Decisions, Pivots, and Research
Hello Fellow Travelers!
It's time for another update on how my game is coming along.
In the past weeks I've definitely done more TTRPG research. I've been reading the Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (2024) in preparation to starting a D&D campaign for my kids, ran another session of Land of Eem, and had my last session of the adventure of Daggerheart I was participating in.
With this exposure to a handful of TTRPG systems pretty much all at once, I've come to a few decisions.
First of all, my game that started this whole adventure will definitely not be as grandiose as I thought it would be.
This is a fatal flaw of how my mind works, where I get an idea and start daydreaming of it being a huge success and then I get caught up in the daydream and don't get anything done. With this project, I'm pushing through that and have now come to realize the initial scope I was approaching this with was too large. At most the concept I have is for a fun adventure. I'm not looking to create a whole new world with its own lore and political intrigue, I'm looking to make a fun heist adventure, that's about it.
Second, I am NOT basing this on the Dungeons & Dragons system. As much as I love throwing a D20, I'm loving the tiered results of dice throws from Land of Eem and Daggerheart, which I hear were both inspired by Powered by the Apocalypse. So I'll have to figure out the mechanics I do want to use, but the traditional D20 Fail/Success/Critical Success of D&D is not for me. I do know the new Dungeon Master's Guide gives rules about tiered results more in line with those, but so far the version I'm liking best is the one from Land of Eem with five possible outcomes on a roll of a single D12.
Third, which is actually directly the result of my first point, my son's more thought out TTRPG he created on the fly has more potential to be the bigger game. So, I'm going to go ahead and use the game I wanted to make as my training wheels, then I'll develop the other game with my son (and give him as much credit as possible, I'm not a monster of a father), and when that's ready we'll release that as well.
For now, I'm going to keep researching by playing TTRPGs whenever I get the chance to. The more exposure I can have to this world, the better my games will be overall.
I think I need to invest in some smaller indie TTRPGs as well to expand the depth of my experience.
That's all for now. Have a great rest of your day!