Hi,

I'm the creator of a game called Ruby, which I have been working on for some time. I'm new to the forge though, and thought this would be a great place to get some feedback.

Ruby is a Science fiction rpg where players take that part of agents for an organisation called Unity. The specifics of the background are in my ‘call for playtesters’ thread, so rather than post them again here’s a link:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=21356.0

Ok, so a few things first:

a) This is my first rgp, and essentially it’s been written. I come to these forums pretty late in the day but not to late to change!
b) I’m new to the Forge and to the types of games that are discussed here, so be nice!
c) I’ve tried my best to answer the questions below, and hopefully have given a little insight.
d) Please ask me questions! Pick holes in the game, criticise the background, whatever!

So, to generate some discussion and hopefully interest, I thought I’d have a bash at the Power 19…

1.) What is your game about?**

Ruby is about adventure and discovery, action and investigation. Classic space opera stuff. However, this is a veneer to the real story - Ruby is about morality. The game asks the questions ‘what is it to be human’, ‘what actions are acceptable to me’ and ‘can I live with the consequence of those actions’?

2.) What do the characters do?**

The characters take the part of Lucid Dreamers, agents who effectively enter and experience the dreams of their peers in order to attempt to regulate them (the reason for this is explained in the background). As a result the characters are exposed to the wilder elements of the human psyche, unfettered by social controls and ethical programming, allowing the players around the table to investigate all those little things that occur in our own heads that make us what we are, for better or worse.

Ruby is also a very personal game. It’s about you and tose around you. No one else. There are no over-arching plots or vast organisations you can directly control. It’s about the individual and their close associates and how they react to extremely unusual situations.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?**

The players use their characters to explore worlds devised by the GM (Guide in this case) that reflect the darker thoughts of the human mind. Together, the players and GM investigate how a normal, human mind works with all the social control and ethical guidelies inbuilt from birth stripped away.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

The setting provides a logical (as logical as Sci Fi can be!) explanation for Ruby. The setting gives the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of the game. The setting also describes a advanced Sci Fi culture and provides information of the worlds on which the game takes place. Really, the setting provides an anchor for the game.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?

In the game the characters are dreaming – their bodies are cryogenically frozen and their minds experience the environment of a Shell, a puppet-like being on a distant world. Ruby is about being stripped down and distilled into the essence of what you are. There are skills (aptitudes) and statistics, but perhaps more importantly there are ‘Drives’ and ‘instincts’ that have a real mechanic affect on game play. Creating charcacters in Ruby is quick and easy, but requires the player to consider just what it is that makes the character tick.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?

Ruby requires that players perform missions for a body called Unity. These missions can take a wide variety of forms. Ruby rewards problem solving because that is what the missions are – problems to be solved. Moreover, these problems generally relate to an aspect of the human psyche. Ruby rewards those who understand the root nature of these problems and can come to a practical solution for them.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?

Characters are rewarded for completing these missions, be they action or investigative in nature, or something entirely different. Ruby rewards players who creatively solve the problems Unity sets them, because failing to do so can have serious in-game consequences on the mental stability of the character.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?

Narration is handled mainly by the guide. When play begins the characters will know very little about the world they find themselves in, and the guide must help them, through their shared gaming experience, come to understand the environment that surrounds them. Ruby is a pretty free-form game. Although there is a lot of info on the worlds that game is played on, due to the fact that characters are essentially moving through artificially controlled environments under the control of a powerful outside organisation gives guide has a very free hand in creating environments – they don’t even have to make logical sense, this is the inside of people’s heads we’re talking about here! This allows for a fluid style of play where players can never confidently predict the environment that surrounds them or the problems they may face.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?)

Ruby offers a strange and rich world that is fun to explore and uncover. It also offers a truly alien experience – controlling someone else’s body – everytime you play. This, along with the strong morality in the game offer a (hopefully) fresh look at the Sci Fi genre.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?

The game uses a fairly simple dice pool mechanic based on D6 for play. The same mechanic is used in all aspects of the game, making it pretty simple to pick up.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?

The mechanics cover all the stuff you’d expect in a Sci Fi game, but also aspects of play closely linked with the concept of the game. Controlling Shells, fighting against instincts, obeying your drives and needs, all of these have a real mechanical effect on game play. The mechanic is adaptable and simple, so they help to reinforce this aspect of play in a real and meaningful way.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?

Characters advance skill and statistics, but most interestingly by pushing the boundaries of what they can do mentally. In Ruby, it is the mind of characters that is important (the body is out of the picture so to speak). Characters advance by pushing their mental skills at some risk to their own mental stability.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

The most potent way to advance is to learn to control more powerful Shells. Each Shell has an instinct, a natural drive that influences all it’s actions. Sometimes, a Dreamer occupying a Shell has to push passed that instinct to get what he wants. Advancing is about learning how to do this safely, because failure leads to mental instability and madness.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?

I want the players to enjoy a good piece of Sci Fi action, but come away from the table thinking about what they just did. Were they ‘in the right’ so to speak? Could they have completed the mission in another way? Was there a right way? Ruby is designed to try to bring these sorts of questions into the players’ minds, at least I hope so!

