Reverse Engineering Contest Thread - Character Sheet first, RPG second

[BarroomBard]

http://s-cred.com/catalog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/reverse-engr-copy.jpg

GAMEWRIGHTS IN THE PLAYGROUND

Homebrew RPG contest #4

Reverse Engineering!


Hello, brewers and brewettes! Now, normally when we look at an RPG, the last thing we think about is the Character Sheet. What is it, really, other than a fancy place to put our notes?

Now, however it is time to give the humble character sheet some love. And what better way than by forcing people to write an RPG to follow a sheet, rather than the other way around?!

-------------------------------------------

Now announcing: PART II
(being the second part)

The Rules, Regulations, and Rigamarole:

Anyone who has been given a character sheet to design from has until Midnight, CST, on March 31st to post the game to this thread.
Games may be between 2000-8000 words, including rules, lore, indices, etc.
Games should be complete and playable out of the box. It's ok to assume your audience will be familiar with RPGs but everything else should be spelled out in your rules.
You must use the character sheet you were given, as it was presented to you. What the players do with the sheet once the game starts is up to you!
All entries should be posted to this thread, before the contest deadline.
Acceptable formats include: Word documents, PDFs, JPGs, or Google Drive documents.


---------------------------------------------------

Let Part II, being the second part, commence!

Happy Brewing!

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

You should have mine already. :smallbiggrin:

Also, suggestion: design sheets that foster creativity and independent game design, not throttle it. I'd prefer not to have sheets that are intentionally stupid: intentionally challenging in design is one thing, but being full of strangeness with no thought to structure or content isn't going to make this fun for whoever gets your sheet.

[Grinner]

Also, suggestion: design sheets that foster creativity and independent game design, not throttle it. I'd prefer not to have sheets that are intentionally stupid: intentionally challenging in design is one thing, but being full of strangeness with no thought to structure or content isn't going to make this fun for whoever gets your sheet.

+1. Ideally, each sheet should have some kind of discernible theme to it.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

I hope I'm creative enough to write one of these up. Expect me to join in! Eventually. When I have time. :smallwink:

[Fortuna]

This looks very interesting. Depending on how I go with my other contest entry, I may submit a sheet for this. Otherwise I will watch with interest.

[zabbarot]

Is it okay if there is a character already on the sheet?

[BarroomBard]

I think it is best if the sheets are not filled out.

You should design them as they would appear in the back of the published product. You know, like the ones that the GM would photocopy and hand out to his players when they create their characters.

If you want to design a sheet for a game where you take a filled out sheet and keep going with it, that's fine too. It'll be hard for the designer, but we don't want to make things too easy, now do we? :smallbiggrin:

[BarroomBard]

Also, considering the board we are on, this may go without saying, but I'm gonna assume that everyone releases anything they make for this contest under a Creative Commons, Non-Commercial, Share-alike license.

Any objection?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Also, considering the board we are on, this may go without saying, but I'm gonna assume that everyone releases anything they make for this contest under a Creative Commons, Non-Commercial, Share-alike license.

Any objection?

You'll find no objections from me!

...except that I have but one sheet to give to the contest. Making these is addictive. I think I'm at four sheets now. :smallbiggrin:

[Grinner]

Also, considering the board we are on, this may go without saying, but I'm gonna assume that everyone releases anything they make for this contest under a Creative Commons, Non-Commercial, Share-alike license.

Any objection?

I'm quite pleased actually. More open gaming for the open gaming god. :smallbiggrin:

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I'm quite pleased actually. More open gaming for the open gaming god. :smallbiggrin:

O'gea-El, high god of open gaming, demands more Creative Commons licensed games! :smalltongue:

[Fortuna]

Also, considering the board we are on, this may go without saying, but I'm gonna assume that everyone releases anything they make for this contest under a Creative Commons, Non-Commercial, Share-alike license.

Any objection?

Sounds good to me!

[BarroomBard]

Djinn, hold onto those extra sheets. If we have more interest in the game design portion of the contest than the sheet design, I may toss a few extras into the hat.

And yes, I will be making the assignments using a hat.

[Amechra]

I'll have to figure out how to do design the sheets...

Are you sure that elegantly done .txt files aren't acceptable? That's how I do all my character sheets.

:smallbiggrin:

[BarroomBard]

I just used a combination of Word and Paint. Any objects you can't draw in Word, just make in paint, then copy/paste them to the sheet.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I'll have to figure out how to do design the sheets...

I'd recommend Gimp and/or Inkscape. You'll get a lot more design freedom than you would from Paint or Word, which opens some great options for interesting sheets. Both are free downloads and easy to learn: Inkscape would be my preference.

Personally, I use Illustrator (with a bit of Photoshop, depending on the sheet), but Gimp and Inkscape can basically replicate both those programs for no cost. Definitely recommended. If you try that and are relatively new to the programs, I'm happy to offer tips and/or show some examples of sheets I've created with similar programs.

[Grinner]

Personally, I use Illustrator (with a bit of Photoshop, depending on the sheet), but Gimp and Inkscape can basically replicate both those programs for no cost. Definitely recommended. If you try that and are relatively new to the programs, I'm happy to offer tips and/or show some examples of sheets I've created with similar programs.

I have one question about GIMP actually. Do you have any advice on fine brushwork? I'm trying to make an intricate pattern for one gauge's border but can't get any consistency doing it by hand.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I have one question about GIMP actually. Do you have any advice on fine brushwork? I'm trying to make an intricate pattern for one gauge's border but can't get any consistency doing it by hand.

Unfortunately, that will be very difficult to do well (at least in the same document) without a tablet. My best advice is to do the work on a new document at a MUCH larger resolution (at least x5 what you intend the graphic to be), and then transfer it to the actual sheet and scale it down. This will help hide imperfections caused by drawing without a tablet, as jitters in mouse movement will be largely negated by scaling it down.

