Riverside to establish WS groups, and I'm heading to Boston this weekend.  

I have a crew of 5 artists who, thus far, have produced a number of pieces of the final artwork in the book, and a info/teaser website, http://dracos-promotions.com/sphere/, that is being built into a full website (it's obviously a work in progress and not yet open to the general public but you will find out a little more about the project and myself).

Take a look at the website. If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me at Wildsphere@xsmail.com

Hope that you decide to playtest Wild Sphere!

Cheers,
George

[LordSmerf]

The concept is interesting, and one i wouldn't mind playing around with.  But other than the "System Highlights" i can't find anything at all about Actual Play.  You might get a better response if you had either an abbreviated set of rules or some Actual Play reports (not just simple "I like it" testamonials.)  I guess what i'm saying is that i'm hesitant to commit to testing something when i don't really know what it is...

Thomas

[Space Cowboy]

The concept is interesting, and one i wouldn't mind playing around with.  But other than the "System Highlights" i can't find anything at all about Actual Play.  You might get a better response if you had either an abbreviated set of rules or some Actual Play reports (not just simple "I like it" testamonials.)  I guess what i'm saying is that i'm hesitant to commit to testing something when i don't really know what it is...

Thomas

Hey Thomas,

Thanks heaps for your post!    Yeah, like I said, the website is in the process of changing from an info/teaser page into a full website.

As for the rules set, it's pretty straightforward, not much to it.  The basic mechanic is a d100, with the GM coming up with the base Target Number (based on the facts and circumstances), and then the Player adds any Skill and/or Stat adj., and then has to roll under.  

Thus, if a Player wants to climb a wall, the GM will figure out a base chance of success based on the grade of the wall, the amount of light, whether the Character is using any tools (e.g., a grappling hook), whether the Character is under duress (e.g., being chased down), and so forth, coming up with X percent chance of success.  The base Target Number doesn't have to be exact, just a good ballpark, and the Player is always free to argue number.  

Based on the playtests that I've been involved with, this resolution system is fast (as soon as the GM comes up with the Target Number, you're good to go), simple (just TN plus two numbers), and intuitive (everyone knows what a 70 percent chance of success is, but how many people know what a DC 15 means?).  A number of playtesters have come back with the comment that it feels almost ruleless.  There is a slight learning curve, but every playtester I've played with picked it up after the second or third roll.

To get the cinematic factor, the game uses Fate Points, similar to Drama Points in Buffy. FPs can modify die rolls depending on when they are used (e.g., a +3 bonus to Initiative per FP spent before the roll is made, versus a +1 bonus after the roll is made).  Moreover, if you have enough points, you can beat any number (e.g., if your enemy rolls a 10 for Initiative (a 2d6 roll), and you spend 2 FPs (a 6 pt bonus) before the roll and roll a 2 for an 8 (2 + 6), you can spend another 3 FPs to reach 11 to go first).

Additionally, if you spend 2 FPs, you can make a successful attack miss.  In playtests, I've found this effective replicates scenes in Cowboy Bebop where Spike runs across a field of fire from 20 guys without a scratch (in Wild Sphere, he would just burn tons of FPs to make all "hits" miss).

Finally, if a Player spends 5 FPs at one go, he can do anything that's outside the bounds of reality but not outside the bounds of anime- the only limitations are the Player's imagination and what the GM will tolerate.

There's obviously a lot more that I could say but I have to run to my Artists' Meeting (got to make sure that the artwork is up to snuff.  LOL).   If you have any more questions, just fire me an email at

Wildsphere@xsmail.com

Cheers,
George

[LordSmerf]

It would probably be a positive thing if you would update whenever the site gets some substantial information.  This seems like it might be interesting, i would like to know more though...

Thomas

[Space Cowboy]

It would probably be a positive thing if you would update whenever the site gets some substantial information.  This seems like it might be interesting, i would like to know more though...

Thomas

Hey Thomas,

Thanks again for your post!  I'm sorry that I haven't gotten back to your post sooner- I left Sunday for Boston to need gamers there who are interested in WS (it was a good trip establishing a solid foundation there) and I just got back into town.  I also finished writing the GM Chapters, so now begins a massive editing/revision phase.

Anyways, yes, thanks for your suggestion!  That's still a bit early, though, as we are still in playtesting/production and not the marketing phase (i.e., the site is not open to the full public yet).  

As for your questions, please email me at wildsphere@xsmail.com

Cheers,
George