So, what are we doing Right Now?

[J.K.Mosher]

So I've been reading what others have been working on, and considering options for my own projects.

Right now I am considering re-vamping RoL, to still be a solitaire rpg but also tweaked to allow for group play, while the plan is still to use standard playing cards laid face-down to form the map, I have been tempted with a mechanic I once read about (I believe from the Starship Troopers rpg/board game) that had "bug holes" that had to be closed. Basically each turn these "holes" stayed open they spawned more foes/enemies/bugs.

What I'm thinking is moving from straight fantasy setting to a more horrorsque(sp?) style where PCs are tasked with finishing 2 of 4 goals, 1 being to survive, another to locate an item of power, a third to destroy/convert a fiend inhabiting the site, and the and the fourth choice to close "void gates/death mouths" to stop the spread/flow of living dead into the realms.

Now this instantly turns into sort of a zombie survival game . . . question is has this type of stuff been done too much?

I think this kinda setup will keep the base idea of a hack-n-slash dungeon like crawl feeling but give it a little more then just a "clear out the baddies" to succeed.

[Onix]

While the setting might not be my cup of tea, the "world generation" or whatever you want to call it sounds like it has promise. Adding walls, tunnels and rooms might also make things more interesting.

Another concept is, what if the player(s) got to set up the environment, like this is their castle. The loot is their kings, the portals that open up are an enemy attack and they need to clear it out.

A connected thought is if the player(s) attack the enemy castle, there are similar portals set up as defenses. These could be pre designed castles that the player could download and see how their character(s) do.

[J.K.Mosher]

The "World Creation" to be honest is more of a "Site Layout" setup. The cards would be laid out in a pattern depending on the site location (ie a small crypt may only use 6 cards laid out in a basic box shape, while an old mine might use up to 20 cards laid out in twisting & branching lines.)

Once I have a few basic sites/modules set that really work with the basic resolution mechanics, I would like to create a set of guidelines to allow players/groups create their own layouts.

So the basic premise means the boundaries of the cards form the walls of rooms, halls, etc. edged that touch are open to move through, while edges that don't are solid barriers. As PCs move through the "map" the card they end a turn on is revealed, to indicate a possible encounter (trap/foe/obstacle) to be dealt with.

These revealed cards would be what I term "site cards" and their values would indicate different options as opposed to the "encounter" cards which would be drawn from a deck made from the unused cards when the map was laid out.

Again the value of "encounter" cards would determine what was encountered, from a deadly foe, a pest, or even a possible ally.

So all these cards would indicate various things depending on the base site. Ie a crypt would have different results as opposed to say a sewer, a mine, or even a lost forest path.

Maybe pigeon holing myself into "undead/living dead" theme is not a good choice, possibly should open it to more of an insidious super-un-natural evil which would allow for a larger variety of "spawning" foes.

Lots of ideas/questions to work out. let's see if I can make any progress.

[Rob Lang]

For Icar, I am finishing off the Fleet cruiser and then I'll start putting the Droid stats tables into the Fleet setting. Then I hope to produce a "Numbers and Text Only" fleet setting - to allow people to play with the stuff and do the pictures over time.