Intro

[Blackguard25]

Greetings I'm Barry Kester I'm new to this site I was wondering how I can show my work to other people. I call my system the Hero Muncher System.  I don't have a website or anything like that. My system is pretty much complete with its core mechanics and so I just want some people to look at it. How do I do that on this site?

[Eero Tuovinen]

Well, there are free servers all around the 'net. Nowadays a popular method is to get a free blog space and organize your project into a blog. There are other benefits to having a web page; if nothing else, you then have one place where you can report on your progress.

The other option is to pick and choose the central excerpts from your game and post them here. That is easier for the folks here and will garner more reads, but only if you know yourself what is relevant and what is not in your game. The point is not to post as much as you can, but rather to figure out what parts you have questions about, and post the bare minimum to get the point across in regards to that.

The third option is to create a PDF of your work and contact me via PM. I can put your text up for a couple of weeks or months (basicly, until I notice it on my server and remove it in a periodical cleaning operation) so you can refer to it in a Forge thread or two.

Ideally you'd combine options one and two - get yourself a location where you can display the whole project for those interested, but also exercise editorial insight and pull up the most relevant parts for the forum here. We don't mind "long" posts as long as they're still realistic as regards the mission of the site - if understanding a design conundrum you have requires three sequential messages at the posting length limit, then so be it.

[Blackguard25]

Experience Point System
   Every session the storyteller should reward experience which helps the character advance and gives more strategies for next session. A recommended amount is 1 to 3 depending on the intelligence of the player.

What a Point of Experience is
5 per Attribute point Gain
2 per Skill Point Gain
2 per Special Power Point Gain
1 per Merit/Flaw Point Gain

Taking Actions:
   Success or failure in a action is determined by skill in a specific area and attribute and the appropriate action. For example, if the player needs to do research you roll mental and the research trait combined. In this system, you can also make the rolls automatic and determine success based on the players dice amount. A player with six dice should do better than 3 dice automatically. Describing the action more clearly should also net or make harder some rolls. It is generally advised to make combat more random as to encourage smarter actions.

Special Power Actions: Unless made a flaw a special action should always hit.

Traps: Same as special power action especially if a player bumbles into them.

Important Notes:
   Special Items cannot be expanded on unless with difficulty but the player needs no rest with them.

Optional Special Rules:
Specialization: It is possible to specialize stats and skills at the expense of other stats and skills take a point down in difficulty for one roll and put a point up for all other rolls.

Starting Cash: While technically not a optional special rule it is up to you the dm to decide the starting cash depending on the story.

Saving Throws:
Certain Special Powers have effects which can turn people into stone, set them on fire, paralize them, etc. When you get hit and depending on the strength of the power roll to save. Usually a 4+ succeeds. Use the appropriate attribute roll

[Blackguard25]

Character Sheet Description

Attributes: General Strengths of a Character
Physical: Attributes that cover the bodies abilities
Mental: Attributes that cover the brains abilities
Social: Attributes that cover the ability to interact with others
HP:  Covers structural integrity of the body before it loses conciousness

Skills: Specified abilities that relate to a characters knowledeges

Special Powers: Techniques, tactics, and magical abilities that make the character

Inventory: Items currently in a characters possession

Merits/Flaws: Abilities and personality trains outside and unique to a person

Player Character/ Hero Monster Sheet

Character Name:
Player Name:
Miscellaneous Information:
Experience:
Gold/Cash:

Attributes( 5 Points)
Physical
Mental
Social
HP 10+10X (X=X point invested)

Skills (10 points)







Special Powers(20 points)





Inventory






Merits/Flaws (0 points)

[Blackguard25]

Special Power/ Item Sheet Description
Name: Describer of a special power/Item
Description: History and the look of a special power/ item
Level: Strength of special power/item
Special Point Cost: Special power/ Item cost to take at the start or in mid-game

Attributes: General Strengths of a Special Power/Item Sheet
Damage: HP reduction if it hit's the character, monster, etc.
Frequency: Amount of times a special power/item can be used per day
Duration: Lasting effects of a special power/item usually having to do with its special effects

Special Effects: Status ailments that a special power/item can inflict

Merits/ Flaws: Advantages/ Disadvantages of a special power/item

Special Power/Item Sheet

Name:
Description:
Level:
Special Point Cost: 4 per level





Attributes (5 points + X per level)
Damage
Range
Amount/Frequency (per Day)
Duration:


Special Effect (1 effect + ½X per Power Level)(No points can be invested to increase)

[Blackguard25]

Alright here is the very bare basics of my Hero Muncher System. I'm just wondering if everything is worded right and carefully so everybody understands whats going on. Here is what all the categories are about.

The first are the basic rules for any and all campaigns

The second is the character sheet for a person

The third is a power character sheet.

Now I have a lot of questions regarding what to do next so any comments I will happily answer.

[Eero Tuovinen]

Go ahead with your questions, we'll see if there are useful answers out here.

Meanwhile, some clarifying questions of my own:
- What do the players do in this game?
- What does this game do differently from others?
- What was your purpose in designing this game?

