NaGaDeMon 2017 (Part 2) #1 - Where next?
I had three projects I wanted to complete during this month's NaGaDeMon.
NOIR is done, but what were the other two...???
Option 1.
Cleaning up the print versions of The Law (both Lulu and DrivethruRPG/RPGNow versions).
That should really be my priority...
Option 2.
Revisiting Voidstone Chronicles.
That one is far messier, but I've got an idea. A fragment of sheer awesomeness that could be plugged into the existing systems to produce something that's pretty close to one of my eternal white whales. Of course here's where a nagging thought wanders through the back of my mind...
...when you get really enthusiastic about a system design that you've come up with, it can be really tempting to put it everywhere. When I first developed the engine that runs FUBAR, I really wanted the to be the core system that all my games would run from. But before long I noticed the bits where it needs to stretch, and the areas where it started cracking because it really wasn't designed to handle certain things. I'm getting the same kinds of pre-emptive feelings with regards to the engine running The Law. I really want to plug it into Voidstone Chronicles, but the latter game is so completely different in it's intentions that the engine feels wrong...but I want to put it in...but it's an engine designed to simulate gritty dark justice in a world surrounded by villainous scum and strangeness... it really isn't appropriate for 8-bit heroics at all.
So that's led me to this new idea, which is closer to using an amped up version of the system I was playing with in Ghost City Raiders. This is going to take a bit more explanation, but basically to reflect the 8-bit vibe it's more turn based. Consider that you as a console player are pressing the right combo of keys to represent enact a specific move through your character. Now consider a more analogue version of that... you play a card to represent that move (or stance). Another player similarly plays a card out of their hand simultaneously. You compare card stances, each player rolls a die (or draws a card from a deck, or some other randomiser), they then get to negotiate the effects based on the successes they obtain from their action...then the turn moves to the next active character (this may be a retaliation, or it might be something completely different). Characters get cards to play based on their skills, their equipment and other factors that impact on play. Certain conditions may limit the cards they have access to, or even force them to play random cards from their hands. The aim is quickness... and it's also drifting toward one of my other white whales, the "Bring-Your-Own-Mini" system.
Which in turn leads me back to that Darkhive setting I was playing with a few years ago. "Bring-Your-Own-Mini" was always intended to be a skirmish game with 3 to 6 models on each side, typically a hero, an offsider, and a bunch of grunts. So it basically works for the premise.
NOIR is done, but what were the other two...???
Option 1.
Cleaning up the print versions of The Law (both Lulu and DrivethruRPG/RPGNow versions).
That should really be my priority...
Option 2.
Revisiting Voidstone Chronicles.
That one is far messier, but I've got an idea. A fragment of sheer awesomeness that could be plugged into the existing systems to produce something that's pretty close to one of my eternal white whales. Of course here's where a nagging thought wanders through the back of my mind...
...when you get really enthusiastic about a system design that you've come up with, it can be really tempting to put it everywhere. When I first developed the engine that runs FUBAR, I really wanted the to be the core system that all my games would run from. But before long I noticed the bits where it needs to stretch, and the areas where it started cracking because it really wasn't designed to handle certain things. I'm getting the same kinds of pre-emptive feelings with regards to the engine running The Law. I really want to plug it into Voidstone Chronicles, but the latter game is so completely different in it's intentions that the engine feels wrong...but I want to put it in...but it's an engine designed to simulate gritty dark justice in a world surrounded by villainous scum and strangeness... it really isn't appropriate for 8-bit heroics at all.
So that's led me to this new idea, which is closer to using an amped up version of the system I was playing with in Ghost City Raiders. This is going to take a bit more explanation, but basically to reflect the 8-bit vibe it's more turn based. Consider that you as a console player are pressing the right combo of keys to represent enact a specific move through your character. Now consider a more analogue version of that... you play a card to represent that move (or stance). Another player similarly plays a card out of their hand simultaneously. You compare card stances, each player rolls a die (or draws a card from a deck, or some other randomiser), they then get to negotiate the effects based on the successes they obtain from their action...then the turn moves to the next active character (this may be a retaliation, or it might be something completely different). Characters get cards to play based on their skills, their equipment and other factors that impact on play. Certain conditions may limit the cards they have access to, or even force them to play random cards from their hands. The aim is quickness... and it's also drifting toward one of my other white whales, the "Bring-Your-Own-Mini" system.
Which in turn leads me back to that Darkhive setting I was playing with a few years ago. "Bring-Your-Own-Mini" was always intended to be a skirmish game with 3 to 6 models on each side, typically a hero, an offsider, and a bunch of grunts. So it basically works for the premise.
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