SciFi RPG: Vector

[Wasabi]

Well, about a year or two ago i decided to write my own pen-and-paper RPG. My primary gaming experience is with Fuzion, but I've played DnD once (dont like it) and some Mekton Zeta.

However, I decided that was not enough. So i embarked on a painful journey. My basic goal here is to make an RPG where it's easy to boast about your character (level based system) but'it's a survival-based game, not combat-oriented (if that makes sense) with my favorite elements from other games plus some stuff of my own. Anyway.

The biggest pain about writing it has been making up classes and class focuses and skills, not to mention weapons. What i was kinda hoping for here was a little input on what I have so far... about 12 pages.

It is here. (look under downloads =P)

[Matt Machell]

Heh, I get a Forbidden error trying to access it.

To aid us, is there anything in particular you're looking for advice on. What are your aims with the game? How do you envision it being played?

-Matt

[Wasabi]

Ah, sorry bout that. It should work now.
Aims: Basically I want this to be a game that people play either in a Gamist fashion, or more Narrative. I envision it sort of like DnD, a solid rule system, but more expandable and not as restrictive in terms of adaptability. In playing Fuzion, I have come to notice that most of the people that I play with like to build super-powerful characters and will do so unless forced to do otherwise.

Consequently, in Vector it's easy to die. I also was shooting for a simple, non-time consuming combat system that would avert focus on combat exclusively.

I also wanted to include the idea of the class system (perhaps I've just been playing too much Final fantasy). So basically it's a hodgepodge that I'm trying to make work.

NOTE: This isn't even far enough along to playtest, so the mechanics are by no means set in stone.

[John Kim]

I also wanted to include the idea of the class system (perhaps I've just been playing too much Final fantasy). So basically it's a hodgepodge that I'm trying to make work.  

You might want to have a look at my article on class and template mechanics, which is on the web at

http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/systemdesign/classes.html

From a brief glance, I suspect you want templates or packages rather than classes -- using the terminology from my article.  That is, you don't necessarily want people to always stick in their chosen class as a permanent niche -- so it's OK if the Spy and the Thief blend into each other with experience.  Or do you?

[Wasabi]

That's exactly what i was thinking. It's no fun to do only the same thing all the time, and there are more possbilities with class blending. Going to read your article now. Thanks.

[Mike Holmes]

My basic goal here is to make an RPG where it's easy to boast about your character (level based system) but'it's a survival-based game, not combat-oriented (if that makes sense)

Could you elaborate on this statement? What's the difference in focus?

Mike

[Wasabi]

In terms of focus, I'm looking for a game that allows the GM to streamline and minimalize combat if he so wishes, in the interest of keeping the action centered on the plot rather than leveling up. One of the things that I like about the most of (few) other systems that I've played is their flexibility, and I want to include this in mine. What I'm shooting for is a system where combat is NOT a primary focus (but possible and fairly realistic) and plot development IS the focus. This includes non-combat tasks and things involving diversity and craftiness/creativity from the players.

My problem here is that I don't have an amazingly or even somewhat diverse experience with RP gaming. I've only been doing it for three years or so. For this reason, I don't have the best impression of whatworks and what doesn't outside of the local environment of my particular gaming group.

[Mike Holmes]

Hmmm. You get a double whammy, then.

First, I'd suggest that you get as educated as you can, as fast as you can as I state in Mike's Standard Rant #1: Designers Know Your Hobby!

That's not to say you shouldn't push forward in the meanwhile; just that in the end you really want to be able to compare your system favorably to what exists already. A good resource for finding RPGs is at John Kim's Encyclopedia of RPGs.

Second, if your focus is not on combat, then maybe you need to take the red pill while reading Mike's Standard Rant #3: Combat Systems.

To move on, then, when you say that you want your game to be about "plot", what does that mean? I can think of a ton of different meanings for that. Who makes up the plot? How does it get played out? What sort of plots? How does the setting figure in?

An effective way of answering these questions is to write out an example of what you imagine a session of play looking like. Just post here a summary of what the players and GM do during a sample session. Like:

One player has his alien character go to the bar. Then the GM has a guy come in and give him a job proposition. The player has the character accept, and he goes and gets some equipment....

That sort of thing. It allows you and us to see where you want the design to go.

Mike

[Wasabi]

Ok... it becomes clear to me that I have a lot to learn. I'm going to have to sit down and write out just what I want in my system. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder whether I shouldn't just take another system and modify it to my liking for the time being, and set Vector aside. Your articla on combat systems was very interesting, I'd never thought of RPGs that way.

[Mike Holmes]

Like I said, don't let it daunt you. Continue working on it. Post here when you've got a clear statment of your game's focus thought out. From there we can help you with figuring out whether or not going with an extant system is the best idea, or how to start making your own.

BTW, on the idea of Survival vs Combat - it's often occured to me that in modern or later (sci-fi) universes, that there exists easily obtainable technology that allows one to kill someone with relative ease. The higher tech things get, the more it's about the equipment, neccessarily, and the less it is about the character wielding it (barring making up BS explanations for why this isn't so given the particular world's technology). What this means to me is that survival isn't about surviving combat, it's about not getting into it in the first place.

That's not to say that I want to play a game in which charaters are cowards. But I would like to see a game in which effectiveness was about characters reaching lofty goals, while keeping their hides intact by social manipulation. Lot's to work with here, potentially.

Mike