If you do this, you can also put a grid on a layer above or below the one you're working on, and use that to help you line up the pattern at this larger scale. I *believe* the GIMP grid function is under View -> Show Grid, and you can change the settings under Image -> Configure Grid. I don't recall if View -> Snap to Grid works for brushes in GIMP, but that may also help your accuracy with complex patterns at a large scale.

You can also zoom in to the point where you can do pixel-by-pixel placement, but that is a tedious process and, without a good knowledge of how colors naturally blend when the edges aren't set to Hard, it can be difficult to make it look professional.

Other options exist, but are largely dependent on the pattern you're trying to achieve. Can I get a bit more explanation?

[Jormengand]

Ooh, this looks cool. Count me in.

[Amechra]

I'd recommend Gimp and/or Inkscape. You'll get a lot more design freedom than you would from Paint or Word, which opens some great options for interesting sheets. Both are free downloads and easy to learn: Inkscape would be my preference.

Personally, I use Illustrator (with a bit of Photoshop, depending on the sheet), but Gimp and Inkscape can basically replicate both those programs for no cost. Definitely recommended. If you try that and are relatively new to the programs, I'm happy to offer tips and/or show some examples of sheets I've created with similar programs.

I'm actually quite decent with GIMP; I'll try my hand at it.

[Grinner]

Other options exist, but are largely dependent on the pattern you're trying to achieve. Can I get a bit more explanation?

The centerpiece of the sheet is a big circular gauge. One half of the gauge is labelled Rhyme, and the other half is labelled Reason, each flowing into the other. I suppose it could work as is, but I wanted to spruce it up a bit with some elements of Gothic architecture.

And I just realized that making a repeating pattern for a circle will be prohibitively difficult...

[Kazyan]

Oh, hey, these are back!

Umm...I'm tempted. I'll see if I can make something.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

And I just realized that making a repeating pattern for a circle will be prohibitively difficult...

Yeah...without some of the pattern brush tools that Photoshop or Illustrator has, making a pattern around a circle may be a bit more time-consuming than is reasonable for something like this. :smalltongue:

[BarroomBard]

Hey, everyone! I hope your designs are coming along nicely.

I'd just like to remind everyone that the first phase of the contest ends in a week. So far I have two sheets in, so be sure to PM me your entries!

[Sgt. Cookie]

Hm. Sounds fun. Count me in!

[Fortuna]

I've thrown together the core of my first-stage submission. I'm rather proud of the central conceit. I'll hold off on submitting until right up against the deadline, just to refine it and fill in details, but I am still intending to submit.

[Jormengand]

I'll hold off on submitting until right up against the deadline, just to refine it and fill in details, but I am still intending to submit.

Something along the same lines for me.

[BarroomBard]

Yeah, I imagine I'll be seeing an empty inbox at 11:59, hit refresh, and then see a dozen messages. :smallsmile:

Also, I know Djinn and a few others have several entries they've cranked out, so keep those handy. If we have more interest in the second half of the contest, I might solicit any extra sheets floating around out there.

[Spate]

This sounds awesome and I would love to be involved. Hopefully I can decide on a sheet to make, because after hearing about this contest I am already scribbling down different ideas on paper.

[Grinner]

It seems that starting with the character sheet is an exceptionally good design technique. I've just spent some time fleshing mine out, and I have so many ideas for what I'd like to see done with it.

Maybe I should I keep it... >_>

[Durazno]

What's really hard, I think, is avoiding a sheet that implies an incredible amount of work for whoever wants to make a game out of it. The first version of my sheet was just mean because I didn't realize how many elements I was throwing around, you know?

Also, is there a way to attach documents to private messages, or will we have to link to a place we've uploaded it?

[Grinner]

What's really hard, I think, is avoiding a sheet that implies an incredible amount of work for whoever wants to make a game out of it. The first version of my sheet was just mean because I didn't realize how many elements I was throwing around, you know?

Keep it simple. Simple is good. :smallsmile:


Also, is there a way to attach documents to private messages, or will we have to link to a place we've uploaded it?

You have to upload it somewhere and send BarroomBard a link.

[Fortuna]

Well, sheet submitted. I had enough stuff in it already. I'm really excited to see what some poor sod the person who gets it makes of it.

[Durazno]

Submitted. It's simpler than it was, but the game's complexity will probably depend on how many of the elements on the sheet the designer decides to relegate to fluff.

[inuyasha]

crap...the computer i had my awesome final draft character sheet on caught a virus and now i cant use it...damn you greendot moneypack virus...it was just finished too...:smallfrown:

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

crap...the computer i had my awesome final draft character sheet on caught a virus and now i cant use it...damn you greendot moneypack virus...it was just finished too...:smallfrown:

Two sites that may help you get rid of that, if you don't mind computer stuff:

SITE ONE (http://malwaretips.com/blogs/green-dot-moneypak-virus/)
SITE TWO (http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-fbi-green-dot-moneypak-virus.html)

[Frathe]

crap...the computer i had my awesome final draft character sheet on caught a virus and now i cant use it...damn you greendot moneypack virus...it was just finished too...:smallfrown:

Do you have any kind of backup?

[Fortuna]

Bah. Come on, you crazy Americans, why are you so far behind? Midnight has been and gone, and you're still lazing about on the 28th!

Yes, I am joking, although the suspense is killing me. :P

[inuyasha]

no i dont have backup and its being worked on by my techy friend...the sheet wasnt that great anyways :p

[Grinner]

Bah. Come on, you crazy Americans, why are you so far behind? Midnight has been and gone, and you're still lazing about on the 28th!

