Codex Imaginata

[The Traveller]

Hello, I'm setting up a new tabletop roleplaying game, completely free for use by anyone, called Codex Imaginata. This will be a generic system, but will be highly customisable, to the extent that I feel it will bring something new to the world of TT RPGs.

To explain that one a bit further, and borrowing from an interivew I did, normally in TTRPGs you just get your PDF, and you can download it and print it off. After that you're on your own. Talking to numerous gamers made me realise a few failings in that model - many of them are happy enough to look at it on a screen, but don't need the whole manual or the hassle of scouring through a keyboard or touchscreen interface to get the sections they need. Others want to print off sections, but wipe out toner and ink cartridges in doing so, in order to get a lesser quality product than if it was actually printed and posted to them.

So what we're trying to do is set up the entire rules system in a dynamic site. Lets say for example you only want medieval weapons tables and melee combat rules printed off, you select those as if they were in a shopping cart, they are stored to your account, choose with or without graphics, and print. Also there will be a large element of adjustability for generic tables and rules, lets say handguns:
- light pistol
- medium pistol
- large pistol
You can replace the text within those with your own names and even statistics, such as
- Derringer
- Beretta 9mm
- Desert Eagle
This is then stored in your account and printed if you like, along with notes and other info. Obviously that's not just for equipment but for monsters, spells, spacecraft and other sections within the game. It's almost as if you were tailoring the system entirely to your own specifications as you go, in as simple and straightforward a fashion as possible. You don't like a rule? Don't use it! Then come back and tell us all how it worked out. If you think it needs more rules, add them!

What I'd also like to do is use it as a platform to give authors starting off a platform to tell people about their new work, artists to showcase their skills, and generally form a hub (one of many true) for imagination and creativity to flourish.

As for the game system, it's an effort to find the right balance between realism and playability. I want it to fit like a chrome and brass powerglove over your imagination, enabling it in an easy manner to burst the bounds of reality with a swish of your fingertips.

Once the game is set up and live, I'd like for people to come and enjoy what's on offer, and once they have gotten comfortable with it to share their own ideas and creations with everyone else. Someone might have an idea for a new monster, an adventure module, an expansion for a town on a map that hasn't got much in the way of detail, a house rule that makes sense, an entire campaign setting, or just advice on how to run a game, and it would be great if they could let the community enjoy their creativity as well.

The best of them might then be added to the official game, polished and illustrated, of course with permission. This will be strongly encouraged, for example I've a photoshop file of artistically designed map elements like mountains, hills, towns and cities that people can use to make their own really nice professional looking maps with very little effort.

I am passionate about rolepaying and the feeling of community and electric excitement it brings, and I'm anxious to bring my creation to life.

Here is some of the artwork which will be used in the game, hope you enjoy it!

[Rob Lang]

Welcome The Traveller! There is so much to unpack here and I am about to go to bed! Will post a better reply tomorrow.

[Onix]

That's a big project! We've had a few discussions on universal systems in the past so there are some thoughts in there that might be interesting to you. Things to go after, things to avoid etc.

As to the brief thought on a hub, what are you looking at as a draw for people to gather there?

[The Traveller]

Hello Onix, very interesting thread there! Your comment was eerily prescient in fact:

"The trick is having a universal system that is modular enough so that the game designer could drop in modules that are well tested and do a specific bit of story telling. In short a customizable universal system. Most of the rules are standard, but certain rules have been modified. The game could have all the rules stated and highlight any modified rules or only publish the modified rules for a quick game. Any modified rules would also be open source and would become part of an optional library, kind of like a wiki with people stating where there are problems and possibly how to fix them. Modules would also have the core goal of the module stated (such as "Better swordplay mechanics")."

That's very similar to what I'd like to see achieved. Looking at the industry now, it is somewhat in decline, and I think there are a few reasons for that. Primarily people think they are playing RPGs when they are playing computer games - this is a mistaken perception that I'd like to correct, there isn't much roleplaying in computer games.

Secondly look at the entry points into tabletop roleplaying, you have mostly D&D associated with the hobby in the public perception. I can imagine many people who try a session or two, look at what they are doing, look at what they do in WoW, and decide it's less hassle to just sit at a PC. If they do start out with a group that has a good handle on roleplaying, they might amble over to the big purple - problem there is if they stumble into one of the many Exalted or Fate threads they stand a good chance of ending up like the nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark, there's too much in-game jargon, too much investment by players into one non intuitive system.

Roleplaying has become a niche filled with niches, and there is a chance it will disappear entirely, which to my mind would be a great loss to the imaginative arts.

I should say at this point I have absolutely no quibble with computer games or with niche games, none whatsoever, I'm not ranting against either, far from it. They are immense fun in their own right, but in the case of computer games it's a different kind of fun, and in the case of niche games, they aren't readily accessable to newcomers.

Further of course, the industry is still stuck in the print cycle, either PDF or hardcopy, and is not taking advantage of the new web technologies which are available. This is an area I've addressed above, broadly speaking. There's no reason why people should have to download and print full PDFs, when all they might need are a few tables or listings that they regularly use. There's also no reason other than IP that they can't rewrite tables and rule sections to suit themselves - the tech is there. Well there is a reason, but it has more to do with profit than producing a healthier community.

Let's say I want to run an adventure in the festering swamps to the south of the city. I want to be able to select from a menu monsters->swamp->natural+unnatural+undead->low or no magic. This will then present me with a list of monsters which fit that criteria, some of which I save into my private adventure folder. Then I can go over each one and make adjustments to the stats, description, or what have you, before printing it off or leaving it in there readily tabbed for my game. Upon completion, I then make it public, building a massive library of scenrios, new creatures, quirks and commentary over time.

