I have had a long term project on the back burner for a long time. I have recently come out of years of study and straight into full time work and also found the beauty that is online roleplaying. What this has meant to me is that I have still had little time to approach the project that has sat in the back of my head for at least a few years now.
Although I work full time as a teacher, this means I get a break at the same time the kids go on holidays which is now for the next two weeks. I was getting a little exhausted running three games a week and working full time so I cancelled all games for this first week and put it aside for family time, relaxing and starting my work on my project. In the past year I have been exposed to a heap of new systems and talked to a range of people who are forming the future of our role playing hobby. In fact, I am supporting the forefront of new systems through Kickstarter and making sure I am talking to all the designers I can get a hold of.
I teach designing computer games and programming to the kids that come through my classes and I have realised how the theory to this is equally applicable to RPG’s. So I have slowly been refining my ideas in the back of my head as I work toward designing my teaching courses. This week I am taking what I have out of my head and spraying it onto paper and into the hard electronic world to shape, test and form it into the game that I have always been dreaming of. The game has swung wildly in its structure recently with some of the games I have been exposed to. It was going to be a lot more traditional but I have found inspiration in many of the new indie games that are coming through with a great deal of fanfare from the Indie community.
I have been in talks with an artist to come up with some concept art for me in a style that I want to pursue for the game. She is local to me and pretty excited to have a go at what I have mentioned to her but I still need to sit down with her, have a coffee and talk specifics. I have been working over the past week putting together a board of existing photos, art and inspiration for her to work with in coming up with the style I want. I am an OK artist but certainly would not be considered good enough to put anything together at a professional level so I am lucky to have a network where I can draw on the aid of such people.
With most of my art board done and several of the tools I need (mind mapping tools, scheduling tools and a little programming know how) I have just taken a break from my first session of getting this game down in its first draft. I am loving the setting and the pure creativity of what I am doing. I am slowly meting out little bits of information to people I would like to do some play-testing with past the first draft and still reading a bunch of different games as I go to try to build a system I can be proud of, that will work smoothly in a largely storytelling RPG and a setting that will entice people to the game.
I have a pinterest board that I use for me to get some inspiration as well as others that I have asked to help. The page can be accessed from this link if you would like to look at what we are thinking of using. It is flavour art to help the artist come up with a style and a few concepts for me to work with and refine into some final pieces for the game. You will also note that while I have described what I am doing personally I have shied completely away from anything about the setting. I am afraid that is the way that it is going to be for a little while to until I am at the point where I am ready to get the product to it’s final stage and it is ready to go to printers or I need to Kickstart myself.
I post this to help some of my players who are a little disappointed not to be playing this week and let them know why. I am also keen to hear from anyone who may be interested in play tests or if they are keen to perhaps submit some art also to the project. I can afford to buy some art, but know that at this stage it is “concept” only and purchase of any pieces may not guarantee inclusion in the final project or even an offer to produce final art for the project.
So, fingers crossed, I will some time in the next year be able to add my name to that lean list of Australian RPG designers! Keep an eye on the blog as I do plan to start to let out teasers about the setting and the system. In fact, secretly I already have… Keep your eyes peeled!