Ruminating On Gaming Projects

Because the best thing to do when stuff needs
to be done is something else.

Sometimes, you have to sit back and take stock. I've been letting myself run wild and take on a number of gaming projects. I'm not sure if I should continue with all of them, what priority I should put on them, and so on, so it is time to think about that. I'm doing it here because it might help someone else see how another person organizes his thoughts, because someone might mention something that casts this all in a whole new light, and because doing things publicly helps force me to discipline my thinking a little.

First, let me just catalog the projects I have active, or at least semi-active, at this time, not counting actually playing games:

1. A Top Secret retroclone.
2. A MegaTraveller retroclone/revision attached to a space operatic setting.
3. Spectacular Science Stories (aka Rockets & Rayguns).
4. A Fantasy Wargaming retroclone/update.
5. A "sixguns & sorcery" setting for GURPS.
6. Flanaess Sector (for AD&D 1E).
7. Updating GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War for GURPS 4E.
8. Codifying my version of the Trait System.
9. GURPS Greyhawk.
10. A magic system for Flashing Blades.
11. A mashup of Traveller and Flashing Blades.
12. My ideal roleplaying/adventure game system (mostly in the notes stage). It should be "semi-generic" in that it is intended to cover a number of genres, but all with the same "tone", for lack of a better term.

That, you might notice, is a lot. Several of these projects are stalled for various reasons that I will get to in a moment. Note that some of these have been projects I've undertaken for nearly the whole four-year existence of this blog. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might notice a couple of projects have been dropped from the "active/semi-active" list, such as the WRG Ancients-based RPG or a couple of attempts at an AD&D setting. The setting, actually, is also an ongoing project, but I'm not counting it here since it is purely for my own private use. I do intend to post about the current state of it at some point. The WRG Ancients RPG served its purpose and has been put to bed. Some of the ideas that came up in it have been incorporated into other projects.

Here's the thing, though. All of those projects kind of get in each other's way. For instance, I frequently find myself working feverishly at one of them for a while, then stepping away to another one, and when coming back to the first one finding out that I want to tear down some of what I'd already done and rework it. That's not really helpful if I ever want to finish any of these, and I do want to do that.

So, the first thing to do is to figure out what is most hampering each project at this point.

1. I remain uncertain just what direction to take this: should it be updated to the modern world's War on Terror or should it reflect late-'70s/early-'80s Cold War? Each has its merits, and Merle Rasmussen recently presented an adventure for the original game set in the modern day.
2. Rewriting the rules is a bigger task than I had envisioned at first. Yeah, that's mere whining and I should just get on with it, but the core of the game, the Task System, is turning out to be difficult enough to get the same sense in new language that I wonder if I really understand it. On top of that, I've been considering if I want to continue this way or approach the idea from another direction. That is, is MegaTraveller really what I want, or is there another, less drastic revision of classic Traveller that would be better?
3. Writing a D&D-based SF game is more difficult than some might think, unless you're just re-skinning the D&D rules with SF chrome, which I'm not. Plus, White Star kind of did a number on my head for a while, since it explicitly took Swords & Wizardry: White Box and made it SF, which is sort of the remit of Spectacular Science Stories. Still, I'm plugging away at this one pretty solidly.
4. I keep finding myself torn between the desire to present a more-or-less straight retroclone and the desire to update the game considerably. Reining in the latter tendency is exhausting. On the other hand, there were clearly some mistakes made in the original that need correcting.
5. I'm having a sort of crisis of faith with GURPS. It was my go-to, indeed nearly only, RPG for a decade. As I have been examining what I like about RPGs, though, it turns out that GURPS fails at many of those things. Trying to make a random character generation system for it was sobering. I remain convinced that such a random character system for it is possible and desirable, but it seems like too much work when not being paid to write it. I still have much affection for GURPS, but I have things to work through in regard to it.
6. Many of the same issues present with 3. are also problems here.
7. See 5.
8. While I still love the Trait System, I'm not sure that it fills my own needs anymore. It's kinda being superceded* by 12.
9. See 5.
10. Actually, nothing. I just haven't gotten back to it in a few weeks.
11. It's a crazy idea. It's actually more just a "hack" of Flashing Blades as a space opera, but since Traveller is definitive for that sort of thing in my head that's how I conceived it. Mostly, I haven't yet really convinced myself that it's a good idea, so I haven't done much work on it.
12. Work on this will be slow. I'm sort of thinking of it as "Hârnmaster, GURPS, Flashing Blades, Pendragon, RuneQuest, and classic Traveller have a mutant baby". At this point, I'm just writing down notes when I think of something related to it. I want it to have the detail options of GURPS, the breezy character creation of Flashing Blades, the integrated social systems of that game, the personality approach of Pendragon, and the gritty realism of Hârnmaster, RuneQuest, and Traveller. Or something like that. A lot of it is still very much in flux. This is my very own Heartbreaker. Maybe I should call it MOHb (for "My Own Heartbreaker").

