About
Who am I?
I was an early fan of the world’s greatest fantasy role-playing game. I often noted additional rules and statistics in the margins of my own copies of the rule books. As a teen-ager, I shared some of my ideas with Gary Gygax and others, but never got around to publishing them. Having recently retired, I have more free time and thought it would be fun to consolidate my ideas, leverage recent RPG innovations and see if others were interested.
What are you planning to make?
I want to publish an alternative combat module for the world’s greatest fantasy role-playing game. Some of the key features include:
- Explicitly consider differences in size in combat mechanics. A large-sized attacker should find it more difficult to strike a small-sized target than one that is the same size. Targeting matrices are based on attacker vs. defender size.
- Damage depends on armor and the type of attack. For example, chain mail should offer more protection against slashing damage than blunt force damage. Damage matrices are based on weapon (or type of creature attack) vs. armor.
- Critical hit damage is dependent on the damage roll. When critical hits are independent, it is possible to roll extremely low values, e.g., score 2 points of damage when rolling 2 six-sided dice. Critical hits are modeled dependently using a percentile damage system.
- Introduce an option to substitute targeting and damage percentile rolls. This introduces a fun tactical dynamic, where low level characters may strike an opponent more frequently and higher-level characters may inflict greater damage.
- The combat system is an alternative to popular fantasy role-playing games and players can easily incorporate any character-specific or item bonuses for targeting and damage.
The rules will be bound in a digest-sized paperback booklet (5.5” x 8.5”), which is the same size as the 1970’s edition booklets of the world’s greatest fantasy role-playing game. The basic booklet will have black and white art and text, while an enhanced booklet will be produced in color.
What has been completed so far?
To date, all of the targeting and damage tables have been completed as well as three of the five planned illustrations.
Development started in February 2019. During March-June, several draft modules were produced: combat, movement, character creation, magic and creatures. In July 2019, the combat and movement modules were play-tested. The combat module was then overhauled based on feedback. All subsequent work has been focused on completing the combat module. In August 2019, I hired a freelance illustrator and commissioned artwork.
What is your plan and schedule?
During the 30-day fund-raise, the remaining black and white artwork and text copy will be finalized.
Following successful funding, final layout, printing and distribution will be completed within approximately 120 days.
What’s your budget?
My budget is $20 per basic booklet and $28 per enhanced (color) booklet. To reach my fund-raising goals, I need to receive pledges for about 60 basic and 30 enhanced (color) booklets. That is, I am looking to raise at least $1,200 to produce the basic booklets and an additional $700 to produce the enhanced (color) booklets.
Shipping will depend on location of the customer and is discussed in the rewards section. An estimate of shipping costs is included in the minimum funding goal for this project of $2500.The booklets will be printed by a 3rd party self-publishing service, such as Lulu.
This budget is based on the following details:
Why do I care?
I am passionate about games that link well to established physics and are internally consistent. This sets me firmly in the game of simulation RPG. In fact, this combat module was developed using Monte Carlo simulation to test for a fair balance of weapon targeting, damage and established rules in the world’s greatest fantasy role-playing game. However, I did not want to cause combat to bog down. Melee targeting and damage are calculated using percentile dice only and a series of simple matrices makes combat resolution quick.
Risks and challenges
This is my first Kickstarter project. I have self-funded much of the development costs already and aligned myself with established service providers. However, there is a possibility that it will take longer than anticipated to complete this project and ship the promised rewards.
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