The Game Writing Workshop: Let's make (and finish) our game projects!

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slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

A crosspost about trivial challenges.

a section on trivial challenges posted:

Trivial Challenges
Your character in Let Thrones Beware is an adventurer, an exceptional individual that even when starting out fresh and unseasoned, is a cut above a regular denizen; what others find difficult to do, you can accomplish with ease.

It is a common feature of roleplaying games to use a system, typically based on your character's skills and abilities, to test or check whenever you wish to accomplish a task. Such a system exists in Let Thrones Beware, but in keeping with the exceptional nature of your heroes, trivial tasks are assumed to automatically succeed.

What is a trivial task? Put simply, it's any task that does not contain an element of challenge. Your adventurer, left alone in the treasury with a chest brimming with riches, will succeed in unlocking the container. Similarly, should you attempt to scale a wall in the middle of a sunny afternoon, you will succeed. Both of these tasks are considered to be trivial. When an element of risk is introduced - a guard patrol checking in on the chest every few minutes - archers on the wall shooting arrows at intruders - the task is no longer trivial, and an actual (which we'll get to shortly) test is required.

Another thing to consider when deciding whether a task is trivial or not is the task�s importance and bearing on the quest you are undertaking. In our current adventure, your are tasked with retrieving a priceless heirloom from bandits that have been plaguing the merchant caravans that travel the Deep Wood. You have an objective and a plan, and the beginnings of an exciting adventure. Consider for a moment, what would happen if you weren�t able to figure out which caravan the bandits were going to raid. Spending an hour guessing incorrectly and never encountering your quarry wouldn�t make for a very compelling quest. This sort of busywork is often best considered a trivial challenge.

There's one more important thing to keep in mind about tasks; while their methods will differ based on the skills and training characters have, they are all equally capable of accomplishing goals. Where a rogue picks the lock to open the chest, the hedge wizard will rely on an incantation, and the knight might resort to a mailed fist.

...snip...

Preview the whole adventure so far

# ? Oct 4, 2016 06:10

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# ? May 16, 2024 06:38

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

P.d0t posted:

Alright, so I have a draft of the rules for The Next Project done up well enough that I want to share it for critique.
Here's a link to the document.

Ok, I got 4 of the 5 intended "starter classes" polished up and ready. The Barbarian has changed a fair bit from the previous Beta, but the version shown here is essentially what the class is now, just with only 1 archetype presented; the Acrobat is going to undergo some changes, but that'll mostly be on the skills side of things, and with the other archetype (not presented here.) Cleric is the d8 class that I want in the starter set, but uh... well that class isn't actually written yet. :blush:

I'll see if I can bang that out tomorrow; if not, later this week, hopefully.

d4 class: Acrobat (Archer)
d6 class: Rogue (Assassin)
d10 class: Mystic (Warlock)
d12 class: Barbarian (Shieldbearer)

# ? Oct 4, 2016 21:55

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

d8 class: Cleric (Life Domain)

e: also, I felt the Rogue was a bit lacking, so I added an ability from one of the other archetypes; that archetype (the Scoundrel) was probably going to get scrapped anyway, so eh.

P.d0t fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Oct 5, 2016

# ? Oct 5, 2016 22:17

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

slap me and kiss me posted:

Beyond those minor quibbles, I think that writing up a class and giving a couple examples of play would really make things shine - it's one thing to read a system, it's another for how it plays to be explained by the designer.

Your wish has been granted!

Any feedback is appreciated, either here or on the doc itself is fine

I kept to one combat round, but I can continue and show off other abilities/mechanics, if that helps. Just lemme know of any specific examples you'd like to see.

e: also, new blog post, talking about some of the design choices behind the mechanics.

P.d0t fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Oct 12, 2016

# ? Oct 12, 2016 00:53

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

Hey, cool. I'll try to give this a readthrough soon.