I haven't even touched on the half-baked ideas I've had on which I haven't done any significant work. An adventure game that uses the Car Wars pedestrian combat and character rules (yes, yes, Autoduel Champions, Car Wars Tanks, and the Ob-Racing article) as its basis, probably scaled up 4x, so that 1/4" in Car Wars is a 1" square in the adventure game. An edition of Traveller that hits a spot somewhere between the Classic and Mega- editions (probably as a supplement to the Classic edition, since The Traveller Book is back in print). An entirely new Pulp Solar System setting, with my own versions of ancient Mars and swampy Venus (and the other planets). Returning to the WRG Ancients-based adventure game in a more serious fashion. My own attempt at GURPS Warhammer 40,000.

So, how do I prioritize these? I'm thinking that Spectacular Science Stories is my most important project right now, so that should be what I work on until it is finished, with the only intruding project being MOHb. After that, I'll pick whichever one is the most interesting to me at that moment (probably not Flanaess Sector, though, because that would be just too much SF all in a row) and work on it until I'm finished with that one, and so on. One project at a time might just be the best way to go.

What do you think?

*Some people say that this is an incorrect spelling of "superseded". Those people are wrong.

State Of The Faoladh

Normally, today would be the day of the week that I post more factoids about the Middle Sea world, but I don't have enough currently to make a full post. I've been distracted by the World Cup and a couple of other projects.

First, I am actively writing a revision/retroclone of Fantasy Wargaming, which I still say has the potential of being one of the better games to come from the late '70s/early '80s era. It's a combination of writing and a back-and-forth discussion process with a collaborator, who is able to keep me from forgetting how awesome FW really is and flying off into a massive redesign.

In between that, I am also still slogging away at a Top Secret retroclone. I kinda wish that I'd already finished this, because of the fourth issue of Gygax magazine (which includes a new TS mission from Merle Rasmussen), but I only have myself to blame for that.

I would like to get back to writing a game using the Trait System that I designed a few years back (and which has seen some word-of-mouth success, albeit mainly in the storygame crowd, and after some changes from my original intent). I think that fantasy Elizabethan era is what it would work best for, and was what I had in mind when I originally worked out the basics, plus I just really like the idea of the era and setting. I've gotten a bit down in electrons for it, but it's been set aside for the moment.

I was reminded recently that I'd really like to see a setting of occult conspiracy in the late 18th century (the Enlightenment era of revolution). Mainly, I'd like to play in such a setting. The LotFP default assumptions come pretty close to that, but I don't know, it seems more Thirty Years' War rather than American Revolution.

I've been considering the points and counterpoints in the "rewards for roleplaying" debate that is currently going on. I tend toward the side that says it is actively detrimental to roleplaying at the table, but I want to address the issue with more nuance, since that simple argument doesn't really cover my full impression of the concept. I've been poking at an article for the blog on the matter, but it isn't really coming together yet.

I'm nearly ready to give up on finding a venue to run games face to face here (in my house is not an option). I am considering running online, but I have the small problem that I don't want to take the time to learn how to set up a virtual tabletop, and I'm not sure my poor antique laptop could take it and G+ Hangouts at the same time, anyway. Maybe I will still be able to find a workable option for gaming locally. Maybe I should start emailing people on Nearbygamers or whatever.

