Systems and Games you made?

[Otogi]

So, anyone here ever make or thought about making their own games? Maybe even in the process of doing it, like me?


Any advice the smart, humble and foxy people on these boards care to give on this sort of thing??

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I worked on (and originated) on G6 and G6+1, both in hiatus. I'm also the co-creator of the Paradigm Project, likewise somewhat suspended. I've also got systems called ROYAL (played with cards), Pennies From Heaven, and Cinema, all in various stages of completion.

Then there's BrewMaster, the only RPG designed to be played only with the rulebook and a case of beer.

[Dairun Cates]

Check my signature. The beta test is wrapping up, I'm looking into ISP providers for a websites, and then we're going for a donation based module until we can build up enough work and fans for a real release.

My advice? Make friends with people in Law School. It's handy.

[lesser_minion]

I've tried it from time to time, and most of my IRL group either make up their own games or play fast-and-loose with the rules anyway.

At the moment, I'm thinking through various ideas for Starlight, and I'm also trying to help Djinn-and-Tonic and Lord_Gareth out with the Paradigm Project.

I've also followed a fair bit of d20r.

I think the main bits of advice I'd give are:

• Try to stay on the ball as much as possible. It's often pretty hard to get going.
• Try to come up with a good idea of what you want before you start actually writing rules.
• Don't be afraid to bounce ideas off other people.

I'm also fairly sure these are the 'default' things that a lot of people will say.

I'm also the co-creator of the Paradigm Project, likewise somewhat suspended.

Did you get my PM about that?

[Zeta Kai]

I have the groundwork laid out for a fairly comprehensive RPG system based on the poor forgotten d12. I like the mechanics a lot, now that I've revised them to death. The system is on the back burner for now, until I finish the VUACS project. But once that's done, I'll be hacking away at the d12 project until its polished to a shine.

[Morph Bark]

If you mean a complete game, I made one with a friend once.

7th grade, board game, moderately successful for a short while. I can't remember all the questions and riddles and rules though.

[BRC]

I made a rather generic system. Then, because I liked the phrase too much, I named it "WHAT HATH SCIENCE WROUGHT" And set it in a post-apocolyptic world full of mad scientists (Who were responsible for said apocolypse).

It was incomplete, but we playtested it, and it was pretty fun. I should post it here.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Working on one at the moment, but it's on hold at the moment--not for lack of motivation, but rather due to running 3 games, playing in 3 others, and preparing to run a 4th once school starts back up again. It's a 3e revamp (surprise, surprise) and it's done except for spells and monsters, but that's the hard part. I've made several in the past, but none are in a postable state, being in school notebooks and on the margins of other papers and such.

[erikun]

I've designed up (although never completed) at least two systems, and thought up a resolution mechanic using a standard deck of cards. I've also considered making some World of Darkness campaign settings (Legend of Zelda, specifically) and a heavy revision of D&D, although I haven't started on either one of those.

What kind of game/system are you looking at making?

[Merk]

Not a pen & paper game, but I've had some success adapting Mahjong to a deck of 52 cards.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I'm currently working on this.

[Gensh]

Way back when, I tried making a d20-based system for the Persona series, but after I took a break, I forgot what I was doing and my notes were completely incomprehensible, so I had to abandon it. I've also made a game called Wands/Clubs which is played with a deck of tarot/playing cards and 1d20/3d6. It actually has different rules depending on what you play it with, but it's loosely based on MS Paint Adventures, so it's haphazard at best. Right now, I'm toying with the idea of a system using elements from GURPS and Exalted, but it's mostly just theory and fluff right now.

Advice-wise, I recommend
-taking thorough notes
-making sure you have a plan from the get-go
-not getting in over your head
-working where/when it suits you best; I've done about half of my homebrew in class (not that it's a good idea)
-setting a balance point early

[Kaje]

I haven't personally made any games, but I've hung out a lot with people who have, and I've seen what they've done. I guess my advice is that there's not just one right way of doing things. If one way's just not working for you, don't be afraid to try something different.

Case in point: I have two friends who, without knowing of the other's project, decided to make an rpg based on action movies, and each had to come up with a way to emulate sweet movie stunts.

Friend 1 created Super Awesome Action Heroes, a class-based game in which the super-awesome action movie stunts are done via the "Sweet Move" mechanic, by which the player describes what awesomeness they do and the rest of the players vote its success based on whether it's awesome enough.

Friend 2 created Explosion!, a classless system where the character has a bunch of abilities that they can combine into awesome combos that do damage using decent-sized piles of exploding d6's.

Both are really fun, great at emulating action movies, and provide much the same feeling, despite being completely different mechanically.

[Moofaa]

I like to modify the basic D20 rules to fit campaign settings. For years I had a sci-fi setting made using basic D20 rules and recently converted them into a variation of SW Saga rules.

Out of the sci-fi setting grew a quick western-rpg setting which I was able to complete in 3 days just by tweaking and cut/pasting.

I have a fantasy setting thats based somewhat on D20 and ideas from the ToB, magic in this setting is completely and totally different from D&D. ToB stuff is also heavily customized to where it barely resembles the source material. If I get motivated in the next couple of months I may finally get around to finishing it.

Future projects include a harry potter setting, possible a spin-off of my fantasy rule-set as I think the new magic system can be adapted more easily than the D&D vancian system. I'd also like to take a stab at my own vision of a mixed fantasy/sci-fi setting with laser guns and magic but thats far away.

[IcarusWings]

I am currently working on VALOUR RPG which is a simultaneous combat-based system that was inspired by (but has now completely evolved away from) Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy VII/Advent Children.

In the back of my head I have also slowly been working out a system for card-based play.

