|
Here's the February 17th deadline's Abomination... ...in its currently formatted state. ...under the 2-page limit on text. ...in a more easily readable online format. The PocketMod-formatted version (the final version) still needs work on the covers of both playbooks, as well as possibly some other graphical details. The length limit's been pretty brutal so I don't have any examples and I had to contort the text to get it all under 2 pages with most of the mechanics I wanted to include.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 00:46 |
|
|
# ? Mar 29, 2024 15:24 |
|
D&D: Greatest hits Rules/character sheets Text length proof Hopefully I did the length right; it's a little ambiguous in my game what is rules, and what is "character sheet counting as image". I have literally a few words to spare on text length. I definitely underestimated how much text I'd need, so I had to strip out a lot of what I'd originally outlined. In particular Specializations (out entirely) and Skills (now a much simpler version). I think it does the core of what I was trying to do, which was condensed a 4E-style game, but "Greatest Hits" is probably a misnomer now, considering how little there is from older editions. As I suspected would be the case, I didn't have any room for much of any fluff at all, so it's a pretty dry expression of mechanics.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 00:54 |
|
gently caress abiword hosed up the formatting gently caress gently caress.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 00:58 |
|
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwbK9vCm5uIbOUxSR3JPNy0zZ2s/edit Ok, RoboSaur. edit: Each page is an A6. Sort of messed up the export again.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 01:01 |
|
There are a lot of interesting games so far, but a lot of people dropped out this round, and the thread's getting longer, so it's going to be difficult to find every finished game that is a valid target for playtesting. Will there be a master post with links to all the game systems?
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 01:35 |
|
Edit: Unco did a much better job.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 02:44 |
|
That is an awesome compilation (certainly beats my patented *search slowly through each page until I get frustrated and stop* method) -- thanks UnCO3. Sad to see how many dropped off this round though.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 03:08 |
|
The sadbrains strikes again. I'm gonna have to bow out. Trying to properly prettify them words did not go as planned, the gap between "what it should look like" and "what it does look like" was too great. However, this is probably the furthest I've ever managed to get on a contest, so I'm strangely ok with it. Good luck to all the playtesters!
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 03:38 |
|
Okay as it turns out I know jack poo poo about game design personally and with midterms rolling up I don't have enough time to actually put together a coherent game from the materials I have in front of me. I was just doing art before so welp. Sorry :< I feel bad for bowing out but oh well.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 03:50 |
|
Holy poo poo UnCO3. Thanks a ton! Added to OP
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 03:57 |
|
...Oh shoot. I missed the cutoff time, didn't I. Crud. I had my artwork and stuff all set, too. Just needed to paste all the text in; I just lost track of time. Super bummed now. Oh well. I got to see a gaming friend of mine tonight instead of posting, so I guess it kindof works out. Kindof.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 04:22 |
|
mepstein73 posted:...Oh shoot. I missed the cutoff time, didn't I. Crud. I had my artwork and stuff all set, too. Just needed to paste all the text in; I just lost track of time. Super bummed now. Oh well. I got to see a gaming friend of mine tonight instead of posting, so I guess it kindof works out. Kindof. If you feel like bearing the shame of a loser and receiving a shameful grade this round, that is fine. Effort is rewarded, but beware the terrible shame.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 04:36 |
|
I shall bear the shame. Here is my final document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cr8ksp_FVJlIsnqji7yWq_FuNSnDydplcFho-cK0K9E/edit?usp=sharing It's times like this I wish I had InDesign; Google Docs is not fun for laying out pages.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 05:18 |
|
I'm up for playtesting someone else's game, since mine is done. Who would be interested?
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 06:03 |
|
I'd like to provide a major shout-out to Minutia. Thanks for taking our game design and carrying it to the end despite my best efforts to have a life explode during this contest. You rule.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 06:04 |
|
TheSoundNinja posted:I'm up for playtesting someone else's game, since mine is done. Who would be interested? I'm gonna be running my game over irc tomorrow mid day/afternoon PST (GMT -8)! And if possible I want to run someone else's game after, or do that tomorrow.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 06:07 |
|
In penance for skipping out I will offer myself up as a playtester as well during this week if anyone needs a warm body and occasional pictures of cats.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 08:28 |
|
Reene posted:In penance for skipping out I will offer myself up as a playtester as well during this week if anyone needs a warm body and occasional pictures of cats. Perfect, I will hit you up in a day or two, your hours work good for me.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 09:23 |
|
I hope this thread doesn't die right away even after February. I've had fun reading all these cool ideas and coming up with one myself. It's a really good challenge, even without the prize incentive involved.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 14:58 |
|
Barudak posted:I'd like to provide a major shout-out to Minutia. Thanks for taking our game design and carrying it to the end despite my best efforts to have a life explode during this contest. You rule. Aww, thanks Barudak! Couldn't have done it without all the work you put into the crunchy bits, and I borrowed a lot from the playtest you DMed before we had worked out the mechanics. I tried to cram in as much of your fluff as possible too. I'm really happy with how our game turned out, even if it's a tragedy that the final cut didn't have dwarves in it. However, I am taking 100% of the credit for the brevity of the final product, because you are a wordy motherfucker.
