daelstrom

Good to see HarnWorld and Chivalry & Sorcery mentioned! ​I used to collect many of the games of the late 80s as reference materials including Harn,C&S, Space opera,Many white Dwarf articles before it became a warhammer brochure, as well as low budget publications that were just filled with tables and charts. Modifying the values to these helps you get the period locked in your mind, and can help you understand what the society prioritises - obviously survival is more tenuous in the Dark Ages than being in a stable empire (and the economy is vastly different too!) My favourite period of history would fit in here nicely - Post Roman, pre Anglo Saxon domination of Britain. Romanised tribes of Celts, dealing with the oncoming waves of vikings, without the anachronistic ideals of Mallorys version of King Arthur. I see 'King Arthur' originally as a 'title' (One theory - it was a war chiefs title, award to the most capable leader of binding the tribes together - modelled on the ideals they learnt from the romans - like a centralised effort against invaders) and I reject a lot of the later 'romanticised' additions to the tales (Lancelot, Gawain, and most of the plots - seems just like GRR Martin, Mallory was influenced by the War of the Roses too!). That way players don't know the story, but they may recognise the environment. Getting back to your resource information, the most useful sources from world building I used in my early GM'ing came from schoolbooks. The basics of Sociology & Demography can be used to make 'rules' like the population density of different historical groups (Hunter gatherers vs farming, tribal groups vs empires), and geography for believable terrain & weather. For example - did you know that the world population growth slowed between 500 to 900 AD! Be interesting to highlight this fact within gameplay I broke these down into basics like - In the period the game is held, [W] farmers could farm [X] acres of land, growing enough of crop [Y] for themselves and [Z] other people. They didn't have to be super accurate or scientific, but just a rationale to use rather than just using random encounters or meaningless places to sell dungeon booty. I even plotted out (roughly) tectonic plates to make a rationale for some geographic features (mountains, volcanoes, valleys) which with other geographic data was used to make believable weather patterns. Trust me though - this was never too detailed - just enough so I could justify certain aspects, as well as being an inspiration for more game elements (need a cataclysmic event to remove a city? tectonic faultlines can be handy!) As the Dark Ages were very different to the days of empire previously or the feudal period that came after, these differences would highlight the period better - but if anything, I would recommend reading (or googling) history books 0r documentaries - I definitely recommend watching Terry Jones "Barbarians" to enlighten your perception of the so called Dark Ages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones'_Barbarians

Currently working on getting all my ideas into a form that is manageable - I have started to draft a simple Game design document (so I can also involve others with explaining everything constantly) I was interested in getting feedback on some of the design elements - as wether they have been tackled in the past (don't bother reinventing the wheel!) They could be used in other genres, and I am hoping to develop them further (I have a programmer on board) and would be happy to share the development & results with the community. Description Reimagining the story of Fallout 1 as a paper RPG, to allow the players to appreciate the original fallout (which they may never play due to it being ‘retro’) and experience the open world nature of pen & paper RPGs This is achieved by utilizing computers to speed up and enhance play and removing complex games programming time by human moderating the experience. The final player environment consists of a 21” & 32” monitors, a Working Terminal and tablets provided by players (see pic) The experience from this project could make possible similar projects for other PnP RPG games & genres. Gameplay The goal of the game is to experience a videogame setting in a paper RPG environment. Apps will be used to help speed up game mechanics, and allow players to understand and play the game in the easiest Fallout experience, while ensuring that the GM (or Overseer) can manage all the stats, rules & games mechanics easily. The Apps include an online Pipboy/Overseer module that handles character stat management, the communication of combat information and game details in an immersive and lore appropriate way, Sketchup for WYSIWYG of the visual environment immersion, A maptool for the LCD tabletop, and a media player to play back soundscapes, cutscenes, SFX & visual media aids. Each player will use a tablet as a virtual Pipboy 2000, which they use to monitor stats, the effects of combat, skills and environmental & personal modifiers. This is The Overseer uses a computer to adjust all the data in line with the effects of the game mechanics on the players, as well as adding & managing game elements as they are needed. This is managed by an interactive online database & game mechanic calculator, that displays the results for each separate character, as a separate web page, which they view with their 'pip boys' (tablets) Mechanics The core mechanics of the game are based on my interpretation of those important to the Fallout universe, thru innovative & immersive designs. Pipboy – The players monitor their characters via a Tablet, just like their characters might. The Overseer manages the data via an online portal, from which the tablets are fed from Karma – Following the choices made by the players, The Overseer shall tally and interpret the karmic alliance of each character, and how they effect the world around them Perks – The perk system will be redrafted to suit the BRP gaming mechanics, and will be incorporated into an experience reward (as we do not use a level based skills development process) WYSIWYG – 3D modeling will display the immediate environment of the players, as well as media players & presentation software will be used to show elements of the game as it happens. This is all displayed on a 21” Monitor, themed to look like a Robco display (with slide animations) Optionally http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ via webcam hijacked by Camtwist Terminal – An optional side project was a Robco terminal that is used for hacking & information gathering. It consists of a papercraft outside, a portable SDI screen, a Bluetooth keyboard, that is all connected to a PC running Zetoris’s excellent emulation of the Robco OS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzDxZ0EKLHE http://www.dosbox.com Lockpick – Considering a tactile or software minigame Feedback?

Thanks all! Happy to share what I make, but they are very early in the construction cycle. So far, to test proof of concept, I have made the start of Vault13, Scrapheap (soon to be converted to Junktown - both seen in first post) - and Shady sands (attached) I used sketch up to visualise the events I'm planning (usually movie premieres in Australia) and realise that it could be used as a tool for RPGs to 'see what the character sees'. I have attached a view of Shady Sands from Google Earth, but realise I need to change the model to hide the 'real world' creeping in. This was made possible by downloading a google earth guide to all the fallout locations, which I am slowly adding my locations to. Once completed, I am happy to share, but understand, I don't own the copyright, it will be for personal or development use only (free) A tip for sketch up - once you have added the Fallout textures (I downloaded someones copy of all the Fallout 2 templates & converted them to 2D), build yourself a 'playset' of building components (doors, walls, furniture, small buildings etc) and use it to store them for cut&pasting when your building later levels!

Thanks for that! Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for! I do have a confession though - Back in my RQ youth, I did enjoy the challenges of the world building game design process so much, sometimes they never got played! I'm happy to post what I build, but like a lot of hobbies, I may get lost in creating stuff!! I can post how I was thinking about presenting the game (Monitor to show what they see, a monitor as a game board, hacking mini game etc) if anyone is interested. happy for the feedback

New member to the forums, Old school RPGer looking to reimagine the hobby from my youth! Played a diverse range of RPG titles in the 80's, 90s, but my preference was always around a RQ or BRP style rules. I have been looking to demonstrate paper RPGs to my kids (as opposed to the video versions they play) and settled on running a version of Fallout 1 This is because they know the setting (Played Fallout 3 & New Vegas) but never played the original fallouts. Not unfamiliar with modifying and converting rules to a particular game - I think I have settles on a BRP core rules, with the best bits of the PnP Fallout rules, and some bits from RQ & others (modern BRP RPGs like CoC etc) http://falloutpnp.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page http://fallout-rpg.narod.ru/PnP.html Currently modelling the game environment in Google sketch up (using original art textures) to allow a dynamic 'view' of the environment, and toying with the idea of an iPad web app for gameplay support (working pip boy), and an LCD screen for the game board. However - I assume this is not the first time this has been attempted and was wondering if anyone has links to resources or examples of how others have done something like this Attached are initial views of the google sketch up files, which will be viewed from Google Earth (for topographical features)