the game designer gloating thread

[Green]

Hi, guys!

I just started this thread as a place for game designers to tell about the results of their developing games on the Forge and publishing them, a place where they see how the frustration and dedication pay off.  

As for me, I got an email not too long ago for someone who is running a Four Color Heroes game who has adapted Kathanaksaya to what he wants to do.  It's really neat and worth checking out.

Has anybody else had experiences like this that made you say, "Hey, that was worth it!"

[xiombarg]

And this guy is actually running the game? Because his web page just sounds like variant rules for your own game...

[Jake Norwood]

The really big payoff is having people play your game and love it and tell you about it and say that a 45 minute demo was the best thing about Gen Con. Second to that is chatting with John Wick or Peter Adkinson about it.

And that's overlooking the fact that you're finally playing the RPG you always wanted to. Hmmm...

The best thing about publishing TROS (not writing it, neccessarily), has been the people I've met and become friends with--Ron, Ralph, Mike, Jared, and the gang. Sappy, but true. I never went to game conventions before this. Now I always will, just 'cause those guys will be there.

Jake

[Green]

And this guy is actually running the game? Because his web page just sounds like variant rules for your own game...

Yes, he's running it.  I didn't even know he was until he emailed me.

[Tomas HVM]

One guy wrote to me, and told me he was "a huge fan of Fabula", and stated that I was a genius, and humbly asked me for "something, anything, a bit of your shirt sleeve".

I've had some more fanmail too, gathering it all in a special file. This fanfile is a source of happiness for such a whore as me :)

Great thread, by the way!

[Eero Tuovinen]

Well, in my humble designing career the greatest moment was probably in the last Ropecon. I had designed an immersionist scenario based on Lovecraft's "Temple"; basicly just a submarine with the crew slowly suffocating to death, tacked on to a couple of strange mechanics and a narrativist drive at "choose how to die, like a man or like a dog". The game was more like a little larp, taking fifteen people both times it was run. I consider this a Forge game in the sense that the Forge has affected all of my design for the last two years.

Well, I didn't GM the game myself, too busy. I was understandably a little off with it and jogged the elbow of the gamemaster all the time before the game (which was of course played starting at two o'clock in the morning), giving advice on how it's meant to be run.

Then, I was sleeping peacefully in the dormitory that night, when at about 5 o'clock the GM came back from the game and woke me up. I was a little confused and groggy at that time, but the GM said something about "here's the guy who wrote the game" when kicking me awake. Then a guy appeared, seemingly one of the players. "Sorry for waking you, but I just wanted to tell you that the Temple was the greatest single session I've ever played. I've played Call of Cthulhu for years, but this just blew my mind." We chatted for a while with the guy, me having this strange feeling in my gut. I'd made something meaningful!

Well, the next day I minded my business as usual, except that for some reason all fifteen players somehow knew my face, or so it felt. And about everyone told me how great the game was, how finding the aryan (I ported the story to WWII) shield in the lost city was a mind-blowing event, etc. I just had to remind them that most of that kind of game comes from the players; apparently the ship had had a really strong player captaining it, giving a strong rendition of the crumbling of humane philosophy in the face of the aryan ideology I'd penned in the character.

Anyway, the same thing happened the next day, when the second batch of players had played the scenario. You can believe that both me and the gamemaster felt quite elated with the experience. Thank you Forge, for making me lose weight, get a better skin and start designing innovative games!

[Daniel Solis]

My very first game was Zombie: the Coil. The goal was to give zombies equal weight in White Wolf's World of Darkness as viable player characters (Risen, Samedhi, and the other existing subsplats didn't meet my definition of "zombie.")

So I spent about a year writing this book, incorporating everything from voodoo, Night of the Living Dead, my favorite elements of Wraith: the Oblivion and putting it on the web piece by piece. Boy, did it show. The systems were all wonky, my artwork was atrocious, and gradually I just stopped updating it much.

Fortunately, I had enough material written (splats, society, notable NPCs, etc) for people to run full-blown, zombie-only games. For a couple years after that, I burned out on game design but I kept getting emails from fans. The best thing was when they would write their own supplements to my game as if it were an actual, official entry in the WoD game line.

This was all about four years ago. Now the game is collecting mothballs in my school webspace, but I eventually want to turn Z:tC into its own game, independent of White Wolf and the soon-to-be-rebooted WoD.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I think that the basic question posted by Green really needs to be elaborated a little, and focused on Actual Play.

I shall re-phrase it: Green, what happened in the group's actual play of Kathanaksaya which really confirmed your enjoyment of their account?

Same goes for anyone who wants to discuss similar experiences with the games they've designed and that others have played. Please be very specific.

Best,
Ron

[Green]

Ron: Nothing, as of yet.  The Narrator of that particular game just made a website that he'll be using for his own game, which will be starting soon.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Green,

My point remains the same, actually - what appears on that website that lets you know "these guys get it!" or otherwise enthuses you about that upcoming game?

Best,
Ron

[Luke]

so far, i think my greatest love of actual play with new players is watching them script for the first time.

After my pitch, every player looks either lost, disgusted, or scared. They usually stare at the script sheet like it's an algebra text book or dirty toilet paper or something.

But, when we close the first exchange, and I let them know that it's over, I always ask: So do you want to try to finish this? Eyes light up, shoulders hunch, hands raise like walls to block view behind which pencils scribble furiously. NOW they get it.  Everyone's a master by the second exchange. Or at least they think they are!


We also had a fantastic moment in a demo this past weekend. One kid "got it" right off the bat and attempted to break the system as best he could. It was troll vs wolf at 8 paces. The troll didn't bother advancing, he just chucked his shield at the wolf and ended up braining him (-2D!). It was a great moment because the kid was trying to "break" the game and actually ended up getting what he wanted. Boy was he surprised!

::sigh::
i love playing this game!

[Green]

My point remains the same, actually - what appears on that website that lets you know "these guys get it!" or otherwise enthuses you about that upcoming game?

A number of things, actually, from the way he changes the vocabulary to reflect his vision to how he describes Comic-Book World.  It's a real treat to see him develop the ideas the way he did because it's both unexpected yet familiar.

[Green]

Saturday, I played a table-top game of Kathanaksaya with a group of players ranging from total newbies to experienced roleplayers.  It was great!  Once they got used to the bidding mechanic, they very quickly latched on to the idea of narrative roleplaying, even though up until now most were used to Sim designs.  I think they enjoyed that the work they put into their characters pays off in the course of roleplaying, and they liked being able to influence the world beyond die rolls.

Hopefully, the Narrator of that game will choose to stick with it.