Summer Project - Sci-fi RPG (27/7/2013)

Being a huge fan of RPG's (Role Playing Games) such as 'Dungeons and Dragons' and having a long three month holiday I decided to create my own system. I wanted to do this because I have always loved writing stories and characters, but, I have never had a system or game of my own to put them into. I also genuinely wanted the experience of making my own system for a game as many video game companies start their RPG's as table top games in order to make sure the system works before spending more time on programing, as was the case for 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'.

The system itself is for a Sci-fi setting which I have still not named even though I worked on it for three weeks! I decided, since it was my own system that I would take the rules and game play from 'Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition' whilst using some of the 'Star Wars RPG' rules for future currency, weaponry and vehicles.
Whilst being a fun project it also proved to be a difficult one as adapting the main system (D&D) whose genre is fantasy to Sci-fi was quite a complex task e.g. turning wizards into psychics and warriors into mech using combatants. 

My goal was to make a fun and exciting RPG which was meant to make the players feel powerful and the fights chaotic whilst being awesome due to the scope of the weapons you could get and use.
Although a story and character writer at heart, I chose to focus on the game play more than anything as I wanted to make sure the mechanics worked first before coming up with the 'fluff' as it is known (aka the story, setting etc).

The starting classes which were meant to be based on the stereotypes/archetypes of sci-fi all included cool starting gear and bonuses for using them depending on which class you played as.
The classes themselves included the following.

• Captain: General talking class and buffer (stat increaser), who starts with their own space ship similar to the Millenium Falcon from 'Star Wars' in order to get from planet to planet.
• Combatant: As the name suggests, the Combatant is the warrior of the group who deals the most damage with weapons and even starts with their own personal mech in order to destroy bases qucikly.
• Scout: A mix of Rogues and Rangers from D&D, these guys are great for stealth missions and taking out targets from a far. They start with either a car or bike in order to get them to locations quickly. 
• Tech Master: Perfect at hacking into things and taking control of them. They start with with a jump pack to reach higher locals and can deploy automated turrets and minefields. 
• Psychic: The final class was meant to be the 'Jedi' of my sci-fi universe. Being able to read minds and manipulate them as well as objects is all good, but I wanted to make sure they weren't as over powered as Jedi. Therefore I made it so at earlier levels whenever they touched electronics their 'psychic interference' would mess them up depending on the GM's (Game Master's) say. This was to make them balanced, as the only way to get super powers of any form in my game is through being a Psychic.

I am lucky enough to have two regular gaming groups which I go to since I have been playing table top RPG's for nearly four years now, therefore I was able to test my system with them.

Overall they enjoyed playing the game which was great to hear considering it was my first ever RPG. Unfortunately, whilst the players said they had fun, I did get the following feedback.

• Liked the character sheet as it was well displayed and unique to them. However, it needed other inclusions such as equipment. And, since I'm so used to writing down all my equipment on a separate page due to how much you can get in a RPG I decided to originally not include it. 

 

• The Tech Master seemed the most balanced class, but this was due to not having any big starting equipment such as a space ship or mech. 

 

• Some of the Knowledge checks weren't clear enough to the players. Therefore maybe change Knowledge: Space to Knowledge: Astrology for when players want to know about the position of planets and what they are. And Knowledge: Power to Knowledge: Psychic or Knowledge:Psychic Powers as players mistook Power for military power even though Knowledge Military was a separate check.

 

• Although I had good intentions for the Psychic and thought the only way to balance it would be through given them a flaw (touching electronics make them overload etc), the players thought that they were in fact under powered and needed some sort of bonus to give the Psychic at level 1, otherwise his/her curse wasn’t going to work. Also, they said, since the Psychic can later overcome their weakness at higher levels then why wouldn't a player just wait until the party reaches that level and one of the players decided to retire their character in order to be that class which no longer has a weakness. 

 

• Although I hadn't come up with a universe/background for my game I never wanted to give my psychics guns and have their powers be their sole resource. Therefore, when the player playing as one demanded they had a pistol which used bullets, which I said didn't exist in my world and everything was electrical, I was forced to make one for them. This was a shame as I only wanted to focus on the mechanics of the game with the things I had. Overall though, I may need to make some sort of gun that they can use. Possibly even special gloves which they also complained about as they said lead ones would surely insulate their psychic interference.

• Physic interference should possibly be just as the name says e.g they get interference on electronics instead of not being able to interact with them. Otherwise they should possibly start with a -10 or -15 to Mechanics and Use Computers in order to discourage that class from using such devices. 

 

• Perhaps start level 1’s with less powers to avoid over complicating them with so many powers and abilities as I did for my play testers.

 

• Rather than wanting my characters to be powerful and the game play chaotic and awesome, I was advised instead to perhaps make them heroic and not powerful. In this way the characters would show signs of humanity and weakness before they become more powerful. As a story telling stand point I totally get this, but, depending on the type of game play I really want in the end, I may just stick with powerful characters that just end up becoming even more god like and therefore fighting against bigger and badder bad asses.

 

• Need to give the world a history/life. Otherwise it’s hard to get attached to it. It also helps explain the psychic nature of the world. Though, I only wanted to work on mechanics for now I kind of agree with this.   

 

• Make level 1 enemies more powerful as they were FAR too weak for the session. Thus players defeated them in seconds and ended up splitting up from one another as they didn’t fear anything, including the threat of the boss himself! This is obviously a bad thing as players need to feel powerful, but it is a group based game for a reason. The players have to use each others abilities and powers in order to overcome the things they can't deal with themselves. And, if your party is splitting up then something is VERY wrong. 

 

• Make more clear which defenses defend against what e.g. reflex for traps and AC for regular attacks as, at the moment it seems to be a mix of both depending on the circumstance.

 

• Perhaps look up the system 'D20 Light' to help figure out a easier system to adapt as I have tried to adapt two more complex systems into my own. And, considering the main one is a fantasy setting and mine is Sci-fi, it proved to be difficult when trying to convert them to more futuristic things.   

 

• Finally, a good first attempt, I just need to try and iron out some of the 'creases' as it were. Otherwise recreate it or simply remove the aspects which don't work all together.  

I know nothing is perfect straight away and you have to work at things in order to get better, but, in truth I have to admit I took some of the criticism to heart. Granted I was playing with experienced players, but even I took offence at some of their comments. However, the only way I can improve upon my games is by learning from my mistakes and from learning from other systems. In the future I can learn how to write not only the rules of games more appropriately, but also how to work out their 'fluff' and make them part of the universe.

Overall, will I continue this Sci-fi RPG? Perhaps, I like the concept, but I personally feel that another genre other than far distant Sci-fi would make more sense for a rookie like me to make. Otherwise I'm trying to make a system which works for not only ground combat, but also space combat. And, then of course vehicles end up being far too powerful and too much for players to handle and thus more problems arise. I have enjoyed making this game a lot, but, I feel as if I should take the experience I have gained and learnt in order to make a simpler one. Maybe even try to make one completely of my own invention as long as a novice player, such as myself (even after all these years) can work out the rules and play the game then I am sure I can make a more approachable system (hopefully).