# ? Oct 12, 2016 17:24

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

P.d0t posted:

Your wish has been granted!

Any feedback is appreciated, either here or on the doc itself is fine
I kept to one combat round, but I can continue and show off other abilities/mechanics, if that helps. Just lemme know of any specific examples you'd like to see.

e: also, new blog post, talking about some of the design choices behind the mechanics.

This is a great start - I do have some feedback, but don't take it as "this needs a total rewrite" feedback. Some fleshing out will really make this shine.

The contextual links are super helpful.
I don't like "same bonus" - explain what that means in your example (something like "1d20 (the skill roll) and 1d6 (the bonus roll)") will really help. Dumb it down as much as possible.
The DM judging is a fine assertion to make in the example - if you define the example as a combat one. If you're not clear on what you're explaining, I'm going to assume that you're explaining every system, in which case I will wonder how the DM comes to those decisions (esp. "the DM judges that combat is about to begin").
Show the initiative roll.
The move action explanation is really solid
In some places you say "see power," in others you include part of the power description (I'd go the extra mile and include the whole power each time you reference once)
"Dropping" an enemy doesn't feel descriptive enough - I know what you're getting at, but it would be nice if you explicitly define it - is the enemy killed? knocked unconscious? dealer's choice?
Why is 19 and 2 a critical success? If the first thing I do is flip to your example, it would be nice to know why it's a critical.

# ? Oct 14, 2016 06:52

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

slap me and kiss me posted:

This is a great start - I do have some feedback, but don't take it as "this needs a total rewrite" feedback. Some fleshing out will really make this shine.

The contextual links are super helpful.
I don't like "same bonus" - explain what that means in your example (something like "1d20 (the skill roll) and 1d6 (the bonus roll)") will really help. Dumb it down as much as possible.
The DM judging is a fine assertion to make in the example - if you define the example as a combat one. If you're not clear on what you're explaining, I'm going to assume that you're explaining every system, in which case I will wonder how the DM comes to those decisions (esp. "the DM judges that combat is about to begin").
Show the initiative roll.
The move action explanation is really solid
In some places you say "see power," in others you include part of the power description (I'd go the extra mile and include the whole power each time you reference once)
"Dropping" an enemy doesn't feel descriptive enough - I know what you're getting at, but it would be nice if you explicitly define it - is the enemy killed? knocked unconscious? dealer's choice?
Why is 19 and 2 a critical success? If the first thing I do is flip to your example, it would be nice to know why it's a critical.

Updated the doc with your suggested changes, the only thing I left alone was citing of abilities; the idea would be to look at the example play, with the class sheets handy/nearby. Some abilities are also multi-part with stuff that doesn't always relate to the action being described, so to avoid that confusion, I wanted the examples to only include the relevant text.

I also added an example of an Opportunity Attack, towards the very end (mostly because I forgot that it would have actually been triggered, but also just for the sake of having it presented.)

# ? Oct 14, 2016 08:03

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

P.d0t posted:

Updated the doc with your suggested changes, the only thing I left alone was citing of abilities; the idea would be to look at the example play, with the class sheets handy/nearby. Some abilities are also multi-part with stuff that doesn't always relate to the action being described, so to avoid that confusion, I wanted the examples to only include the relevant text.

I also added an example of an Opportunity Attack, towards the very end (mostly because I forgot that it would have actually been triggered, but also just for the sake of having it presented.)

Significantly improved! Nice job.

Speaking of examples of play, I have finished the first combat example for my adventure.

Cross-posting Introduction to Combat posted:

Combat is resolved in a manner that is similar to the skill checks we just discussed. The first thing to do is determine initiative, which is how we decide who gets to act first. To calculate initiative, roll your Tier Die and add your Response attribute. The highest initiative goes first, and play continues through to the lowest initiative.