Sounds simple when you put it like that, but it's really hard to implement, hence the fundit request. That and I want to provide some kickass artwork and I'm not an artist.

I think there's a spot there for a good generic system that eases people into the idea, provides options for growth, but doesn't overwhelm them from the start with new concepts. This is what I'd like to provide for the community, free of charge, because I love roleplaying, there's really nothing quite like it.

This would be used as the basis then to build a friendly, open, co-operative community whose contributions enrich the experience for everyone, and as a platform to bring new writers and artists to light. For example, one of the many facilites in the system would include a regular mailing list, which might mimic the RPG magazines of old, containing ingame articles, revisions, perhaps a chapter from a new or established writer, a few good blog articles, that sort of thing.

This isn't intended to be the one system to rule them all, just a great place to get together and share recipes with others who enjoy the same ingredients. Those ingredients are also in large part the game worlds, another passion of mine, which shall be covered in follow up posts or perhaps when I get a blog set up.

[Onix]

I was curious about the fundit request, I'm familiar with kickstarter but not fundit but I imagine they're similar? If so this is a business venture and a loan to get started. With a free product, how are you looking to profit? Advertising?

My main thought with the universal systems is that there are thousands of games out there and a lot of them use D20, Pathfinder, Fate, whatever, but there are plenty more that use their own system. Part of the fun of making a RPG for some is the mechanics but do you have to remake all the mechanics, every time? A completely open universal system that breaks the mold of "all or nothing" and even advertises "just use what you like" would probably be treated with skepticism at first. Then it might slowly pick up followers who would be able to rapidly put out games that do what they want it to do with special tweaks just for them.

The big issue with a modular universal system is figuring out what the major categories of modules are. For example there is event resolution which normally includes combat. Then there is hit points does the game use high hit points or low hit points but hit points factor into combat, so the two modules are either the same or at the very least connected. Then there are the attributes and skills which can be separate modules, but they're at the very least connected. Then that module is connected to event resolution. It seems to make sense but changing one module can drastically effect a whole chain of modules. So I think that the chains are what need to be changed. For example, instead of worrying about connecting attributes and skills connecting to event resolution, you could define the scale of the game. The scale says what the high numbers and low numbers should be. Then you define the kind of dice you want to fit that scale. The problem is this takes a different mindset than what designers usually think about how they are going to resolve events. At least I think it's how designers think because that's how they start talking about the mechanic.

Anyway, I had a heap of other thoughts but I keep getting interrupted as I write this and I forgot them.

[The Traveller]

[Rob Lang]

I write software and I write a game or two. I've also written (yet not published) a guide on how to write roleplaying games. I'm wondering how I'd approach this and I'm thinking out load.

There is a lot of code to be written, that's for sure. So I'd limit scope for version 1. Get a very simple system that pick and mixes simple elements for the would be GM. The interface is all important. It has to be simple, look good and provide a no-brain step-by-step process. Once complete, only then should be tweaking allowed.

I imagine there will be a core resolution mechanic and then choices like optional rules. Being able to save your preferences against your account will be important, as will sharing them.

[The Traveller]

My thoughts exactly. What I'd like is for say in the previous example, you adjust a monster for a scenario, and the adjusted beastie when published gets attached to the main monster listing, ajaxed away from view unless someone clicks on it, so every different iteration of that creature will be archived at the source and ready for use. Likewise the adjustments in stats might be auto-calculated for ancillary stats so you don't need to do it manually, unless you actually overwrite them yourself.

However that's really ambitious and dangerously close to giving direct SQL access via a nice, friendly, simple to use control panel, so megaquery here we come! Although you could limit it in important ways I'd probably leave that for version 2 or 3, it could be done but better to iron out any basic wrinkles first.

I envision the core rules laid out in the usual manner, with say optional extended rules ajaxed away, and then community house rule options ajaxed under that. For example, I don't want a death spiral in the core system since you either have to track it for every monster in the horde facing the PCs, or don't track it and hence introduce an imbalance in the system; it does add to realism though. Also I'm leaning towards just ignoring an encumbrance system in the core in the name of reducing needless/funless accounting, but offering an extended version where you have categories of items like large, medium, and small, and these are laid out on the character sheet in outlined blocks, such as
- one large item=1 penalty to actions
- three medium items=1 penalty to actions
- six small items=1 penalty to actions
This would make it a lot easier to track encumbrance from items, but comes with its own problems (like what happens when you erase one medium item from two seperate boxes, by rights you should be at 1 penalty but unless you erase items from one box and put them in another, it won't show up under the rules). Fatigue and a few other things cross the line between fun and realism.

Then say someone suggests a house rule that has a different perspective on encumbrance. If after playtesting by a few groups it is agreed to be better, it should replace the optional rules, or maybe be placed alongside. If some genius comes up with an accounting-free encumbrance system, it goes straight into the core rules, and hence the game would grow and develop.

It does involve a certain amount of buy-in from players, but this is where the the mouthwatering campaign worlds come into play. Or they will be if I can get the artwork purchased.

Edit: oho I think if you apply encumbrance penalties at the first item in a box rather than the last, you fix that issue mentioned above! Yay!

[Rob Lang]

It seems your game system will be a fantasy one. I think that's for the best. It could be a good fantasy system but a mediocre Sci Fi one. I'd stick with one genre and do that really well.

[The Traveller]