This is just a suggestion. We could have a thread in which we announce what game designs we are each doing. This might make it easier for like-minded designers to find each other. Even better, you might be working on a project which generates my interest, thus prompting the start of a new conversation.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:11, Sun 13 Apr 2014.

Project 1
I am converting Djinn Busters to Savage Worlds. Here is the Original free Djinn Busters.

http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/djinnbusters

As you can see it has no real rules and is mostly a foofy story game.

If you are unfamiliar with Savage Worlds here is their website.

https://www.peginc.com/product...y/peg/savage-worlds/

A free testdrive of the rules can be found at DriveThruRPG.com

Project 2
I am making an rpg adaption of the anime Sekirei. So far I am using BESM 3rd as the engine, but am open to suggestions.

This link provides the Manga.
http://www.mangareader.net/163/sekirei.html

There is also an anime version of Sekirei out.

Project 1 [On Hold Indefinitely]:

• An Interactive Fiction short-story/novel
• Inspired by the style of Lone-Wolf/Choose Your Own Adventure books.
• Current trouble with making the system simple enough to not require a computer (or huge amount of tracking via pen & paper) while maintaining enough detail and variety to keep it useful/interesting.
• May simply drop the 'Interactive' part altogether, but that would be less interesting (I think).
• Story is in an outlining phase.
• Eventually, it may be expanded to digital format (but I've got to learn how to use the proper resources for that).
• I simply have too many other projects on my plate right now to even consider moving forward with this one.

Project 2 [Moving Along Swimmingly]:

• A self-contained card game (unique decks) based on building rival city/settlements for 3-8 players.
• My #1 Focus right now (whenever I have free time)
• A Medium-Heavy strategy game for 3-6 players.
• Variable combinations of Roles & Secret Goals for constantly different strategies and replay-ability.
• Some mechanics inspired by table-top games like Dominion and Cosmic Encounters. Other somewhat similar games include Splendor, Lords of Waterdeep, and 7 Wonders.
• Currently finalizing the changes from the latest play-testing phase and more aggressively looking for a Publisher and/or additional professional outlets via networking.

Project 3 [Progressing Nicely]:

• Working as a Producer/Consultant for an independent video game with a team of ~35 other passionate individuals.
• The game is a narrative-heavy sci-fi psychological thriller.
• Currently finishing the first playable vertical slice and marketing videos for an upcoming crowd-sourced funding campaign on Indiegogo.

This message was last edited by the player at 03:41, Wed 18 Mar 2015.

A lot of my creative time is being spent my netcast. I am trying to find time to go back and complete an old project. Maybe I should set a goal of knocking the old project out by the end of this month. The old project is Chupa Open Roleplay Engine Version 2. This rules system is a universal system with a few specific goals:  free accessability, easy scalability to desired level of rules complexity, and exciting quick conflict resolution. The first goal turned out to be the most complicated part, but we finally reached a consesus or sorts on a specific Creative Commons license. The system was created by the Dragon's Landing community (of the gaming podcast and website, Dragon's Landing Inn). Chuck and Lonnie developed the 1st version of C.O.R.E., and I joined in as the editor of the second version. The website died shortly before C.O.R.E. was ready for release, and that event just about killed the project. All we were lacking was the legalese at the end of the document and a few thumbs up from the community...

...That was several years ago. I decided recently to complete the documents myself and release the system into the wild just like we always intended to do. I am still not comfortable with placing myself in the role of speaking for the entire community, but I think I can track down at least four of the old members to get their input.

In reply to mofo99 (msg # 3):

Project 1
They have Solo rpgs which are choose your own adventure books with dice.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/...e?term=chronicles+of

There is a link to a free demo of one on rpgnow. So there is a market for your idea you just need a good plot and content to sell it.

Project 2
An uphill battle as card games have been done to death. Though eye catching art or a gimmick might make it popular. Get both if possible. Many hobby stores carry 'card stock' for home printers which let you make the cards at home. Card stock is for greeting cards but I have made playing cards with them successfully.

