Alright...first thread for me here, I'm gonna try and describe my game idea and see if I can get some feedback for it. I started working on this rpg a few years back but i gave up after I realised the ideas weren't that original. Also, excuse my writting as I haven't been long in the Forge and I'm not familiar with the lingo. In any case, here goes.
General Description:
Players play supernatural/weird characters that usually have some kind of strange power. This can be anything from the ability to fly, having wings, beeing able to heal wounds, seeing through things, etc. There will be different character ''types''(12 or 24. Is this too much?) that define some characteristics and the way the character received his powers. I basically intend to let each player create a completely unique character, as far as powers go. I have no idea what kind of system this needs.

I want the game to be character driven, although I haven't figured out yet how this will work. The general idea is that the story the Narrator plays will be tailored to the characters history/goals and allow them to be at the helm of how the story plays out.
An idea I had is having some kind of fate system where the Narrator uses a tarot deck(or card deck) to create the story arc(while the ultimate decisions remain with him).

The Setting:
Will be ala World of darkness, meaning ''our'' world only a bit different than the world we know of. I'm considering some kind of steampunk setting, but as I said I'm more focused on the characters and the story itself than the setting. The setting and feel of the game will be rather dark and depressing, while at times the characters will be able to shine through their actions and adventures.

The System:
I have no idea at this point. I really liked alot of systems/ideas I've seen here at the forge and I'd love to use one of those or create something myself. I'm not really worried about the system at this time.

Where I am now:
I only have extensive notes written down. Most of them are different ''races/types'' of characters. Originally, I wanted players to be able to create anything without constraint but that didn't seem plausible. As it stands now, each type of character is about HOW the character received his powers. I've bulit a skill system but i scraped that so as it stands, I don't really have that much material.

Some questions/feedback requests:
1. I've noticed that alot of the games here on Forge are much ''simpler'' than what I'm trying to do. Most don't have races or types of characters and the setting is at the core of the game(unless I'm mistaken). That sounds alot more tidy than what I'm trying to make. Am I going about it the wrong way?

2. Although I have a clear idea of the game's feel and genre(dark/urban fantasy/horror), I feel that the way I describe the game doesn't really show that. I'm afraid that I won't be able to give the players/GM the ''right'' feel of the game. Any ideas on that?

3. Do you think it's possible to have a rpg where the story is mainly pushed forward by the players(meaning that they follow their character's goals or wishes)?

I think i'll stop now, I have alot more details and ideas but they'll have to wait till after I see what everyone thinks about these.

Hi there,

Do you have a real name we can call you by? It's kind of the way of things round these here parts.

I'm kind of addressing your points backwards here, but here goes:

Do you think it's possible to have a rpg where the story is mainly pushed forward by the players(meaning that they follow their character's goals or wishes)?

Although I have a clear idea of the game's feel and genre(dark/urban fantasy/horror), I feel that the way I describe the game doesn't really show that. I'm afraid that I won't be able to give the players/GM the ''right'' feel of the game. Any ideas on that?

I've noticed that alot of the games here on Forge are much ''simpler'' than what I'm trying to do. Most don't have races or types of characters and the setting is at the core of the game(unless I'm mistaken). That sounds alot more tidy than what I'm trying to make. Am I going about it the wrong way?

Hi there, thanks for the reply. My name is George btw.

Malcolm wrote:
A good, strong idea of what the characters will be doing is key to writing a game that will engage the participants (in my opinion).

Malcolm wrote:

Well, why not describe your feel for the game here? Can you sum up what it will be about in around 25 or so words? And how will the setting support what the game is about, how will it tie into the mechanics and so on? And reversing that, how do the mechanics support the setting and what it is about?

