need some help getting started

[Björn K. Johansson]

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[Filip Luszczyk]

I'd suggest to start from turning the general concept into something that can be playtested. For this, you probably don't need to have all the setting details on paper, as long as you know where you're going with it. Once you're done with some general playtesting, you should have a better idea what to change, what to focus on, and whether you actually want to commit yourself to finishing the project. Then, you can start writing down the playtest document. There's still a long way from this stage to complete game, of course.

Also, if it's your first RPG, you might want to try small and do some design excercises. 24 hour design, possibly, or some short design challenge that will help you develop basic skills - like the one that has just started down in the Endeavor forum today

[Björn K. Johansson]

I'd suggest to start from turning the general concept into something that can be playtested. For this, you probably don't need to have all the setting details on paper, as long as you know where you're going with it. Once you're done with some general playtesting, you should have a better idea what to change, what to focus on, and whether you actually want to commit yourself to finishing the project. Then, you can start writing down the playtest document. There's still a long way from this stage to complete game, of course.

Also, if it's your first RPG, you might want to try small and do some design excercises. 24 hour design, possibly, or some short design challenge that will help you develop basic skills - like the one that has just started down in the Endeavor forum today

[Seth M. Drebitko]

[Callan S.]

It sounds like the big issues have already been answered - some great being already decided to sacrifice this world. Some parents already decided to rebel and flee the city.

I think bringing uncertainty into those questions is the key - have the parents really decided to rebel and leave, or do they fall back into oppressed ways? Did the great being really damn them all to save the rest of creation, or did he not do so fully, threatening the rest of the universe but leaving this world a chance. Did he? Or perhaps he fully damned this world - we don't know, only play will tell.

Do you think the mechanics of your game could center around resolving those? Rather than doing to hit rolls?

[Björn K. Johansson]

What do the players do? (for example some games specifically lend themselves to styles of play, like seventh sea having the players be swash buckling pirates)

The idea is that players play either awakened humans or one of these deformed children and they must find a way to free the world. They could also only find a way to live in peace but the Evil will of course try to capture/kill them.

ow involved of rules do you want? (for example d20 is a mechanically dense system in my opinion because of all the various classes and such)

What medium of resolution will you use? (For example my design is using tarot cards, while standard games use dice)

[Seth M. Drebitko]

The idea is that players play either awakened humans or one of these deformed children and they must find a way to free the world. They could also only find a way to live in peace but the Evil will of course try to capture/kill them.

I like that you have a very specific character goal in mind (something I lack) what might be interesting in this case is focusing on some of the more prominent concepts as driving statistics for a character.
Some concepts you have noted would be:
play either awakened humans or one of these deformed children (possibly who am I)
must find a way to free the world (what am I fighting for)
Evil will of course try to capture/kill them (what haunts me)

I want a system that invites to a descriptive playing style. Not just "I attack" *roll dice* "10 damage". I system with freedom but with rules

With this many people are becoming very open to new concepts which could allow you to perform a variety of different things mechanically. Some ideas for descriptive game play might be to turn the resolution into descriptive task.

For example me and some friends got together and were bored waiting for others to get to game. We quickly just started bsing and came upon an interesting quick little mechanic. Each player has three stats body, mind, personality, all of which relate to a number of one or two card words the person can create. At any given time the person can have a number of cards in hand equal to the average of their stats. When attempting to take action the players take turns laying cards down to try and trump one another. For example:

Jack decides to swing his sword at Richard. Jack plays a card that he wrote the word violently and states "I "violently" thrust my blade towards his heart", to which Richard placed a card defiantly stating "I defiantly lock hilt to hilt closing in to bash him with the top of my head"

Like I said though we were just bsing never finished up. Mostly just trying to show an example of how something like what you want might work.

Regards, Seth (If none of that made sense I am sleepy and will fix it in the morning lol)

[Filip Luszczyk]

tricky question. I want a system that invites to a descriptive playing style. Not just "I attack" *roll dice* "10 damage". I system with freedom but with rules

Well, the most obvious options are:

-bonuses given for cool narration (e.g. stunt bonuses from Exalted) or even effectiveness based entirely on the amount of detail provided (see Wushu).
-"fanmail" awards - everyone has a pool of points that can be given to other for doing cool things; the pool could be finite, or tied to some replenishing economy (e.g. fanmail from PTA, gift dice from The Shadow of Yesterday).
-actions formed from a combination of individual cinematic moves (e.g. Fireborn).

All in all, you might want to check out Wushu and TSoY, and possibly use one of these systems for your game, not to develop your own rules from sratch. Both are under Creative Commons licenses, and have versions freely available online.