Universalis settings books -- possible? sellable?

[Bill Burdick]

Is there a market for Universalis-related books, like setting or source books?  Players love examples to work from -- look at the myriad D20 books out there.  Lords of Madness is a good example.  It's about aberrations: beholders, mind flayers, aboleths, etc.  But the really cool thing about that book is all of the meaty background and story material in it (like about how aboleths use their telepathic powers to create human cults to worship them).  I recently bought Dreaming Cities (tri-stat dx), which is a most excellent book on urban fantasy settings.  It has a great history of the genre and a lot of good tips, like on how to keep the magic feeling 'magical', for instance.  I'm planning on using some things from both books in our uni game -- trying to inject a lovecraftian feel into the story.

So here I am, using RPG books from two different systems to inform my Universalis story ideas -- I'd buy them from Ramshead... if they were available!  You could structure a Universalis setting book similarly to the tri-stat books (Dreaming Cities, Ex Machina, etc.)  They start with an intro to and history of the genre, then talk about common topics, like how magic is much more 'hidden' in urban fantasy than in traditional fantasy.  Then they include the full Tri-Stat Dx rules, slightly customized (which seems to mean taking out the 'own a big mecha' attribute) -- this is great for Guardians of Order, because it provides essentially free filler for the book.  Then they move on to specific common examples and finally detail several radically different settings in that genre (each by different authors).  Tri-stat shares a few points with Universalis, because of its complete flexibility.  You have attributes like 'special attack,' 'dynamic powers,' and 'power flux,' where the player creates the effect of the attribute.  Because of this, there aren't really any new rules given in the settings books, just configurations of the tri-stat rules.

A Universalis setting book could have a similar structure; you could provide an intro and history of a genre, include the Universalis rules, and give specific common examples, with example tenets that might apply to the genre as a whole.  Then you could provide a set of settings.  Each setting could provide a detailed history, descriptions of cultures, etc.  The concrete section of a setting could include a list of tenets, components, and master components.  This would give players who chose to read up on a particular setting some ideas ahead of time for their games.  You could even provide "cheat sheets" to print out and bring to uni games.

If a group were to agree to use a setting ahead of time, 1) they could start with a clean slate, with a nod to the book, 2) they could fork-lift the tenets and components from one of the settings into their game, or 3) they could introduce 'packages' from the setting book during the tenet phase at a coin apiece (or maybe the book would cost out each one), each of which would include a selection of tenets and components (a rules gimmick for this would be included in the setting book, of course).

[Valamir]

This was part of the original plan for the game actually.  I had several Universalis "Genre Books" planned that would include things like prebuilt Components (like a "Saloon" for a Western Game) that could be Introduced without having to design it from scratch each time, and Rules Gimmicks to account for western staples like running out of ammo or having a quick draw contest.

Periodically new fans of the game hit on the same idea...and a few have even offered to start work on one that we could put on the website.

But ultimately what I realized as I got experienced playing the game...it winds up being pretty unnecessary and at times even counterproductive.

Unnecessary because the whole world is already your genre book.  If you like Song of Fire and Ice, the best genre book you could have is simply buy the novel, have everyone read it, and say "We'll play in that world, the novel is canon" as a Tenet.  If you play in the genre long enough you'll build up your own stable of Components and Rules Gimmicks to capture the flavor of the books.  And the best part is they'll be the flavor as you see it, rather than me.

That's the counter productive part.  Rather than tell you how to design the game or capture a particular mood, I'd rather you do it for yourself.  Noone can pick and choose your favorite aspects of a genre or setting that you'd like to emphasize better than you...and no one can tell your group which part to use and which to discard better than your group using its own Tenets and Challenges.

Ultimately successful Uni play really requires players who are willing to take ownership of all aspects of the game from characters to setting elements to introducing their own plot twists.  Providing too much specific detail may serve as something of a saftey net or a springboard to work off of...but it likely will also discourage players from grabbing the reigns and doing for themselves.  If your group decides to play a "cyberpunk" game, I'd much rather see a list of the Tenets and features that you think are essential for a fun cyberpunk story rather than see groups try to play with my list.

That's why that idea never got passed the early stage and there hasn't been any genre books for uni thus far.