1: M.U.S.M.: a game allowing players to play out the construction and growth of settlements and civilizations with pen and paper instead of computers. It has not worked very well in practice.

http://musm.wikispaces.com/

2: Exalted: The Fifth Age: This takes the OWoD setting and postulates what happens if instead of the apocalypse that canonically ended the setting the world get's unfolded and both essence and exalted return to the world: New Lunars, Solars, and all of the others wandering around mucking up the plans of the established groups of the setting. Things would become quite different quite quickly, including the game world's geography.

1) vessel compendium for sci-fi game. An illustrated catalog of both military, civil, and commercial vessels in generic terms. It may be expanded to give statistics for a small number of systems as my friends help me generate statistics for systems which they are familiar with.

2) game project with Akrim, https://sites.google.com/site/cosmossrd/  I hope to supply designs and contribute to the vehicle rules etc.


3) community assisted gear and weapons charts for use by gamers here on RPOL, and table top. once again as i get stats and mechanics I hope to be able to post lists for various systems with generic weapons and armor, for GMs to add their own descriptions and tweaks to bring it in line with their game worlds..

In reply to Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk (msg # 7):

Exalted the Fifth Age
Right for this to work you need to use the Exalted game mechanics. oWoD does not have static defense attributes and does have a variable target number for modifiers instead of adding/subtracting dice from the pool. nWoD did away with appearance and replaced it with composure and several abilities were dropped or split to reflect the more social and less physical combat nature of modern day settings.

Once that hurdle is crossed you need to have some sort of plot for the setting that is open to wiggle room for each Story Teller. Don't worry if they don't dig your plot they will make a homebrew plot/spin off at their discretion. You just need to give people a diving board to launch from so to speak.

Those are the two biggest hurdles you face in making this. Don't get discouraged if it is taking a long while. White wolf had an entire team of guys dedicated to oWoD and another team dedicated to Exalted. So it is a lot of ground to cover.

In reply to shady joker (msg # 6):

Thanks for the suggestions  :)  I'll definitely look into the free .pdf to see if it sparks anything.

I've also been considering if writing it as a d20 adventure would be feasible.  Given the OGL and widespread knowledge of those rules already, it might work.  I admit that my love is generally in developing mechanics of my own; but if there's already a tool that works why re-invent the wheel, eh?

Regarding the card game market, I do agree about that saturation.  I'd not intended to make money with it per se; it's more of an exercise for me to hone my design skills.  I'm currently looking into prototyping it digitally, but I've done printing on card stock before with success.

Your suggestion about catchy Art & Gimmicks though is valuable.  Sadly, I'm no artist.  And I'd probably be happy just making the game for myself and my family and friends, but who knows how ambitious I might get with it as it develops.  Sometimes these things do gain a life of their own.

In reply to Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk (msg # 7):

M.U.S.M.
I remember when we tried working with the M.U.S.M. for a game here on rpol.  And yes, at the time it did turn out to be overbearing in practice.  Games like that have always seemed to demand an exhaustive amount of effort on the part of the GM; so streamlining that aspect might be a good place to focus.  It's still a great concept though and I'd love to see the kinks worked out to make it manageable.  And as always, good luck.

In reply to mofo99 (msg # 3):

Have you considered tokens (pasteboard or otherwise)?  They'd be a pain to keep track of afterwards, but they -would- allow you to avoid P&P and PCs.  They wouldn't need to be item-specific, either-- just say "take token #10" when people pick up the Dagger of Ixia, then (on later pages) say "Go to page X if you have token 10" (making them more mysterious, more reusable, and more easily replaceable).  Possibly customize tokens for the items that'll stick around for a long time (Sommerswerd).

That said, I'm curious-- why do you not want to have a computer involved?  It seems like that'd be the easiest way to navigate between pages, track items, generate random numbers, etc.  Is it philosophical, or because you know a dead tree publisher, or what?
If you only want a hardback for the sake of portability, you might look at an app (free) that tracks items and rolls dice (and has a little spot to enter "bookmarks").

Never considered it... see below.

