Over the last month we have done some extensive playtesting of the core system of Guts and Iron and have made several changes to core mechanics. Nothing huge mind you but we have stremalined some things, fixed some numbers and made the game a little smoother and more balanced overall. And yes, I speak in ultra generic terms.
In some not so generic terms, we have added a healthy helping of new creatures, some that are fairly bizarre. We have also cleaned up the magic section a bit. The Critical Hit MoS has been changed from 5 to 6 to allow for the new armor and weapons rules. These new armor and weapon rules allow players to import healthy doses of strategy concerning what type of weapon to use against what armor as some armors are more susceptible to certain weapon damage (say for instance a spear versus chain mail). These expanded weapon and armor rules have actually added a great deal of strategy to combat which has in itself added another layer to combat. (Special thanks to DarckRedd for some suggestions).
We have also instituted the beginnings of a mass combat system which is designed to allow for large scale battles using simple rules that can be expanded to to fit what the players are looking for in terms of crunch. You can check out the Mass Combat section in the Guts and Iron wiki.It should be noted that the mass combat rules are still in a broad testing phase and we are making some decisions on how to balance certain modifiers.
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I abandoned the GnomeLand RPG as I wanted soemthing grittier and meaner. I am still pursuing the illustrated Gnome book but the rpg will no longer be included.
What has grown from the ashes of the dead gnomes is Guts and Iron. The genre is fantasy, the dice are d6, and the game is brutal. A big thing to include in this game from a design standpoint was the freedom for players to be able to add their own narration to combat. While rules are implemented for things such as criticals and what occurs when this happens (like limbs being hacked off, bones broken, etc.) I wanted the players to have a say in what transpires. Thus, Combat Maneuvers were added so that combat was more than just hack and hack until someone dies. The rules on maneuvers are flexible and easily expanded so that GMs and Players have a wide variety of options.
As far as the game goes, I will be updating it frequently. I will consistently be adding Minions and Bosses, new spells, items etc. Hoepfully I even get a bit of time to throw some maps in and get an adventure or two up.
Anyway. The game is free and is available in wiki form here. In the future we will be making a pdf available but until then…
I will also be updating the blog with the updates made to the game as well as updating the trhead over at rpg.net.
So, check out the game.
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So, signups have concluded and the contestants are making games. Good luck everyone, I hope you all enjoy this.
Here is the list of everyone who has signed up for the contest.
- aaroninkc
- bigsimon
- breesejo
- COLWebbSFMC
- DarckRedd
- Delfino
- Destriarch
- Devlin1
- dleonard
- Dropkicker
- eamon
- FourColor
- JAKempPlotgap
- K-9
- Ken
- Kevin R Brown
- Knarf
- LaughingJackWilton
- Marius B
- Maugh
- ODDin
- olshanski
- Pandora Caitiff
- PsykieKILLA
- Reidzilla
- Rikiji
- Sabermane
- spiritmage
- Starlight
- Tark
- Uberbad
- Wields-Rulebook-Heavily
- Yarael
If you are not on this list and you signed up, make sure you let me know.
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The world of indie tabletop rpg design is vast. All one has to do is take a look at any rpg forum and you will soon discover the amazing amount of work that is going in in the indie rpg community. Forums like the Forge have been dedicated to such things for some time.
Redoing the links on this site has made me sit up and take notice of just how much creativity and awesomeness is taking place in the tabletop game design community. Looking through blogs and forums that I have recently been made aware of has shown me an explosive group of people who are excited to bring their creations to life. Whether or not the games are cliche or repetetive, whether they are truily fun or entertaining is really beside the point from my standpoint. The idea that people are actively creating games, coming up with new worlds, concepts and mechanics, is just great. In a world where so much is given to us – video games, movies, music, all on demand, things that require no creativity, I find it (from an artistic creative view) that a gaming genre started nearly forty years ago is alive, thriving and evolving. This type of creativity requires one to be immersed in imagination. This type of creativity should be exposed and released.
So, we are on a hunt to find as many blogs, forums and websites and throw up all the links here. The purpose (as is the purpose of our design contests) is to get little known games exposed to the world so that others can be inspired and entertained. Games and worlds that sit on shelves do not grow nor do they inspire. However, games which work their way into the public have the opportunity of becoming something bigger, something greater than an idea that simply collects dust.
I have noticed on a lot of sites and blogs that this creative community is supportive of the efforts of game designers. We want to become part of that as well. We want to do what we can to support and encourage and inspire the little game designer who sits and contemplates and rolls and tests their creations.
I have heard a lot of people say that there is nothing new under the sun, that games cannot be improved upon and that there is no point in people continuing to create new games, that somehow all mechanics and settings and worlds have already been created. Bullshit. The creativity of the indie rpg design community is strong. Innovative ideas and worlds are being born everyday. Games are evolving and will continue to evolve.
