Task Resolution: Looking for input/caveats

[smc]

I would encourage you to at least publish via PDF.  That is, after all, the entire point of the Forge (read the stickies).

Yes, assuming things turn out I will probably offer the rules as a PDF, and the cards themselves in a way that can be easily printed onto individual 3x5 index cards. I'll probably offer the cards as both a PDF and a MSWord doc, in order to support customization. I am loathe to do layout in MSWord (I prefer Freehand), but if I keep things simple I think it will work okay (and 3x5 index cards would be a cheap option with plenty of room for readable text).

Things in your game I dislike in other games:  dice pools, huge piles of scattered information to form a PC.

See my post about descriptive PC attributes. I am thinking of simpifying the PC process quite a bit, with PC's defined by a simple set of descriptors. The more I think about this approach the more I like it, though I've got some work and playtesting to do.

You want a lot of flexibility and cards are not suited to that, particularly because to have a playable game you'll have to have hundreds, if not thousands of cards (even though only a few dozen might be used by your players).  There are all the manouvers, the spells components, the equipment and treasure; you'll need monster cards, terrain cards, advantage/disadvantage, etc.

All true. I am working at simplifying some aspects (i.e. the manuevers). For example, a basic "attack" (which uses 1 action point) covers melee weapons, missile weapons, thrown weapons, unarmed attacks, etc. The card will note the differences between each option.

Similiarly, simplifying my approach to stats reduces the amount of info I need on the grunt-level NPC cards. As noted in the other thread, an orc might be a a strong, unintelligent brawler. The only other thing that needs to be defined in order to play that card as an NPC is his weapon(s) and armor (and perhaps I might even end up abstracting those).

Another approach might be to make cards editable in play. For example, maybe we just have a basic armor card that the player uses to write in his armor type. Less cool, less pretty, but more flexible.

So, yeah ... still a lot of work at setting up the cards, obviously, but I will be doing it bit-by-bit through game test and play sessions, so I don't think it will be too much of a hardship. If I end up offering this stuff, I will just provide everything I have assembled as well as the templates for people who want to create their own. It may also be that the GM/story telling cards will be sort of a seperate, optional component, since most people would probably prefer more traditional narrative play.

In the end though, I don't have any illusions of grandeur, and this game will probably be something that is just right for me, but not for anyone else.