PDA

View Full Version : Player Help Making an actual pen&paper core rulebook



Cilvyn
2016-07-21, 06:31 AM
Hello everyone,

I am a bit uncertian where to put this topic, but I think I am not far off by placing it here in this section.

It has long been my dream to make a pen&paper system with a rulebook and everything and already got quite alot of things on paper, but that is not the main issue I am asking your advice on. Although I am very good with history and writing (in Dutch), I lack any proficiency with digital art, photoshopping, complete system mechanics and everything to in fact make such a project happen.

So far I have want to get a better idea of how to reach people who are willing to work on such a book and artwork and what something like this would cost. My idea was to use mostly excisting art without copyright (Like paintings, which fits the system very wel), but still such pictures need to be reworked so they can be put in the book. Also I need a team of people that loves to work on building a system, test stuff, work out math for dicerolls, come up with lore and fluff and eventually write this all down.

My hopes are to get some sort of blueprint of the entire picture and try to finance this through crowdfunding, like kikstarter or something. I am not in the financial position to pay for this myself and I would want the people who would work on this to have some sort of comensation for their time and skills.

My question to you is, as fellow gamers, what would be a smart way to draft up something like this. What would be a good way to start and what am I maybe overlooking here. I am not a businessman in any aspect so this is all very new to me, but I at least want to try and see what the posibilities are.

Thank you for your thoughts and advice!

- Cil

JNAProductions
2016-07-23, 12:11 AM
I don't know how exactly to go about it, but I will say this-I'd love to lend a hand, fine-tuning mechanics and such.

Noje
2016-07-23, 01:37 AM
This sounds like an exciting project! If you have the passion and the time, something great may come of your idea. I think you may be thinking about this the wrong way. I'm no expert, but I'll give my two cents about the topic (in no particular order).

-Start by getting your main ideas worked out. Figure out the big pieces that you want to implement then work down to the details. You have to know what you want before you ask others to help you.

-Find others that you would like to work with in this project. ask them and see if they're interested. You aren't going to find partners just waiting for people to respond to threads, ask people personally.

-figure out what kind of game mechanics you want. what kind of feel do you want your game to go for? what system would best suit your game? some sort of dice based system (d20, d6, d% etc) dice pools? Cards (like one of our forum's moderators mark hall made)? Something totally different? Look at what other games have done successfully for inspiration (remember, no one game owns a mechanic).

-Playtest the hell out of your game mechanics with players. take in their feedback and respond to it.

- once things start taking form, start ironing out the details. figure out how the game balances through playtests and assign values and develop it accordingly.

-before you think about hiring artists, get a good idea of what you want. Figure out what art style you want and go from there. Look at books like First edition AD&D. the actual art isn't fantastic, but it is consistent and gets the point across. The art style in that book was based off 70's comics. Hiring artists before you figure out what you want from them will be frustrating on both sides.

-If you think you're the entertaining type, you could try going the route that Tabletop Time took, where they made a youtube channel that documented their playtesting to advertise for the release of the system. Another popular way is making a "lite" system available for free. combining these with crowdfunding might help but there are definitely more qualified people that could help you figure out the details.

I hope you find this helpful in some way!

Vitruviansquid
2016-07-23, 01:54 AM
If your goal is to monetize it, good luck, but the following advice probably won't help.

If not, what I would do is write as much as I could myself and share it with people as much as I can. If it's good, people you share your rules with will want to participate on their own. You'll find people volunteering to write the crunch for you, or even write it without your permission. It may be a bit more difficult to get artists on-board since art is more time-consuming and professionals probably want to get paid, but it's not unheard-of.