Character creation is fast and simple. In essence you roll (or choose) your background, roll some characteristics
and then pick a class. This will be a heavy and broad class based system. Lots of different specialized classes that provide certain abilities and spells are predetermined/fixed by class. No attributes to roll up-- characters of class are considered to be pretty much the same.
Combat is quick and damage is fixed based on class or modified slightly by specialized ability.
Inspirations are drawn broadly from Roguelike computer games, Car Wars, Knave, Tiny Dungeon and the usual RPG suspects.
I would also intend O.G.R.E. to be more of an open source game you could make/publish your own adventures and additions--though I am considering imposing a page limit. Maybe 12 or 24, the key is keeping things for the system quick to digest, simple to get into and very focused on a specific topic.
I want the rules to be short and playable. Then optional topic add-ons like Dungeons, Barrow mounds, Mountains, Demi-Humans, Cities and more. Bolt on or delve into topics you want, ignore the stuff you don't care about.
One more idea and draft in progress...
You might want to rethink the title. Steve Jackson still publishes OGRE, and might have some objections to your using a nearly identical name for your game.
ReplyDeleteNot sure there is anyone going to confusion a cybertank war game with an acronym RPG--but point well taken and probably worth revisiting just in case!
ReplyDeleteO.G.R.E.S. is the trademarked name for one of the house systems of Elf Lair Games, publishers of Spellcraft & Swordplay, Chutzpah!, and Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars RPGs.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely will be renaming so no worries, Thanks
DeleteI don't want to come across as a nag, but is there any kind of update on Black Magic? I REALLY want to get my hands on THAT game! :D
ReplyDeleteLOL! My Conan-esque adventure itch remains unscratched!
The difficult part is (of course) the details of the make your own spell concept.
DeleteIf I just publish Black Magic with a spell list, that could happen in a couple months.
That may be the route I go just to get it out. Then have the "make your spell" option an article for the much belated Cauldron 2 as an alternative magic system to play with for HOW or BBM.
I like that idea! Making it for both HOW and B&BM, I mean -- makes a lot of sense, actually, since it would be a big addition to both. I kind of liked the "Chinese Menu" system in Barbarians of Lemuria, in that you could define the magic level by effect, and then choose from a number of "force multipliers" to make it more possible for you to succeed, but the requirements increased dramatically as the spell got more powerful (in a "level 1" spell, you only needed to do one or two things to make it possible to cast, but in a "level 3" spell, the requirements were quite high to even make it possible to cast. While obviously your details would be very different for Black Magic, their concept of high-level magic always made a lot of sense to me... The bad part about BoL is that they DIDN'T have a spell list that could be used as a time-saver for low level magic. In effect, think of "low level magic" (that is, the kind of combat spells in TFT's Wizard, for example) as sort of like "cantrips" in D&D, for which you have a list along with a couple of requirements, and the higher level stuff -- the stuff that can really affect people, places and things, as the "real" magic. So a real sorcerer would scoff at some "combat mage" as being a mere parlor trickster who has no real power!
ReplyDeleteSorry. I've been thinking about this stuff for a while now, and my biggest problem is trying to get the "balance" of the ideas right in the mix. I'm hoping you do a much better job of that than I've managed to so far! :D