Hey now, don't go throwing us decent, hard-working Eastern Time folks with those Central Time ragamuffins. :smalltongue:

[BarroomBard]

Alright, everyone! Thanks for your patience. And those of you who are impatient... thanks for not getting out your pitchforks.

I'm editing the first post in this thread to reflect the rules for Part II of the contest, but here are your assignments, formatted like so:

You....... The designer of the sheet you're using. (http://www.example.com)

BarroomBard....... Durzano (http://freepdfhosting.com/1e2283ca81.pdf)
Djinnn_in_Tonic....... Grinner (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/405/metagamedraft3.jpg/)
Jormengand....... Frozen_Feet (link is forthcoming)
Durazno....... Spate (link is forthcoming)
Random_Person....... Jormengand (link is forthcoming)
Frozen_Feet....... Djinn_in_Tonic (http://postimage.org/image/mf0nhoubj/)
Grinner....... BarroomBard (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4OmL20pGIyzWEQxSk1feWw0bkk/edit?usp=sharing)
Spate....... Random_Person (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tQHv3K0ph8X-lW1YUYZxABIGjURIoUVRciYX9cmjUvg/edit)

You may notice that some of the sheets say "link is forthcoming". This is because, in an effort to keep myself from sneaking a peek at the character sheets, I purposely didn't open any of the PMs I was sent until just now, so some people asked questions about how/where to post their content.

So, if you have your completed sheet, just find someplace to host it, referring to posts by Djinn and others in this thread, and then post it here, PM it to your designer, or just PM it to me.

Ok, folks, let's get going!

[Frozen_Feet]

Oi. Got distracted by my other homebrew so I took a while to notice this. I sent you a link to my sheet several hours ago, but since apparently we aren't online at compatible times, I've now sent it directly to Djinn as well.

[Durazno]

Huh. I didn't notice the table lines running all through my sheet. -checks- In fact, they don't show up in Word. Maybe I should make a prettier version.

Anyway, I can't wait to see Spate's!

EDIT: Actually, it doesn't show the lines when it's in adobe viewer. I guess something's just wrong with my browser.

[Jormengand]

I've now sent it directly to Djinn as well.

Nope. Wrong way round. You have to send it to me.

Also, here's my one. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/j8k1g5cw6myq4th/Character%20sheet.doc?m)

[Frozen_Feet]

Ah, my apologies. Had a reading comprehension error.

[Fortuna]

Nope. Wrong way round. You have to send it to me.

Also, here's my one. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/j8k1g5cw6myq4th/Character%20sheet.doc?m)

Hmm. Curious. I'm put in mind of a retroclone, save for the magic system...

I'm not sure what I'll do with this. With only two to eight thousand words I don't really have room to fill it all out as much as I'd like to, time limitations aside. Should be interesting.

EDIT: I don't suppose you have it in some other format than a .doc? A .pdf would be preferable - I'd like to print it out for ease of reference, but I can't print direct from dropbox and my computer keeps mangling the file when I download it (probably because I run Open Office rather than Microsoft Office).

[Jormengand]

Hmm. Curious. I'm put in mind of a retroclone, save for the magic system...

I'm not sure what I'll do with this. With only two to eight thousand words I don't really have room to fill it all out as much as I'd like to, time limitations aside. Should be interesting.

If you're wondering and don't speak Latin:

Circle|Psionic|Arcane|Divine|Antimagus
Top|Mind|Air|Light|Destroy
Left|Force|Water|Order|Absorb
Bottom|Body|Earth|Shadow|Protect
Right|Matter|Fire|Chaos|Return
Centre|Knowledge|Aether|God|Defeat

Obvious ones included for completeness.

[Jormengand]

EDIT: I don't suppose you have it in some other format than a .doc? A .pdf would be preferable - I'd like to print it out for ease of reference, but I can't print direct from dropbox and my computer keeps mangling the file when I download it (probably because I run Open Office rather than Microsoft Office).

You could print screen it, and then you'd have a JPG or PNG or whatever file, which you can then transfer to an odt. Or, when I'm on my other computer, I can try getting it out as an odt and sticking that up.

Or I can just try an rtf or something.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Oof. This will be interesting. Kudos to Grinner for an interesting challenge.

For those interested, I'm forced into working with the traits Optimization, Income, and Acting on a 1-5 scale, Exploits Known as a section (relatively easy...no challenge there), and (and this is the tricky part) three Character sections, each of which has Power, Versatility, and Elegance on a 1-3 scale.

So I've not only got to make sense of the traits, but also find some way for 3 characters with only three abilities (with up to three spots each) mechanically distinct and thematically appropriate. I also have to figure out what sort of thing the RPG is about, as we have Optimization, Income, and Acting on a separate section from characters, but that section also has a name blank. Got a few good ideas there though.

Fun times. :smallbiggrin:

Because I think at this point the process will be interesting (and I'd love to see and hear what others are thinking), what difficulties do you guys foresee with your sheets?

[Jormengand]

Because I think at this point the process will be interesting (and I'd love to see and hear what others are thinking), what difficulties do you guys foresee with your sheets?

Mention of cards and character abilities is forcing me to make a hybrid game. Solution: make spellcasting a card game. There's also a "Lighting" section which I don't know what to do with. I've made it a set of cards which allow summoned creatures (half your spells summon creatures) to "evolve," or to empower your spells.

I'm also entirely unsure how to make the statistics work.

[Grinner]

Oof. This will be interesting. Kudos to Grinner for an interesting challenge.

For those interested, I'm forced into working with the traits Optimization, Income, and Acting on a 1-5 scale, Exploits Known as a section (relatively easy...no challenge there), and (and this is the tricky part) three Character sections, each of which has Power, Versatility, and Elegance on a 1-3 scale.