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 16:19 |
|
UnCO3 posted:... No, Captain Hats! You need to finish it! My group was going to use your rules to play Shadowrun from now on!
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 18:37 |
|
Ok! I am running a playtest of Tellurian! #playtest on irc.synirc.org! Hoping to get a few players and start making fightymans in the next 10-20 mins!
|
# ? Feb 18, 2013 20:50 |
|
Alien Rope Burn, I'm going to playtest Houses and Hauntings! I can't resist the plucky-kids-and-scary-ghosts setup. I'm going to try to run it as straight horror, but it may turn out to be horror/comedy, depending on how Scooby Doo my players feel. (There don't appear to be any guidelines on how many players this is designed for, so I'm going to assume that three or four works just fine.) TheSoundNinja, I love the flavor of Virtuemancy, and I'm going to be reading through your playtest once I have time. The Sigils of Loyalty are really cool, and add an interesting scifi dystopia twist to your fantasy setting. What do they look like? Golden Bee, I'm terribly sad to see that you're not continuing Die Underground. Your fluff text was absolutely amazing (the age limits section blew me away, which was entirely unexpected). That was a gorgeous Undermountain setup. UnCO3, thanks for the summary post! It's very neat and comprehensive, but mepstein73 turned in a shamefully late entry of shame, and is back in the running.
|
# ? Feb 19, 2013 03:47 |
|
Minutia posted:TheSoundNinja, I love the flavor of Virtuemancy, and I'm going to be reading through your playtest once I have time. The Sigils of Loyalty are really cool, and add an interesting scifi dystopia twist to your fantasy setting. What do they look like? Well, a friend of mine is working on the design (to make it look cooler) but it's a runic looking. A circle with an "X" in the middle, with a lock in the center. Make it more abstract, and bingo! Bonus points if you can figure out which of White Wolf's games it's from.
|
# ? Feb 19, 2013 04:25 |
|
UnCO3 posted:Drop-outs: Splicer
|
# ? Feb 19, 2013 12:36 |
|
I've been invited to demo KOBOLD in a game design class at my school! I will hopefully be recording it and then putting that up as my playtest proof! I also am going to give a brief talk about what RPGs mean to me, and... yep. It'll be fun!
|
# ? Feb 19, 2013 22:07 |
|
UnCO3 posted:Full Rules Time Glads has full rules. It is literally a finished product.
|
# ? Feb 20, 2013 07:36 |
|
I didn't see it submitted for the third deadline, but I can add a note that the game is complete at the second deadline.
|
# ? Feb 20, 2013 14:01 |
|
My game was complete as of second posting as well. I won't say it's a medalist, but I made it to the end of the race.
|
# ? Feb 20, 2013 21:10 |
|
I just finished playtesting Houses and Hauntings last night. It was a lot of fun! They fled the house in terror, clutching a stolen teddy bear and a rake. We got enough material in the first session for a playtest (24 pages of chat transcript), and we're going to keep playing the game. The current players are going to try to solve the mystery again once their characters are un-grounded, and I'm going to run it again with other players once their schedules loosen up. Here is the transcript, with some of my notes afterwards on how the game went.
|
# ? Feb 21, 2013 17:00 |
|
I need some playtesters for Microfantasia before the week is up. Hit me up on #badwrongfun or whatever.
