[freeroleplay] Re: The Ideal Mechanic && Computer RPGs
- From: Ricardo Gladwell <president@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: FRPGC <freeroleplay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 11:13:29 +0000
Hi Per,
If I didn't do so before, I welcome you to the list. :)
On Sat, 2003-11-22 at 20:22, Per I. Mathisen wrote:
> Design principles for a good computer RPG rules set:
> - Simple, fun, and interesting player choices. Realism is strictly
> secondary to a fun game experience for most players.
> - Simple rules vs many choices: Base rules must be simple, choices
> must come through linear iterative addition, not expanding
> complexity in every direction. (This is important for software
> rendition of the rules.)
> - Use familiar concepts whenever possible. Very quick learning curve;
> no reading manuals should be necessary for computer game use.
Actually, I thought one of the main advantages of computer RPGs is that
the underlying RPG system doesn't actually need to be simple at all. On
the contrary, you don't have to worry about simplicity,
human-understandable ranges, etc... you can simply and easily conceal
all the complex numerics. You can also do lots of nice things, using
complex mathematical calculations to determine outcome.
For example, you could easily have a games system as I suggested, simply
using some sort of normalising function to ensure all results come out
in the 0-10 range. Such mathematics would be nearly impossible to run in
a pnp game, but simplicity to code for.
> - No micromanagement of actions should be necessary; actions should be
> atomistic and without options except a single target. Instead of making
> complex actions, make more types of actions.
I like the above... it sums up something I've been trying for with
FRINGE.
> The D20 system is ideal for use in computer RPG games, as you can see
> according to the above criterias :)
I can see :) Actually, you may be able to use d20, or at least the SRD,
in a computer game. There is nothing in the OGL that prevents your from
putting the content and rules into a computer-readable format. For
example, you could possibly write a generic RPG computer rules engine
that takes a set of 'rules' from an XML file. You could then write the
d20 rules system to this file, and you would have a d20 computer game.
On the other hand, I'm designing FRINGE partly as a replacement for d20
and other generic roleplaying systems. It may not do entirely what you
want, but have a look and let me know what you think.
> Since I discovered D20 was off-limits for computer RPG use, I have been
> looking all over the net for something else I could use, and found nothing
> yet which has been 'good enough'. So I begun to create my own, but I
> would rather not.
I agree. One of the reasons I started developing FRINGE is that many
free or open systems are largely off-limits for computer users,
including d20 and FUDGE.
I intend to publish FRINGE under the GPL precisely to allow people to
write computer games using the rules here. I intend to write my own free
software computer programs (char gen, games, etc) Once we've created the
basic system. The only problem is deciding whether to dual license under
the GNU FDL and the GPL, or just the GPL.
--
Ricardo Gladwell
President, Free Roleplaying Community
http://www.freeroleplay.org/
president@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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