Combat is divided up into rounds. One round is the time it takes for each participant to take two actions. When you come up in the initiative order, you begin a new turn. Your turn from this moment until the next cycle of initiative. When you begin a new turn, the first thing you do is refresh one of your exhausted combat powers. The next thing you do roll the Tier Die. You will add this result to the Force Score all of your actions until you begin a new turn. When your turn begins, and before another participant begins their turn, you may take up to two actions.

Once you've settled on a foe and are in range, an Engagement is initiated. If you have a higher Initiative score, you may choose to attack, by selecting an Attack combat power, or let your adversary go first. Otherwise, your foe gets to make the same choice.
Once this is determined, the attacker will play an attack power. This power has a Force Score, which is calculated by combining the power's score, the Tier Die you rolled for your turn, and an attribute specified by the power.

Combat powers may be countered, so long as the countering power has an equal or higher Force Score and obeys the following order of precedence.

Action Interaction

Attack Initiates an engagement

Counter Beats lower valued Attacks

Interrupt Beats lower valued Attacks, Counters

Participants in the engagement take turns activating combat powers until one chooses not to or cannot. The combatant with the highest Force Score deals hit point damage and effects as specified by the final combat power. In the event of a tie, both powers are applied.

With the exception of basic combat actions, all powers used in this exchange are exhausted, and cannot be used again until they are refreshed.

http://www.letthronesbeware.com/download/combat-test/

# ? Oct 14, 2016 16:51

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

slap me and kiss me posted:

Combat is resolved in a manner that is similar to the skill checks we just discussed. The first thing to do is determine initiative, which is how we decide who gets to act first. To calculate initiative, roll your Tier Die and add your Response attribute. The highest initiative goes first, and play continues through to the lowest initiative.

Combat is divided up into rounds. One round is the time it takes for each participant to take two actions. When you come up in the initiative order, you begin a new turn. Your turn starts from this moment and lasts until the next cycle of initiative. When you begin a new turn, the first thing you do is refresh one of your exhausted combat powers. The next thing you do is roll the Tier Die. You will add this result to the Force Score [of/for/???] all of your actions until you begin a new turn. ~~When your turn begins, and before another participant begins their turn~~Between the start and end of your turn, you may take up to two actions.

Once you've settled on a foe and are in range, an Engagement is initiated. If you have a higher Initiative score, you may choose to attack, by selecting an Attack combat power, or let your adversary go first. Otherwise, your foe gets to make the same choice. [What happens if both choose to let the other person go?]
Once this is determined, the attacker will play an attack power. This power has a Force Score, which is calculated by combining the power's score, the Tier Die you rolled for your turn, and an attribute specified by the power.

Combat powers may be countered, so long as the countering power has an equal or higher Force Score and obeys the following order of precedence.

Action Interaction
Attack Initiates an engagement
Counter Beats lower valued Attacks
Interrupt Beats lower valued Attacks, Counters

Participants in the engagement take turns activating combat powers until one chooses not to or cannot. The combatant with the highest Force Score deals hit point damage and effects as specified by the final combat power. In the event of a tie, both powers are applied.

With the exception of basic combat actions, all powers used in this exchange are exhausted, and cannot be used again until they are refreshed.

Added some stuff in underlines, mostly grammatical.

Are all actions basically just attacks, in this system?

# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:56

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

P.d0t posted:

Added some stuff in underlines, mostly grammatical.

Are all actions basically just attacks, in this system?

Thanks for the suggestions.

It depends on what you mean by 'attacks' - there aren't any simple skill or ability checks to perform actions in my system; either an action is trivial, meaning that it doesn't warrant a contest, or it's non-trivial, meaning that players use either the combat or non-combat resolution system to resolve (depending on intent).

# ? Oct 16, 2016 05:21

D34THROW: Jan 29, 2012; RETAIL RETAIL LISTEN TO ME BITCH ABOUT RETAIL

I'm trying to figure out how to avoid RPG-associated dice for a game I'm working on; specifically, I'm trying to stick to d6 to make it more accessible, but with that comes the issue of the various dice rolls. I thought I had it by having a 2d6-2 roll for a range of 0 to 10, but that would give more results of 5 than anything.

