Making a Game (Part 1)

On top of running games (PF2e, Dragonbane, Torg Eternity and Star Trek Adventures) and playing games (PF2e, D&D 5e, Delta Green) apparently I’m enough of a masochist to also want to make a game. I mean I’m not completely out there since I’ll be using an SRD (specifically the 2d20 SRD from Modiphius) which does a lot of the heavy lifting on the mechanics

Why the 2d20 System

When I decided to use an SRD as the engine there were three main ones that jumped out at me. The Year Zero Engine from Free League, the 5.1 SRD from WOTC and the 2d20 SRD from Modiphius. 5.1 is a non-starter mainly because fantasy games using that engine are just about everywhere.

I like the Year Zero Engine but it’s a little too gritty for what I have in mind. I definitely want something less overly heroic than 5e or PF2e but also not as deadly as something in the OSR sphere. I’m also planning for something that has strong narrative elements (in a game design/mechanics sense)

The 2d20 system hits the right spot. It can do moderately gritty but still heroic with a pulp vibe. The trait/truth mechanics lean hard into narrative mechanics in a way that’s very similar to Aspects in FATE. The core mechanics are simple and I’ve very familiar with them in a variety of permutations, having play-tested several 2d20 games and run many as well. This fits the bill nicely, especially since my end goal is to have a fantasy game that could be used in place of the excellent Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of game.

Where to Start?

Aside from deciding which system is going to be under the hood where do I start?

There are certain things I know I want and certain things I don’t. So that seems like a good place to start.

Wants

  • Characters start relatively low powered
  • Magic is dangerous
  • Episodic style stories instead of BBEG threatening the world campaigns
  • Combat to be (relatively) quick and impactful
  • System that encourages/forces loot to be spent

Don’t Want

  • Non-human PCs. Partially I don’t want to deal with the balance issues around them but also because my main love for the fantasy genre comes from Conan and Red Sonja, not Tolkien.
  • Magic to be so dangerous that it’s not viable for PCs but also not so safe as to be omnipresent.
  • Endless lists of gear/weapons.
  • Class/Level based progression

Design Blueprint

Now that I have a list of things I want and things I don’t want I can get into the nitty gritty of things. So the next posts will be going through the SRD and highlighting things I’m keeping, things I’m changing and options I’m using. The 2d20 SRD provides a wide variety of options to cover the different styles of games that use it – from fairly loose rules that lean more narrative to more crunchy rules that lean more tactical. It’s a really solid SRD in that regard.


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