I've been working on Dread for some time now. Playtesters have pointed out a bunch of flaws that I've tried to remedy, and I've also had some time to reflect on some bad assumptions I made early on.

Anyhow, if I had to describe the game in simple and immediate terms, I'd say it was like Call of Cthulhu meets Buffy/Angel with a dash of Millennium thrown in for good measure.

I set out to create a game that I could play with my friends (most of whom have no idea what role-playing is about). My goal was simplicity, and I wanted to create a universe/mythos that they wouldn't be familiar with.

Okay, enough. Dread:

http://www.dread-rpg.com/test/test.pdf

Any and all comments/suggestions/criticism are welcome.

-- Rafael

NOTE: The file's just over 400k, and there's a couple images. No big deal.

Rafael -

I really like the game, although I'm a rabid Buffy-head, so I'm a bit biased. Still, it makes sense, it appears to work well, and it seems like it'd be easy to run.

Comments:

- The attribute/skill system seems a little weak. It looks like it'd work fine, but, unless I have something wrong, you either roll an Attribute or a Skill for everything, but the two don't combine for any reason or in any fashion. If this is what you want, that's cool, but Attributes influencing Skills or vice versa is such a pervasive idea in RPGs that it seems like something's missing without it. (Am I arguing for overused mechanics in RPGs? It sounds like it. Still - it happens because it works.) You might want to eliminate one or the other, even.

- Backgrounds: I'm confused on why you can only choose two. They give no mechanical benefit - just backstory - so the limit of 2 seems unnecessary. You might want to consider either lifting the limit, or giving mechanical benefit. (For example: with Abroad, you know another language. With Science, you have three extra skill points in any one science skill, and one scientific contact.)

- Contacts: Just an idea - the 80's game Twilight:2000 had Contacts as well, and they were an awesome idea. They did something really cool, though - you started with, frex, two military contacts, a civilian contact, and a scientific contact. These were not, however, fleshed out until you used them during play. So, if a Dread character had a police contact and the group was arrested for sneaking around in a graveyard, the player could use that police contact to say, "Hey, that guy arresting us, Ofc. Moran - he and I were at the Academy together." The player'd then have to role-play it, but there's a much better chance that his friend Dan Moran's going to let them go than a stranger.

I just re-read Dread on the bus home and am still vastly impressed. I totally retract my statement about the attribute/skill thing: re-reading it, I can see how they don't overlap.

Last suggestion:

- This is completely radical, but I think this game screams for group character creation. It does have a very "Buffy"/"Angel" feel, and group creation could work great to help focus the group, and to allow for variations in characters - if the players want one bad-ass Slayer-type, and her sidekicks, group creation could make this character.

Clinton,

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it.


Backgrounds: I'm confused on why you can only choose two. They give no mechanical benefit - just backstory - so the limit of 2 seems unnecessary. You might want to consider either lifting the limit, or giving mechanical benefit. (For example: with Abroad, you know another language. With Science, you have three extra skill points in any one science skill, and one scientific contact.)

Blind spot on my end. There's no real reason for the arbitrary limit. But I like the idea of a mechanical benefit. Something to think about.


Contacts: Just an idea - the 80's game Twilight:2000 had Contacts as well, and they were an awesome idea. They did something really cool, though - you started with, frex, two military contacts, a civilian contact, and a scientific contact. These were not, however, fleshed out until you used them during play. So, if a Dread character had a police contact and the group was arrested for sneaking around in a graveyard, the player could use that police contact to say, "Hey, that guy arresting us, Ofc. Moran - he and I were at the Academy together." The player'd then have to role-play it, but there's a much better chance that his friend Dan Moran's going to let them go than a stranger.

I love this idea. I have been toying with the idea of player authoring (a concept I'd never considered before reading posts on this forum). This I'll have to try.


This is completely radical, but I think this game screams for group character creation. It does have a very "Buffy"/"Angel" feel, and group creation could work great to help focus the group, and to allow for variations in characters - if the players want one bad-ass Slayer-type, and her sidekicks, group creation could make this character.

I think you're right, group creation's a must. When I GMed this a few months ago, my players all created characters together, resulting in a team of characters that complemented one another. I should note this in the rules somewhere.

Hey, thanks again, Clinton.

-- Rafael