Being a Designer or Creator of RPG.

[Quixotica]

I have been writing for at least 10 years, mostly technical philosophy and theology. Independant Press.

For a while now, I have gotten away from that and have had creative splurges to design an RPG based on a couple of the books I have written. I role play regularly, but I have not seen or talked to anyone who knows how to do it. I was refered here by a few gamer friends of mine, am I in the right place?

[Bankuei]

Hi Q,

Welcome to the Forge!   The folks here are all about creating and playing games, so you can find lots of good advice here.  You might want to start by heading over to Actual Play and giving an example or two of some experiences that were really great, and indicative of similar kinds of play you'd like to have your game support.  Also, a small bit of background as to the kinds of games you're familiar with also lets people know which concepts of design or play may be familar or new to you, and that helps us help you.

Chris

[Sydney Freedberg]

If you're interested in writing a roleplaying game for people to play face-to-face, without a computer, yes, absolutely. What games do you "play regularly"? And do you have a specific "first thought" (however sketchy) for your own design?

[Quixotica]

Sounds good. I will hope into Actual Play, to just discuss what I have played and enjoyed. I am rather protective of my ideas, but I am here for a reason. I called three table-top RPG companies in my country, each said the same. They said to send a 256 page proposal with artwork, they were very interested in new projects that were original.

Thanks for the welcome.

[Sydney Freedberg]

If you're concerned about protecting your intellectual property, and if you're dealing with RPG publishing companies, you might want to look at various threads in Publishing as well, and at Ron Edwards's cautionary tale about protecting yourself.

[Valamir]

Well...here we're all about being independent.

If you've got a 256 page book with artwork you've got absolutely no need for "table top RPG companies" at all.  There is nothing they bring to the table you can't do without them (often better and cheaper).

For example...as an independent you can design your game to be as long as it needs to be.  It is ENTIRELY unnecessary (indeed ludicrous) to aim for a certain page count before you even have begun designing the game.  Your game could be 300 pages or it could be 30.  It should be as long as it needs to be and printed in whatever format works best.  Most of the games published here wind up being half size and about 100 pages.  And 100 pages of concentrated gaming power is way better than 256 pages of fluff and stuff.

[Quixotica]

Well...here we're all about being independent.

That is essentially why I am here. :)