Hi all, I posted There's Something Rotten in the City of Q*Berg because I wanted a setting where I could have a little fun and this seemed the right place to do it. I hope you all get a kick out of it and please throw any feedback my way since this was my first completed RPG.
We're going over the submissions now - should have some results posted by the start of next week. There's a lot that goes into the grading and we want to give everyone a fair shake, so please be patient.
1KM1KT is an online publishing site devoted to free RPGs and the roleplaying game community.
I reviewed each game according to the criteria suggested by Keeton. I thought all the submissions were good. But, the scoring system did help to gauge one entry against the other:
55 Quiz & Dragons by Errin Famiglia
54 Alien Hominid RPG by JJ Prince
52 Master of Orion by Michael Walton
52 Sonic the Hedgehog by Ross Wilkin
51 Frogger by Doyce Testerman
50 Doom: Semper Fidelis by Sandy Antunes
48 Dance, Dance Revolution by Ross Wilkin
46 There’s Something Rotten in the City of Q*Berg by Chris Perrin
43 Lemmings by Koszper Gábor
These are my totals... So, for me "Quiz & Dragons by Errin Famiglia" was the winner and "Alien Hominid RPG by JJ Prince" made second... but all my scores were close!!
Here are my explanations: Alien Hominid RPG by JJ Prince
originality - 10 I liked the use of cards and hadn't seen anyone do it like that before.
adherence to theme - 9 Not just a computer RPG for beginners, but a card game too and the writing is accessible for beginners.
coolness - 9 The writing is fun and it makes the game cool. The bidding mechanic is cool! ... and it's cool that the author chose an indie RPG from Newsgrounds (I love that place too.)
layout - 9 clean, easy to read, attractive use of art and kick ass character sheet... nice.
playability - 9 had some trouble interpreting the combat rules. I think I would have to spend some time writing my own explanations to clean it up... but what's there is super great, and the rest is implied. I would have scored this lower... but the system makes me WANT to play it... and that is a HUGE bonus... I love the idea of the bidding system and I want to play this... so... 9
technical stuff - 8 liked the writing style... fresh and easy to read... but points off because the combat rules were a bit incomplete IMHO... still it was a fun read... good work!!
10,9,9,9,9,8 = Total 54.
Dance, Dance Revolution by Ross Wilkin
originality - 9, an RPG dancing game... need I say more?
adherence to theme - 7 it is a computer rpg... but I don't see a beginner picking this up... I could be wrong... but it just doesn't look that accessible to me.
coolness - 9... I gave this highest scores in coolness and originality because the idea of a dance themed RPG just blew me away...
layout - 8 not bad, not great... no character sheet lost some points with me.
playability - 7 I just don't think the 50 sided dice system is playable... but I like the way the game designed a sort of dance tournament system... but ultimately I just don't think it will play well.
technical stuff - 8 I didn't see any errors... things were clearly stated. Technically the game was good.
9,7,9,8,7,8 = Total 48
Doom: Semper Fidelis by Sandy Antunes
originality - 9 I liked the balance of health vs. time as a mechanic... the resource balancing issue creates a good solo-rpg challenge that I hadn't considered before.
adherence to theme - 7 It's based on a computer game... but it's not an RPG... and you can't play it with your friends... now enter this as an entry in the solo-rpg contest...
coolness - 8 I think this could make a really fun solo play... and that's cool!
layout - 8 clean, easy to read, no art but use of font fits the subject matter well.
playability - 9 I can really see myself playing this... high marks for that.
technical stuff - 9 the game was witty and well written... the author incorporated a lot from the computer game and the content was complete... nothing lacking... highest marks here.
9,7,8,8,9,9 Total 50
Frogger by Doyce Testerman
originality - 10 Frogger as a Metaphor for corporate America fully realized in RPG form... wow.
adherence to theme - 7 Uhm, this isn't really a computer RPG at all... fans of "Frogger" aren't going to pick this up and say "Wow! I am playing "Frogger" at the tabletop... also, the game does not strike me as a beginning level game to introduce new players... so for me it misses on both counts.
coolness - 7 clever doesn't equate to cool. This is a technically perfect game... but I can't see myself playing it... and that hurts its coolness factor. But man was this a clever idea!
layout - 10 well done, very complete, toc, character sheet, quotes as flavor text.
playability - 7 easy card or d12 based mechanic... explained very well... not sure how the adventure structure would really work however... I can't get my mind around the actual flow of a game session. I just don't see myself playing this... so despite a very clean system that is well explained I am scoring a 7.
technical - 10 the game is technically perfect.
10,7,7,10,7,10 = 51
Lemmings by Koszper Gábor
originality - 9 Humans playing animals playing other animals... it was a cool idea.
adherence to theme - 8 a computer game made into a table top game... check... accessible to beginners... uh, no.
coolness - 8 Liked the idea of players playing animals playing lemmings... cool.
layout - 6 plain presentation... hard to track... no character sheet.
playability - 5 I am sorry but I had trouble figuring out this game mechanic.
technical - 7 Spelling is clean but there are grammar errors and the doc is just plan difficult to read.