|
# ? Feb 21, 2013 22:25 |
|
Minutia posted:I just finished playtesting Houses and Hauntings last night. It was a lot of fun! They fled the house in terror, clutching a stolen teddy bear and a rake. We got enough material in the first session for a playtest (24 pages of chat transcript), and we're going to keep playing the game. The current players are going to try to solve the mystery again once their characters are un-grounded, and I'm going to run it again with other players once their schedules loosen up. Gosh, thanks! I've been awful busy lately, sorry for not getting back to you earlier. If things seem weird for a horror game, well, it's not straight horror per se, but more a dungeon-crawling pastiche completely reskinned. It's not horror elements, but it's not intended as really genuinely scary. If that's why it seems a little metagamey, that's why. That being said, I admit clues were kinda clunky in their implementation. It's probably better to think of them as something you get, the player asks the question, and then the GM comes up with a clue they discover that answers their question is the best way to describe that. Probably not enough room to fit advice like that in a 2-page game, so not sure if it's a win or lose there. Probably not what you want if you want a "purist" dungeon game where people ask about their environment and puzzle out solutions in the vein of an adventure game, tho. As for EP / DP, you're right, but I tried to ensure they had different uses and benefit or hinder different roles. It may be a bit much for a two-page game, though. Rolls are indeed weighted to be difficulty; it's supposed to be a game where kids don't want to get into conflicts per se, and where spending DP or taking EP is a real tough call. But given more space or time I'd love to come up with a better failure mechanic, it's a bit of a potentiall showstopper where it is. Widgets are really rough, they're supposed to be a catch-all for various gadgets and improvised solutions, like pitching out marbles to make a zombie fall over or small grappling hook to avoid falling into a pit. You're right that it's more balanced for 3-5 players, so reducing the amount of hurt foes can take is probably on the money. The formula for foes is more predicated on simplicity rather than balance, and I wasn't sure whether or not to base it on players or level, so that's how you ended up with that. A character sheet would be nice, I didn't have time to mess about with the extras I wanted to before the final version, since I ended up way busier on the weekend than anticipated. All I had time to do was just shine the rough as best I could. You could have people print with a copy of the rules in a pinch, flip to page 2, and just circle their tricks and stuff, or just copy-paste their characters when playing online. A horrible kludge, I know, but it'd help. Whew! Hope that helps if you go on with another playtest, and thanks a lot!
|
# ? Feb 21, 2013 22:33 |
|
Also, what's the due date for playtests? I assume it's the end of the month, but I couldn't find it stated clearly anywhere.
|
# ? Feb 21, 2013 22:33 |
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:Also, what's the due date for playtests? I assume it's the end of the month, but I couldn't find it stated clearly anywhere. Here it is: Ulta posted:6. The format of the contest should be familiar to you all now. Outlines will be due Feb. 3 at Midnight GMT. Part 1 will be done Feb 10th Midnight GMT, Part 2 will be due the 17th Midnight GMT, and the final play test must be in by Feb 28th Midnight GMT Question for Ulta: I plan to do an audio recording of my playtesting session, and I'd rather not post it publicly. Is there a good way for me to send it to you short of buying the Platinum Upgrade for PMs?
|
# ? Feb 21, 2013 22:46 |
|
eth0.n posted:Here it is: Sure! Send whatever to lockemurph at the G'est of mails. Also I am not ignoring you! I have been reading and will hopefully finish tonight
|
# ? Feb 21, 2013 23:59 |
|
http://youtu.be/BGGkd7FlckQ Here it is! The video of my playtest with the game design class. Most of these people had never tried roleplaying before, but everyone enjoyed. I got lots of 'this was really fun!'s at the end, and everyone was smiling when they left. The last 15-20 minutes of the session got cut off (my camera battery died), but you get the idea of how this goofy little system plays. Character creation happened while I set up the camera, and overall took around 5 minutes. At the beginning I drew a baby up on the board. By the end of the session, the 13 kobolds had accomplished the following: 2 had stolen babies 1 had died (but his body double avenged him) 3 had taken chunks of the blacksmith back to camp to eat 1 had taken 2 stuffed baby dolls back to camp to try to trade for real baby. He succeeded in doing so only because the kobold he was trading with got a critical failure to notice that they were not actual flesh-and-blood babies. There were only 2 points during which I had to make judgment calls that the rules didn't cover: tripping the Blacksmith's wife, and tickling another kobold to make him drop the baby he is holding. [For the record, the person off-camera who pees in the blacksmith's coffee, tickles the other kobold, and ultimately lights the blacksmith's home on fire (with the kobolds still in it) was the professor of the class. I love my school sometimes.] [edit: I am also probably never GMing for a group that large again.]
