Another Distraction

A good break can be the best thing for the creative juices. While I'm still both bouncing around ideas for Hostargo, and attempting to design a few RPG-table minigames... a mix-mash of previous ideas I've had have come together into a wonderful (maybe...) new design. So, when you've got the chance, chase it!

This time it's about mixing the asymmetrical goodness of Android: Netrunner with the ease of access and variety of games like Smash Up and the Legendary series. I can't say much more, other than I'm glad to binge some brain juice on this for a bit while Hostargo simmers a bit in the background.

No worries though. We'll be back!

Cypher: A Near Miss

A lot of my close friends are really into The Cypher System, and for good reason. Monte Cook is a professional designer who has thought long and hard about what the "best" system is. But so have I, and while it's clear we've walked a lot of the same thought paths, our final destinations are just offset enough to be distinct.

No, I don't claim to be a professional, but I can tell you for a fact that different tastes in RPGs are largely due to personal preference, more than actual good/bad/better mechanics. So the following arguments, I understand, are of my own clearly bias opinion. I won't bother stating the tons and tons of wonderful things Cypher does, and of those tons the tons of things I've stolen for use in my own designs. This blog is to focus on those places where I am diverging.

The first and largest issue I have with Cypher is it's philosophy of XP. Honestly, I'm not sure what Mr. Cook was thinking, as I think this is the most ignored rule in RPG history. While GM intrusions and the shared XP from them are great, the whole idea of game balance falls on it's face when character advancement is uneven between the players.

Next, I dislike the entire stat system. Stat-as-HP is interesting, but the way it's implemented in Cypher makes it so that each character doesn't actually feel "stronger" or "smarter" than another. Instead, you simply have a larger HP pool in one stat. Sure, you can apply effort, but the only thing that actually makes you feel "better" at it is the implementation of edge. But we're now teetering on an edge of our own - and that's too many keywords to keep in mind for making my character actually feel "strong". I'd rather just have a +4 strength.

Division/Multiplication. No, it's not hard. Yes, it's actually very simple when it comes down to monster stats as one number. But no, it's not actually better than having a single DC for any given monster in any other d20 system. Just because it's simple doesn't mean its fun. The main dice mechanic is annoying at best, frustrating at worst, and the single monster stat system makes each monster feel even more similar to each other than in D&D. And that's impressive.

Finally, the items, inventory, and cypher limits make me mad. Technically, it's a wonderfully simple system that hand-waves specifics in favor of general rules. But the rules aren't ingrained into the game; they feel more hacked on. Monte himself has even said that cypher limits are a simple meta-game type rule to force the players to act a certain way. But that's just the problem: it feels forced. It doesn't feel like there's a reason for my limited item/advantage use (I think it's 3?), and with no other supporting rules, I always feel wishy-washy about finding new items or treasure. No, it's not an item-focused game, but for a simple system, it feels awfully limited, rather than encouraging creativity.

We often joke that the more I change Hostargo, the closer I get to just creating The Cypher System. But there are glaring issues with Monte Cook's masterpiece that I just can't ignore. I'm making Hostargo the perfect game for "me", and hopefully that will include many others who feel the same.

Games in Games

Without going "all inception" about it, I've always actually really appreciated games that include other games inside of them. And they're everywhere: RPGs that include a collectible card game, the Mario Party series, and games like Sly Cooper. It doesn't matter how "meta" it is, if there is a good reason to include a mini-game in your game, do it!

As it applies to my project, and world-building as a whole, I've taken a good look at the different regions and cultures that I'm trying to make in the Land of Oriya. And, because my thoughts tend to always drift towards games, I thought about what kind of games the general population there would like to play. The end result was a couple of mini-games that I can splash into my book that help bring those cultures to life.

There's been a lot of research into how games and cultures relate; I'm certainly not discovering anything new here. However I found it very helpful to both create the games in accordance to their culture, and to fill in some of the details about the culture, much like designing games around a theme and vice versa.

Of course when doing this, there's a fine balance between corny and obvious and actually unique and interesting. I don't want to just throw drinking games at dwarves and gambling games at pirates. To help me do that, I also constrained myself to designing with only those materials you'd commonly find at an RPG gaming table: dice, pencils, paper, and potentially some playing cards (although Hostargo has no other use for playing cards). Okay - this is where it gets a little meta. But, I have to have a real purpose if I'm going to include the rules for these games in my actual book, rather than just mentioning them in a description.

I want to tie it all together - to include games that both enhance the setting of Hostargo, but are also actually playable at the RPG table. The book, after all, is about playing the game of Hostargo. So when would you play other games? When someone is missing from the party that day, when the pizza arrives, or when the GM uses the restroom. There's plenty of opportunity to engage in short or even longer terms games while already around the table. I want to capitalize on that.