Divinity: Asking for critique

[sean2099]

I have a website at http://agesgaming.bravehost.com

I am developing a game with a universal setting where players take on the role of minor deities or other beings with a similar level of power.  It is a combination roleplaying/wargame that I simply want to publish for free on the internet.  I have come up with some rules so far although I know that I am very far from completing the game.

I have left instructions on the website for anyone interesting in getting a free PDF of the rules I have come with so far.  Plus, I have some of the rules on the website as a preview.

[Kynn]

I have left instructions on the website for anyone interesting in getting a free PDF of the rules I have come with so far.  Plus, I have some of the rules on the website as a preview.

I couldn't find the rules on the web site. I saw something about joining a yahoogroup, so I did that, expecting the rules to be in the group's files.

They weren't there either.

You know, if you make it too hard to anyone to read the rules of your game, you're really limiting the amount of critique you're likely to get.

[sean2099]

Thanks for pointing that out Kynn,  I will upload the file after getting off work here.  I will still send by request as well.

[sean2099]

I have posted it on the yahoo group.  My apologies in advance for saying you have to join the group.  I don't want anyone modifying the files at this point.  You can set it so that you dont receive any email.  I am working on an easier way to get information.  You can also leave an email if you like and I will send PDF to you.

[Kynn]

Okay, I got the PDF and looked it over.

Woah, I was hit by some heavy duty conceptual whiplash.

The first part of the game starts out very metaphysical, dealing with the gods and the universe.  Very abstract, then all of a sudden, wham, the game becomes a wargame with point-by systems for units and their capabilities.

Wasn't really what I was expecting from the first part -- the change from vague fluffyness to very crunch took me by total surprise (and not in a good way). It's like I was reading two documents stuck together.  One is some pretty interesting (although not necessarily my cup of tea) stuff about gods and divinities, and the next is about how to spend your wargaming points on creating units with elite leaders and special abilities.

The two don't seem integrated at all.  I don't see much of the relationship between one and the other; it seems as if the interesting bits of the premise get lost and discarded when you start talking about "spending two points to buy offensive CS" and "it costs 8 points to teleport 1 inch" and so on.  I don't get what the game is about, and it seems oddly schizophrenic.

I don't mean to come down on you -- I'm just not sure what you're aiming for in this game, nor what type of style you're trying to capture.  Can you explain a litlte more how you see the game working?

--Kynn