So I've not only got to make sense of the traits, but also find some way for 3 characters with only three abilities (with up to three spots each) mechanically distinct and thematically appropriate. I also have to figure out what sort of thing the RPG is about, as we have Optimization, Income, and Acting on a separate section from characters, but that section also has a name blank. Got a few good ideas there though.

Fun times. :smallbiggrin:

Yeah, I actually left an apology here earlier, but deleted it for some reason...I realized about eight hours after submissions closed how poorly planned that sheet was. :smallredface:

If it helps any, the sheet's name was meant to be a hint.


Because I think at this point the process will be interesting (and I'd love to see and hear what others are thinking), what difficulties do you guys foresee with your sheets?

BarroomBard's sheet looks like a kindergarten homework assignment. I kind of know what to do, but I'm afraid that I'll end up copying FATE.

[Jormengand]

your sheets?

Of course, the other take on this question:

What the hell is Random Person meant to do with the wheels of magic? It's clear that you're meant to have access to more than one per character. And I've probably forced a fistful of d6s system, which can't help.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Yeah, I actually left an apology here earlier, but deleted it for some reason...I realized about eight hours after submissions closed how poorly planned that sheet was. :smallredface:

If it helps any, the sheet's name was meant to be a hint.

See, I already figured out the name hint and...well...I want to see if I can avoid my hand being forced in terms of what I design. The intent was clearly to have a meta-game sort of RPG where you're controlling the player BEHIND the characters, but, honestly, I don't see that being a fun RPG (And RPG where you play an RPG is a bit to meta to be entertaining, imho). And most other things wouldn't end up using the characters in any real aspect, when clearly they're a large part of the sheet.

So I'm keeping my eyes out for other possibilities. We'll see what I can come up with.

[Frozen_Feet]

Because I think at this point the process will be interesting (and I'd love to see and hear what others are thinking), what difficulties do you guys foresee with your sheets?

The sheet was easy to figure out. The two main problems I foresee are game balance and lenght.

Game balance, because in the game players can be fighting each other.

Lenght, because I'm already clocking at 1670 words, aren't even done with the player's rules, and I'll still have to squeeze GM's advice there somewhere.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

The sheet was easy to figure out. The two main problems I foresee are game balance and lenght.

Good! I'm glad it worked for you: my goal was to provide some unusual structure with the layout of the main Hex grid, without really forcing your hand when it came to...well...anything aside from the (Dis)Advantages, Aspirations, numbers (all very common in RPGs of many styles), and A / V (which are pretty common abbreviations).

I'll admit that I'm really curious to see what you did with it, since it was designed to be so open-ended that I have NO idea what you'll turn out. :smallbiggrin:

[Fortuna]

Yeah, I expect to have some difficulty with the magic. The rest of it seems a straight-up retroclone, but that...

Space, I fear, will be my greatest issue. It will take me a good chunk of my eight thousand words just to assemble a retroclone. A full-fledged magic system atop that seems impossible. I suspect that I will need to somehow weave the magic in with the core mechanics in order to make it work.

My own sheet seems fairly straightforward to me, although that's with the benefit of an insider's perspective. The first six entries are obvious character-describing pieces, as is the last. That leaves only a few things - Advantages and Disadvantages (I know what I intended, but I'm not telling - suffice it to say that it seems obvious with an insider's perspective), Luck (a bit of a wildcard, but should be easy), and the core of the sheet - Domains, with their Strengths and Weaknesses. That last element is the only one where I expect to be really surprised, and I look forward to seeing it.


See, I already figured out the name hint and...well...I want to see if I can avoid my hand being forced in terms of what I design. The intent was clearly to have a meta-game sort of RPG where you're controlling the player BEHIND the characters, but, honestly, I don't see that being a fun RPG (And RPG where you play an RPG is a bit to meta to be entertaining, imho). And most other things wouldn't end up using the characters in any real aspect, when clearly they're a large part of the sheet.

See, when I first saw that sheet my immediate thought was 'Oh, you play an actor or a director or a playwright'. Funny how people think. It would take some finagling, but... I dunno. *shrug*

[celtois]

I wish I hadn't missed the deadline for this thread (by only noticing it after the deadline). It looks so cool!

Good luck to everyone. :smallbiggrin:

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I wish I hadn't missed the deadline for this thread (by only noticing it after the deadline). It looks so cool!

Good luck to everyone. :smallbiggrin:

...if you want to participate, I could get one of the extra sheets I designed to you within 3 days, tops. They just need a little polishing, as they weren't quite finished, and the next two days are a bit busy.

[celtois]

If its not too much trouble for you (and BarroomBard doesn't mind.) I would appreciate it Djinn_in_Tonic. I think I can make the time to write a game.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

If its not too much trouble for you (and BarroomBard doesn't mind.) I would appreciate it Djinn_in_Tonic. I think I can make the time to write a game.

He suggested keeping a few sheets around just in case of things like this. As for trouble...I'm a graphic designer, I love messing about in Illustrator, and many of the sheets are already mostly done. No trouble at all. :smallbiggrin:

[celtois]

Okay then, excellent. Thanks Djinn_in_Tonic.

I'll eagerly await whatever devious design you send my way :smallsmile:

[Grinner]

See, I already figured out the name hint and...well...I want to see if I can avoid my hand being forced in terms of what I design. The intent was clearly to have a meta-game sort of RPG where you're controlling the player BEHIND the characters, but, honestly, I don't see that being a fun RPG (And RPG where you play an RPG is a bit to meta to be entertaining, imho). And most other things wouldn't end up using the characters in any real aspect, when clearly they're a large part of the sheet.

So I'm keeping my eyes out for other possibilities. We'll see what I can come up with.