I don't have any d10 at home to playtest, nor do I have access to an online dice roller at home (only computer at work, old-rear end flip phone because it was cheapest).

Is there a way I can...simulate a d10 roll for playtesting or use a d6 system that will avoid the issues I mentioned? I'm fairly new to this whole thing.

# ? Oct 20, 2016 15:54

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

D34THROW posted:

I'm trying to figure out how to avoid RPG-associated dice for a game I'm working on; specifically, I'm trying to stick to d6 to make it more accessible, but with that comes the issue of the various dice rolls. I thought I had it by having a 2d6-2 roll for a range of 0 to 10, but that would give more results of 5 than anything.

I don't have any d10 at home to playtest, nor do I have access to an online dice roller at home (only computer at work, old-rear end flip phone because it was cheapest).

Is there a way I can...simulate a d10 roll for playtesting or use a d6 system that will avoid the issues I mentioned? I'm fairly new to this whole thing.

If you can't make it to a game store, you could always draw numbers out of a hat.

# ? Oct 20, 2016 16:03

DigitalRaven: Oct 9, 2012

A shitload of games only use d6 for their mechanics; I really don't understand the issue. Why would you need to simulate a d10?

E: Look at, for example, Shadowrun (d6 dice pools), OneDice (1d6), Feng Shui (d6-d6), most any PbtA game (2d6+modifiers), GURPS (3d6), HERO (d6 pools)... and let's not forget any of the PDQ games (Truth & Justice, Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies), Traveller, Lasers and Feelings (and most all the hacks), Remnants, Over the Edge...

DigitalRaven fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Oct 20, 2016

# ? Oct 20, 2016 16:04

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

DigitalRaven posted:

A shitload of games only use d6 for their mechanics; I really don't understand the issue. Why would you need to simulate a d10?

E: Look at, for example, Shadowrun (d6 dice pools), OneDice (1d6), Feng Shui (d6-d6), most any PbtA game (2d6+modifiers), GURPS (3d6), HERO (d6 pools)... and let's not forget any of the PDQ games (Truth & Justice, Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies), Traveller, Lasers and Feelings (and most all the hacks), Remnants, Over the Edge...

This makes me think that playing a d6-only game would be a way to ensure relatively accurate dice results without having to buy GameScience dice, because ostensibly casino-quality dice are a lot easier to come by.

# ? Oct 20, 2016 16:11

D34THROW: Jan 29, 2012; RETAIL RETAIL LISTEN TO ME BITCH ABOUT RETAIL

I never even heard of any of those and I didn't know d6-only dice pools were a thing. I just like d10s, but I've been batting the idea around since my original idea was basically a 1d6 system; my mother in law has a handful of casino-quality d6 sitting around, so I'll borrow those and check it out!

Thanks! :tipshat:

# ? Oct 20, 2016 17:06

Splicer: Oct 16, 2006; from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

I hate D10s so much.

# ? Oct 20, 2016 19:21

Razorwired: Dec 7, 2008; It's about to start!

gradenko_2000 posted:

This makes me think that playing a d6-only game would be a way to ensure relatively accurate dice results without having to buy GameScience dice, because ostensibly casino-quality dice are a lot easier to come by.

I get my d6s from a local casino. They're 3 for a dollar and are taken off the craps tables after X rolls to make sure that the casino is play legal. They're still fair enough for an elfgame though.

Started working out the model for my current project. I'm playing with a Card counting game idea I had. First the GM lays out 4 cards, one representing a part of an encounter(Hazards, Enemies, Objectives, Treasures). The player's Action is to bid which card will be matched first. Then the GM draws from the deck until something matches one of the set cards. If the player bets correctly they take care of that part of the Encounter(Securing treasures, defeating enemies, etc). If they bet wrong that part of the Encounter gets harder and they Miss. After three Misses the Encounter ends with the results based on what parts of the Encounter were cleared.

