Design Journal #4: Breaking Up My Game

Heya,

Welcome to my design journal entry # 4.  In case you missed the first three, you can find them HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I’ve brought this up before, but I use a Design Outline when I create a game.  I think about the different aspects of my RPGs very compartmentally.  Chargen is one things.  Resolution is another.  Character Advancement is third.  Equipment is its own thing.  Now, all of these different aspects are tied together thematically in my current RPG, but I work on them separately.  So I got to thinking: If each of these are separate in my mind, why I am I putting them all in the same book?

Now clearly, separating the core rules of a game into separate books is as old as RPGs themselves, right?  So I’m not breaking any new ground by doing this, but I have noticed that games which are not following in D&D’s footsteps (and even many games that are) have gone away from a multi-book approach.  This just was not working for me.

I want a character creation (Chargen) process that is more elaborate than what I currently get out there.  Therefore, I am pulling that entire process out into its on manual.  All the combat, resolution, spell casting, and character advancement stuff runs off very similar mechanics.  So that’s going in its own book.  The player options, equipment lists, spells, powers, feats, etc. have their own book.  So will the GM stuff.  And finally the setting books will be separate from all the rules. 

The reason I’m doing this is because is, I want these concepts to be digestible.  Packing all this into a 200+ page tome just seems ridiculous to me.  I wouldn’t want to read that from cover to cover.  I know I’d skip a lot, or just make assumptions.  I want to present my game in bite-size chunks that are an easy read while you eat at the dinner table or ride the train to work. 

So that means I’ll probably have some saddle-stitched, kinda homely looking books when I get done.  That’s fine with me.  I am so over having a pretty cover.  For me, the game needs to work.  Then it will sell itself.  My goals for this game are modest atthis point anyway.

Anyway, the lesson from today’s entry is this: don’t lock yourself into producing everyone in a single volume because it looks like it will save costs or because that’s what your favorite author did.  Evaluate the needs of your game and the needs of your target audience.  If splitting everything up into their component parts works for you, then embrace that.  You’ll be glad you did.

Peace,

-Troy