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?

It’s a Sci Fi game, so it’s all about colour. The background has a lot of depth, not just to make it a rich game world but also to give a coherent meaningful backdrop to the characters actions, why they have to do what they do. Ruby is also about exploration, so a lot of information is provided for the guide to spark off their own imagination.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?

The concept! I love the core of the game, the premise that underlies everything. What is a real person? If you are a modified human, a better human, does that give you the right to dominate lesser humans? To destroy worlds? What if you could see into the darkest recess of people’s minds – what would you see? Could you live with the knowledge?

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t?

The game takes players into the areas of morality that I think are ignored by many other games. On one hand I think Ruby offers rich and strange adventure, on the other it allows players to explore what makes people what they are.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?

I would like to publish the game (most likely via POD), depending of course on what people think of it!

19.) Who is your target audience?

Anyone who has an interest in science fiction for a start. You can certainly play the game as a straight Sci Fi action rpg. But I think the target audience are those people that want alittle more depth to their games, who like to peel back the onion of their shared experience and prod at the underside.

Well, I tried my best! Any comments?

Cheers,

Greg

Hi Greg,

In 1991, a French RPG called "The Method of Dr. Chestel" (La méthode du docteur Chestel) ; it's been described as "A French-language sci-fi RPG, where the PC's are psychiatrists who telepathically enter people's dreams to help them (thanks to a special drug). The catch is that mistakes can leave the doctor dead or brain-dead, or the patient in worse shape than before. " (cf. http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/encyclopedia/bylanguage/French.html)

It was a 50 or so page booklet, amateurish in layout but with very interesting scenario structures. The system was very minimalist and didn't specifically determine the fallout on the patient, which was left to narration. The movie THE CELL was quite similiar to it, albeith less "psychoanalysis" in angle and more Hollywoodish.

You might want to check out how they managed it... It's gotten oldey, but it was a small revolution back then. I suggest you focus a lot on the impacts of the patient for your design, which seemed a weakness of the original French game despite its many strenghts.

Resources:
http://www.sden.org/jdr/drchestel/chestel/regles/sommaireA.html
http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_5898.html

Regards,

Erick

Oops... a sentence was missing:

...(La méthode du docteur Chestel) had a similar take on your premise.

Sorry!

Interesting! I'll check that out, thanks for the info.

In Ruby, 'Dreaming' is slightly different, it's the name given to the process whereby characters remotely control artificial and organic beings called Shells. But from what you say there is a definte similarity to the french work, and to The Cell for that matter.

Thanks for commenting.

Cheers, Greg

Hiya Greg,

I'm interested in what you've got here, but dang... the Power 19 is a total pain in the ass to parse.  Not only is it a ton of information to try to digest, but it totally doesn't leave us with a good starting place for us to discuss your game.  So, I've got two questions for you.

Can you tell me, in one short paragraph, what excites you about this design?

What can I do to help you get this published?

-Eric

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the interest! If you thought reading the P19 was bad, you should try writing it ;-)

What excites me most about the setting is that it takes a fairly simple but unique Sci Fi concept and uses it to explore a complex issue, namely what it is to be human. The game is about exploration and adventure, but is is also about morality and consequence. In Ruby, understanding why people act like they do is a key to the playing the game. Ruby is about considering the things that real people would do if they were unfettered by social conditioning. It's also about making choices and then living with the weight of your actions.

At the moment, I have essentially written the game and am reasonably happy with it. I'm looking for folks who will do anything from reading it to actually playing it, who can then let me know if it's any good and worth pursuing. I would like to publish, but I want to know what's missing before I do so.

Any help much appreciated,

Cheers,

Greg

Hi Greg,

If you're interested, and you may not be, see if you can find a game from the mid-1990s called Shattered Dreams. I found it to be far more enjoyable in play than I anticipated from reading the book, and some of the features you're describing remind me of why I and my group enjoyed it so much.

On the other hand, it sounds as if you're long past the inspiration/comparison stage and really want feedback on the game itself. There are a couple of ways ... first, you could bring up something very specific right here in this thread, and you'll probably get a lot of responses from a variety of angles and outlooks. This really is the kiddie pool forum of the Forge, which can be fun as long as you don't mind a lot of splashing about. Second, you could post a link or a contact email in the Connections forum, asking specifically for review of the text and possibly playtesters.

In either case, I suggest considering how receptive you really feel, to feedback. A lot of people who show up at the Forge with a game they've just about finished get irritated when they ask for feedback but actually don't want any, because they feel finished. If you're at that stage, then the Publishing forum may be the place to go, for logistic questions and discussions.

In all cases, though, here's my real recommendation for someone with a game that's past the initial stages - the Playtest forum. Post about playing the game. Just describe what the session was like, what happened, and any details or system points you'd like to make. Not only will it help you, but it will also generate interest in the game and give the right people a reason to check it out for playtesting of their own.

Best, Ron

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the advice. I have a 'call for playtesters' on the Connections forum, so we'll see where that goes. But you're right - a thread inthe playtesters forum would be the way to go I think. Cool, I'll get on it!

Cheers,

Greg