Player abilities are triggered on someone else's turn, and allow the active player to do things like bet on suits instead of numbers, or bet on two adjacent numbers(4 and 5).

My to do lists for this week is to finalize tables for card values and to figure out a game economy that lets the players use their abilities often enough to tilt the odds but not enough to win without cost every time. I'm thinking of giving players who bid correctly an Action Point that they can toss in for a particular round.

I also gotta get together with my design group and play the game I based this on. Its an old gambling game from back home and while I've been getting about a 33% success rate in initial testing but I need to try this out with people who have never touched the original card game.

# ? Oct 20, 2016 19:53

Tendales: Mar 9, 2012

Possible non-dice ways to get numbers:
A deck of cards- This lets you mess with odds based on whether or not you return cards to the deck after drawing, how often you reshuffle, if players can hold cards, etc.

A spinner- You could use this if you want game odds that are irrational numbers, or to make concentric rings around the spinner so each spin creates multiple results at the same time

Dexterity game- Draw targets on a sheet, throw something at or onto the sheet.

Shoot for it- This works better for smaller numbers. Each player simultaneously picks a number, and number. Add all the numbers together, then modulo to get the range you want.

# ? Oct 20, 2016 21:55

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

Now for a post from me without a game mechanics update -

Does anyone have recommendations for commissioning and/or licensing art and maps for their projects? I would like to put a few maps into the adventure I'm working on (one tactical, one an overview) to help players understand the movement rules.

It'd also be neat to add some (concept) art at the same time to help illustrate the races and classes.

Suggestions?

# ? Oct 21, 2016 05:16

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

slap me and kiss me posted:

Does anyone have recommendations for commissioning and/or licensing art and maps for their projects? I would like to put a few maps into the adventure I'm working on (one tactical, one an overview) to help players understand the movement rules.

It'd also be neat to add some (concept) art at the same time to help illustrate the races and classes.

Suggestions?

Off the top of my head, a good goon to ask would be Jimbozig, in his game's thread (since you don't seem to have PMs)

I kinda recall Potatocubed and some other self-publishers mentioned some good sources, earlier in this thread. If not, I might be thinking of another thread which sorta got eclipsed/replaced by this one.

# ? Oct 21, 2016 07:06

oriongates: Mar 14, 2013; Validate Me!

Just finished up the 6th draft of my Badass Kung Fu Demigods game, it can be found here for those interested.

This is actually the biggest update since my second draft, rejiggered the damage system, added a "strike" system for getting good rolls which can boost damage, grant bonuses or make narrative declarations. Renamed a bunch of powers to make them less painfully generic and generally streamlined the power system. Also added an extra (optional) step on the power scale to make things flow a bit more smoothly from beating up Batman to beating up Galactus.

Also ditched External Traits, just having plain Traits for everything from being good at fighting to being the prince of the moon.

I'd be especially interested in any feedback about how clearly things are communicated and if there's anything I could do to make things clearer or more accessible. In particular I cannot for the life of me decide what order to put the first three chapters. They're all extremely important but I can't actually figure out what order works best. Chapter three contains the cool stuff about judo-chopping moons in half and is the one that is kind of the key selling point to the system, but it also makes no sense without the other rules. The character creation rules help give context and shape to the other chapters so you can figure out what rules are available to you, but it's also a bit out of context without knowing about the other two chapters. For now I've got the basic rules (that everyone uses) first, the character creation rules second, and the super-powered rules third.

# ? Oct 21, 2016 10:55

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

oriongates posted:

Just finished up the 6th draft of my Badass Kung Fu Demigods game, it can be found here for those interested.

