Diverging Priorities

I'm posting this quick, short address before my next roleplaying session post to inform anyone that reads my work on this blog of my current state of mind.

Project M has been placed on hold.  I set out to create a rich, personalized roleplaying game system, and I am beginning to suspect my motives were not in the right place.  Ultimately, the 1980s DragonQuest is, in my opinion, the closest system to perfection for medieval-fantasy settings.  This system's magic is not designed for high fantasy, however, and a module should be designed for that end.  Otherwise, I see no reason not to use this system.

My attempt to create Project M was to use everything I liked about every system I've ever played into one that was perfect.  Perfection doesn't exist in this mortal coil.  I resign my self to designing modules for DragonQuest to suit the world that I created over ten years ago at my computer for my brother and two friends to enjoy.  There will be many, many more adventures for this world, but my need to share it with the world has been put on hold due to a more pressing project.


As far as my roleplaying goes, I have been dramatically enticed by Star Wars: Edge of the Empire by Fantasy Flight.  If I had one complaint, it would be that this system has dice rolls for social interaction, which I have always found to be a hindrance to roleplaying, but exists in countless other systems.  I contribute this decline of the medium to the rise of video game roleplaying, which by its nature removes the ability for players to express their every word as they would in the situation.  But, I digress.  Personally, I want to create a module that removes this feature, however several playing styles allowed (through the use of Careers) are heavily involved in this, and to remove it without having the actual core book to reference would be irresponsible.  In the end, it falls to the game master to determine how this skills are used.

So, my following posts will involve my Edge of the Empire campaign, which I'm pleased to say involves a smaller group than my previous games.  Contrary to my comfortable narrative style of story-driven gaming, I have submitted to the requests of my players to have a open-world type of play, where the story comes from the actions taken by the player-characters, instead of forcing plot upon them.

Fortunately for me, their actions may have consequences that will be quite forceful, but because these will be the direct result of actions and choices made outside of my manipulation, the players should react more strongly to them.  If I were to not create these consequences, then I would be doing an injustice to them in my role to create a living world.

So, stretching beyond my comfort zone has led me to search the internet for helpful tools, and I found this great blog, called Triumph & Despair, which has many tools and assets I am using to help me keep my game as open and free as the players want.

Lastly in this address, the project that consumes my time is my novel that I am hard at work to write.  Despite my ADHD, this book has been in my mind and lightly touched on for over a year, and now I know I have to finish it before I can move on with my life.  I have a fantasized schedule in my mind that says this book will be on the shelves in 2015.  So, look out for it, but don't take my word for it.

And now, the postings shall resume.