Comments on The Free RPG Blog: How to write a free RPG - Chapter 1: Inspiration

this chapter complete

2012-01-21T02:00:17.194Z

this chapter complete

Chgowiz - great to see you popping your head in. A...

2011-12-16T16:03:27.112Z

Chgowiz - great to see you popping your head in. As you can see, I am fleshing out the idea I had all that time ago.

Thank you for lending me your likeness (you can have it back when I'm done). There will be a couple of other Chgowiznesses in the game.

I had forgotten about my old Google alert and was ...

2011-12-16T15:25:13.772Z

I had forgotten about my old Google alert and was pretty surprised to see this in my inbox.

Imma charge you a no-dollar fee for using my likeness/name in vain. :) How's life treating you?

Dr Rotwang! Indeed! On tuesday. ;-)

2011-12-16T12:50:14.417Z

Dr Rotwang! Indeed! On tuesday. ;-)

2011-12-15T17:44:34.713Z

MORE

@wegetgeek I agree that it is up to the GM to make...

2011-12-15T08:46:34.407Z

@wegetgeek I agree that it is up to the GM to make the tone of the game overall but there is a lot that the game designer does in the creation of the example setting that sets its mood. If your game doesn't lean either way then put a spot somewhere in the middle. Then the GM can decide whether to make it humorous or series. Even D&D and Tolkein - stock fantasy canon has humour in it, it's not deadly serious! Thanks for you comment!

Cool once again, for the Style category I thought ...

2011-12-15T02:46:57.331Z

Cool once again, for the Style category I thought it would be best for the GM to decide things like humorous vs serious. However I was certain that it was more cinematic than realistic.

@Matthew - Thank you! I have updated the "How...

2011-12-14T17:56:42.868Z

@Matthew - Thank you! I have updated the "How to Organise" guide and it forms parts of chapters 5 and 6. Whether I make it into a PDF - I might have to throw that to a poll. I'm not used to creating something that is sold - although the first guide was part of the Open Game Table vol 2, of which I am very proud.

Ok--you need to compile both the original "Ho...

2011-12-14T16:44:01.818Z

Ok--you need to compile both the original "How to Organize" and this new series of "How to Write" into a single PDF and sell the hell out of it on RPGNow.

Hell, I'd ASSIGN it in my game writing classes, as this is a hell of a lot more accessible than many other things I've seen written on the subject.

Thanks Jack, it's great to see you're stil...

2011-12-14T15:52:26.492Z

Thanks Jack, it's great to see you're still dreaming up ideas. You're right about the feedback, I think the lack of a strong concept kills games before they've had a chance to really shine.

When I manage to shake off the sloth clinging to m...

2011-12-14T15:47:13.129Z

When I manage to shake off the sloth clinging to my back keeping me from doing a lot of creative work, I'll be coming back and re-reading this very carefully.

A year or two ago you took a look at a RPG of mine and the big take away was that it wasn't "about something". I think you made a great point, and I think it is the single most important point RPG developers need to understand - there are hundreds of generic "resolution systems" out there, but the games that get noticed time and time again are About Something. Even if people don't like your rules, they are taken in by the concept. Even if they eventually drop the concept and keep the rules, it is the concept that pulls them in and makes them read the RPG.

Thank you, RPG Guy. You might want to watch out fo...

2011-12-14T15:24:03.666Z

Thank you, RPG Guy. You might want to watch out for later Chapters because I talk about World Building later. :-)

This is awesome! Bookmarking this to use for creat...

2011-12-14T15:06:19.811Z

This is awesome! Bookmarking this to use for creating my next Campaign!

@Jensan thank you! I agree that using game style c...

2011-12-14T13:34:00.919Z

@Jensan thank you! I agree that using game style can be good for searching. My worry with that is that classifying games (albeit a big job) is very subjective. Subjective classification is very hard. For example, what feels "crunchy" to you will be different to me. Therefore, it will be difficult to agree if a given game is crunchy or not.

What IS useful for is to keep the designer on the same track. When you spend months doing a project, it is difficult to remember what the original idea was and you go off track. Going off track is one of the dangers that causes the game to be unfinished. A designer looking back at the 60% complete game may lose interest because they've lost their way. A firm concept, tightly defined will keep them on track.

I hope you enjoy the other sections, published each Tuesday!

Great reading as always, Mr Dr Lang! Should have h...

2011-12-14T13:08:32.492Z

Great reading as always, Mr Dr Lang! Should have had this when we did the 24-hour competition...

I believe the questions in the article could be applied to games already considered "done", to see what could/should be fixed. Like reverse engineering.

By the way, the graphs (under "What style of game will it be") could be useful as a search option on 1km1kt. Just plot out your desires, hit "Search" and get a game in your taste!