The Forge Archives

I would like to design a Fantastical futuristic RPG.  This would be my first time making one for myself and need some advice.  Where is a good place to  start?

Thanks,

Brad

Keep in mind that there's absolutely no "right" or "wrong" way to go about designing a game.  That said, all the text below is merely my own personal take on things.

First I would decide what the core concepts and premises behind your setting.  Is it hard sci-fi?  Space opera?  Something else?  Is it gritty?  Optimistic?  Somewhere in between?

Once you lay out your setting, you can go about building a game system that best caters to the type of game you're after.  I'm all in favor of systems that reflect the character of the setting.  

I usually start off with with devising a central game mechanic.  Check out my recent thread here on the forum.  That's how I typically get the ball rolling.  Ask yourself some of these questions;

What dice am I going to use?  Will the game utilize one type or multiple types?  

What method of task resolution am I going for?  Will it be a dice pool system?  A roll-equal-or-under system?  A roll-and-add system?  Or something else.

What twists (if any) am I going to put on the system?  What is going to be unique about the system?  Any unusual game mechanics?  Or just straight-forward but solid ones?

Will the system use Attributes?  If so, how many Attributes?  Will Skills be used as well?  How do Attributes and Skills work into the core mechanic?  If Attributes aren't going to be used, what will I institute in their place?  

Once these core ideas are applied, just start building outward, with character creation, combat, magic, starships and so on.

I hope this helps.  :)

Hi Brad,

First, Welcome to the Forge ! (sorry Ron, I was here first ;)

Second, I'll need more info about your game to be able to help you.
Do you plan to establish a big setteing destined to be explored by the characters ? Or are you more the kind of people to come with a theme that the game should illustrate ?

Very different approches that imply a different design process.

My best advice, go read the GNS and the System does matter articles, then you will be able to articulate your goals/needs  more clearly...and come back with more informations about what you expect from your game.

Bye,

Fabrice.

Well, Brad, my first question is what is your game going to be about?

If you say, well it's in a futuristic setting and the players can do whatevery they want in it, then you need to refine your idea because what this tells me is that you've bought into the universal RPG idea.  Sure, you're not making your game universal in the GURPS sense, but just figuring the players will do anything they want is kind of flabby.

What you need is a reason people are playing your game.  Something that they are doing to play.

D&D illustrates this perfectly.  D&D is a monster killing game.  That's why it has 1000's of monsters and combat heavy rules.  Many use the game to play many different styles, and that's all well and good, but the rules don't support other playing styles as much as it does monster killing and group that use D&D to do other thing have to make it up themselves or they get interrupted but the Battle of the Week.

There is more to D&D than just monster slaying, but it illustrates my point.

So, what is your game about?  Is it about a Mad Maxian future? Then you should have rules on survival. Is it about political intrigue? Include rules for political intrigue.

Such is my advice.

Well,

LittleNicky and pblock I am gonna go read that article and come back with some ideas!  :-)

I thought up a good action resolution system involving percentage dice.  If you have played =I= you know what I am talking about.  I am gonna post it ASAP.

What is =I=?

And what is this game of yours "about" anyway?

To Bailey:
=I= is Inquisitor, the 54mm scale rpg/miniatures hybrid from Games Workshop.  A fantastic game in my opinion.

To Brad:
Personally, I would recommend getting a handle on what your game is about before setting off to do a system.  I know it's difficult to refrain from jumping head-first into designing the system, but your system could very well suffer without knowing at least vaguely what the setting is like.

Plus, I'd like to stress the importance of not just using the mechanic from another game whole-cloth.  You can make it somewhat similar, sure, but I would avoid straight-out copying.  

Just my opinions.

Well...I finally have written up this tiny paragraph on what my game is.  I will post it tomorrow morning if time allows.

:-)


I am also started on my own system Cindi!...yEaH!!!!!!

Well, first of all my game is going to be about a wizard sect.  A group of rouge wizards from the sect or clan breaks away and starts their own sect.  The rouges steal the sacred treasure from the clan and use it as their own.  It is the characters job to get it the ancient treasure back to it's original and rightful owners.  The "fluff" needs to be improved a bit as time goes on.  I am thinking of using two different die rolls for the system.  One, for non-combat tasks may be a roll of 3d6(???).  Combat rolls and anything having to do with combat might be 3d6 or even 2d10 or 2d12(???).  I am all for a dice heavy game.  I love em.  What can I say????  :-)

I want monsters and creatures like that to be some how involved...

You're doing something interesting here; I think I like it.

You've defined your game in terms of a quest. Quests are usually brought in as adventures or campaigns, but in this case the game is focused around this one objective of returning the treasure.

Once you read the jargon sheets (do read them; I found them off putting at first, but they really do make it easier to talk about design ideas and they grow on you) you'll know what this next paragraph I'm going to write is talking about.

It sounds like you're intention now is to build a simulationist game. As a simulationist myself I can tell you that sometimes these forums can be kinda down on simulationism. They all mean well, though, (the Forge seems to be filled with smart well meaning people) so I'd advise you listen to what they have to say.

I still think a game designed specifically to a single quest is interesting. It allows very high optimization of the rules and mechanics to the scenario of play.

A while back, RPG.net reviewed a game designed with a single quest in mind.  The story involved trying to overthrow an evil, powerful cult, or something like that.  The gimmick was that it was designed specifically for replay value - you could play it once and "win" the game, and then someone else would run the exact same quest, but in an entirely different way.  I have no idea how the mechanics or system supported this goal, but it seemed like a neat idea.  I came real close to buying it.

Does anyone remember the name of that game?  Maybe I'll check out RPG.net tonight and search its back reviews.  As I recall, the game was available online, fairly inexpensively.

- Scott

Thank you for your optimism about my game!  LOL.  I think there should also be a chance for other characters such as theives and warriors and clerics be introduced.  This could happen in a number of ways.  The new character type could be an aquantice of the wizard(s).  Or maybe even the wizard(s) saved the other character and he or she vowed to help, protect, or serve the wizard.  Yes.  I agree about the rules optimization.  The whole campaign doesn't have to revolve totally around getting the treasure everytime.  One scenario could be their adventures in a city where they thought the treasure was going to be but it wasn't and a theive stole their only form of transportation.  I dunno.  I am just speculating at the moment.  Thank you for your nice input.  

:-)

I also want alot of fighting between the sects!!!!

I finally came up with a new concept for my game.  The wizards can be fighting over land and who gets the treasure and which sect rules overall.

I got the idea from a game mentioned on here called Eldrich Ass Kicking.  It is going to be changed completely but I just liked the idea of wizards fighting over land.  Maybe using creatures to summon up like Magic: The Gathering also?  Mana might be used as determining the wizards total magical level at the time.

:-)

Hey Brad,

I seem to remember the game Epiphany from BTRC having a magic system that reminded me a great deal of Magic: the Gathering...if you're looking for inspiration.

Paul