Unfortunately, I can't really give any advice as I'm at the same stage as you.

[Volthawk]

I've been doing some work on a spaceship system. Basically, each part (weapons, sensors etc.) is ranked in a quality scale. The higher it is, the better, as it gets bonuses to rolls for actions requiring that part (ie better weapons mean bonuses to attack rolls), and may also determine other factors.

[Icedaemon]

I have designed a system which has gone through several variations and a couple of incomplete playtests.

It is based on the ubiquitous d6, with a 3d6 roll being used in nearly all cases where a roll is actually needed. The system is designed to work with play-by-post and probably would not suit tabletop due to the necessity of the GM determining things with logic and roleplay far more than dice (damage will be decided solely by the GM checking what the used weapon was like and the opposing dodge/block and to-hit rolls, for example). A major overhaul which pressed the 10 primary statistics into a more manageable 7 and did away with character classes was recently made (a slight modificiation to that led to me calling the current version 2.01), but the playtest has not yet got off the ground due to the forum I typically use having a dwindling membership.

Focus is on realism with a dash of grimdark.

It has insofar been called 'Tolemagrisgop', 'Second Homeworlds' and 'Balance of Power', with the dafter earlier names no longer quite used, but me being unsure if 'Balance of Power' has already been trademarked by some bastard who might get snippy if I use it.

[Volthawk]

It has insofar been called 'Tolemagrisgop', 'Second Homeworlds' and 'Balance of Power', with the dafter earlier names no longer quite used, but me being unsure if 'Balance of Power' has already been trademarked by some bastard who might get snippy if I use it.

Well, it's a video game, a band, an album name, 2 novels and an episode of Red Dwarf. As well as some political stuff.

[Icedaemon]

Heh. Should have thought of doing that.

The current setting of the world is pretty much complete. It is designed as an iron-age world. Since having many diverse fantasy 'races' is very usual and often desired, but having many equally developed sentient species illogical, the known world only has a couple of actual species of sapients, but one of them has great racial diversity, almost as much as dogs do. Since I like dwarves, but dislike 'all dwarves are alike' tropes, I asked 'why' and 'how' at every step of creating the culture of what would be identified as dwarfs, who there are a race of humans, no more different from the one used for baseline statistics as several others. They are just close enough to what is expected of a dwarf to be readily recognizable, but at the same time are different in many ways and even have developed a form of dwarven war dance.

I've considered starting a game on this forum, but I'll wait a bit, until I am better known.

[Volthawk]

Heh. Should have thought of doing that.

The current setting of the world is pretty much complete. It is designed as an iron-age world. Since having many diverse fantasy 'races' is very usual and often desired, but having many equally developed sentient species illogical, the known world only has a couple of actual species of sapients, but one of them has great racial diversity, almost as much as dogs do. Since I like dwarves, but dislike 'all dwarves are alike' tropes, I asked 'why' and 'how' at every step of creating the culture of what would be identified as dwarfs, who there are a race of humans, no more different from the one used for baseline statistics as several others. They are just close enough to what is expected of a dwarf to be readily recognizable, but at the same time are different in many ways and even have developed a form of dwarven war dance.

I've considered starting a game on this forum, but I'll wait a bit, until I am better known.

What races are the sentient ones?

[Eldan]

Well, not RPGs per say, but I've made a few systems for nation games. Moons of Theia, which was mostly stolen from others, actually, and Lord of Hell/the Elements, which was a little bit more original but didn't work all that well.

[Icedaemon]

What races are the sentient ones?

Well, humans are one species. The Asterovi are the baseline humans, who are the point-of-view characters. They are aware of three other human races, which includes dwarfs, but they only see themselves as the true humans. The Aiakt are similar to ape-men, humanoids with apelike features (cousins of men to modern scientists, probably evolved from a very close common ancestor, but what bronze-age man could know or guess that?), with several physically distinct castes. Urrhi are similar - to a biologist, possibly the same species as the Aiakt, possibly another close relative. They are yeti-like ape-man creatures.

[ZiggZagg]

Well, I haven't made entire game systems from scratch, but I did make a new spellcasting system for D&D 3.5. The system is designed to remove spells/day. It sounds broken giving casters their abilities all day long, and it probably is, but it seems to be working pretty well. I feel it is in its final stages, and I am currently using it in a campaign right now, revising it as the campaign moves forward and more issues are brought forward with it. It combines ideas from spellpoints, recharge magic, and from Warhammer's magic system.

The system can be seen here

http://tinyurl.com/Dice-Pool

[Nero24200]

Made a few, but never really showed them to anyone out-with the group I was using them with. I usally only make stuff if we're going for a very specific feel and we don't have any games we feel cover it (for instance, I once made a small Shakugan No Shana-esc D20 game).

Though I say "made", what I really meant was "wrote down a few ideas, fleshed them out a little, then used them for campaign XY and Z". None of the stuff was ever really finalised though or went through any changes (even though in alot of cases they did need them).

[Orzel]

I've made at least... 20 games
Only about half of them are fully fleshed out
Only a few of them I've saved on paper or files. Some were lost. FOREVER!

Main ones:
Roguish Notes (card based)
Times Square Dragon (d6)
Star Ocean d20
M4 (diced or diceless, in my sig)
Super Hero City (I simplified it to play in the SMBG forum here)
Down the Dungeon (strategy game, also simplified it to play in the SMBG forum here)
Dodgeball! (also simplified it to play in the SMBG forum here)

[Volthawk]

Actually, now I think of it, I have started some simple RPGs in the past. Don't think I ever fully finished them, though.

[Morty]

My homebrewed system from my signature. It doesn't have a name yet, and I jokingly refer to it as "Cellars and Monsters".