How much interest is there in playing around with a given homebrew system that is in a pre-alpha state? I realize specifics about the system would help determine level of interest, but just in general, are there enough people who like helping the creator find and hammer out rough edges?

In reply to mickey65 (msg # 1):

I'd suggest keeping the story limited to scenarios, so there's less need for continuity, like a "fight club" or "colosseum" type RP. You could also let PCs get rebuilt with rule changes fairly frequently, so the story doesn't get disrupted with huge continuity problems, as the characters are the "same", story-wise.

That said, I think you could get plenty of support!!! PbP is not really something considered by most RPG authors, so there's a certain amount of homebrewing involved anyway due to the format, let alone various GMs adding house-rules and making things up to fit their game's setting.

I'd definitely be interested in this!

Usually I am interested, I recon it depends on three things. How well we get along, posting requirements and if I can wrap my head around your rules.

The system I'm playing with is tentatively called Omnipotence. It consists of Actions, which are what a character does, and Effects, which are what the character seeks to achieve by doing it. The character automatically succeed in taking any Action attempted, which is why the game is called Omnipotence; but it takes a die roll to see whether the desired Effect is achieved. It's all very raw right now, but the key would be strictly defining "Action" and "Effect" so they don't include any elements from each other, and prohibiting any clauses, conditionals, ambiguities, or complexities in a statement of Action and Effect. It would also be highly advisable to bar any sly, deceitful, manipulative, or lawyerly players from this kind of wide-open game. The kind of player who relies on loopholes would be very taxing to the GM in Omnipotence as I envision it and would not be welcome.

Just an advice, In my experience people are a lot likely to agree to test an  unfamiliar and unpolished system if you offer the game (theme, settings, hook) they are interested in.

I've tried testing homebrew systems here before, generally if you post in "Wanted - Players" - "need help testing the system" you'll get maybe couple players, maybe...

I think it works same way for RPG companies the same way, you don't see announcements like "need play-tester for a new system", you see "need play-testers for a new Game of Thrones game"

I've spent lots of time trying to test play homebrew systems. I find that far more interest is garnered in the interest check threads than in the actual games. All such games I've seen die amazingly quickly, and while most players in my testplays gave little to no helpful feedback (as in feedback thaf might give insight into refining the rules), however I have gotten the rare j dividual to give great feedback.

In fact, my current thoughts on the process is to make several such testplays expecting useful feedback in only 1/5 to 1/3 of the games I make.

I do reccomend detailing the playstyle and design goals you want to support upfront and clearly stated in multiple ways.

I also suggest, A) getting a group of players you know already, and B) finding some schtick or gimmick that interests the players in it's own right.

Speaking of design and test goals...

If this is general "probe for weakness" and "look for emergent behavior/problems" play test that's one thing.

If you are working on balance testing - "don't want players fails too often", "do attacks do enough damage", "how many rolls does it take to accomplish extended task", "do severe complications/critical fails crop up too often"...  Well in this case honestly I would recommend math.  ;)

Assuming you have or know someone with some basic programming skill you can code your system, code simple test scenario, run it few hundred times on a loop, generate statistics, adjust the system, run it again...

It might seem like a lot of trouble to go through, but after a week of coding you'll have nearly instant access to loads balancing data, and you can instantly see what effects tweaks to the system would have.

In reply to wolandd (msg # 8):

I want to get away from the influence of computer gaming, not wade into it.

I've had a grand total of 2 useful feedbackers myself.


My problem is that A and B have been nigh on mutually exclusive.

In reply to steelsmiter (msg # 10):

How do you gather statics now?  Or is balance and pacing aren't that important to you? ;)

Seriously though i think you may have misunderstood.

I am not suggesting you turn your system into CRPG, with most narrative systems that's plain impossible at this point.  However if you want test your system to see if some mechanic is overpowered, or if some feature slows down gameplay (say tripling a number of rolls per set piece) - you can test things like that with a spreadsheet (you don't rely on players to test and get much bigger statistical data set to work with).

Of course that rarely reveals any emergent problems and tells you nothing about whether players actually like the system, but that's different test goals that require different approach.