Emphasis mine.

Keep in mind that the players wouldn't necessarily have to use all three at once, nor did I ever intend for that to be the case. :smallwink:

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Keep in mind that the players wouldn't necessarily have to use all three at once, nor did I ever intend for that to be the case. :smallwink:

I know the former and, at this stage, your intent doesn't really matter. :smalltongue:

Thanks though. :smallbiggrin:

[Frozen_Feet]

Hmmm. 4836 words and scratching the surface of the GM's part. At this rate, I'm pretty sure I can squeeze in all of the basic rules, but fitting all the character options I have in mind might get tight.

Because at this rate, I'll have something presentable done in a relatively short time, I won't be telling you what my game is about. But just to keep you wondering, the name will be "Sardines in a Can".

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

This is the sheet for celtois, posted so other can see it (like all our other sheets so far). Sadly, none of the image-uploaders I used had true color on them, so what was meant to be a medium slate blue ended up as bright turquoise, which really makes the sheet hard to read. Hopefully celtois can fix this on his end with the editing program of his choice, or, if not, I can change the color.

Character Sheet (http://postimage.org/image/xro04qrp5/)

[BarroomBard]

@celtois, I also received, after the deadline, a sheet from Sgt. Cookie (https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=3A2DFB0D3539FFFE!107&app=Word&authkey=!AEyWAgjKFKllAJ8), if you would like to use that instead.

_________________

I think the biggest difficulty on my sheet is gonna be the fact that Sorrow is an attribute.

The sheet is very evocative and so teasing out what to do with those hints is gonna be a challenge.

But, I think I have come up with an angle that should be fruitful. Teaser time:

-----------------------


A ring of stone to guide the bold,
The pact is sealed with a ring of gold.
A ring of smoke may hurt or heal,
Silence breaks with a ring of steel.

A Ring of Steel, coming soon to a contest near you.

[Jormengand]

...Is it bad that I'm using what was probably intended for alignment to cast spells?

[celtois]

No offence to Sgt. Cookie, but I've already done a brain storm-associative thing on the sheet from Djinn in Tonic, and I'm really liking were it's going.

So I'd rather stick with the sheet I have.

Thanks!
:smallsmile:

[Sgt. Cookie]

None taken. Maybe I'll do it myself...

[Jormengand]

None taken. Maybe I'll do it myself...

I might do it if I have time after doing the other one. Certainly looks cool.

[celtois]

Coles notes draft of the rules, and I only have 308 words.

Darn you brevity! *Shakes fist* Hopefully I'll be able to make the 2000 required.

Not having lines that read, Dice: d# will probably help though.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I think I've got something. Tentative name of "Three's Company," and a single sheet will be used for an entire party. :smallbiggrin:

[BarroomBard]

I'm just checking in to make sure that everyone has gotten their assigned sheet. Have they?

[Durazno]

I still need a link, but I'm pretty busy these days, so unless the final deadline is racing up, I'm good with waiting.

[Wargamer]

Is it still possible to jump on board with this? Time permitting I'd like to give it a shot! :D

[Spate]

Haven't gotten my sheet yet, but I emailed mine to Durazno last night as per his PM.

[Durazno]

Got it! Thanks!

[celtois]

Spate. Your sheet was posted in a link on the previous page.

When BaroomBard posted the rest of the sheets. :smallsmile:

[Fortuna]

I've got mine.

[celtois]

What do people think about posting elevator pitches of games before the deadline. That way we have something to talk about and the thread doesn't sink to far down.

Or are we supposed to keep what we're working on under wraps?

[Grinner]

I like the idea, but it does kind of ruin the surprise, yes? Perhaps we could spoiler our comments, should anyone wish to maintain the veil of secrecy?

[celtois]

Before the thread sinks down completely. And update from me.

My game is now 1400 words.
I've completed two of the four sections I intend to write.
All that is left is, setting and examples of play.
After which it just needs to be polished by,
Editing to improve succinctness/lucidity,
Play testing to make sure the rules work,
And prettifying of the formatting, because I want to. (Also because while I think better in Courier most people don't read better in it. :smallbiggrin:)

Edit: Oh, and as a bit of a teaser, the working name for the game is....
HOPE: dare to dream

[Sgt. Cookie]

I've got some of the lore down and some prototype mechanics, but I don't like them as-is. I'm going to change them.

As for my teaser:
The Stars Shall Become Home

[Fortuna]

I feel kinda bad, because I'm still beating my head against a metaphorical blank page. The sheet I've been given screams retroclone, except the bit that doesn't. I could quite happily write a game for either page of the sheet, but the two just... don't seem to go together at all.

[Jormengand]

I feel kinda bad, because I'm still beating my head against a metaphorical blank page. The sheet I've been given screams retroclone, except the bit that doesn't. I could quite happily write a game for either page of the sheet, but the two just... don't seem to go together at all.

I now feel very bad for giving the sheet to you.

What I did for mine was had two different game systems going on at the same time - the magic system is A CARD GAME while the rest is a handful-of-d6 system. You could do a similar thing for my sheet.

Also, the hell is retroclone?

I haven't even begun writing the proper version of the rules for mine yet, just thrown down ideas, but it's coming along nicely. I think.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I've likewise hit a bit of a wall. The sheet I got is so directed that it's REALLY proving hard to manage anything else, and even that direction isn't really working out.

[Fortuna]

I now feel very bad for giving the sheet to you.

Don't. It's a challenge, after all.


What I did for mine was had two different game systems going on at the same time - the magic system is A CARD GAME while the rest is a handful-of-d6 system. You could do a similar thing for my sheet.

Mmmm. Maybe. It would make it rather disjointed, though, given that the implication seems to be that everyone has some magic, and many or most have more than one type.