Malcolm wrote:
There are a huge range of games talked about here on the Forge, so it's hard to make generalisations. Many games are strong on setting colour, while other provide only brief setting details (or none at all) but provide you with the tools to create setting entirely suited to the games you want to play. One thing I notice from your post is that you want to make each character unique, but have a whole bunch of pre-generated races. Now, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but have you thought about giving the participants a free reign in creating their characters, with perhaps just a set of guidelines saying might or might not be permissable? You could certainly use the stuff you have created as examples though.

i like the idea of a steampunk setting, it's too forgotten these days, and we all know it's good.

maybe something urban, a little twisted, but still steampunk.

as an example:

a dying metropolis, once an industrial centre, now fallen due to lack of foresight on the behalf of a fascist regime.
maybe a revolution happened a good few years back.
this metropolis is on its last legs now, and has started "rusting" and distorting, allowing possible ways your characters could have come about, and is now practically the tattered ruins of a once successful industrial nation trying to just survive in the city that's so much different than how people say it once was.

just a thought.

    mark

northerain wrote:
I've seen the power of 19 QA but I'm not yet comfortable with answering those questions. I'm not entirely set on what the game will be about.

Will be ala World of darkness, meaning ''our'' world only a bit different than the world we know of. I'm considering some kind of steampunk setting, but as I said I'm more focused on the characters and the story itself than the setting. The setting and feel of the game will be rather dark and depressing, while at times the characters will be able to shine through their actions and adventures.

I am aiming slightly towards that. I'm not doing a horror game per se, but the game is about trying to come to terms with being different in a world that's falling slowly apart. And where some really bad people and creatures are out to get you. But I mean, when playing a character than has hideous black wings and shoots acidic bile from his mouth, are you really sure that you're the good guy here?
I mention WOD a lot because for me, it was one of the first games that showed me that rpgs can be about more than killing stuff. Of course I've found other games since then, but I always loved WOD as a setting.
More or less, the game will be a cross between Mage: TA and Call of Cthulhu or Unknown Armies.

Oh and Mike, thanks for that idea, I'll try that today.

Hey George.  I hate to say, "Oh, did you check out this game?", but here I'm thinking, what the heck, you might get some inspiration:
http://www.evilhat.com/?dryh
Look around for info on this game, "Don't Rest Your Head".  Reading your first post, I was thinking, "Oh, this is like DRYH". Not saying 'Buy that Game' or anything, but if you read reviews on it, it might solidify in your head the direction you're taking for your game, and how it will differ from one like Don't Rest Your Head.

Also, "...but i gave up after I realised the ideas weren't that original."

Don't give up because you're not "Original"!  One of my favorite RPGs is about underdogs who hunt demons in contemporary America. I ran a Savage Worlds game about underdogs who hunt demons in contemporary America. Sorcerer is a game where you can play underdogs who hunt demons in contemporary Amerca. I'm *writing* a game about underdogs who hunt demons in contemporary America. :-)

In the end, once you have an idea for a direction for your game (and I too suggest using that "Power 19" on yourself: It will help shake loose cobwebs and think about the foundation of what you want to do with your game), start writing. I'd love to see which direction you go with this.

If you get a document together (or just a collection of setting and rule notes), PM me anytime: I'd love to go through it and give advice.

-Andy

I've seen Don't Rest Your Head and it looked like a really cool game. I guess I never saw the similarity because the theme of my game is different. Somewhat. But now you made me want to buy it and check it out :P.
I have some stuff up over at the RPG Lab, I can PM you the link if you like.

I  am aiming slightly towards that. I'm not doing a horror game per se, but the game is about trying to come to terms with being different in a world that's falling slowly apart. And where some really bad people and creatures are out to get you. But I mean, when playing a character than has hideous black wings and shoots acidic bile from his mouth, are you really sure that you're the good guy here?

About the characters, I meant something like archetypes. Wild Talents does the same thing(although I just read that today and I haven't really understood all of it). Archetypes will dictate where your powers come from(and/or what powers are available), not the powers you have or the personality of the character. I think a too open-ended character creation system will leave the game looking like X-Men: the RPG.