I suppose I should clarify my statement "simple enough to not require a computer":

• I'm in the Video Game Industry now (as a Designer/Producer), and the amount of programming skill to create a typical video game is quite beyond my ability.  I guess I'm used to speaking with a different audience, and I simply meant that "I can't program."
• I do, in fact, plan to utilize digital media (though I do harbor some nostalgia for dusty old paperbacks).  I have no connections with publishers, etc.  I just mean that it's not planned to be an elaborate full-fledged video game.
• By "simple" I mean "something I can fully create, implement, prototype, playtest, etc." entirely on my own without possessing computer programming knowledge.  I know that some dumbed-down programs exist out there to aid in this (and I'm looking into them), but since I'll be doing the creation for this all on my own it necessarily has to utilize technology that I can master.

In reply to mofo99 (msg # 10):

Regarding the CCG:
Hey Mofo, try sometime looking up print services which make educational materials. I've seen very good prices on custom decks of flash cards, the type that teachers might design for a classroom lesson. I've thought about using a service like that to design my own card game, but I've never had a card game in mind that I would want to make.

I currently have four projects, though a pair are dormant (these are codenames, final games would obviously have less cryptic names):

Earth Auroch.- A "spiritual clone" rather than a straight retroclone of 4e, a game intended to play the same but not being the same and staying appart of current IP. Unlike other attempts that focuss on being as generic as possible, this one focusses on fleshing out an existing world and being reskinable. This is the most ambitious so far. Will feature a lot of fluff, the same setting and certain ideas from my defunct sub20 project.

Sillicon Phoenix.- A small enterprise, just retroport and convert a bunch of classes and races so they can be played using Labyrinth Lord.

Dummy Dungeons.- A high scale project, rewrite the 3.x core to be very streamlined, more balanced, faster to play, easier to teach and with strong archetypes, but keeping certain level of customizability and deepness. Currently abandoned as Next threatens to fulfill many of the same goals, no point on working on a redundant product.

Games of the Gods.- A dormant project, basically a rpg turned CCG, heavily influenced by mons series, Summoned creatures can evolve, fuse with other creatures, unlock hidden powers through elaborate rituals and so on, mechanics have a certain turn for the dramatic with "despair" effects that are triggered during your final turn. Victory can e achieved by inflicting enough damage, blocking your opponent from having a complete hand or forcing a final turn.

Project Number 3
I am working on a way to incorporate the Alexei Yaruk Method into an actual mechanic in various systems. Basically it involves insulting/taunting a Boss or notable npc so well they make a critical failure of some sort or really bad tactical choice. Named after the player who brought this method to my attention in Savage Worlds then later H:tR and BESM. I am pretty sure it would work in Exalted to. As a player I have tried his method myself with limited success and several other players and GMs report using this.

3: Project Codename:
Touchstone: This is a game intended to be a D&D inspired adventure game that is played wholly with playing cards and a character sheet. Why playing cards you ask? Because for reasons I cannot fathom playing cards are allowed for prisoners in the federal penitentiary system and dice are not, so if we want to help people in prison play RPGs we need to use cards as the randomizing element instead of dice. The game is intended to help reform convicts by drawing them into the gaming community and encouraging them to think in terms of L/G behavior.

In reply to Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk (msg # 17):

I assume it is because dice can be loaded or modified to cheat which can lead to prisoners rioting at being cheated. Cards are harder to modify and get away with it. I have played some games using a card based only mechanic, but they were free games and the websites that hosted them are now taken down. Though none of them were D&D. If I dig one up I'll show it to you for your research.

In reply to Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk (msg # 7):

Hello, I read the introduction to M.U.S.M. on the wiki you linkied. I like what I saw there. It seems to offer a unique roleplaying experience, and I am all about that. I followed the link because it sounded somewhat like one of the modules which was suggested for C.O.R.E. (referenced in my post near the top of the page). We were discussing at one point roleplaying as cities or kingdoms instead of individual characters. I particular like how you are integrating the creative freedom of tabletp roleplaying in ways that board games and computer games don't so as well. If you start a play test on RPOL or a thread specifically about this game here on Game Design, please let me know.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:13, Wed 23 Apr 2014.

