look for critical feedback of game system

[stefoid]

Hi, Im doing an RPG system that is fairly stable at the moment, and I
wouldnt mind some feedback on it. If someone out there is interested
in this kind of thing, send me an email, and Ill send it so you can
have a look at it. Feel free to be as ciritical as possible.

It uses the Window basic mechanic, but apart from that its not too
similar. Its designed to cater for a fantasy bronze-age world that Im
developing. Its more complex and munchkin-like than the window. I
think theres a little munchkin in us all, regardless of the high-brow
values the window basic rules like to take ;)

One thing though, I have vague ideas about publishing this one day, so
I dont want the doco distributed or in any other way ripped off, I
hope thats understandable,

Steve

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Steve,

If you really want feedback, then I suggest posting about your experiences in playing the game in Actual Play. That will not only yield useful discussions, but it will also direct people's attention toward wanting to check out your game and to understand what sort of play you're aiming for.

Best,
Ron

[stefoid]

Hey Ron,

play-testing has been limited to around 20 hours so far, so there isnt too much to go on, and Im reluctant to put too many details about the system in the public domain.  yes, I know, what are the chances of this getting published?  miniscule, but still, I think theres enough unique details about the system to want to keep it that way for now.

However, generic critical comments so far have been 'too deadly': as in characters get crunched too quickly in combat.  Personally, Im not sure that I mind that perception.  And anyway, it could be that the players are still learning the system - if combat is deadly, its best not to just wade in, in a carefree manner, expecting the opposition to crumble harmlessly.  the system provides ways and means to shift combat in the PCs gavour, if the players are careful enough to exploit them (as they should be if combat is very risky)

Also, if combat is deadly, it makes it more dramatic, and players learn to treat combat as perhaps not the always best way to resolve a situation.

[joepub]

Stefoid, I'm not familiar with The Window...
and aside from that yuo haven't told us much.

Is there another thread that I should be refering to for info about your system, or will you be posting more here?


And.... if you're worried about us stealing your ideas, how can you come to us for reflection on those ideas?
I don't know if I, personally, can give you critical feedback of a system you won't post about.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Stefold, welcome to the Forge!

I'd like to know more about your system, but I can't tell you anything if you don't say what you're talking about.

You may want to check in in Publishing, though, if you're afraid your ideas will wander off without you. There's a lot of thought on the subject, and some of it might be very encouraging to you. For instance, Clinton R. Nixon, author and publisher of The Shadow of Yesterday and other cool stuff puts his work out under the Creative Commons license, so you can read every word for free before you buy. He's sold a lot of games that way.

If you choose not to do that, or at least give us some concrete play and mechanics, I don't think we can help you, man. We borrow from and credit each other constantly and it makes the games better, so if that's not what you want, you might just want to listen, or talk with us about other projects.

[stefoid]

Hi guys, I guess i didnt make myself very clear -- if you are at all interested in having a read and providing feedback, just drop me an email and Ill post you the document.  Im just not ready to have it online available to millions just yet, thats all.

[joepub]

Where will we be replying to you then?


And, Stefoid: if you look around, you'll find that many of the games being discussed here will be marketted.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Stefold (What's your real name?), a lot of the games being discussed here are marketed. You can download the text for my upcoming game, Shock: Social Science Fiction from my sig. It's more useful for me to have friendly eyes on it (along with some other eyes) than to hold it secret.

But there's another issue here: this is a community. Part of our social contract is that we help each other. Shock: and Under the Bed are already credited in another game (Bliss Stage) as an influence, and both of my games credit many, many others.

If you're not comfortable with that yet, that's cool: stick around, listen, ask questions. I'm confident that you'll see that the benefits outweigh the risks by a long shot and we'll be trading assistance as soon as you meet the folks.

[stefoid]

ok,ok.  you can get the doco here:  http://www.geocities.com/stevenmathers/RULES.zip

and while you ar there, if you like boardgames, you can check out a boardgame Im publishing at http://www.geocities.com/stevenmathers

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Steve, I've read some of your game, and I'm struck some questions: what is your intent with this system? What kind of story do you want to be able to tell? Or if you don't want to use it to tell stories, what is its purpose?

[timopod]

My first queston is how do you roll a D30, unless  it's a new dice type I don't know about. Is it 5d6or such, or 3 D20 averaged and divided ed by 2?

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Tim, they exist. I've got one, for some reason.

I want to hear where he wants to focus this game before we continue the discussion, though.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

(Oops, I never posted these questions.)

OK, I've pretty much read your system. It's about 1/3 combat rules, 1/3 Magic specializations, which implies that it's a game about combat and magic uses therin.

What's interesting to me here is actually your personality mechanics and the way character power is determined by a reduction of randomness. I think those are both pretty neat.

[stefoid]

Steve, I've read some of your game, and I'm struck some questions: what is your intent with this system? What kind of story do you want to be able to tell? Or if you don't want to use it to tell stories, what is its purpose?

Well, like most of us, this is my 437th rpg system that Ive designed (but not yet thrown away this one).  Its a rough draft of the system I want to use for a gritty fantasy bronze-age setting that im sloooowly putting together.  No player races except humans, although there are 'monsters'  and 'demons'

[stefoid]

My first queston is how do you roll a D30, unless  it's a new dice type I don't know about. Is it 5d6or such, or 3 D20 averaged and divided ed by 2?

you can buy them from speciality stores.  the basic mechanic is based on 'the window rpg' which you can and should google.

however, if you dont have one, you can role percentiles and divide by 3 .  I put a lookup table in there somewhere.