Questions related to the theories of RPG design, the probabilities of the use of dice in designs, or subjects tangential to that, including "hacks" or derivative works, should be tagged with the design tag. This does not include "homebrew" rulings, or simple changes to an existing system.
13
votes
2answers
241 views
Incentivizing Player Betrayal?
I'm working on a game where the players have a competitive goal (hoarding as much money as possible) and there will eventually be a reckoning where the amount of money they have hoarded away will ...
4
votes
1answer
122 views
Are Hit Points in Dungeon World just a nod to D&D?
I'm making a hack of Dungeon World/Apocalypse World- its fantasy based, but very dark fantasy. I was tending towards using the Harm Clock, or something as in your face deadly, but wondered if the Hit ...
8
votes
4answers
534 views
Is using the term “gypsy” in a game racist?
I've been working on a set of house rules for a "retroclone" game called OSRIC. This game plays similar to the original 1st edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I was planning to tweak a few of ...
10
votes
2answers
280 views
How can I introduce Life Paths to character generation?
The first time I played* Traveller, I found myself blown away by the detailed character creation, featuring year by year (4 year chunks actually) break down of how your character got where they are ...
9
votes
4answers
313 views
What should be included in a 'getting started' player handout?
When playing a new RPG system and setting, it is helpful to have important game information in front of you. For my free RPG Icar, I intend on having a single side of paper with reference rules and ...
9
votes
1answer
778 views
What's a good way to design and layout an Apocalypse World playbook?
Pretty much ^ that. I'm writing an AW playbook, and I would not like to start from scratch with regards to the layout and suchlike. Does anyone have any tips/tricks/recommendations?
15
votes
5answers
341 views
Co-operative story-telling mechanics
What are some existing or potential game mechanics that encourage players to "take the reins" a bit more and involve themselves in a story-telling perspective? Specifically, are there any examples of ...
6
votes
5answers
507 views
How can I turn the Kobold Hall delve into a full-fledged Adventure?
For my first experience as a DM, I'm taking the Kobold Hall adventure included in the first DMG, and repurposing it. The overall idea is to turn it from a 5 encounter delve to a "Level 1 to Level 2 ...
5
votes
1answer
671 views
Are there any free tools for designing encounters or traps?
I'm trying to design a module and I was wondering if there were any free or open source encounter or trap designers for D&D 4e
Mostly I just like something that lets me fill in the blanks and ...
8
votes
6answers
314 views
Game design question. What sort of effect does HP as a resource have on a system?
(Sorry for the long winded intro. Since this is about a game nobody is familiar with, I'm trying to ensure that there is some amount of context before asking the actual question.)
So I've got a ...
11
votes
5answers
2k views
How to design a game for sociopathic characters?
A few years ago, I played a D&D 3.5 game in Forgotten Realms with an evil party. The characters (played by my brother and me) were sociopaths, bent on exploiting anyone and everyone. The game ...
7
votes
5answers
411 views
How to give directions to megadungeon locations without giving players too much info?
One of my favorite blogs, Beyond the Black Gate, had a good post a while back about structuring megadungeon play for episodic (i.e., irregular) games by creating mini-quests or missions that get the ...
11
votes
5answers
3k views
How do you create a new D&D 4E character class?
I'm a somewhat experienced game designer, yet creating a 30-level character class for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition intimidates the hell out of me.
Where do I start?
Is there a list of kinds of ...
7
votes
4answers
452 views
Has anyone released Castle of the Mad Archmage upper levels?
I'd really like to run COTMA, but for some reason the idea of coming up with the ruins and level 1 kind of intimidate me. I'd like to see some examples that I could either use as written or just use ...
9
votes
6answers
543 views
Help Identify a Medieval City
This is a fictional city. What I need help with is finding a medieval city that has roughly the same shape. I want to get a sense of the surrounding geography in order to create my regional map around ...
