Angelus_Nox
06-14-2009, 05:31 AM
Hello!
As mentioned in my introductory thread, a few friends and I are developing a pen and paper RPG. I thought I'd introduce it here and see what your thoughts on it are. A lot of it is still WIP (detailed background stories, species descriptions etc.), but we're getting there. The plan is to eventually sell it commercially, which is one reason why I take some stores in not copying stuff from other... well. People I guess. Or copyright holders, whichever is closer. Another is that I prefer to at least try and be original. If I make something up and later find out someone else did it before, oh well, that's random chance (unless of course it would lead to copyright infringement, I don't want my stuff to be stolen, so I won't steal other's).
There are roughly 100 pages of backstories, species, rules etc. Due to many revisions and new ideas that required some retconning of the material already there, it's a bit confused and unsorted, but that will get fixed. It's also all in German for the time being, so if you're curious about specifics, you'll have to bear with me while I do translations. But on to the game!
The game, so far called 3045 - Return of Xarlos (which, admittedly is only the name so the abbreviation is "RoX" ;) and will probably get changed, if only slightly) is set in the year 3045 (who would've guessed that :D) in the Milky Way. In the more than 1000 years from now to then, many things have happened (obviously). A great, utopian society started on Earth and explored the Galaxy utilizing a new technology called Tunnel drive, which enables FTL travel, peacefully uniting the five Great Realms and thousands of smaller nations in the Terran Empire. But then, they met the Demerians, a species bent on annihilating the other races for reasons unkown. Driven back by the sheer numbers of the Demerians, the technologically superior Terran Empire made a fatal mistake. Desperate for a weapon with which to win decisive victories, they turned their primary power source into a weapon: Black Tiberium Bombs (the name is still WIP, see first chapter of this post), which have the potential to destroy entire solar systems. These weapons were built and stored on Earth itself, as it was assumed the planet was the safest of the Empire. Technically, this was true, the Blue Planet never was attacked. But one of the weapons malfunctioned, and due to the way the detonation of these bombs work, caused a chain reaction of cataclysmic proportions. Within minutes, the Terran Empire's capital was obliterated. No longer trusting the remains of the Terran Empire, the member species fell back into their pre-Empire groups and governments and the Empire collapsed.
Thanks to left-over technology by the Terran Empire, and fierce determination of the border species, the Demerians could nonetheless be kept in check, but at astronomically high losses and victory was deemed impossible. Most beings considered the end of the war a question of who's resources would run out first.
Then, after centuries of war in which the borders never moved more than a few lightyears, they were proven wrong. A few years before the games' setting, all sides became subject to random, often suicidal, illogical attacks by unknown forces. Soon, the Demerians recognized these "Xarlos" (name WIP) as an old enemy that had been banned by the oldest race in the Galaxy, the Razielim (also WIP). Without revealing what the previous 700 years of war against the rest of the Galaxy was about, the Demerians offered a cease-fire in order to battle the Xarlos, who they thought were the greater enemy. Beginning to run low on resources, tired of the war and most of all afraid of the new enemy, the (now) eight Great Realms accepted.
And this is (very, very briefly told) the world your character is born into. We don't plan on one singular story that everyone has to follow, but rather want to supply players with an existing, (hopefully) exciting world for them to explore, maybe become a major part of the world's history, maybe just get rich (or die trying) and have adventures.
Technically speaking, it's a D8 game the team and I came up with over the years. D8 mainly because it was the only die we had and dice rolling programs never crossed our minds. Nor did buying other dice, and by the time it did, the system was based too much on that die to change it easily (tho truth be told, we're currently discussing changing the system). So far, parts of it are under revision (specifically the abilities section, which we just can't seem to nail down, and each time we think we do, our advisor who played various P&P games over the years objects), while others work quite well (such as the battle system, which is rather not too convoluted, yet, in my opinion, takes into account a lot of variables).
The game features implants, add ons for weapons, science-inspired spells (think Parasite Eve), close combat, energy-based, projectile and explosive weaponry and 8 species in the basic box, with ideas for 22 more floating around (some are a few pages long, some are just a few words on a Post-It note), several dozens of different abilities (such as persuasion, medicine, acting, abilities for different weapons, etc.). While a science-fiction game, I kind of think it's more fiction than science. I don't mind sacrificing science if it makes a story better, and so far the players don't mind either.
As to it's current state, I'd call it a late alpha, maybe a beta. It works rather well for the most part, just a few bugs need fixing and some content is missing.
Things that are missing:
- detailed species descriptions (I'm talking 10+ pages per race)
- artwork (I can't seem to find an illustrator who can await payment until after release ;))
- some more background details
- a working abilities check system (I swear this one got reworked so many times, it's not funny anymore)
- experienced play-testers ;)
- other descriptions and content (some of the weapons just have names and attributes so far, as do spells and implants)
Things that need fixing:
- I think only balancing O_o But that will probably happen only during playtesting
Questions, thoughts, comments? Keep in mind that I left out quite some details, both in regards of story and rules (I know, for example, why the Demerians started the war :D or where the almost immaterial Itheritas come from).
I also want to thank cplmac for helping me find the right category, and all of you for posting worthwhile reads on here for me to find. I've tried to find a program like gametable for years, for example. It's also rare that I find a community that I feel comfortable enough in to share details on this project, so go pat yourself on your shoulder everyone :)
Oh btw, since this is kind of my baby, I'd like to state the following: criticism is welcome, if it is constructive and phrased at least semi-politely (this paragraph could act as an example of things ok by me). If you choose to ignore this request, I'll probably choose to ignore your post, so why bother? I don't expect any of this to happen on this forum, but I've had some bad experiences.