Project 1.Shelved.
Using the D6 pool core mechanic from Atomic Highway, I'm trying to create a 10 page rule set that will make for a fastplay PbP Task and Combat system.
Current Status: Alpha Playtest.
Project Review: Having completed the Alpha Playtest, I found that the system was workable and certainly has merit should I decide to pursue it further, but I have a preference for Project 5 below, which has pretty much superseded my work on this project for the time being.

Project 2.
Adapting the D6 pool above to D8 (for no better reason than there are 8 pints of blood in the human body) and adding some homebrew setting based on Hammer Horror, creating a 20 page game for vampires, werewolves, etc.
Current Status: First Draft.
Project Review: Following the shelving of Project 1, I am uncertain whether to proceed with this or whether to adapt Project 5 to cover the material. It is ongoing for now.

Project 3. Abandoned.
Adapting the Tri-Stat mechanic from BESM 2.5 Ed. for faster play in PbP, reducing the to-and-fro combat rolls to a single roll per combatant per round.
(One day, I'll get hold of a free or cheap s/h copy of 3rd Ed, but for now I'm going with 2.5, which I recently picked up for nowt).
Current Status: Preliminary Research failed - abandoned.
Project Review: BESM chargen is wonderfully in-depth, but that is also its Achilles Heel. Chargen takes a very long time with numerous revisions and quickly leads to GM burn out. There are also a lot of factors that affect combat bonuses, making combat difficult to keep track of, IMO.

Project 4.
Devising a 3-level mediaeval game, incorporating a map-conquest level, a battlefield skirmish wargame level, and a single combat / court intrigue level.
(Keeping an eye on Arkrim's conquest game...)
Current Status: First Draft.
Project Review: Having researched into the period and found several rulesets that provide guides to the different levels of this game, I'm now attempting to write a set of rules that will incorporate all three levels in a single, coherent game. This is a long one...

NEW Project 5.
As an alternative to Project 1, I'm houseruling the 1PG system from Deep 7 Games to create a fast play rules-lite system for PbP.
Current Status: Beta Playtest
Project Review: This one is going strong. 1PG is probably the best ruleset I've found for PbP. It's simple, fast, has short combat rounds, yet provides a coherent and reasonably accurate representation of character activity. Still working on it.

Step Guide.
Preliminary Research
First Draft
Alpha Playtest (proof of concept / feasibility)
Revised Draft
Beta Playtest (debugging)
Final Draft
Publication (yeah, right!)

Suggestion: The projects are in danger of getting lost amongst the chat in this thread. I wonder if we can separate out a no-chat 'list of projects' thread (Notice?), and a thread for project queries and interest checks where gamers with similar interests can agree to set up an individual discussion thread?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:50, Sun 15 Mar 2015.

 BESM 3rd is a different beast then BESM 2.5 entirely. The game uses 2d6+ Modifiers and tries to the target numbers. So rolling high IS GOOD where in BESM 2nd. Rolling high IS BAD. The character creation is much like the GURPS engine but the actual system and game mechanics is pretty light. So the system is pretty good for pbp once you get past char gen.

Hi SJ. Yes, I picked up from online reviews that 3E was a roll over game, where 2E is roll under. I'm watching the pursuit of the Oni with interest as a Group 0 observer.

The thing that has attracted me to Besm is the conceptually simple, open-ended, but detailed chargen, and the way that, once chargen is over, the daily mechanics seem to be quite straightforward.

The thing that bugs me with it is the multiple rolls - you have to wait for everyone to post initiative, then you have to wait while the highest initiative PC posts, then the next highest, etc, then you have to wait while each PC in turn defends against the attacks, etc. You can easily spend a week or more on a round of combat, I imagine - unless the GM posts for characters. And players often don't like that.

If I can devise a system that allows for a single roll from each character, without losing the detail, the combat should move forward much faster.

You want to take this to a discussion thread?