Interest Check: Reverse Engineering an RPG

[BarroomBard]

Hey brewers!

I came across this contest a little while ago: Reverse Engineer.

The contest existed in two parts: first the contestants made a character sheet for an (as yet) unwritten RPG. Then, the sheets are handed out randomly to the other contestants and told to write the RPG that sheet came from.

I was wondering if there is any interest here on these forums to do something similar?

[Grinner]

That sounds very cool. Count me in.

[Amechra]

Interesting; what's the time frame?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

This looks awesome. In.

[BarroomBard]

@Amechra: I was thinking, if there was enough interest (probably at least 4-5 to get a good amount of sheets), we could start around next week, have two weeks to crank out a sheet, and then spend March writing the games.

The other Homebrew RPG contests ran for a month each, and that seemed to be just enough time to let people get something written, while being short enough to give them a kick in the pants.

Also: do you guys think that a contest like this would benefit from a theme, or is the format interesting enough on it's own?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Also: do you guys think that a contest like this would benefit from a theme, or is the format interesting enough on it's own?

Formatting is definitely enough. Theme would actually make this easier.

[Grinner]

The time frame should be fine for me.

I'd prefer that there not be a theme, since that by necessity would limit the variety of character sheets and systems.

By the way, who will be the master of ceremonies?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I pre-empted the official start by a bit but...well...I'm a huge Illustrator fan and I was bored. Character sheet is finished.

A recommendation for this: let's try to leave enough room for actual game design. Some of the examples on the linked site are completely awesome and allow a number of really cool options, but there are a few that seem needlessly silly just to make things difficult. I personally find the latter approach much less interesting: seeing a table with columns for "Lion / Bubblegum / Pinocchio" isn't something that I'd want to deal with as a game designer, because it severely limits the approaches I can take to designing such a game.

Any agreement and/or disagreement?

[BarroomBard]

It's true. Some of those examples are supremely silly. Especially the one that has the Tetragrammaton on the top, and a chili cheese dog on the bottom.

That **** is ridiculous.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

It's true. Some of those examples are supremely silly. Especially the one that has the Tetragrammaton on the top, and a chili cheese dog on the bottom.

That **** is ridiculous.

That was one of the ones I was thinking of specifically as an example of terrible sheet design.

Also...do you want our sheets posted here, PM'd to you, or what? I've done two now (this is strangely addictive), and I'm not sure if getting inspiration from the sheets of others outweighs the possibility of seeing the sheets in advance. I know I personally am not to bothered by people seeing the sheets in advance, but others may feel differently.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

I would like to throw my hat into the ring here. Not sure how good an RPG by me would end up being, but this sounds like too much fun not to try.

[Durazno]

I'm up for this, too. I'd be willing to eat a tetragrammaton and read a chili dog for the cause.

[BarroomBard]

@Djinn, now that you mention it, I think a little secrecy never hurt anyone. I'm gonna make an actual contest post with some rules, guidelines, and general unwisdom, but I think the best idea is just to PM a link to the file, and then I will randomly hand them out to the brewers.


EDIT: And here's the contest thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...5#post14708375

[motionmatrix]

I would like to give this a shot, love the nonlinear causality exercise =)

[inuyasha]

sounds like fun >:D

also how can we attach word docs in messages? Can we? or do we need to email iit to you or something?

and when you say must be able to fill a sheet of A4 paper is this a maximum or a minimum...also how big is A4 paper LOL?

[Amechra]

It is the normal printing paper size in the US; it is a half-inch wider and a half-inch shorter than European printing paper (unless I got the names mixed up...)

Essentially, just use whatever is the normal size for printer paper in your country.

[BarroomBard]

Yeah, a standard paper size.

If you can PM a link to your sheet, it's the best. Any standard upload site should work, or if you can upload it to Google Drive. I won't actually be looking at them, just holding them until they are sent out to the person brewing your RPG.

Also, go ahead and post any questions or interests you have in the main contest thread, linked above. I don't want that one to get lost in the shuffle.