That was very insightful man. I actually considered at some point to make the character a type of gargoyle(though not associated with the mythic gargoyles at all) that was supposed to guard something/someone or had a specific purpose which may or may not be gone.

My idea for what the characters do was to use the kicker as a mechanic, but expand on it. On character creation, the player will come up with a kicker(together with the GM). This kicker will eventually continue to expand to engulf the character's goals and life. It will provide him/her with a reason to use his different nature to further his goals.

But you're right, maybe adding something like that in chargen will help alot. Not just having to protect something, but being able to choose a specific task the character has to achieve(something long term).

On the subject of archetypes, I'm still leaning for using them. The archetypes aren't classes or races. They basically provide a unifying background for a character. It tells of where his powers/nature really comes from(but leaving the how, why and what completely up to debate). I think the archetypes will provide an interesting backdrop to base games and stories on.

In that case, allow me to humbly suggest 3-6 as a good number of archetypes.

12-24 and you'll start to look like Feng Shui, where people have fun flipping between archetypes but chargen is essentially "choose one" and not "choose one and then develop a character".

3-6, isn't it a little too constricting? I was thinking of 12 as a maximum at the moment.

I think what Joe's driving at is, the more archetypes you have, the more any two instances of the same archetype are going to resemble each other. The more vague and general your archetypes are, the more players are required to create their characters.

(I hate to drop in another omg-look-at-this-game note, but Nathan Paoletta's carry. a game about war is a great example, from a certain vantage point, of this sort of archetype use. He also uses them mechanically as the game goes forward, which is interesting - it makes changing who you fundamentally are a cogent part of the game, a it should be in a Vietnam game IMO.)

Mike hit my nail on its head, there.

If you have six archetypes, they can allow a lot of flexibility and possibility, rather than mad-gabs-forms.
I find d&d's  classes to be more and more constricting when you add in more and more supplements. With just the Player's Handbook, I can say "All right, my fighter is going to be a circus traveller, who has a banjo and a jester's cap, and he uses twin rapiers and a malicious grin to take down his foes".

But then someone says, "Actually, that'd be a Sadist Jester, as detailed in Complete Circus."

And:
a.) I feel like there are endcaps on my creativity in chargen, because you can't even take creative liberty with an archetype without it fitting better as a different archetype. In the end, you just say "Right, I'll be a fighter with power attack and a broadsword. my name will be Tommy."
b.) I feel frustration that I can't make Fighter "my own".
c.) Such a phenomenon encourages shopping  for a character rather than creating a character.

I would hope that with Obscure I'd flip through the archetype section and say "Holy shit, I could be a Bestowed! My power could come from Cthullu, and each time I use my powers I invite it into the world a little more. That'd be so dope."

Because Bestowed is a broad, general and abstract category that encompasses anyone that got their powers gifted.

That's different than: "Well, I suppose I could be a Demon Tainted, and that would kind of fit with my vision. I kinda want to play a character which acts as an avatar for Cthullu's self-insertion into our world. Hm, maybe Demon Embodied. No, I guess Demon Tainted. Well, it says here that I'd carry the marks of a demon but that it wouldn't actually be using me as a pawn. Whereas, Demon Embodied removes my mortal personality and REPLACES it with the demon's, and I don't exactly want that either. Shit, I guess demon embodied fits better, but isn't perfect."

The first example, with broader categories, gives me flexibility and creative control. It's a springboard that I use.

The second  example, with more focused categories, gives me options to pick from. Emphasis on "pick from", because it becomes just that.

Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't thought about that at all.
It kinda made me realise that my game has no real focus besides the archetypes which I came up with. So I'm scraping ''Obscure'' and using some of the material and ideas for my other game.
So, no more feedback is needed in this thread, your time is best spent on some other guy's game. I will be opening a new thread soon with a Power 19 for my other game which you are very very very(very) welcome to comment on. Look for the  [Fallen] tag.
Thanks!