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Tag: Andras (Page 2 of 13)

Looking Ahead to 2012

When I look back at the ambitious goals I had for 2011, I feel a sense of loss. I feel badly that I hurt Nevermet Press and that I promised way more stuff than I could deliver. I'd like to think that I've learned that lesson, but we'll see.

I wrote a short story called Two Friends in an attempt to kickstart my brain into writing more for the Shayakand setting. At the time, my goal was to generate generic PDFs for Southeastern Asian flavor that a Savage World GM could drop into their game. The idea was that after writing six of these smaller PDFs, the entirety of them could come together for a Shayakand Sourcebook.

The races were created with no big issue, but I was unable to finish the others. So, in March I started writing back here. Work began again on a 2e clone.

Most of this year has been the evolution of this game, now called Andras. Along the way, it has evolved from a clone to a 2e inspired game. Since my early groups all played an amalgam of B/X,BECMI,AD&D and 2E, that only makes sense. I never played D&D with just one player's handbook. Heck, I didn't play Marvel with just one, either.

Outside of that, I have discovered a lot of fans of the football game called Statis-Pro Football. This Avalon Hill game was one of my favorites back in the 80s. I loved playing it and I still do. I have all the cards I can find that were created by Lee Harris. I also have the formulas used in the 6th edition of the game.

This year I have two writing goals:

  • Finish Andras.
  • Make Statis-Pro Football Cards

When it comes to Andras, the finished project will be like the Introductory Box post. In other words, it will have a separate guides to help people to just sit down and play. Considering that another goal is a multitude of options for the player, that could be a very tall order.

When it comes to Statis-Pro Football, I plan on making 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 cards. I also plan on making a separate set of cards that are modified in a way to eliminate the dreaded rest rules. If I get a chance, I'll try to make some historic teams, UFL teams and others.

I only have one gaming goal this year. I want to have a regular Google+ game.

I wish everyone a happy 2012. I hope you have a great time gaming!

The Next Game

With all the talk about page count and intro boxes, I have decided that the next game I make will be quite small. No huge subsystems, no 128 pages. Just something straightforward that me and my non-gamer friends can play.

I came upon this link today about Target20. One page handles all the mechanical stuff you need to know. The rest of the text of a Target20 based game can be fluff and GM advice. How cool is that?

Seeing as I am currently fixated on d20+d10, if I had a game like this to make, I'd use the following formula:

(d20 + d10) + level + modifiers >=26

Why 26 instead of 30? Because of the bell curve in the D20+D10 dice. If I thought I could make the spell creation system work in a similar fashion, I'd be tempted to redo all of Andras this way. Heck, I may do that anyway. It wouldn't be the first time I did a reboot.

For what it is worth, I tried coming up with something that uses only regular six-sided dice, but the bell-curve seems too steep for my tastes. Basically, once past 9th or 10th level, you master anything you attempt. (though using 5d6 isn't *too* bad). If I have time, I may recalculate for d6s and see what I get.

Retrospective on Andras

I began serious work on Andras in March of this year. Before March, I posted here occasionally at best. There were no posts between December 2010 and March 2011. Yikes!

There has been constant change. There have been a few stops and many restarts. I don't consider any of this a problem. Instead, I see it as normal to the development process.

I consider the starting point to be my restating of the goals of the project. I also laid down a few ground rules to guide development. Looking back, I am happy with the progress considering my lack of large blocks of time. (Large blocks means more than 20 minutes at one sitting.)

The Arcanist class, my attempt at a skill-based Mage, has undergone several transformations. I feel good about where the class and the spell-building system used for this class are right now. I have a working copy of the spell building system and it seems to work fairly well. I may even translate the 3.0 SRD if I have time.

The Skill System was the biggest change. Rolling under a d20+d10 presents some interesting possibilities. In my goal to streamline sub-systems, this system guides non-weapon proficiencies and Rogue Skills. It also appears in the spell-building system. It may be a personal weakness that I keep this subsytem. We'll see what happens with the class builds!

Overall, I've tried to develop the entire game in three different ways: I tried sketching it in M20 first, reorganizing the rulebooks, and just editing LLAEC and changing the parts that don't fit. I believe that I have the definition of magic finalized, so I do not expect large changes in Player information at this point.

For the GM, though, the cycle may be pretty severe. I want to have lots of information and tools. While magic may be in good shape, the random tables and "how-tos" have yet to be created.

I expect to have it finished in 2012. I'd like to believe that it will be sooner rather than later, but who knows what tomorrow may bring.

I hope that whatever your secret project and/or labor of love is that you will be able to finish it in the coming year. Good luck!

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