This is actually the biggest update since my second draft, rejiggered the damage system, added a "strike" system for getting good rolls which can boost damage, grant bonuses or make narrative declarations. Renamed a bunch of powers to make them less painfully generic and generally streamlined the power system. Also added an extra (optional) step on the power scale to make things flow a bit more smoothly from beating up Batman to beating up Galactus.

Also ditched External Traits, just having plain Traits for everything from being good at fighting to being the prince of the moon.

I'd be especially interested in any feedback about how clearly things are communicated and if there's anything I could do to make things clearer or more accessible. In particular I cannot for the life of me decide what order to put the first three chapters. They're all extremely important but I can't actually figure out what order works best. Chapter three contains the cool stuff about judo-chopping moons in half and is the one that is kind of the key selling point to the system, but it also makes no sense without the other rules. The character creation rules help give context and shape to the other chapters so you can figure out what rules are available to you, but it's also a bit out of context without knowing about the other two chapters. For now I've got the basic rules (that everyone uses) first, the character creation rules second, and the super-powered rules third.

Going to read this over the weekend and give you some feedback. With respect to the ordering of things, I think that you've got it in the right order now. If you want to showcase cool rules, maybe tie everything together with a couple pages of example play that go right at the front, so people can see all of the really cool stuff in action before they start getting into the mechanics.

# ? Oct 21, 2016 20:44

Libertad!: Oct 30, 2013; You can have the last word, but I'll have the last laugh!

It's out! My latest book is out!

At 100 pages this so far is my Magnum Opus. An OSR-compatible book revolving around adventures where the PCs are students at a magic school. Part new rules sourcebook with things like books as treasure and new races for a high fantasy-style student body; part hexcrawl setting with a central school "home base" and 3 full-fledged dungeons. Also contains sample NPCs and adventure hooks, along with charts and tables for generating classroom mishaps, random encounters when wandering the halls, and other appropriate academy-centric hijinks!

It's been about half a year's worth of blood, sweat, and tears, but I can't describe the feelings going through me as I see this book up and for sale.

Wow. Just wow.

# ? Oct 23, 2016 01:51

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

Was overdue for a blogpost, so I did up a quick overview of where development of The Next Project is at.

If anyone's super interested in specific details, hit me up.

Also, if anybody out there is/would be super interested in working on writing monsters, we should be friends :v:

# ? Oct 23, 2016 06:29

oriongates: Mar 14, 2013; Validate Me!

slap me and kiss me posted:

Going to read this over the weekend and give you some feedback. With respect to the ordering of things, I think that you've got it in the right order now. If you want to showcase cool rules, maybe tie everything together with a couple pages of example play that go right at the front, so people can see all of the really cool stuff in action before they start getting into the mechanics.

Yeah, ideally they'll be a comic or a few well-illustrated examples of play in whatever turns out to be the final version of the game. Happy to hear any feedback once you check it out. As a system designed mostly in my own head I do worry about its playability in the real world.

# ? Oct 23, 2016 11:22

Libertad!: Oct 30, 2013; You can have the last word, but I'll have the last laugh!

So already folks are asking if there's going to be an Print-on-Demand option for Larius Firetongue. As a lot of nerds love physical books, and the product is at an even 100 pages to make that a viable option, I'd definitely love to do so.

Save one thing.

This would be my first foray into Print-on-Demand. It will most definitely be via OneBookShelf's Lightning Source printers, and I may look into Lulu if there's a big enough market there.

I have enough experience with making PDFs in Adobe InDesign, but what do I need to know for making PoD? For instance, I don't want the text on the far left and far right of the pages to get "eaten" by the spine and thus unreadable. Or knowing the proper amount of bleed so that you won't have 1 inch big white spaces lining the page's exteriors.

# ? Oct 23, 2016 21:52

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Are you using DriveThru's provided InDesign templates? If so, it's just a matter of exporting the PDF in a different way - their publisher knowledge base has pretty comprehensive tutorials on how you do that. If not, you'll need to download their template and move your current layout over - should be easy if you're the same page size. That way all the crop marks and bleeds are built into the file and you just need to check a few boxes on PDF export.

