Sagas RPG.com

E-RPG may be considered and advanced RPG system. It was design to be a universal gaming platform that directly focuses on character development. This is a concept that extends beyond just skill advancement and into actually advancement in play. As you develop you, as a player, can evolve into learning more advanced ways to manipulate the game through the rules. However, it really is a game, like many others, that experienced gamers will get the most out of. New gamers may seem overwhelmed by it all. Not because of complexity in the rules, but simply because there is so much that is possible.

The announcements and trickling of information regarding Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition was something that interested me on a strange level. I understand the design concept, and their desire to kind of draw in gamers from the MMO and computer and console markets. DnD, to me, was always a simple and limiting game. However, it still had this same underlying idea that most games also offer. That is, you play stories. It is not a general rule, per say, but it is an understood idea that you develop some sort of cohesive overlying plot. There is a world, and your characters live in the world. This really doesn’t seem to change with DnD. What I think is the problem with the new direction of DnD is that they want their cake and eat it to. They want to simplify the game, but it isn’t the rules that are complex. It is the worlds. Honestly, players don’t seem drawn to MMOs and such because of the worlds. The worlds may keep them there, but it is really the relationships between players. The games are really stupid and simple when it comes down to it. You kill monsters, get stronger, get better items. It can be done in any world. What sets these games apart is their mechanics and how they go about letting you kill monsters, get stronger, get better items, etc.

MMOsare simple because they don’t need any prep time. The GM doesn’t exist in the same context in an MMO. You, as a player, can log in and play. Simple as that. Anyone can pick it up and start having fun. With PnP RPGs we have a problem. Someone has to get the game going. They have to be the GM and build the world, tie it all together, and make it interesting for the players. We are holding on to the biggest problem here by not letting go of something. That is the world.

Now, I am not saying that the world is abandoned. What I am saying is that the GM’s constant attention to the world can be. I though about this for a while. I have always wanted an E-RPG that could bring in younger kids to the hobby. So I began development of a project towards that goal. I figured that parents may want to play but won’t have a large commitment to world building so I designed around it. The game has some very young teen male demographic content to it. However, it is open enough to branch from that demographic. However, it is not open enough that adult gamers would want to play. Most importantly, adult gamers who do not, or have not in some time, played an RPG. I figured DnD 4th addition may be an answer to that, but of course, it is not trying to be. So, why not make an RPG that an adult would play. I’m not talking about adult themes. I am talking about adult time.

Myself, I am 31 years old. I have a full time job that works me somewhere between 40-50 hours per week, I have Ironwood and E-RPG, and I have a wife, 3 kids, and one of them has special needs. I am busy. Real busy. So I thought that maybe I could make another game for me. Not like E-RPG, which is the game I want to play. I decided I want to make a game that someone in my shoes would want to start playing.

So here it is, the slightly official announcement of Romp. It uses a variation of E-RPG called A-RPG which is actually designed for the kids game (by kids I am meaning an age group of 12-16 years old). Romp has all the same buzz words as E-RPG, especially free form and open character development. However, it is pretty much a labor free game. You can GM this week, and next week, then take turns without having to worry about character continuity. It takes the big meta story out of the game. Each adventure is self contained dungeon romp style game. No overly developed world. No involving storyline. A simple game about killing monsters, getting treasure, and getting stronger. Something you can start playing just by sitting down with no GM prep at all! Absolutely none! You can build your own dungeons and stories, but the simple version is to just play the pre-made dungeons and you need no story tie in. That’s it.

I’ll be letting in more details as it is done. The news about it here is semi official simply because I want to know what you think about it. If you are reading this, then you have been more or less interested in E-RPG development so you deserve to weigh in with thoughts, opinions, or questions. However, I probably wont get too detailed about some of the more nitty gritty concepts until I get closer to an official release for it.

Oh, and by the way, the core rule book for players (and GM) will be absolutely free. No non-printable watermarked catches. It is the full featured book as a free PDF download. The general concept for making any money on it will be in the sale of the dungeons and any supplements. However, as with other E-RPG stuff, you will be able to create and share your own as well.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Developer Blog, Overall Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.