If I had the time, I would write an RPG about...

[jeffmoore]

I have started work on transforming a computer game into a tabletop game. Very early in the planning process I realized I couldn't do at all what I wanted within the confines of the 24 Hour RPG Challenge ... but there was a computer game I wanted to do and I set to work on it. This project has taken over my free time and has become the "all the time in the world" project. It's PSO or Phantasy Star Online. I guess if a person could create 'one game' that became their life, got published, made money, and occupied all the rest of their time... I think I would want that game to be a high quality science fiction / space opera type game... the first RPG I ever wrote (in fact the first 3) were attempts at science fiction... so maybe that's where I'd want to go. Strangely none of my submissions here are Sci-Fi... Maybe my Phantasy Star will be the exception.

[ErrinF]

...I'd finish up my massive solitaire game called Dice Decks & Dungeons, which is modeled closely after the original AD&D rules circa 1978 or so, only is played with a deck of poker cards. I have all the clipart for the game, and have written a lot of it, but it is quite massive because it is intricately based on the AD&D system. For those who remember the original AD&D Dungeonmaster's Guide, it had a section for solo play that involved random generation of dungeons. My solitaire game, DD&D, does the same.
Because it is such an exact tribute to AD&D, the game proved to be quite a chore and I set it aside. I don't know if I'll ever have enough time to finish it, but I hope I do some day, as it will be a very rich solo gaming experience if I can ever get it done. Imagine a game that had all the character classes(including bards), magic spells(including psionics), magic items, and monsters of AD&D. That's why I have a LONG way to go before I'll ever finish Dice Decks & Dungeons. If only I had the time...

[tadk]

[jeffmoore]

So, my game is finished... now I am back to work on the update to (and, man... everything is changing in that one...) I also have a reworking of the SAGA System (it was the card system used with "Dragon Lance the Fifth Age" and "Marvel Superhero Adventure" games) that I've been piddling with for a few years. I really think SAGA is a superior game system and I'd love to see my reworking completed one day... (I wonder if I could release my game 'officially' using the OGL ... SAGA like D&D is property of WOC... the main difference is SAGA is unsupported... hince my desire to support it.) Anyway, still a lot of design ideas on my plate.

[decreased]

Just alittle late on the post, its a few months old...but I had an idea that I have absolutely no desire to actually try to write. A historical (factually correct when possible) Civil War setting. The story would follow the actual order the battles took place. It would have a ending point, when one side won. So you would loss factuality when the wrong side won (even just one battle), but still, it would almost be learning. The players would be covert-op type characters wreaking havoc on the opposing side. Of course, you could make it so the player always were on the winning side and actually make the game factual. Blah.

[jeffmoore]

There used to be this game by PaceSetter called "Time Master" It was an awesome game that was about travelling back in time to visit all of these historical moments that are key moments in history. The modules written for the game were awesome, but I could never write one myself. Trying to write a historically accurate adventure module was daunting to say the least. I just don't know my history well enough. I think any game like this would run into the same problems. I don't think most people are into history enough to write "home brew" for such a game, so the entire campaign would need to be included by the game's creator or added as supliments one at a time. I certainly couldn't write an adventure for this. Maybe there are some history buffs who could really dig into this, but I am not sure the average gamer falls in that category. Still, it's a pretty cool idea... and I did love Time Master.


Regards,

[decreased]

You hit upon why I have no interest in attempting the idea, but I think the game would fun. I'll agree, the idea is best suited for someone who has a good grasp on the timeline and key events. I was partially just throwing out the idea of historical events (not just equipment) blended into the game.

[ravensron]

As I remember, "Time Master" presumed the players were all part of some time police organization which prevented paradoxes from unscrupulous time travelers. The major villain was some alien/other-dimensional group which wanted to change historical events for its own benefit. Object of the enterprise for the good guys was to not only keep history as it was, but thwart the baddies in such a way that the locals don't notice since that by itself would change history. The game mechanics were nothing special, and obviously didn't catch on, but the individual scenarios were very clever: the bad guys are going to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I at an outdoor performance of a Shakespeare play; the bad guys give the Germans air-to-ground rockets to defeat the British use of tanks in 1916. Not sure why, if they were happy to muck about with history, the baddies couldn't do very obvious things, but given that as a game construct (E.g. you can assassinate Her Majesty but you can't use a futuristic raygun, it has to look like some political opponent with a dagger; you can't drop a nuclear bomb on the advancing tanks, it has to look like the biplanes overhead got lucky with some sort of contemporary explosive), you get to have the players have to deal with local technology and customs. Sterling example of this is Harry Harrison's "Rebel in Time" where a modern-day secret agent has to go back to just before the Civil War to undo the machinations of another time traveler who is going to make crude submachineguns available to the Confederates....except our hero is Black, which is somewhat of a social impediment in 1858.
To do this sort of thing in game form, you are going to have to give the readership a brief outline of what's what in a given historical era insofar as basic technology, who's in charge, and of course what historical events must happen/not happen. After that, it's simply good old fashioned role-playing, with perhaps the game moderator stepping out of character if a player wants his character to do something impossible or ultra-foolish by the standards of the time/place he's in (that is, the well-briefed Time Patrolman would know this, because citizens of that time/place take it for granted, and so it's "fair" for the moderator to tell the player).

[jeffmoore]

Yes. You summed up Time Master pretty well. It really was an awesome game. If I remember, the bad guys (name escapes me just now) had to be subtle in the way they screwed around with history at least to some extent because the time corps constantly monitored the time stream and a major infraction would set off all kinds of alarms and be stopped immediately... so the baddies would try and slip things past the time corps to create fractures in time that would give them an edge over the corps... at least that's what I am remembering.

The game system was Pace Setter standard used for Time Master, Chill and Star Ace. Simple percentile based system. I remember liking it.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

Just as a thought, a game set in the past you could use the concept of psycho-history from the Foundation theory that things move in great trends. One can take part in any of the hundred of skirmishes or minor battles that escape notice, or a small part in a larger one. Look at the hundred years war - it lasted 115 years, and had maybe three major battles that truly affected the outcome.

The battle of Hampton Rhodes was the first clash of Iron clads, but the Virgina and Monitor were not the only such ships. Only the U-41 penetrated Scapa Flo, but there are hundreds of other WWII submarines with adventures to tell.

Alternatively, you could go into a debate with your players about the repercussions. One of the strengths of RP is that you can go outside the borders.