How to make a tabletop RPG?

[Anubis]

dose any one have any resources (preferably stuff thats free and online)on how to make a Tabletop rpg like "dungeons and dragons" and "werewolf the apocalypse". i've been dying to make one for ever and i don't know how. so if you got any thing that would be great.

[white]

Make one as in create an entire new system, or just DM one? Usually you read all the relevant manuals then get together a gaming group and set up regular times, make charachters, and just start playing.

[Anubis]

i was planning to model after an existing game system.

[Baphnedia]

heheh... that can be quite easy, and I've been doing it for years. Then, I decided in 2002 that it would be more fun to create a system from scratch. Are you looking to do this for home games only?

[Scott Gardener]

It's basically a matter of sitting down and designing one. It's not as hard as one might expect. A friend of mine has done it so often and so much, that he finally just went to work for Steve Jackson Games.

Here's mine.

http://www.geocities.com/jonlrabbit/moo ... stone.html

(I first designed it about fourteen years ago, and since revised it several times. The first two versions were run without a well-designed combat system, but I none-the-less put it through two major campaigns. While in medical school back in 1995, I contemplated "Moonstone 95," but time constraints kept it from getting anywhere. In 1998 I considered it again and drafted some thoughts, labelling it "Moonstone 98." I finally after a long wait got a more drastic revision out. In keeping with my Microsoft tribute / parody reference, I termed the latest version "Moonstone XP," but I don't plan on calling the next one "Moonstone Vista.")

Moonstone follows a formula I see very common to role-playing games. Most games have a set of "ability scores" (though they're often called by various other names--in Moonstone, they're "raw scores") such as intelligence, strength, and so forth. Then, there's a list of skills that are related to these ability scores by some mathematical formula. And, then there is a list of special abilities and disadvantages. There is a set of points to distribute, though sometimes the ability scores are determined randomly. And, there is a set of additional numbers that apply to combat situations, such as hit points, attack modifiers, and the like.

GURPS follows this formula to a Tee, and the various White Wolf "World of Darkness" games cuts it pretty close. The early D&D incarnations started out with only some of those, but later versions added the rest--AD&D second edition introduced a skills list as "nonweapon proficiencies," and third edition D&D simply called them "skills," and added "feats" to unify the special abilities. In fact, very few game systems don't follow this formula, at least somewhat.

You're welcome to dissect Moonstone. In spite of it's Microsoft naming references, it's intended to be open source, and I'd love to see another distribution besides my own.

[Anubis]

i'm planning to make it and hopefully do it one line with other pack members.

and thanks scott for the link, but it looks rather complicated i want it to be simple at first. i just need to learn how every thing works at a simple condensed level

[Scott Gardener]

The first draft of Moonstone fit on a single page. It was horribly incomplete, but a lot of fun to play.

A simple game system can be little more than a list of basic abilities, special abilities, and a hit point system based on dice rolls. You might want to look at early drafts of D&D.

Granted, if you're interested in story development, you'll probably want some sort of skill system.

[Anubis]

okay, thank you. where do i find those early drafts of D@D?

[Anubis]

I got this down so far. tell me what you think
--------------------------------------------
HP: Hit points or HP: when you start out you have a total of 25 hit points you can raise your HP by increase your Power Level.

PL: Power Level or PL is the overall amount of strength, stamina and invulnerability you have. When you start out your Power Level is 5. You can raise your power level by gaining EP. When you are fighting a monster or an enemy with a higher PL. the opponent with a higher PL gets do 10% or .10 more damage for every level that he/she/it has on you.

EP: When the battle is over the player gets more EP or Experience Points. By subtracting damage that you done from your remaining HP.

HP — D = EP

Rules of Combat:

Roll a six sided dice to see how much DRD (Dice Roll Damage) you do on an opponent

Then calculate the amount of total damage by using this equation.

If any PL advantage: PLA x OHP (Opponent’s Hit Points) = TPLAD (Total Power Level Advantage Damage)

TPLA + DRD = TOD (Total Opponent Damage)

[white]

I think it might be best to just use an existing system that's been nicely balanced and revised based on actual gameplay already, complex as they tend to be.

[Scott Gardener]

Most newer games tend to make experience more subjective, rather than something quantified by combat numbers, accumulated treasure, and so forth. But, it's a good start if you're aiming for something simple and quick, and it sounds like that's what you're wanting. It's actually a pretty good way of doing it, if your games and campaigns are going to be combat-themed.

[Anubis]

well its not based totaly on combat this is some thing i just cooked up.

[Baphnedia]

Generally, I only use two equations (like what Scott mentioned earlier) for my own system. Granted, everyone has their own system. If I get bored enough, I might go over to Steve Jackson Games and see what they can offer.

While I plug my own system a lot - it functions closely to GURPS and identifies with D&D and whitewolf quite nicely. I haven't found a character yet that I couldn't convert in more than 15 minutes.

Perhaps the biggest headache of game design is the design of the combat system. Too realistic, and it can get too complicated. Too simple, and common sense goes out the window.

Aside from that - I run things very loosely (granted - none of the other guys on my dev team have bothered to post on my forum in recent memory), because gaming is about fun first, and rules... trailing behind somewhere. Heck, mountain dew and doritos come before the rules.

As far as internet gaming goes - I have an IRC channel (that's permanent) that comes with dicebots. Please PM me if you want me to send you the info.

EDIT: Here's the IRC info:
IRC Server = chat.psionics.net:6667
Channel = #paradice
PM me or post if you need assistance