|
# ? Feb 22, 2013 00:16 |
|
TheSoundNinja, the runes sound really cool (and a lot like the charter marks in Sabriel) but I've never played a White Wolf game. No bonus points for me.Alien Rope Burn posted:Gosh, thanks! I've been awful busy lately, sorry for not getting back to you earlier. If things seem weird for a horror game, well, it's not straight horror per se, but more a dungeon-crawling pastiche completely reskinned. It's not horror elements, but it's not intended as really genuinely scary. If that's why it seems a little metagamey, that's why. Oh, I definitely noticed how Scooby Doo it was, but I just couldn't resist scaring the socks off of my players. I figured they could turn it into an irreverent horror/comedy if they liked, like when people sass horror movies. Turns out their morale was lower than expected. Maybe more players helps with that - players goof off more in groups. Alien Rope Burn posted:That being said, I admit clues were kinda clunky in their implementation. It's probably better to think of them as something you get, the player asks the question, and then the GM comes up with a clue they discover that answers their question is the best way to describe that. Probably not enough room to fit advice like that in a 2-page game, so not sure if it's a win or lose there. Probably not what you want if you want a "purist" dungeon game where people ask about their environment and puzzle out solutions in the vein of an adventure game, tho. Hm, I still think I'm going to cut out clues for horror-flavored games. Maybe I'll leave them in for goofier games, though I still don't think recover DP and ask about Trouble belong in the same item. Maybe split it into encouraging notes or candy (fortune cookies, maybe?) to recover DP, and Ouija boards or Magic 8 balls for predicting Trouble. I think the widgets and stuff would have worked a lot better if I left it up to the players... maybe if I described the player picking something up and stuffing it into their pocket off-camera, and they get to describe the item as they spend it? It was just really hard for me to come up with a Deus Ex Doohickey that would work in every situation, and I didn't think I could demand that players figure out how to MacGyver it on the spot in battle. I'm going to chalk the problem with clues up to a conflict between game design and my play style - it would work a lot better if I weren't trying to maintain a spooky tone throughout the game, and just let the kids bash around, or if I put more roleplay weight in the hands of the players. I think it depends on whether your group wants to be thrilled and chilled, or wants to burn down your haunted house. Alien Rope Burn posted:As for EP / DP, you're right, but I tried to ensure they had different uses and benefit or hinder different roles. It may be a bit much for a two-page game, though. Hm, I think losing 2/3 of rolls is a bit much, especially for things like searching rooms or moving into areas blocked by Obstacles, which I wanted them to do. 50/50 would be a split that encourages them to gamble. I think they got a bit demoralized by the string of failures, and first level DP is really low - they can't afford to lose very often, so searching is the first thing that gets dumped. (Sadly, my math whiz player wasn't available for this playtest.) The horror flavor was enough to make my players bolt from combat without trying to hit back very often (even with weapons! against the weakest ghost!), but you might need the difficulty mechanic to intimidate more boisterous groups. DP/EP would have been easier to differentiate without the similar contractions, I think. But still, I don't know that I want them doing math calculations over DP/EP balance - I might just mod it to a single HP bar in future runs. It also didn't help that I had only two closely-related archetypes in my game, so you didn't get much variety in what the kids could do. Alien Rope Burn posted:You're right that it's more balanced for 3-5 players, so reducing the amount of hurt foes can take is probably on the money. The formula for foes is more predicated on simplicity rather than balance, and I wasn't sure whether or not to base it on players or level, so that's how you ended up with that. Thanks for making the game! I really liked it (and mentally called dibs on its playtest in the second round), and it's flexible enough to use as either a Clue-style boardgame or a horror RPG, so I've got my bases covered on dark and stormy nights. (Oh hey. One question - in my playtest, they succeeded at their Escape roll, but tried to go out a door that was an Obstacle, and kept failing at that. Would the monster have caught up with them, or should I have herded them through the nearest non-Obstacle door? I let them frantically bash at the door for a bit as the monster slowly approached, and eventually they got through.)
|
# ? Feb 22, 2013 01:39 |
|
All right. I have reviewed all the games. I am literally speachless away by the quality of the games presented. If I set out with the rubric that I made before I started reading, everyone would have either a 9, 10, or 11. Everyone has put forth a stellar product. I am awarding everyone Bonus for this round. That said, several of you have put forth the effort to have your stuff playtested and completed. How I will account for this, I am currently unsure, but it will be accounted for. All that remains is any revisions you wish to make before the 28th, and your playtest.
|
# ? Feb 22, 2013 03:36 |
|
|
# ? Mar 29, 2024 15:24 |
|
Ulta posted:All right. I have reviewed all the games. I am literally speachless away by the quality of the games presented. If I set out with the rubric that I made before I started reading, everyone would have either a 9, 10, or 11. Everyone has put forth a stellar product. I am awarding everyone Bonus for this round. That said, several of you have put forth the effort to have your stuff playtested and completed. How I will account for this, I am currently unsure, but it will be accounted for. This really has been an inspiring contest. Now, I don't have anything to compare it to since this is my first, but the concept for this month was pure awesome and I think the entries really show that. Anyhow, reason I came in tonight was to ask this question: For our revisions before the final, are we allowed to make rules changes or modifications and such (as long as they are playtested of course) or are we limited to formatting and minor word changes? I haven't done my playtest yet (hope to get some people together this weekend), but while doing some mock encounters I noticed my math was WAY off for encounters and decided that needed some changing up. I also realized I didn't really include anything for non-combat encounters like I wanted. Probably no space for the latter, but the former is easy enough. So, again, is a change like that allowed?
|
# ? Feb 22, 2013 04:22 |