Also, the hell is retroclone?A game very, very close in feel and design to the earliest editions of D&D.

[Octopusapult]

I've read the OP like nineteen times and I'm still a little confused... So apologies, but could someone clear the air a bit?

People are submitting character sheets and those sheets are sent to someone else who submitted a sheet so that person can create an RPG around it?

Or is the OP making the character sheets and assigning them?

Again I'm sorry, I'm just a little lost, but would really like to be on board here. The idea seems pretty cool.

[Grinner]

People are submitting character sheets and those sheets are sent to someone else who submitted a sheet so that person can create an RPG around it?

This one.

We've already ended the first stage, but I think Djinn and one other had a sheet or two leftover. There's about two weeks left, if you're interested.

[Octopusapult]

This one.

We've already ended the first stage, but I think Djinn and one other had a sheet or two leftover. There's about two weeks left, if you're interested.

Thank you. That is what made sense to me, but I just had some internal doubt that was what was happening.

If it's not too late and there's a sheet left I'll take a spin at it. Otherwise I'll be watching with anticipation from the sidelines.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

If it's not too late and there's a sheet left I'll take a spin at it. Otherwise I'll be watching with anticipation from the sidelines.

I have one or two left. You'll have to wait a day or two though: I'm out of state and don't have my laptop with me.

[Octopusapult]

I have one or two left. You'll have to wait a day or two though: I'm out of state and don't have my laptop with me.

Certainly. Give the other guys a head start. :p

[Jormengand]

For the record, I may not be able to give mine in for reasons I'd rather not discuss. If that happens, then I'm sorry. Things happen.

[Octopusapult]

It's been a few days for this thread, figured I'd bump it.

[BarroomBard]

Contest is coming to an end soon... How's everyone doing?

[Sgt. Cookie]

I have the mechanics almost sorted, some of the fluff but that's about it. With College now over till April I can devote a little more time to this.

[celtois]

Mechanics have been done for a while...

But I'm running out of time to sort out the fluffier stuff and example of play.
Which given the newness of the mechanics are pretty important.

I don't know if I'll be able to finish either in time. :smallfrown:
But I do have a complete game mechanically that I can post one way or the other.

EDIT: So I've found some photos and such for the game. :smallsmile:
I'm currently in touch with the site that hosts them to make sure they are a-okay with me using them in a public domain project. But they are a gallery site, that provides all their images without a water mark, and seems to only sell prints. So.... one can hope? I'm not about to pay for art to make something for free.

If they don't get back to me before the end of the contest I'll post the text only version, if they do I'll put up a pdf along with it with all the schnazzy arts. :smallcool:

This is of course if I can even get the rest of the thing done!!! :smallsigh: :smalleek:

[celtois]

HOPE: Dare to Dream!

HOPE is a game about living. More specifically it is a game about decisions

Unlike many other RPG’s HOPE is neither truly cooperative nor competitive instead it exists in the realm between the two, what I call, a collective exploration game.

What exactly is a collective exploration game? A collective exploration game is a game in which, your fellow players challenge you to explore a topic in detail, and the consequences of the decisions you make about the topic. In HOPE this collective challenging of one another is accomplished through a distribution of storytelling responsibly.

HOPE provides a framework by which you can explore the pursuit of dreams, and the various demands on your time, and social relationships, which prevent that pursuit. By providing this basic framework
HOPE allows you to play a variety of different scenarios, in which you will be faced with tough decisions.

Finally, HOPE provides a framework to explore character’s who are very different from yourself, or character’s who are just like you.

Now pull up a chair, gather your friends and have fun exploring.
-Eric

SCENARIOS

Reunion –

Theme and Locale: Every decade a group of friends gather at their favorite bar to talk about life. They swap stories, and their friendships grow and change as time progresses. This scenario takes place in the modern time period, and has no strong theme.

Turns:

First turn and set up: Characters are in their 20’s, and are just starting their adult life. Achieving their dreams still a distant specs on the horizon and the concerns of the present always threaten to overshadow their long-term desires.

Second turn: Characters are now in their 30’s and their lives are changing, as many of them are out of school, and others have made it through their first decade of work and other are starting to have kids.

Third turn: The characters are in their 40’s, life is slipping away quickly with kids, or work occupying much of their time. For other character’s they’ve made some sacrifices and have achieved their goal, or are close to it.

Fourth turn: The characters are in their 50’s retirement is just around the corner, and many characters have achieved the goals they have been working for the course of the game. The scenario is now half way complete.

Fifth turn: The characters are now in their 60’s and for many of them retirement is now a reality, for others however work, or kids still occupy much of their time. Some characters many just be finding time for their dreams now, others will have completed them already

Sixth turn: The characters are now in their 70’s and old age is starting to creep up on them, things that were once simple become tasks of great importance and difficulty. Family or lack of family may be occupying their concerns.

Seventh and Final turn: The characters are now 80+ and old age has caught up with them, this is their last chance to make a push for anything they’ve always wanted to do.

Passing On: In the reunion scenario passing on represents the character dying.


Making your own scenario:

Making your own scenario is relatively straight forward it consists of three simple steps. I strongly recommend that you do this as a group, after all you’re all going to be playing together.

1. Choose a theme and locale. This is essentially the hook for your game and should give everyone and impression of the sort of characters that are expected, where they are meeting and a basic understanding of why. For example, a group of activist-terrorists might meet every month, in a secret hideout that varies in location each time to discuss how plans are going, and what challenges lay up ahead. The theme should also give everyone an idea of what dreams are appropriate.
2. Define what each turn represents for the characters, and outline some of the things that might be on character’s minds during each of these turns. The seventh turn should represent a definite conclusion of some sort, unless you want to run multiple sessions of HOPE with the same characters in which case you can think of turn seven as the end of the episode.
3. Define what passing on represents for your scenario. Essential what happens to characters that overwork themselves. With this completed you’re done.