# ? Oct 23, 2016 22:02

Libertad!: Oct 30, 2013; You can have the last word, but I'll have the last laugh!

Flavivirus posted:

[b]Are you using DriveThru's provided InDesign templates?[b] If so, it's just a matter of exporting the PDF in a different way - their publisher knowledge base has pretty comprehensive tutorials on how you do that. If not, you'll need to download their template and move your current layout over - should be easy if you're the same page size. That way all the crop marks and bleeds are built into the file and you just need to check a few boxes on PDF export.

No I am not.

If it matters, the document setup for this book is Letter, 8.5 by 11 inches, 0.1667 inches bleed, 0 inches slug, no facing pages, and portrait orientation.

# ? Oct 24, 2016 04:48

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Libertad! posted:

No I am not.

If it matters, the document setup for this book is Letter, 8.5 by 11 inches, 0.1667 inches bleed, 0 inches slug, no facing pages, and portrait orientation.

This page should have all the information you'll need: https://onebookshelfpublisherservice.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/227867587-Tutorials-and-Templates-for-Creating-Print-PDF-s-

In particular, there's a PDF tutorial that lays out every step in preparing a print-ready document, and a zip file containing InDesign templates (including an 8.5" x 11" one) that have all the bleed and slug info baked in. If you're already using master pages, you should be able to copy the template's master page across, create a new version of each master page using the template's one, and therefore be able to make a print-ready PDF without having to change any of your content.

If you're not using master pages things get a bit trickier - might be easiest to copy the content over to the template document wholesale and go through it making sure everything still fits and looks good.

Let me know if you run into any issues with this - happy to show screenshots from my projects showing how to do any of the things I've just talked about!

# ? Oct 24, 2016 11:44

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

oriongates posted:

Yeah, ideally they'll be a comic or a few well-illustrated examples of play in whatever turns out to be the final version of the game. Happy to hear any feedback once you check it out. As a system designed mostly in my own head I do worry about its playability in the real world.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading through this, it does a great job of capturing the feel of badass kungfu. The only thing I didn't really care for was your 'What is an RPG' section. Telling people to check wikipedia comes across as exclusionary and elitist. Moreover, it feels out of place compared to the tone of the rest of your writing.

Suggestions:

You might want to think about breaking out your italicized mechanics examples a bit more; more obvious than just italics (like what you did with the grey boxes for mechanics). Making them pop out a bit more would also help break up pages of nothing but black text on white background.

Pg 50 onwards has examples of play; you could move one of those up before your first three chapters - move one of your examples up to the front, and you'll be able to showcase all sorts of interesting stuff to hook people before you explain character creation and the rest.

I also stumbled across one typo - "getting a 2, bringing it t a total of 10. The 10 is..." (pg 3)

# ? Oct 24, 2016 16:00

oriongates: Mar 14, 2013; Validate Me!

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. As far as the what is an RGP section, that wasn't intended to be exclusionary so much as it was meant to recognize the fact that I doubt I would ever get popular enough for it to fall into the hands of someone who's never played RPGs before. But I'll look into adjusting the tone.

Ideally a lot of those examples will be replaced with illustrated examples on opposing pages. But I'm still far from that point yet.

I agree with the idea of moving examples as well, maybe a play example at the end of each chapter which more or less covers the materials included there.

# ? Oct 24, 2016 19:16

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

oriongates posted:

I agree with the idea of moving examples as well, maybe a play example at the end of each chapter which more or less covers the materials included there.

This is a fantastic idea.

What are you planning on doing for your art?

# ? Oct 24, 2016 19:47

oriongates: Mar 14, 2013; Validate Me!

My wife is an artist, so we'll be working together to create that. She's recovering from some medical issues so this is something that could be quite a ways in the future, but I've got other games I can work on in the meantime.