That said...if after getting a few games under your belt you see an angle where there would be some good value added to such a project, feel free to float the idea and we'll see about maybe putting it up as a PDF on the website for sale (by you) or just as free support.

[Christopher Weeks]

Hmm.  I tend to agree with Ralph about it being unnecessary, but that's a completely off-the-cuff guess.  Ralph and Mike, did you actually try playing that way?  So here's the deal: If you (anyone!) create such a document -- say four to twenty pages, I'll put at least one group together to playtest it and I'll write about the experiment.  I think there's value in having it written by somone not in the play group, so that's why I'm offering it like this rather than just writing it up myself.  I think such a supppliment should have a description of the setting, a shortish list of tenets -- ideally including rules gimicks, several example components that may or may not be used in play (probably will, I suppose), and a few lightly loaded master components.  What else? 

And what are the potential pitfalls of such an approach to play -- in more specific terms than Ralph's concern that an author can't capture the grooviest parts of a setting?  I'm thinking the players still have a tenet phase if they have anything to add or modify...but does that dillute the nature of the experiment?

[Bill Burdick]

OK, if this game manages to stretch into a campaign, i.e. we play at least three different stories in the same setting, involving relatively the same characters, then I'll write it up for playtesting and we'll see where it goes...

[Danny2050]

Where a Uni "setting Kit" would differ from a book is that it need not have any narrative, just a stimulating setting. For beginners it would be useful because its sometimes hard to get started and for the old hands it would be useful to get out of a rut ("We keep playing the standard fantasy stuff, and I feel a need for a change so lets use the "San Francisco 1906 setting kit". (the one with the post quake zombie invasion))

The kit would give location data and have big picture forces from the mover and shaker characters all available for 1 coin. Some suggested rules gimmicks might also be appropriate.

[Nev the Deranged]

I was thinking about this kind of thing the other day too... not just in relation to setting info, but also custom rulesets for making Uni into a particular type of game...

so what about doing a mini-supplement program like Ron does for Sorcerer, where people can submit their custom Tenetsets and whatnot for sale via PDF for a nominal price, and let the market determine the need.

No doubt this idea has already been tossed around, but hey, I can be redundant as well as the next guy ^_^

[Aaron Smith]

I just don't see them as being saleable. Honestly, for my group our reaction to such a setting book would be "Well... sure it's cool and all, but why pay good money for something we can create ourselves, and have a lot of fun in the process of creation?"

I suppose a fan conversion of an existing rpg setting might be worthwhile looking at, and it could be interesting from an 'actual play' perspective to see what other gamers create... but I can't see somebody spending money for such an add-on kit. Not when the people who are going to be drawn to Universalis in the first place are already interested in making thier own worlds and telling stories in them.

[Christopher Weeks]

"Well... sure it's cool and all, but why pay good money for something we can create ourselves, and have a lot of fun in the process of creation?"

90% of consumer goods fall into this category.  I've built stereos and computers and shelving units and bicycles from varying levels of 'raw' materials.  But more often than not, I buy stuff that other people put together.  I'm not sure such a thing would sell either.  But it would be neat.

[Valamir]

I'm more than happy to test it out.  Any one who wants to put together a PDF, put a price point on it and see if it sells, is more than welcome to submit something.

It would need to be more than a mere list of tenets though. 

What I think such a product would need is:

1) A specific genre...something too broad like "western" or "detective story" would require a pretty big product to cover all possible territory.
2) A discussion on what makes the genre special...what are the key elements of character, setting, situation, and color that distinguish this genre.  Not necessarily to the extent Ron did with Sorcerer & Sword but along that line
3) The key tenets, probably with several different variant sets for different flavors with at least a line or two of description tieing the tenet back into the genre discussion.
4) Sample gimmicks...it might be nice to have a special set of Complication rules to cover a shoot out at high noon for instance, or gimmicks which enforce a frenetic pace common to certain anime.
5) A collection of genre specific people places and things.  Probably Low Coin, Mid Coin, and High Coin versions to serve as examples or designed to be used as Master Components.
6) At least 2-3 pieces of genre specific art and some good tie in graphic design.

In other words, it can't be something that anybody familiar with the genre could throw together in an afternoon.