Announcing Self System semi-generic Narrativist RPG

[J B Bell]

Mike Holmes and J B Bell are pleased to announce the first release version of Self System, our role-playing game of personal struggle and conflict with the inner and outer world.

Begun as a simple system by Mike Holmes for an online game, Self System has expanded to be a fully realized game in the (rather short) tradition of Story Engine and Accord.  All conflicts are handled by a single conflict resolution system, and nearly everything in the game is handled as a conflict, including character advancement.  Protagonization has been kept carefully in mind throughout the design, resulting in a game that allows players to get what they want even when the PCs fail miserably.

At the core of the PC is the Self Trait, surrounded by Traits that are radically flexible, yet neatly scaled (unlike Story Engine there are no "relative" Traits).  The system can use any kind of dice at all, even mixed within a single roll, as functionally they are equivalent to d2's.  Handling time is low, as there are no rolls vs. a given target number--all rolls are either read straight if uncontested, or rolled against other rolls.

The conflict system handles combat, debate, long-term contests (such as courtship or war), large-and small-scale conflicts (from inner struggles up to inter-planetary clashes), and even magic and other special powers in exactly the same way:  relevant Traits are committed to the Conflict; any sub-Conflicts are handled; and the dice are rolled and the outcome interpreted on a simple, linear scale.  Sub-Conflicts allow many wrinkles on a normal conflict, including the potent, risky, character-developing Character Conflict.

The latter core technique ensures that the Premise developed for your game, and your PC's Personal Struggle (a kind of mini-premise and kicker), are hilighted throughout the game.

OK, that's a lot of boasting, but we've worked very hard on this, and I believe it's a complete, playable game.  In fact, a PBEM playtest is underway already and looks very promising.  The text as it stands remains something of a draft, but major improvements will be following based on early commentary.  We now invite the Forge to provide their own comments, and, of course, we want you to play it!

The game can currently be found here.  The current revision is 1.7.1.4.

Oh, and one last thing:  this is the first RPG, or game of any kind I know of, to be released under a GPL-style license.  This remains to be written up, but it will allow anyone to use, and sell, the core system with any setting details they wish, without having to get special permission.  However, any mechanical changes or improvements rendered to the system go back into the Self System "commons".  Authors' setting details, presentation (except for contributions to the "main branch" of the system), and of course any art, will remain their own property.  Yes, we're trying to do the OGL one better with a truly open (some would say "free as in freedom") system.

Have at it!

--JB

[xiombarg]

I like it, but... it needs more examples. Lots more examples. In particular, I really, really don't understand how the "Character Conflict" sub-conflict works, which is sad, because I get the impression it's sort of important. Considering how important Self is and the Personal Struggle, all the things that can be done with Self need some examples.

[Paganini]

I like it, but... it needs more examples. Lots more examples. In particular, I really, really don't understand how the "Character Conflict" sub-conflict works, which is sad, because I get the impression it's sort of important. Considering how important Self is and the Personal Struggle, all the things that can be done with Self need some examples.

Heh heh heh! That's what I've been saying all week. "More examples Mike! How does this work? Give me more text!" :)

[Blake Hutchins]

Ayup.  More illustrations of rules in action, character creation, etc.  Even clearer social contract stuff would be helpful if you're trying to push this beyond the Forge community.

Best,

Blake

[Seth L. Blumberg]

I agree with the comments of xiombarg and Blake Hutchins, especially re: Character Conflict and social contract.  Take a look at Nobilis 2nd ed for an example of a rules section on social contract done really well.

[Bankuei]

I'm really interested, but the lack of a premise kinda lacks..."bite".  I can see some cool potential with it, but maybe some more examples and ideas will get the juices flowin.

Chris

[Mike Holmes]

Examples, yes. By the time this is done, I fully expect it to tripple in size at the very least.

That includes trippling each of the Trait catagories including lots of examples, and adding a whole lot on how to select traits in general, and what they represent. Also, there will be more on the social contract stuff; Seth is tight that there are games that we'd do well to emulate there. The resolution system needs better statement, especially the stuff about Caharacter Conflicts as pointed out. We've already begun work on that. We also are looking at throwing more stuff in the Techniques section that should elucidate use in general. And all of this with much more in the way of examples for each.

When will a rewrite be available? I think some clarifying stuff will go in soon. The mass of the examples will probably take just a while longer. I hope we can have this all much more fine tuned presentation-wise before GenCon (Where I hope to try demoing it).

Chris, as to the Premiseless nature. I am hoping that the current playtest can be posted as a one-page as a "how we did it" example, and I'll probably think up a few more as well. I hope that gets people really going. If they see one they like, they can plug in and go, and actually play. Or they might get inspired and make their own one page.

