Sunday, January 23, 2005
First Critique of Silver Cord RPG
After a helpful critique of my game, I'm feeling positive about the work I've done on Silver Cord RPG.
Fudge has been fantastic in helping me get the mechanics working, but I've tweaked the rules quite a bit, and only a few of the familiar mechanics remain.
Along with Fudge, I've had a few other inspirations.
This game has been heavily influenced by other Role Playing Games and gaming articles. The feel of the setting of this game may remind many players of the World Of Darkness' Mage setting, but the real influence is from approach taken by the Witchcraft RGP by Eden studios.
Other games of influence are from Mutants and Masterminds by Green Ronin, which had the effect of solidifying my choice of using a variation of the Fudge Damage Save. Though, I wanted a little finer detail than what Mutants or Fudge could provide. In this regard, I wanted less of extraordinary rolls show up during play.
I was exposed to Burning Wheel's advancement system, which I found to be very compatible with my own variation on an improvement method someone had written up on a Fudge Factor article.
Another game developer I found on the web decided to use 6 dice instead of 4 dice when rolling dF. This has a profound impact on normalizing action rolls.
There were also games that influenced my decision making for this game. The polarizing effects of DnD, Hero, GURPS, and Trinity steered me away from certain mechanics that appeared to be inappropriate for this game.
Assumptions about psychic abilities in other games has always been a sensitive area for me. Treating psionics as though it were just another kind of magic seemed wrong. For that matter, treating psychic abilities as though they were just another superhero powers didn't set well with me.
Books I've read also play a huge role in the overall flavor of this game world. King, Rice, Jordan, and a host of others that I cannot recall. A non-fiction science book that has had some influence in the creation of this game is Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson.