# ? Oct 24, 2016 21:03

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

[obligatory link to the core rules for The Next Project]

:siren:

Alright, so I took my d4 classes (Archer, Monk, and Mage) and changed them into:

The Acrobat [Archer/Martial Artist]

The Sage [Monk/Wizard]

The latter is still a bit rough, and I will probably tinker with it some more in the future. But I think the general idea is there..?

# ? Oct 27, 2016 00:44

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

P.d0t posted:

[obligatory link to the core rules for The Next Project]

:crosspost:

So the latest blog post for The Next Project is up!

I've set some deadlines, and I'm going to be putting more game-material into my blog posts, as outlined here.

tl;dr
I'll be aiming to have 15 complete classes (each with 2 archetypes) done by Dec. 20th

# ? Oct 31, 2016 21:46

slap me and kiss me: Apr 1, 2008; You best protect ya neck

P.d0t posted:

:crosspost:

So the latest blog post for The Next Project is up!

I've set some deadlines, and I'm going to be putting more game-material into my blog posts, as outlined here.

tl;dr
I'll be aiming to have 15 complete classes (each with 2 archetypes) done by Dec. 20th

Nice job. My motivation has flagged recently, for some reason. Glad someone's still powering through.

# ? Nov 1, 2016 02:27

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

slap me and kiss me posted:

Nice job. My motivation has flagged recently, for some reason. Glad someone's still powering through.

PEER PRESSURE. Remember, it doesn't have to be the greatest game ever made: find your niche and then make the game just do that. And finish stuff!

# ? Nov 1, 2016 08:22

Mr.Misfit: Jan 10, 2013; The time for
SkellyBones
has come!

Last Night I�ve finished the expansion of Gates of Gehenna to v0.45.

Still remain somewhat skeptical about the talent system, as, as you�d expect, its a whole lot easier to write new occult talents, than it is to write normal talents, or even skill talents, of which the game needs many, many, maaaany more, but I�ve just not hit that goldmine of ideas that I�d need. Is that normal? Why should the Face and the Rogue be less interesting than the Magic-User or the Fighting-Men?

# ? Nov 1, 2016 13:24

Siivola: Dec 23, 2012

Okay so I'm just going to post this idea I had because I think it's got promise and telling the world about ideas is so much easier than actually putting in the work to make them happen.

Okay so it's Basic but I'm ditching ability scores and just doing the math as if characters had reasonable statlines. And then I'll write it up like a modern game, emphasizing the flow of a dungeon adventure. And then invent rules for all the hirelings following you around. You win if you survive long enough to build your stronghold at level 10.

And I'll publish it in Finnish because Finnish nerds will buy the poo poo out of any and all tradgames made in Finland. Pocket-sized paperback, black and white on cheap paper, maybe 70 pages, 15� or so.

# ? Nov 11, 2016 20:27

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# ? May 16, 2024 06:38

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

[latest crosspost]
As promised, The Bard and The Rogue are introduced, in my latest blog post for "The Next Project"

(As I suspected I might have to do, due to time constraints, the post was up yesterday with just the links to the new classes. The writeup was added in tonight.)

:siren:

For those who haven't been following, The Next Project is basically my take on D&D Essentials, but borrowing stuff I like from 4e/5e/13th/DW to make it unique.
The main gimmicks are: No ability scores/mods (static target numbers, with rolls only modified using other dice), Classes built around using a single die-shape in conjunction with d20s, and skills that are grouped onto a grid.

If you have comments/questions/suggestions, I always set my Google docs related to the game such that anyone can leave comments, but you can also PM me on here, or find me on the goon-run "Hack Attack" Discord server, a handy place to discuss game design (with a primary focus on PBTA.)
[/crosspost]

# ? Nov 12, 2016 06:11

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Writing Workshop: Let's make (and finish) our game projects!

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