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[bryant]

I just completed my 24 Hour RPG. Phew. Started: 1 PM, 7/24/04; finished: 1 PM, 7/25/04.

Above The Earth is a superhero game designed around resource management mechanics. It's flexible enough to handle street-level superheroes and cosmic powers, all in the same fight. "You have a hundred six sided dice; when you run out, you run out."

I started this one with the example of play, which made writing the rest of the game almost painless. I wish I'd had another hour to review it and in particular double-check the math in the example of play; I looked at it a few times but I'm convinced I missed something. C'est la vie.

I also forgot to add the section on using HeroClix figures and maps, which was intended for people who really like tactical maps. I wanted to point out that rules-light systems could still support that kind of thing. Perhaps there'll be a Extended Remix Edition at some point.

If there is, I will definitely have better art and formatting. I really wanted to make it easy to print this out and fold it into a booklet, which meant 5x8 pages printed two-up, but I couldn't figure out how to get the PDF right using just Microsoft Word, so I punted to a columnar layout. Which works, but I couldn't do page numbers properly, which is why there aren't any of those.

Not that a twenty-four page book needs those, but still... hey! I hit 24 (small) pages exactly. Keen. The final word count is 6,300 words.

I also wanted art. I spent an hour looking for public domain superhero art on the Web. No luck. So the look is pretty boring. But functional.

I didn't lose any sleep writing this; in fact, I even took time out to go see The Bourne Supremacy which actually revitalized my energies nicely. And I thought about the game design during the previews, so it wasn't totally lost time.

As a whole, I'm pretty happy with the project and the result.

Comments

[head58.livejournal.com]

Cool! maybe we can play it Thursday night?

I'll read it tomorrow, when I should be working.

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

Tasty stuff, Bryant. Talk to me at the store one of these nights if you want to "do anything" with it. :)

[chadu.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to looking at it soon!

CU

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I'd rewrite that as "You have one hundred six-sided dice," `cause, you know, i was gonna complain, "it's one die, not one dice, and i've never seen a hundred-and-six-sided die."

[bryant]

Now that I look at the game itself, I think the canonical quote is "You have a hundred six siders; when you run out, you run out."

When I'm not half-trying to follow stupid Chicago Manual of Style rules, it's "You have 100 six siders; when you run out, you run out." Which is eminently clear.

Argh! This is why this kind of thing drives me nuts. You have no idea how much time I wanted to spend formatting and polishing, as opposed to putting rules down on paper.

The extended remix edition will have a dash. Part of me is saying "You could polish this up just fine over the next day or so, then get fifty copies printed at lulu.com and bring 'em to Gencon." But that's somewhat excessive of me.

[bluegargantua]

It's pretty keen. Wish I'd thought of it.

later
Tom

[head58.livejournal.com]

Okay, having read it now the review is: yummy.

It captures exactly what I've always wanted to do with a supers rules system - dumping the infinite list of powers and simply setting up a social contract between the player and GM over what is "appropriate" within the character concept. I've had players who have abused this in the past, but most would be cool with it. Forces you to be descriptive too, moreso than "I shoot my Power Blast at him."

As you note, a very similar tone to the Marvel Universe game which I'm dying to try out. But it retains dice, which I've always felt are integral to gaming.

I would add some kind of minor rewards system, where somebody can get back some dice by doing supercool things during play. Or a recovery thing. But then, that violates your basic 1-liner.

Two minor points: the example of play sounds...familiar, and I heartily approve of your music selection while writing :)

[bryant]

I've been thinking about rewards. I'll probably do a section on this in the GM chapter when I put out a revised edition. I'm not wedded to the one-liner, it's just catchy.

We could definitely give this a try on Thursday if you like.

I'm also glad you noticed the example of play -- that was a shoutout. :)

[head58.livejournal.com]

It'll depend on what time you come over, and whether we can pry aliwings's fingers away from the CoH crackpipe.

Nicely done, Bryant

[mechagm.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I do indeed like it. On the first read, at the very least, what you've come up with is best attempt at a rules-light superhero game that I've seen.

Bravo. :)

-peterB