Good Morning:
In and amidst my other RPG writing projects, I've recently been working on a new Player's Guide for a system inspired by Swords & Wizardry, which I call MyD20 Lite. The story of MyD20 Lite is long and arduous, but I'll see if I can boil it down into a simple paragraph.
After eight years and 400+ sessions of D20 System-based games, I was burned out. About two years ago, I started playing Savage Worlds, and I rediscovered a joy for rules-light gaming with an "Old School Renaissance" flavor. Earlier this year, I started reading about the retro-clones, and discovered Swords & Wizardry, by Mythmere Games. Here was, at its core, a very simple D20-based fantasy game. In the weeks that followed, I became more and more interested in it and, given that I am a rules tweeker by nature, in possibly modifying it a little to incorporate some of the things I enjoy from more advanced D&D systems. MyD20 Lite is the synthesis of that thought experiment.
The design goals for MyD20 Lite are fairly simple:
1. I want to be able to create a character with some diversity, even a high level character, in less than 15 minutes.
2. I want to keep combat relatively simple, and definitely fast. I don't want a combat that takes longer than 30 minutes to resolve, if I can help it.
3. I want to keep prepwork down to a minimum, if at all possible.
4. I want to maintain the ability to use retro-clone adventures with minimal adjustments.
5. Using S&W as my baseline, I want to add only those elements from 3E/4E/SW Saga that appeal to me, so long as it doesn't conflict with the first four goals.
Along the way, I've done the usual stuff, separating race from class, adding a few new spells here and there, that kind of thing. I've also added the more streamlined BAB and the three saves from 3E, bonus hitpoints at first level from Star Wars Saga Edition (although not as many), a simple skill system ala 4E (with far fewer skills, inspired by the Simple 20 OGL system), multiclassing per my old 2E house rules, and the Standard/Move/Swift combat action types from 3E/4E. There are other changes, but I'm trying to keep it all simple and streamlined.
When the first draft is ready for Prime Time, I'll make it available for those that wish to check it out. Hopefully, their comments will help clean it up some, so that I can have a D&D-inspired system to run for when I need something a little different from Savage Worlds for my fantasy gaming needs.
With Regards,
Flynn
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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1 comment:
Rolling your own game has both a thrill and a purpose that can be addictive. I've been wanting a real game in 64 pages; rules, support material (spells, monsters, etc), something most people don't want. I gag at rules lite games that aren't a game; and don't need the volumes of details in other games. [Those are personal preferences; not criticism of other game designs...]
After about a dozen tries I hit on why I was failing and squeezed it in. It may expand a little, but it will still meet my needs.
The result isn't something a lot of people will want; but that doesn't matter. It's the game I want! It has the details and lack of details I want.
There's always room for another game, especially something created more by personal preference than trying to copy wat everyone else does.
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