When making a scenario, keep in mind that time management is the main conflict in HOPE so a good scenario will have some sort of time pressure represented by the turns.



CHARACTERS
In HOPE your character is the vehicle by which you explore the ramifications of your decisions. Making a character in HOPE is a relatively straightforward process, in which you determine the elements of your character.

There are three elements to your character: How they perceive themself, what they want to see their future, and how others see them. In addition to the elements of your character, it is crucial for HOPE that all your characters know each other in some way.

The Element of Self

The first task of character creation in HOPE, is determining how you characters see themselves. In HOPE this is quantified using the Meyer’s Brigg personality index.

The Meyer’s Brigg personality index is a psychological test, which attempts to capture the personality of an individual along one of four spectrums. The four spectrums are Extroversion-Introversion, Sensing-Intuiting, Thinking-Feeling and Judging-Perceiving. For each spectrum select one trait to be your character’s dominant trait, the other trait will be your character’s recessive trait. Split ten points between your recessive and dominant traits. You may spend no more than nine points on any one trait. In the four boxes underneath Personality in your character sheet write the letters of your dominant traits.

If you are unsure of which trait embodies your character best a brief description of each of the Meyer’s Brigg traits can be found below

Meyer's Brigg Summary

Meyer’s Brigg Personality Spectrum:

Introverted – Introverts are more withdrawn and less social, they find time spent alone invigorating. Introverts prioritize thought over action.
Extroverted – Extraverts are very social, and active, they find being about people invigorating. Extraverts prioritize action over thoughts.
Sensing – Distrust hunches, like to see, hear or touch things themselves. Data is more important than the underlying theory; tend to trust details and facts.
Intuiting – Tend to trust hunches, and draw associations between information quickly. Underlying theories are more important than data for intuitive persons.
Thinking – Make decisions by weighing the possibilities, more likely to choose an option that they don’t like, but realize is better. Tend to like rules, and are often blunt.
Feeling – Make decisions based on their impression of the situation, will try and minimize social harm, and put themselves in other’s shoes.
Judging – Judging individuals are decisive and tend to view the world in terms of the actions that take place.
Perceiving – Perceiving individuals focus on their observations about situations. They are often indecisive as they prefer to keep their options open.



The Element of Future
Once you have determined your character’s personality, the next step is to determine what your character wants to accomplish in the scenario, his or her dream.

Dreams are an important aspect of HOPE, as they provide your character direction and meaning. Without them HOPE is not possible. Your character’s dream can be anything, just so long as it fits into the scenario.

Once you’ve picked a dream for your character write it in the first blank on the characteristics section of your character sheet, and have the player to your left assign success cost based on how hard they believe it is to achieve, an average dream will have a success cost of five. Write the vitality cost in the box next to the goal.


The Element of Other
Unlike the other elements of your character, how others see your character is not determined during character creation and is instead developed over the course of play.

If you fail to complete at least one of your demands in a given scene, you must ask one of the players to assign you a negative label, which is written in the characteristics section of your character sheet, indicating that you’ve been neglecting your social responsibilities. Negative labels aren’t all bad though; you can spend a negative label to ignore a demand without incurring a stress cost.

If you complete all of your demands in a given scene, you must ask one of the players to assign you a positive label, which is written in the characteristics section of your character sheet, indicating that you’ve been performing your social responsibilities. You may spend a positive label to decrease your stress by one.


Stress and Vitality
You may have noticed two sets of boxes labeled vitality and stress on your character sheet, you don’t need to worry about these yet as they act as a resource and event track over the course of play, so there is nothing to fill out there during character creation.

You should notice that two of the vitality boxes and two of the stress boxes are labeled in a different color these are breaking point boxes. When marked off temporarily during a scene the first red box for vitality has no ill effects when marked off, it just indicates your character has done all he or she can do without wearing him or herself out. For each of the two boxes after the first red box, if you mark them off you must also mark off one stress. If you mark off the last red vitality box your character is exhausted and you must permanently mark off two vitality boxes instead of just one at the beginning of the next scene. For the stress boxes, every time you mark off the first red box, your character needs some time to his or herself and must miss the next scene, though he or she may still issue demands as per usual. If your stress reaches the second red box, your character has had a nervous breakdown and is out of the game.


GAMEPLAY
In HOPE you play through a time-limited scenario in a series of scenes, where each scene represents a certain amount of in-game time. How much time each scene represents depends on the scenario that you and your friends are playing.

Begin each scene by having one player introduce where you are in the scenario, and what this scene represents. I recommend that you have a different player narrate each introduction.

Next the player, who introduced the scene, explains his character situation in the scene and describes how his character progressed or stagnated at his or her goal in the last scene. After which, starting with the player on his or her left, each player, in character, tells the first player one demand on his or her time during the scene. Continue telling the player demands until three have been assigned. Repeat this process for each of the other players until everyone has a set of demands.

Once everyone has a list of demands. Each player must then decide how he or she is going to act during the scene.

There are two different types of actions you can choose between in HOPE, you can perform an unlimited number of all of them until you have dealt with all of the demands and your goal.
Mark off a stress box to ignore demands, Or
Mark off a vitality box to attempt demands, or your goal

For each attempt roll a D10 against a relevant personality trait, rolling under your trait is a success, 10’s are low (0’s). Any roll over your trait is a failure; mark off a stress box for each failure. For each success on your goal reduce the initial vitality cost by one. If you successfully complete a demand or progress in your goal using one of your recessive personality traits you may reduce your stress by one.

