I'm writing a pen and paper game that's based on the D20 OGL, and I started a blog specifically for the purpose of posting updates about it's progress...
but I don't know what updates to post. I'm only used to seeing dev blogs for video games where they post screenshots and gameplay videos and stuff, but I've never followed a devblog for a traditional game, so I'm unsure of what exactly gamers like to hear about.
Talking about the system changes feels a bit dull, and going on about the setting feels like I'm being too long winded.
I'd like an outside opinion on the matter.
my blog is http://demonskunk.tumblr.com if you want to see some of what I've posted, for reference, or for interest's sake.
I tend to favour games who's designers have asked jared sorensen three questions.
1) What is your game about? (Not "what is the setting, but what is the theme/what issues do you want to explore?)
2) What in your game makes it about that? (What design choices have you made to bring that element into play, and what mechanics exist to make that a game about what you want to explore?)
3) What behaviours are rewarded? (What happens at the table to make the players want to explore your theme?)
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The system changes are anything but dull, so long as you have a stringent thought about it. You know, there was a reason you chose to make a new RPG instead of playing PF or D&D. Try to delineate that. Once you have, there are dozens of choices to make, and the reasoning behind those, especially if you try to get feedback on your thoughts, will make for a pretty interesting update engine. With your setting, it's the same thing - the facts of the setting are far less interesting than WHY you go the way you're going.
The system changes are anything but dull, so long as you have a stringent thought about it. You know, there was a reason you chose to make a new RPG instead of playing PF or D&D. Try to delineate that. Once you have, there are dozens of choices to make, and the reasoning behind those, especially if you try to get feedback on your thoughts, will make for a pretty interesting update engine. With your setting, it's the same thing - the facts of the setting are far less interesting than WHY you go the way you're going.
So, should I refer to my game in the context of pathfinder/D&D? like, what I've changed coming from them? or should I avoid talking about them at all?
Are the paizo boards a good place for me to express something like this, or should I seek other venues?I tend to favour games who's designers have asked jared sorensen three questions.
1) What is your game about? (Not "what is the setting, but what is the theme/what issues do you want to explore?)
2) What in your game makes it about that? (What design choices have you made to bring that element into play, and what mechanics exist to make that a game about what you want to explore?)
3) What behaviours are rewarded? (What happens at the table to make the players want to explore your theme?)
The focus of my game is intended to be exploration and discovery, whether it be lore, a new perspective, or a sweet set of magic gear.
I'm... not exactly sure what mechanics I could put in place to encourage exploration and discovery... what's a good way to do that without going to 'mmo-style' discovery XP? I suppose finding interesting items and encounters would encourage exploration and discovery.
I put a lot of mechanical rewards into encouraging role playing like Miracles granted from deities.
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An example of a blog for a PnP RPG having it's development shared in a blog would be the one for Cairn:
http://souljar-games.blogspot.co.uk/
The game was a KickStarter project that completely folded due to the original owner of the game being poorly organised and making too many mistakes, it was then picked up by the guy who runs SoulJAR Games who is working through getting it all completed and published.
Also Onyx Path Publishing do a sort of blog style website with news and updates about the various projects they're working with:
http://theonyxpath.com/
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Anyway...
A few worthwhile general questions about your blog & roleplay:
1) Who are you trying to share the information with?
Knowing who you're directing the content to will really help in deciding what types of content you want to share and how detailed it needs to be.
2) Is you blog going to be just a resource for providing information, or do you want to engage with the community and get people talking?
Just putting up information for public viewing with no other reason to put it out there can sometimes lead to you later feeling like there's not much reason to keep it up. Getting people involved, asking them questions about your content will help spark more desire to do more and share additional info.
3) How often do you plan on posting on the blog, do you have a schedule?
Having a routine is almost critical to a successful blog, not only to help you know when you need to make a post but also to let your readers know when they should be visiting for the latest update (for those who don't subscribe to updates).
4) Will the blog be purely about the RPG or will it contain general life stuff?
People who want to read about the roleplay may get put off by general life updates, however some may find it nice to know that you're a person with a life as well as someone who's making a game... so that's a decision that could take some thinking.
5) Do you plan on producing the RPG as a professional product, or is it simply a hobby-work?
If there's any scope of it going professional, then you'll want to make sure you don't put out anything core that could potentially get stolen without copyrights in place.
6) Is it just you working alone, or do you have any friends/colleagues who are involved in writing content or creating art?
