RPG Designer Diary: It is The Game Crafter's Fault (05)

A'n'SR -entertainments is making a new edition/version of our roleplaying game -U- the Game of Stories. Part of the very strange debate and changes happening while we were making the game came in the format for releases.

The First Drafts

When we first started down the road of making the new game, we were going to make it a compact book of 9" x6". It fit great on the screen of our readers, and one of the games that inspired us to make the new version, Fate 3.0 by Evil Hat, looked great in that size.

Our first few rough drafts of the game was originally a big rule book with the ability to do everything you wanted to, including making adventures, characters, settings, and playing the game. A true core rule book. It was going pretty swimmingly. We went back and forth on some parts, like Adventure creation and dice, but overall, it was good. We even had some nice character sheets, worksheets, and was about to make the setting creation worksheets until TheGameCrafter happened.

TheGameCrafter and Their Contest

If you have never been to TheGameCrafter.com, go visit them. They are a print-on-demand game company that takes bits from their shop and your art, and assembles games from them. They then ship them out to anyone, anywhere. They are great for making your game dreams come true. They also hold regular contests to engage their awesome community.

For years, Aaron (the A of A'n'SR) has wanted TheGameCrafter website to host a role-playing game contest with a really long lead time. Well... this year they did it. 

• 10,000 words to make an adventure for an RPG.
• Format: an 8"x10" booklet. 
• Judges: Some amazing RPG veterans of the industry. 
• Awards: Cash, site credit, and engraved plaque, fame and glory (optional).

It was just too perfect not to take part. Problem is, we were making a new RPG, not an adventure, and no one knew our game. How were we going to fix that? A new format.

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The New Format

So, after a few months of marching down this road of a massive core rule book, we now had to simplify. A lot. How could you possibly fit an entire RPG and an adventure into 10,000 words or less? How could you get across a new concept or setting and get people to play in such a short amount of pages? e had no clue, but we were going to do it.

With this new approach in mind, we started brainstorming adventure ideas and Aaron began working on a condensed version of the game. We started with our favorite setting to play in, -U- Angels. Aaron devoted 10 pages of the book to rules on how to create a character, run an adventure, and play the game. The rest of the book was devoted to the adventure which would help introduce the world of Angels to the players.

We are now on the 5th or so draft of the book, including layout. We are under the 10,000 word count, and the game plays really well as written. In fact, we are making a second game & adventure book with a fantasy riff, and if we have time a superheroes in space one. We did learn some things, though, and got some inspirations from this change.

• Condensing the rules made us customize the game to the setting which feels right.
• Adding an adventure to the book lets us show, rather than tell, how adventures can go.
• 10,000 words is a limit we had never thought of, but helps us keep to our goal of simplified and minimal rules.
• Writing adventure text is fun.
• We can make a game that actually plays in 2 hours. A 2 hour RPG really appeals to us.
• Limitations help you focus on the important things in your game.
• A deadline (even a nice long one) give you goals to strive towards and milestones to reach. And, yes, you have to write them down.
• Using this format lets us explore more game worlds and put out a "unique" game and product each time.
• Our game may very well be a great gateway game into the hobby of role-playing games.

The biggest take-away, though, is that this contest has changed the way we are going to release our new version of -U-. It is a strong, fundamental change, and one that we think will really resonate in the age of shorter tension spans, instant data, and the neo-golden age of board games. At its core is this:

• Each book will be about 10,000 words.
• Each book will contain the complete, condensed rules of the game, so people can play immediately. Even the "more rules" kind of books should include the base rules for the game.
• Books will be in this 8" x 10" format. It seems to work for most printers.

It is amazing what a simple contest can do to your best laid plans. Here's hoping we do well, get lots of good feedback, and come out with a great book for everyone.

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Next Time...

Next time, we'll talk about our first playtest of the new -U- Angels game went.