9,8,8,6,5,7 = 43
Master of Orion by Michael Walton
originality - 8 Port of the computer game is clean. The mechanic is functional and serves the game well... nothing ground breaking here though... just a solid traditional approach.
adherence to theme - 9 Computer game to table top... done! As for accessibility... I think anyone who plays Master of Orion has enough going on to tackle this too.
coolness - 9 It's a first rate entry into the Sci-Fi genre... I could see this as a commercial product.
layout - 9 Clean design. Readable... good use of illustration... but it begins to break down in the last half of the doc.
playability - 8 an equipment list would have pushed this score higher... as it is the system is clean but the game will need some work before you could actually start to play.
technical - 9 all good here... easy read... clean grammar... no typos or spelling errors that I saw.
8,9,9,9,8,9 = 52
Quiz & Dragons by Errin Famiglia
originality - 10 come on... an RPG that uses trivia questions to resolve tasks... wow!
adherence to theme - 8 Computer game to table top... and a trivia fuzion game... and different enough to appeal to non-gamers... but it needs more RPG elements for me... a way to create your own adventures and to really "role-play" your characters... that doesn't exist here so it looses some points because it's not really an RPG... (But I believe it could be with a little work... I would love to see this idea expanded further.)
coolness - 10 (see originality...) This is just too cool!
layout - 9 I liked the simple layout the use of color and font... I would have to cut and paste to print this out because I wouldn't want to use a whole printer full of ink... but I tried that and it's totally doable... so high scores on layout from me because I thought the doc looked good and I loved the usage of graphics from the arcade game.
playability - 9 This is totally playable... I am planning to play it tonight... the only reason I didn't give it a 10 is that not everyone may have trivial pursuit cards.
technical - 9 again... well done... easy to follow... quick, clean read... I was really impressed.
10,8,10,9,9,9 = 55
Sonic the Hedgehog by Ross Wilkin
originality - 8 traditional resolution system but the idea of a vertical stage map "dungeon" instead of a flat table top style dungeon is really cool... I'd like to see miniatures rules for this.
adherence to theme - 10 I think THIS is what I had in mind when I proposed this challenge... a popular themed computer game that would draw the attention of the computer gamer who found their way to the site that is presented as a tabletop RPG that anyone could play... EXCELLENT!!
coolness - 9 Sonic is cool! This game is cool!
layout - 9 Great use of images from the computer games... a beautiful game!!
playability - 8 I need more about rings and some clearer rules to make the "vertical" layout of the stages work... but all in all... this was fantastic... the task resolution was clean and easy.
technical - 8 Good read... no technical problems... I would have liked a character sheet...
8,10,9,9,8,8 = 52
There’s Something Rotten in the City of Q*Berg by Chris Perrin
originality - 9 the pyramid resolution system may not be very playable... but I have never seen anything like it before and I am certain that I will never see anything like it again!
adherence to theme - 7 Computer game to RPG... yes... it's here... but the game is written to be read and enjoyed for the comedy... I don't believe it is meant to be played.
coolness - 9 It's cool because it's funny.
layout - 9 standard 2 column layout... no graphics... it's nothing special... but it has table of contents a character sheet and numbered paragraph headings... so the layout it very functional.
playability - 5 I think I might have said already... I think the author just wanted us to read and laugh.
technical - 7 there were several typos and some improper subject/verb agreement that indicated to me that the final was rushed and not edited very tightly.
9,7,9,9,5,7 = 46
That's it for me... I tried to be fair and open with my opinions and enthusiasm.
I was a bit disappointed to see my RPG on the bottom of the list, but it is good to see that it was a close call. I think next time I'm going to try to make some layout not just plain text editing. Although I still have a problem how to explain what is an rpg to those who don't know. I could write a "What is an RPG" and after that use it in my RPGs, but if I remember well, it would break the rules of 24 hour RPG.
But it is sure as hell that it was a great experience to experiment with computer games and I'm already working on something that started off as Descent but can be played as Elite or Privateer.
Well, that was unexpected. I'm glad the judges liked Quiz & Dragons RPG. I thought it was a novel yet non-competitive entry for the contest, but I guess people really ended up liking the use of trivia cards being incorporated into a RPG.
Thanks to Jeff Moore for reminding me about the contest's deadline about a week before it ended. That got the ball rolling on me making the Q&D RPG. I feel the game is legit as an RPG, as it offers a roleplaying experience in the course of a session, but I get where Jeff is coming from if he feels it is more of a trivia game with a fantasy RPG feel (as the arcade game Quiz & Dragons was). Not sure how I could expand it further, and might just keep it as is. For what it's worth, I'll probably send Keeton a black and white text version of Quiz & Dragons RPG that can be available to those wishing to print the game without using up too much ink.
Thanks again. I'm looking forward to getting my t-shirt, but I'm even happier to have all these new computer game RPGs in my collection. Those games are the real prizes of this contest, though I am indeed appreciative of winning the 1km1kt t-shirt and am honored that the judges enjoyed my game.