Keep building, keep creating, keep pushing the limits of game design.
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Interesting Blog from a member over at forums.rpg.net.
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Sherlock Holmes has been one of my adult heroes for about the past 5 years. When I was a kid I had little interest in Holmes, but now, as an adult, I cant get enough. I have a big fat ass book full of Sir Artur COnan Doyle’s stopries with Holmes, I have the TV show (all seasons) with Jeremy Brett as Holmes and some of the older movies with Basil Rathbone etc. So I guess you could say I have a great interest in Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes.
As for the movie, I liked it. I had fun watching it, my wife had fun watching it. We enjoyed it immensely. I didnt go to criticize it. I didnt go with an expectation other than I wanted to be entertained, and, I was.
I think Jude Law made a great Watson. Robert Downey Jr. surprised me as Holmes. Watching them onscreen, I never thought of them as Jude Law or Robert Downey Jr., they were Holmes and Watson. That’s good enough for me.
The movie had action, lots of action and Holmes and Watson beat some ass. The backgrounds (London) looked great. Some of the city scenes were beautiful to look at. The story is decent but nothing amazing. To my knowledge it is not a Conan Doyle story (at least not one I have ever read). With that being said, the atmosphere of the movie, the acting of the main characters, the comedy between Watson and Holmes, it all fits and it works well. I enjoyed seeing two of my literary heroes on the big screen and I’m glad to see that the public seems to be liking them as well. I think it’s nice to have a century old literary work take shape in cinema and reach younger crowds. Maybe they can reanimate Doyle and get him to write some new stories?
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Well, I have found that building a shard is a hell of a lot of work. Maybe work is the wrong word because I dont view it as something that I am forced to do or something that seems a waste of time. It also doesnt bring in any money. So whatever. My point is is that building a shard is great, but it takes time and I can only run around in my own little world for so long. So, alongside the building of my own shard, I have started to play UO once again.
Free shards kickass. I know the game is old but I truly enjoy it. It has everything I look for in a game. The shard I’m playing on now is fairly large with about 400 people online at a time. Lots of thieves and reds and death. Ah, jsut like I remember. Cant wait to GM Magery…
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that this is just as good a place as any to post links to things I find interesting or worthwhile. With that being said, I will begin posting links in here for all sorts of stuff.
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Well, I went and saw Avatar today and I have to say, I was impressed. Everyone has been talking about the visual candy that the film presents and it is truly mind blowing. The colors are rich, the CGI is amazing with very few moments (only one I can recall) which felt even a little stiff. I saw it as a matinee and I felt it was totally worth it. I would have gladly paid full price. My reasoning for this is that the movie held my interest throughout, I was constantly entertained and dazzled by what I saw. If a movie entertains me, Im happy.
I dont think this movie is going to blow anyone away with the plot and the dialogue and I dont think that it is meant to. Although I went for the visuals, I was pleasantly surprised with the depth of the movie as well. I think that the movie raised a lot of important questions that have been asked throughout history as to what defines a savage individual and a civilized individual. The movie brings to the foreground the idea of imperialism and conquest that one can easily see reflected in everything from the colonization of Africa and the New World all the way into the 21st Century with the invasion of Iraq. Hell, they even used the term “Shock and Awe” when they went to attack the natives on Pandora. While many may be put off on this type of “propaganda”, I think it worked. I never felt like the movie was beating me over the head making me feel one way or another. Perhaps I was blinded by the glitz of everything on screen.
Another aspect of the movie that I found interesting was the whole idea of being one with nature. The natives of Pandora have physical (the bonding), spiritual, and mental connections directly linked to their world. I suppose the reason I found this whole thing interesting was that the movie apparently cost 400 million dollars to make and Hollywood seems about the farthest place from being one with the Earth. I know people claim to be green and love the environment and save the whales, but to rely on nature, to truly be in touch with nature is an idea that this movie pushes and it seems so far from anything that we live in our society. At times during the movie I actually felt bad for those groups still on Earth that live the way the native Pandorans do. It made me think about my own impact on the world and how far I truly am removed from my “native self.”
I think that a movie should first and foremost exist to entertain. If I want to delve into a mystery or find facts, I sure as hell won’t go to the cinema to see how so and so wants to recreate the past. That being said, I really enjoyed the fact that Avatar brings some big questions to the table that can make people think about life in the past and the future. Like I said, I never felt like the movie beat me over the head with belief systems and politics. I felt like it all meshed nicely with the amazing visual display. I think this movie is worth seeing in the cinema for the visuals alone. The dialogue and plot may not be the greatest, but the movie stands on its own and it raises the bar as to what CGI should be in a film.
I know some people will disagree with me on this. Some may agree. Whatever you think is what you think and that is fine. I personally enjoyed this film greatly.
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Here is the design criteria for the 2010 d10 design contest.
d10 2010 Contest Guidelines
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