There is a premise to the game, actually, though it's incredibly difuse. "What's more important, your Self or everything else?" The Premise creation part is simply the same sort of refining process one goes through in Sorcerer, for example. Does it give players enough to chew on? Well, in the playtest, they're off and running like freight train.

But we should ask them. Chris, Nathan, do you get what play is about, and how and where to drive the story given the mechanics presented?

Mike

[Bankuei]

I am hoping that the current playtest can be posted as a one-page as a "how we did it" example, and I'll probably think up a few more as well. I hope that gets people really going. If they see one they like, they can plug in and go, and actually play. Or they might get inspired and make their own one page.

Exactly what I'm looking for, just an example so I can figure out how some of the ideas I've got would fit in better.

here is a premise to the game, actually, though it's incredibly difuse. "What's more important, your Self or everything else?"

This I picked up right away(probably because I'm reading Sufi mysticism books....), but I think it's a great idea.  As I was giving an example to someone else yesterday, I put it like this:  The kung fu student goes to the master to learn more techniques(raise trait), gets humbled(lowered Self).  Or, as one person surpasses previously known limits, their idea of themselves is shaken up.

But we should ask them. Chris, Nathan, do you get what play is about, and how and where to drive the story given the mechanics presented?

I have a fairly good idea of how I might run it, but I would be interested in knowing a bit more about resolution.  Perhaps if you included bits of the playtest as examples, I think that would work out well.


Chris

[C. Edwards]

But we should ask them. Chris, Nathan, do you get what play is about, and how and where to drive the story given the mechanics presented?

 
So far, it seems all about grinding your character's own Personal Struggle against the wheel of the overall Premise; sparks should be flying all the way up to the grande finale and the characters will be sharpened and defined along the way.  Fortunately the mechanics are tailor made to do this.
 
Although I'm just beginning to grasp the subtleties of the conflict resolution mechanics the system does seem to work very well and play has gone very smoothly up to this point.  I can only imagine that it will get better as my understanding of the mechanics improves.

  -Chris

[Mike Holmes]

here is a premise to the game, actually, though it's incredibly difuse. "What's more important, your Self or everything else?"

This I picked up right away(probably because I'm reading Sufi mysticism books....), but I think it's a great idea.  As I was giving an example to someone else yesterday, I put it like this:  The kung fu student goes to the master to learn more techniques(raise trait), gets humbled(lowered Self).  Or, as one person surpasses previously known limits, their idea of themselves is shaken up.

Excellent grasshopper. I'm glad that comes across. And my main inspiration was Sufi mysticism (which I originally picked up reading Dune; oh...just got a one-sheet idea).

I have a fairly good idea of how I might run it, but I would be interested in knowing a bit more about resolution.  Perhaps if you included bits of the playtest as examples, I think that would work out well.

Sorry, Chris "Bankuei", I meant my playtester, Chris "Thickenergy" Edwards.

I will include some of the playtest examples of resolution, after I clean them up. We're learning scads about the system as we use it. JB assures me that a lot of this will be ready next week.

Mike

[Paganini]

There is a premise to the game, actually, though it's incredibly difuse. "What's more important, your Self or everything else?" The Premise creation part is simply the same sort of refining process one goes through in Sorcerer, for example. Does it give players enough to chew on? Well, in the playtest, they're off and running like freight train.

But we should ask them. Chris, Nathan, do you get what play is about, and how and where to drive the story given the mechanics presented?

I think so, Mike. The game seems ideally suited to dealing with premise, in that it almost forces you to glue your character to it. As presented, the overt premise of the game is almost a meta-premise, along the lines of: "This game is about premise, and relating characters to that premise as closely as possible." The system is absolutely intense in the way it drives [1] characters through the narrative.

The playtest is just pounding along... I feel that our game is like the best dark future sci-fan movies. Which is, I think, exactly what you wanted.

[1] Think hammer, not car. :)

[Mike Holmes]

The playtest is just pounding along... I feel that our game is like the best dark future sci-fan movies. Which is, I think, exactly what you wanted.

Well, I'm extremely pleased with how the playtest is going. Then again I have an obvious bias. But I think it works pretty well as designed, if I do say so.

What we really need is an independent test or two. I would be willing to help any group who might be interested get started with a game, though I'm not sure how "Independant" that would be. Is there any incentive that I can offer to get a group to play?

Oh, and while I'm at it, I should mention that this current playtest was started at the Indie-Netgaming site, and I hope that others have the same sort of success that I have. Thanks, Nathan!

Mike