Actually finishing your RPG

I too appreciate the mention, there, Paul. My most beloved of games (ZENOBIA) is currently off-line, but that and ZAIBATSU were ... sounds corny ... labours of love. Like plenty of designers out there I've had great ideas and then spent a frenzied fortnight 'exorcising them' from my psyche. Then they sit there, not really finished, not really playtested, a neat idea wrapped around a funky mechanic.

The games I'm most proud of are long. I'm not saying a good game has to be a long game, just that if I write a game and I know its a great concept, something I want to see finished so I can get on and play the mother, I've got to write up absolutely everything that the game demands of me. 'If I write this game, it's just GOT to have X, Y and Z! Oh, and if it had a W near the end, past the Glossary, that would be even better. Yeah!' and so it goes on.

Then one day, after lots of writing and even more fiddling, its finished. And you know its finished because you've had a checklist of things you wanted to include, and you've worked throught it all. You've mentally flipped through the game plenty of times, you know how it reads, what surprises it has in store - now you can flip through for real.

Finishing is fantastic. Everything fits together, connects and cross-references.

But not everyone is like me, I'm sure!

Paul Elliott