[Blackguard25]

Meanwhile, some clarifying questions of my own:
- What do the players do in this game?
- What does this game do differently from others?
- What was your purpose in designing this game?

Thank you for your questions I will do my best to answer them.

This system is a universal roleplay system. Its meant to be the most barebones, simpliest system I could make. Its purpose is to make rules for other roleplay sytems although it can be used as a stand alone product on its own.Its mainly good for easy customization of rules, traps, monsters, etc. My purpose was to make a game I called Hero Munchers which is basically an inverse roleplaying game like Dungeon Keeper from Bullfrog but it turned into a good system on its own so felt the need to make the rules and baam it turned into the system above. I could show more snippets of the system if you like. Its not that long though I did not want to send to many messages and posts.

[Blackguard25]

My main question I guess is that would people be interested in playing this system and whether from the posts is it easy to understand?

[Eero Tuovinen]

Will people want to play this? That's a difficult question, because different people have different priorities. We speak of target audiences with an intent to clarify this matter. However, speaking only of my experiences, I'd say that your game might have a problem. Consider:

• Your game is an universal system, a field with intense competition between highly evolved and intricate games. It appears from your explanation and the snippets that you aim for an "emulative" approach to the roleplaying fiction, wherein characters and other facets of the game world are described in numbers. This is the same approach games like GURPS, Hero System, Tri-Stat, BESM, Fudge, Unisystem, WoD and numberless others take. For anybody to consider your game in their stead, your game would need to offer something those do not.
• Apparently, based on your response to my questions, you don't have a particularly strong vision for your game. There is no overriding sense of purpose for what it should do or how it should look. I fear that a game that's made as a tool-box for gamers with the purpose of being "easy to use" and not much more won't interest many people to try it. A technical approach with little color or story won't draw in new roleplayers, while the old ones already have all the generic mechanics they need.
• As a matter of improving your game: what are the players supposed to be doing while they play? You didn't answer to this one, despite it being the single most important facet of the game design process. Why would anybody want to play your game? It is a very distinctive feature of the universal, emulative game engine that the designer does not particularly think about the whys of roleplaying; he himself has such imagination and drive to play that his only purpose is to craft tools for shaping that drive in himself. However, it is a huge gap to leap when you have to sell somebody else (metaphorically, if not actually) on using the set of tools you created for your own purposes. You need to think of the play process itself and how your game might faciliate the purposes of somebody else. It is not enough to give many mechanics for describing imaginary creatures and assuming that the audience will know what to do with them and want to do anything with them. The people with that kind of need are already quite happily tinkering with GURPS, Hero System... (the list is already above).

The above points might speak to you or not; I know that I myself am utterly disinterested in a game that only faciliates creation of imaginary characters with statistics. The game needs to have rules and procedures for making those creations move in an interesting manner. Certainly, I could be a GM and put some movement into those characters. Or as a player, I could invent all kinds of passion and motivation for my creations. But nowadays I have so many rules systems that define, frame and faciliate such efforts that I can't really get interested in a system that merely defines characters and leaves me a free playing field.

But regardless of that, what we need to know is why you imagine that this game might be interesting: why would you play it yourself? What would you do with it? What would it look like when you played it?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Barry,

Eero's right! Let's not talk about anyone else but you and your desires for how enjoyable this game should be, and in what ways.

That is the key to great game design.

Best, Ron

[brainwipe]

I'm with Eero and Ron on this. Answer those questions for yourself and then think about other people.

Generally speaking, you can't play a Universal system. You can only play a universal game that has a setting. Make a setting that best shows off your universal system.

Also, I can't really see how this game is to be played from your posts. I would include something like an "example of play".

[Blackguard25]

Alright thanks for the advice I will include an example of play. I don't have any data on a setting yet I will get working on it For now though I want to add the rest of my current data. I will than make an article about example of play soon.

[Blackguard25]

Monster Character Sheet Description

Monster Name: Monster's label
Level: Difficulty of fighting a monster
Description: Identity of a monster, what it does, etc.

Attributes: General Strengths of a Character
Physical: Attributes that cover the bodies abilities
Mental: Attributes that cover the brains abilities
Social: Attributes that cover the ability to interact with others
HP:  Covers structural integrity of the body before it loses conciousness

Skills: Specified abilities that relate to a characters knowledeges

Special Powers: Techniques, tactics, and magical abilities that make the character

Inventory: Items currently in a characters possession

Merits/Flaws: Abilities and personality trains outside and unique to a person

Monster Character Sheet

Monster Name
Level
Description:




Attributes(5 points + X per challenge)
Physical
Mental
Social
HP: 10 + 10X (X= X points invested)

Skills (10 points invested + 2X per challenge)






Special Powers (20 points invested + 4X per challenge)








Inventory ( If Applicable)








Merits/Flaws

[Blackguard25]

Now I'm going to add two unique class/races to the system. Its kind of wierd how it works but it adds rules and such to the existing rules. It introduces two classes. The Hero Muncher from games like Dungeon Keeper. And the Trapist class from games like Deception and Trapt.