As mentioned in my introductory thread, a few friends and I are developing a pen and paper RPG. I thought I'd introduce it here and see what your thoughts on it are. A lot of it is still WIP (detailed background stories, species descriptions etc.), but we're getting there. The plan is to eventually sell it commercially, which is one reason why I take some stores in not copying stuff from other... well. People I guess. Or copyright holders, whichever is closer. Another is that I prefer to at least try and be original. If I make something up and later find out someone else did it before, oh well, that's random chance (unless of course it would lead to copyright infringement, I don't want my stuff to be stolen, so I won't steal other's).
There are roughly 100 pages of backstories, species, rules etc. Due to many revisions and new ideas that required some retconning of the material already there, it's a bit confused and unsorted, but that will get fixed. It's also all in German for the time being, so if you're curious about specifics, you'll have to bear with me while I do translations. But on to the game!
The game, so far called 3045 - Return of Xarlos (which, admittedly is only the name so the abbreviation is "RoX" ;) and will probably get changed, if only slightly) is set in the year 3045 (who would've guessed that :D) in the Milky Way. In the more than 1000 years from now to then, many things have happened (obviously). A great, utopian society started on Earth and explored the Galaxy utilizing a new technology called Tunnel drive, which enables FTL travel, peacefully uniting the five Great Realms and thousands of smaller nations in the Terran Empire. But then, they met the Demerians, a species bent on annihilating the other races for reasons unkown. Driven back by the sheer numbers of the Demerians, the technologically superior Terran Empire made a fatal mistake. Desperate for a weapon with which to win decisive victories, they turned their primary power source into a weapon: Black Tiberium Bombs (the name is still WIP, see first chapter of this post), which have the potential to destroy entire solar systems. These weapons were built and stored on Earth itself, as it was assumed the planet was the safest of the Empire. Technically, this was true, the Blue Planet never was attacked. But one of the weapons malfunctioned, and due to the way the detonation of these bombs work, caused a chain reaction of cataclysmic proportions. Within minutes, the Terran Empire's capital was obliterated. No longer trusting the remains of the Terran Empire, the member species fell back into their pre-Empire groups and governments and the Empire collapsed.
Thanks to left-over technology by the Terran Empire, and fierce determination of the border species, the Demerians could nonetheless be kept in check, but at astronomically high losses and victory was deemed impossible. Most beings considered the end of the war a question of who's resources would run out first.
Then, after centuries of war in which the borders never moved more than a few lightyears, they were proven wrong. A few years before the games' setting, all sides became subject to random, often suicidal, illogical attacks by unknown forces. Soon, the Demerians recognized these "Xarlos" (name WIP) as an old enemy that had been banned by the oldest race in the Galaxy, the Razielim (also WIP). Without revealing what the previous 700 years of war against the rest of the Galaxy was about, the Demerians offered a cease-fire in order to battle the Xarlos, who they thought were the greater enemy. Beginning to run low on resources, tired of the war and most of all afraid of the new enemy, the (now) eight Great Realms accepted.
And this is (very, very briefly told) the world your character is born into. We don't plan on one singular story that everyone has to follow, but rather want to supply players with an existing, (hopefully) exciting world for them to explore, maybe become a major part of the world's history, maybe just get rich (or die trying) and have adventures.
Technically speaking, it's a D8 game the team and I came up with over the years. D8 mainly because it was the only die we had and dice rolling programs never crossed our minds. Nor did buying other dice, and by the time it did, the system was based too much on that die to change it easily (tho truth be told, we're currently discussing changing the system). So far, parts of it are under revision (specifically the abilities section, which we just can't seem to nail down, and each time we think we do, our advisor who played various P&P games over the years objects), while others work quite well (such as the battle system, which is rather not too convoluted, yet, in my opinion, takes into account a lot of variables).
The game features implants, add ons for weapons, science-inspired spells (think Parasite Eve), close combat, energy-based, projectile and explosive weaponry and 8 species in the basic box, with ideas for 22 more floating around (some are a few pages long, some are just a few words on a Post-It note), several dozens of different abilities (such as persuasion, medicine, acting, abilities for different weapons, etc.). While a science-fiction game, I kind of think it's more fiction than science. I don't mind sacrificing science if it makes a story better, and so far the players don't mind either.
As to it's current state, I'd call it a late alpha, maybe a beta. It works rather well for the most part, just a few bugs need fixing and some content is missing.
Things that are missing:
- detailed species descriptions (I'm talking 10+ pages per race)
- artwork (I can't seem to find an illustrator who can await payment until after release ;))
- some more background details
- a working abilities check system (I swear this one got reworked so many times, it's not funny anymore)
- experienced play-testers ;)
- other descriptions and content (some of the weapons just have names and attributes so far, as do spells and implants)
Things that need fixing:
- I think only balancing O_o But that will probably happen only during playtesting
Questions, thoughts, comments? Keep in mind that I left out quite some details, both in regards of story and rules (I know, for example, why the Demerians started the war :D or where the almost immaterial Itheritas come from).
I also want to thank cplmac for helping me find the right category, and all of you for posting worthwhile reads on here for me to find. I've tried to find a program like gametable for years, for example. It's also rare that I find a community that I feel comfortable enough in to share details on this project, so go pat yourself on your shoulder everyone :)
Oh btw, since this is kind of my baby, I'd like to state the following: criticism is welcome, if it is constructive and phrased at least semi-politely (this paragraph could act as an example of things ok by me). If you choose to ignore this request, I'll probably choose to ignore your post, so why bother? I don't expect any of this to happen on this forum, but I've had some bad experiences.