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So, today I've been thinking about RPG design. Mostly because I've been trying to work on the second edition of Nomad 99, and I've been trying unsuccessfully to break away from Risus (at least a little bit).

Rolling stats is always fun, but it tends to lend itself to complex character creation - not something I want to do for this game. I want players to be able to set up a character in under 30 minutes - under 10 if they know what they're doing. So point-buy it is. Game design pundits will also argue that it lends itself to a more balanced game system - to which I say "bull". Every game system is at least a little unbalanced, and I prefer not to make a claim of any balance in my systems.

Now I'm splitting the rest of the character design into broad swaths - "traits", "edges" and "crutches". A trait is anything that can fit into the phrase "my character is _____." Any word that fits there's a trait. Slippery? Short? Bad@$$? Nasal? It all fits. This is just a little more specialized than the Risus "cliche" system, but still in tune with it. Edges are non-trait bonuses - like the Hippie-Shaman's juju magic, the Luchador's mask, or the Carnie's tech training. Crutches are negative Edges that give you extra points to build with.

That satisfies that. Now for Pockets - the character's equipment, literally what they have on them. That's all they start the game with, mostly for thematic reasons. I've more or less decided not to muck around with this, giving the GM complete control over what they allow their characters to start with.


On to unrelated topics - I now have a regular job as a waiter - tips, here I come! My computer is still nonfunctional, mostly because I'm a total newb to Linux and I have no idea how to set up Kubuntu properly (if anyone out there is knowledgable about this OS, please let me know!) and I really... REALLY need to go see Ghost Rider sometime this week.

Later days, people.

~Mr. Seth