So, here's a question for you all: what settings or eras do you think would be a lot of fun to play in, but haven't seen much (or any) coverage in games to date? Post-oil? Neolithic fantasy? Gunboat diplomacy China? WWI Knights of the Air? Max Headroom Cyberpunk?

The Trait System

Several times in this blog, I've mentioned that I designed a fairly well-received roleplaying system that's gotten some use in the local gaming community (mostly among story gamers, as that's where my former gaming group decided to present it, and two of the members of that group were instrumental in developing the system). I called it the Trait System, but other names included the Two-Die System (because it uses 2d6 for most resolution checks) or the Bridge System (as it was seen by one of the developers as a bridge of sorts between "trad" and "story" games).

Briefly, character creation consists of selecting three traits (sometimes, one of the traits is considered the character's "core" trait, and largely defines the character, like "Gunslinger" or "Veteran Mercenary", though I don't know that I am overly fond of that). A trait might be "Strong", "Hard-headed", "Goth As Fuck", or whatever. The point is that the three traits selected define the character. I wanted to provide a list of automatically acceptable traits, with an "Other" category that would allow negotiation with the Referee for something else, but I never got around to creating that list, and it made the game easier to propagate without the need for any written rules set. Perhaps, after finishing the Top Secret clone, I'll get back to the Trait System.

Anyway, resolution is by determining what is attempted, and if any of the character's traits apply to it. Then, roll 2d6 and add 2 for each applicable trait (or add 1 - the developers thought that it was easier to remember that way) and hope for a 9 or better for success (I think that the version which adds 1 per trait looked for a 7+). If a character was on the receiving end of an attempt, he would gain a negative trait, such as "Wounded" or "Confused". We never got around to really working with those, but the general rule turned into "if you have 5 negative traits, you are out for the rest of the scene, or whatever is appropriate". We also didn't really define "scene", but just went with what felt right at the table.

There are, of course, other aspects of the game (like wealth or negative traits), but they aren't necessary for this brief overview.

Now, I've just learned about Technoir, and discovered that it uses a similar mechanic. They came up with an awesome way of handling injury traits and similar setbacks, too, in which if a character gains a "wound" type trait, they roll a die for each such trait they have. If a 6 comes up, they also gain "Dying". If a 6 comes up and they have the "Dying" trait, they also gain the "Dead" trait. (In Technoir, "traits" are called "adjectives" in this sense, to separate them from basic character definition traits, but that isn't necessary or desirable in the Trait System). I'm going to have to get that game to examine it for things I can use.

The games which originally inspired the Trait System were:

Tales of the Arabian Nights from West End Games - This was the original inspiration. I loved the game when I first played it, and wanted a way to use the ideas in a broader roleplaying context, with no limits based on the board or paragraph book. Basically, I was looking for a way that a Referee could extend the game.

Magic Realm from Avalon Hill - Another approach at a boardgame/roleplaying game hybrid. Not much survived the development process, largely because my developers had never played it. I hope to reintroduce aspects of it.

Car Wars - Uses 2d6 for resolution, and has characters that are described by their skills without any stats (though it still operates from the traditional paradigm of rating skills by numbers).

Where Fools Dare to Tread - In the early '90s, Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer magazine sometimes included entire roleplaying games. This one was a game of modern horror and conspiracy. It used singular traits to describe a character, though there were five central ones that pretty much made up the basis of a character.

To a lesser extent, I also looked at Mind's Eye Theater, the White Wolf LARP system. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some other games that had an influence on the basic design, too.

After looking at these, I wanted to get away from having numeric values on the character sheet. We don't describe someone as "14 Strength" in the real world, we just say "he's strong". I wanted to gain that feeling, and set a design goal of "no numbers on the character sheet". Because not everyone who is strong is the same strength, though, I added the idea of advanced versions of the traits, so that someone who had "Strong" twice might trade both in for "Very Strong" or whatever. Some of those ideas got lost in development, but I think I will return to them. I have some more ideas, too, so I'll hope to get a chance to work them out at the table, then write them up for publication in some manner.