An RPG Update

Hey folks,

As part of the $2000 milestone we said we'd start development on a TRPG system which people could use to inhabit the worlds we create... OK so that's just Magnus for now, since Gaming kinda has its own system. But! That'll change in the future, and we're building a system which can accommodate those changes.

We've assembled the design team: Anil Godigamuwe, Ben Meredith, Sasha Sienna & Jonathan Sims.

That's enough preamble, time for the update.

We want to create a system which is accessible for people who are new to roleplay, but also provides enough depth to keep veterans of the hobby engaged. 

This means we want to avoid overwhelming people with choice at the start, but allowing them to grow their character (or, in the case of the GM, the story) as sessions continue.

It also means we want to create something with both campaigns and one-shots in mind (since committing to a campaign is a whole thing in its own right, especially if you don't already have a long term group set up). That means we're taking our cue from the kind of TV which has become popular through online streaming services. Designed to provide you with movies (one-shots), weekly bursts of content (the classic campaign), or binge-able sessions (those days where you just spend all of your time playing the game... where did the time go? Why is it dark outside?).

We're also trying to create something which can adapt to a bunch of different settings too. In video game terms we're creating an engine (or for those of you familiar with TRPGs, something akin to games which are powered by the Apocalypse).

This will enable us to create something which achieves our goals of flexibility & accessibility, which we can then augment with supplements which can inject the character of any particular setting into it, and The Magnus Archives is likely to be our first supplement.

Anyway, Anil, Jonny, Sasha and I are meeting up tomorrow to test out some dice engines we've each created to try and get a feel for how complex the conflict resolution should be. Our preference crosses the spectrum of narrativist to simulationist, so this should be interesting, but we're excited to share what we come up with!

This has been a long one, but I hope you won't be disappointed with the finished product.

-Ben