Once all tasks have been attempted or ignored, in character, tell the person who assigned the task about how you attempted it, how or why you either, completed, failed, or ignored the demand. Still playing their character they describe the reaction of those affected by your action, inaction or failure, from their perspective, as well as their own impression of your action.

When all demands have been dealt with the scene ends. Erase all marked off vitality, after which permanently mark off one of the vitality squares, you may spend one less next turn.

Begin the next scene, continue until all vitality boxes are permanently marked off or all players have completed their goals by reducing their vitality cost to zero.

Characters who have completed their goal/dream, may choose to purse another dream and continue to play normally, or they may choose to opt out of task receiving and just assign tasks and act out consequences. In contrast a character who has marked off all their vitality squares is out of play and while they may continue to assign tasks they must do so from the point of view of a non-player character, their character has passed on, whatever that means for the scenario you are playing.


Character sheet:
http://s12.postimg.org/curs02tod/Character_Sheet3_01.jpg




Never lose face, Never lose hope. Dare to Dream!

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.



Sorry to double post. But I'm ready to post! :smallbiggrin:
Sort of. I'm still trying to sort out images, waiting for a response from the artist, and the example of play is still missing (No promises) and I'll probably continue tweaking things a little. But by and large the game is done and I wanted to post it now, because doing so feels awesome! :smallsmile:.

[Fortuna]

I continue beating my head against the brick wall of the dual system. I don't think I can pull this one out in the next few days.

[Sgt. Cookie]

I almost have my game completed. The mechanics, at least. I'm quite pleased with the fact that the system I've made doesn't use dice. At all.

Though, I must say Celotis, that looks rather elegent a system.

[Grinner]

I almost have my game completed. The mechanics, at least. I'm quite pleased with the fact that the system I've made doesn't use dice. At all.

Funny. I've got the fluff down but am having trouble with the mechanics. :smallsigh:

[Sgt. Cookie]

The mechanics came easy, simply because a deck of cards isn't the most common of random number mechanics. Once I realised that, it didn't matter what I did, since it was going to be novel and new. With a dice based mechanic, you have to really try something fantastic and novel in order to stand out from the crowd.

[Durazno]

Life threw me a fantastic series of curveballs right when I got the sheet. I have an idea of what I'm going to do, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it in time to take part in the contest.

[celtois]

I almost have my game completed. The mechanics, at least. I'm quite pleased with the fact that the system I've made doesn't use dice. At all.

Though, I must say Celotis, that looks rather elegent a system.

Thanks Sarge! :smallsmile:

I really like how it turned out. It's a very simple set of mechanics, and doesn't break any ground there, but I think the gameplay turned out to be pretty unique regardless.

You're working on a card based system, cool. I'm really excited to see what you've done. :smallbiggrin:

[Frozen_Feet]

I have parental problems, meaning some restriction to computer access. I may not quite make the deadline. I'll get my work to you tomorrow at latest.

EDIT: At this point, I have to admit I failed the contest. I went wayyy over the 8000t thousand word limit, and can't bring myself to pare it down. I'll still post what I've got, so Djinn can see what became of his humble character sheet. :smallsmile:

[BarroomBard]

Here it is, just under the radar, and a little under the word count.

A Ring of Steel (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bqGPuErG78kUJTB3siJVe5A_ztueDe7agFUBD5DHu2s/edit?usp=sharing)

And the sheet from Durzano (http://freepdfhosting.com/1e2283ca81.pdf).

Since it seems that a lot of people are having trouble hitting the deadline, does anyone think their game would be done if they had another week?

[Fortuna]

I don't think I could turn this out in a year. Sorry.

[Durazno]

My development is coming along - if the deadline moves a week, I might make it. (Fingers crossed.) Will the thread stay open beyond the deadline, just so that our games can trickle in even if we don't get to enter the contest?

Also, I'm going to see if I can get my group to try a round of A Ring of Steel.

[Frozen_Feet]

As noted, I'm disqualified from the contest because I couldn't stick to the word limit. But I think Djinn might still be interested in seeing what I churned out:

Djinn's sheet: http://postimg.org/image/mf0nhoubj/

The actual game rules: http://www.filedropper.com/sardinesinacan
Ship parts: http://www.filedropper.com/parts_1

Question: So what is it?

Answer: It is a space adventure game, where you are trying to be yourself in the crosspressure of an absurdist sci-fi setting.

More than that, it is half tactical space wargame, half live-action roleplaying intended to use in convention and/or at parties where there is abundance of beer and easily strained interpersonal relations.

You're welcome.

[BarroomBard]

I think I will keep it open for another week.

But until then, we can start voting and judging!

Take a look at everything and vote for:

The Best Game
The best Character Sheet
Most intimidating Character Sheet


Voting runs til the end of the month.

[celtois]

I'm going to withhold judgment on the best game category until there are more of them hanging about. (Especially since once of them is mine :smalltongue:)

But I want to award both the best and most difficult character sheet to the sheet which Djinn made for Frozen_feet: http://postimg.org/image/mf0nhoubj/

It think its awesome, but at the same time I'm glad I didn't get something that abstract. :smallbiggrin:

[Frozen_Feet]

I too am going to withhold from picking a game before there are more to pick from.

For best sheet, I too have to pick Djinn_in_Tonic's. It had the least words, so it had the least hints or suggestions towards any particular genre. Its colorful presentation also got my imagination moving the most. :smallbiggrin:

For the most intimidating, I must pick Jormengand's. What was one supposed to squeeze to 8000 words from that, the next edition of D&D? :smalleek: There were quite a few variables more on that sheet than most others.

[celtois]

Its been a week. Anyone else have anything?

[Durazno]

I'll probably come swanning in her with my entry once the semester is over, but it's been so long since the deadline that I don't really think it should be considered for the contest.