New games for you

[New Dimension Games]

Greetings to all! We at New Dimension Games are offering alternatives to d20 in the genres of medieval fantasy, historical piracy, and modern paranoia. Want to rediscover the genres you already enjoy with rules that are solid, smooth and swift in play? We have dozens of products ready to go. Let us know what you think, either here at The Forge or through our own website at www.newdimensiongames.com

[rafial]

I met Matt DeMille at this booth at GameStorm in Portland earlier this month, and was sufficiently intrigued to pick up a copy of his Pirates game.  I also talked up the Forge as a great resource for independent games, and I'm glad to see he's come to check us out.

Pirates is definitely going to find a place in the rotation at UGX, and I hope to see more of Matt on the boards.  Welcome!

[Valamir]

Ok...I'm sold.

First your top pic with the gaming group and the ghostly character images is SOOOOO what my initial cover idea for Univeralis was going to be.

Second.  The cover to your Fantasa game was a HUGE poster from back in the day (with a really annoyingly bright yellow border as I recall) that hung on the wall in my bedroom for most of my childhood (I think it was a special promo available only through Sears...or something like that).

Third.  Pirates.  Pirates are Kewl.


So basically, on the front page of your web site are 3 cool things.  I shall have to delve deeper.

[RaconteurX]

I delved deeper. Not impressed.

[greyorm]

Bad Michael, no cookie for you!

Etiquette at The Forge

G. "Empty" posts
...negative empty posts are strongly discouraged. Do not post only to say "You are wrong," or "I disagree," or anything similar without presenting your case and demonstrating that you understand the other person's case.

In other words, please tell us why you were not impressed with whatever you found.

[M. J. Young]

I'm very surprised that no one has mentioned that this post doesn't belong on this forum; this forum is specifically for people who want help designing games in progress.

It probably doesn't really help overall, because the answer to the obvious question (which forum, then?) is e. none of the above. The Forge doesn't have a place to announce new published games; it doesn't have a place to announce sales, or do other "advertising".

There is leeway given to those who participate in the forums to present their own games, such as as examples of games that do things a particular way. However, there are plenty of game companies and publishers and creators who are looking for places to announce their games, and the cumulative effect of this is Spam.

No harm, no foul--I made the same mistake on Usenet in 1997 when I announced Multiverser. Welcome to the Forge, we hope you find the resources useful and join in to contribute something here. Please don't muddy the waters with posts which are mere commercial announcements.

Thanks.

--M. J. Young

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

My policy for this thread so far is to see whether the initial poster responds in a meaningful way. If he does, then fine - we're talking about design, or perhaps publishing, or whatever, and I'd move it to another forum if necessary.

But he hasn't responded at all, which leads me to think that it was a spam advertising post. I'm giving it one more day to be sure.

Best,
Ron

[New Dimension Games]

Greetings all.  I apologize for not writing back sooner.  I'm just busy and did not expect so much traffic on my post so soon.  As it is, I can safely say that I am very interested in promoting independent and alternative game design.  That I ask others to look at my own games and website is not to spam (I dislike spam as much as anyone), but to provide an example of what an individual can do.  That said, I am always interested in imput, not just from players of games, but those who design them as well.  Without new approaches to games, they become mired in a "one-way-only" mentality, which of course detracts from the creative aspect of our hobby.  I invite others to ask about my game systems, and to offer ideas on how they would approach any aspect of game design.  By sharing ideas we can only develop better and more enjoyable games.  My approach is "simpler rules, more things happening".  I have wearied of playing an RPG that takes 10 minutes to calculate a round of combat.  So, I asked myself, how can we make a system move faster without sacrificing detail?  After over ten years of game design, I feel I have found many good answers.  For example, instead of counting/collecting arrows, I put "running out of arrows at a dramatic moment" on the Critical Miss table.  I invite others to look at my website for sample pages of my game.  If they wish to buy them, I appreciate that, but I'm much more interested in hearing from players out there what it is you want.  I am a game designer that is taking that leap of faith into marketing and like to groge myself on input from others, good and bad.  Well, I've rambled long enough, so I'll leave this to you and check back soon.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

The question is whether you have a specific game in design at the moment, which you want to discuss here.

If so, please direct us to where we can read it, or tell us about the most relevant features that you have questions about.

If not, then it's time for you to look over the forums here, check out their individual purposes, and to start a new thread. If, for instance, you want to talk about how your designs meet your goals of "simple rules, complex and powerful outcomes," then you should do it in RPG Theory (if mainly idea-based) or Actual Play (if appropriate).

Everyone, please refrain from responding until we know which is the case. New Dimension folks, what do you say?

Best,
Ron

[New Dimension Games]

Greetings, all.  New Dimension Games here.  Having read the posts, both pro and con, I feel they are all fair, and I believe I simply posted in the wrong Forum, and for that I apologize.  I'm new to The Forge and just finding my way, so-to-speak, so I openly ask:  I have both existing games and others in development, so to get feedback for either one, in which Forum(s) would the readers at The Forge prefer I post?  I may have been a gamer my whole life, but I'm new to crossing the frontier into publishing, which is proving to be a tough beast to handle, as people see you and your intentions differently, but they really are not, as I'm still a gamer who is simply working to create indie games.  Again, I do indeed have finished games, but I am always writing new rules and expansions for them, plus I have other projects in development.  I want to be open with gamers out there and get feedback in the process.  So, I leave the question open:  Being new to The Forge, what Forum would my questions be best suited for?

[Jack Spencer Jr]

Hey, NDG

There are stickies at the tops of this forum and the Site Discussion forum which should help.

For the in development games, this forum works. Be sure to present us with a specific question or idea of what sort of feedback you need so we can best help you.

[RaconteurX]

Please tell us why you were not impressed with whatever you found.

All the preview materials I found consisted of inane collections of things like "variant critical hit charts". There was nothing which stood out, or even showed that the authors knew anything about pirates other than what they saw on the silver screen. Combine that with cheap production values, especially when there is much better material already in print, and I see nothing worth my time or money.

[rafial]

All the preview materials I found consisted of inane collections of things like "variant critical hit charts".

Owning the book, I hadn't looked at the sample materials, and I agree that they don't show off what I consider to be the most interesting parts of the game, but I do have to speak up in defense of the alternate critical hit tables as I found them to be a rather appealing feature.  The combat system is designed to produce frequent critical hits as a feature, and the idea of the alternate tables are to provide a flavor to the results that matches the environment in which the battle is being conducted.  The rules encourage the GM to provide additional variants for their own encounters.

Frankly, the tables which sold *me* on the game are the sample obstacles for attribute checks, which includes the task "Stacking dead bodies" as the first entry, and the "Slow Death" table :)

[John Harper]

Enough good things cannot be said about the "Slow Death" table. It's a stroke of genius that really got me interested in the game. I mean, the bit about the PC living if his attacker dies in the next d6 rounds? That's gold. And it's not even the best entry on the table.

Lovin' the slow death.

EDIT: Ooops. I responded to Wil's post without reading the whole thread here. Sorry about that. I'll wait for NDG to start up some design threads before I comment further.

[RaconteurX]

Whatever. Nothing on the website itself would encourage me to purchase any of New Dimension's products. I suggest they adopt a new strategy if they expect random passers-by to take an interest in their company. Me, I'll pass until I see more.