If there's others involved, then coerce them into sending you the occasional bit of content... or better yet, tell them to join the blog and add posts to it themselves.
The system changes are anything but dull, so long as you have a stringent thought about it. You know, there was a reason you chose to make a new RPG instead of playing PF or D&D. Try to delineate that. Once you have, there are dozens of choices to make, and the reasoning behind those, especially if you try to get feedback on your thoughts, will make for a pretty interesting update engine. With your setting, it's the same thing - the facts of the setting are far less interesting than WHY you go the way you're going.So, should I refer to my game in the context of pathfinder/D&D? like, what I've changed coming from them? or should I avoid talking about them at all?
Are the paizo boards a good place for me to express something like this, or should I seek other venues?
I'd say it's good to use those games as context. If you do a good job of creating context yourself, they're good shortcut tools to help your reader of your blog know where you're coming from. In the text of the game itself, I wouldn't refer to them, you want to write it in a way that the game can be understood all on it's own.
I would also go out and play as many different games as possible. Anything that might possibly be related to your core idea: exploration. A couple I haven't tried, but they might be relevant:
Traveler - I mean it's kind of written in the name, more space, not fantasy, but you're looking for how the game handles players approaching the unknown.
Numenara - again, second-hand, but I've heard there can be a lot of exploration in that game. Cook has started to comb through a lot of indie games for ideas (though he feels like he's 3-4 years behind the current state), so both the game itself and any reference material could be useful.
Torchbearer - It's a variation on the Burning Wheel game (I've played BW, but not TB). It's the author's take on the old school style of gaming, but using his own preferred rule system, not related to D&D. It focuses more on the dungeon crawl, but how the party maps I believe is actually hard coded into the rules.
Dungeon World - I have played this one and I suggest this for a lot of things, but there are key components of exploration. Unlike some games, DW encourages the GM to leave aspects of the map blank, this is because parts of the rules REQUIRE you to ad lib based on what the players roll. It's not freeform ad libbing, you're directed on the purpose or intent of it, but there is a lot of freedom.
So, not necessarily related to the blog, but design in general, my advice is always play as many different games as you can. The blog can be a place to solicit comments/suggestions/stories from readers about their own games as well.
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Two books you may find of interest in the Paizo store (or elsewhere), if you don't have them already they're absolutely excellent reads!
Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding
Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design
I tend to favour games who's designers have asked jared sorensen three questions.
1) What is your game about? (Not "what is the setting, but what is the theme/what issues do you want to explore?)
2) What in your game makes it about that? (What design choices have you made to bring that element into play, and what mechanics exist to make that a game about what you want to explore?)
3) What behaviours are rewarded? (What happens at the table to make the players want to explore your theme?)
The focus of my game is intended to be exploration and discovery, whether it be lore, a new perspective, or a sweet set of magic gear.
I'm... not exactly sure what mechanics I could put in place to encourage exploration and discovery... what's a good way to do that without going to 'mmo-style' discovery XP? I suppose finding interesting items and encounters would encourage exploration and discovery.
I put a lot of mechanical rewards into encouraging role playing like Miracles granted from deities.
Well, lets see.
I guess that depends how much you want to get into the guts of OGL, and how much you want to work on them.
Keep it simple:
- Make sure that important aspects of exploration have skills associated with it. Navigation, Cartography, wilderness survival, overland movement, sailing and the like, all need to be backed with skills, and Mechanically important to the game. If a theme matters, it needs to be reflected in the mechanics
- Make sure that you have a fun and simple(but meaningful) encumbrance, supplies and moral system. There should be a reason, other than selling loot, to return to town. If the parties moral suffers over time, from sleeping rough every night, and that feeds into a drop in combat efficiency, you'll suddenly find that character behaviour will change to accommodate that. You might for instance find the party buys a number of caravans to sleep in. Make sure that the system covers mounts too. If at the end of an encounter the PCs are pretty low on resources, as it stands, they just camp where they are, making it matter if mounts have grazing or not means that you can make that choice a dilemma. Do we risk ourselves in the short term, by riding on to find grazing? Or do we camp here, but have our horses loose condition from another day without proper grazing.
- Get rid of experience, replace it with milestones. one for content, two for discovery.Once the PCs have achieved all three, they level up.
Example: to level up, the PCs must have climbed the Torakka Pass into the plateau of Chen, seen the sunrise behind the monolith of Zi, and defeated down the 10,000 serpent people of the silent city.