Plans and Schemes

The Bane asked in a comment:

So, question; when are you going to put this all into a PDF labeled "Maximizing your Minimum" and release to us fans?!

I don't know that I have all that many fans at the moment, but I certainly have some plans, so let me share them...

As I said in a reply to that post, this blog is my "working out loud" journal. Not everything I've written is in its best form, some things have been reworked, and some things have been abandoned as bad ideas. Some of the things I've written go together and will eventually be rewritten, edited, streamlined, and condensed into tight, usable materials.

My main focus is on creating what I'm calling "rules modules". Everyone and their dog is writing their own retro-clone, and I've certainly had the urge to do so myself, but I figure there's plenty of retro pseudo-medieval fantasy games out there. So instead, I'll write add-on or replacement rules. I have a couple which I intend to release as free PDFs under some kind of Creative Commons license:

• a "character description module" called Blanc, basically a semi-freeform backgrounds and traits system that you can add to the character generation system of just about any traditional RPG;
• an "effects description module" called Paris, which is usable to either add detail to traditional RPG actions or as a core mechanic for a very light RPG;
• a replacement character class/level system you've all been seeing recently that's as-yet unnamed, although I'm toying with Scaramouche.

You can see the basics of Blanc or Paris by checking those tags in the Features links in the sidebar. You can also see a link to the mega-dungeon training series, which some people seemed to really like, so I've considered doing a massive re-organization/rewrite of that. Maybe I'll focus on and expand the improv GMing suggestions and merge it with that fleeting Last-Minute GM concept I never followed up on. The tags probably need to be redone on some posts, though, since some tags (like the "dnd" tag) are practically useless, and other posts may not be correctly linked to others of the same type.

And of course there's the possibility of full RPGs based around some of those modules, like that '50s atomic horror/commie paranoia game or the rocket patrol games I've been hinting at, or revision of games I've submitted to various game design challenges like the Game Chefs and 24-Hour challenges. There's also a series of random generation aids I want to do. These and the games might be commercial products -- well, amateur commercial, not something large-scale. But those are further down the road.

So, that's the rough plan of where I'm going. I actually downloaded a backup of the site so that I can put it on a DVD and work on it away from the computer, but that turned out to be a chore in and of itself (Blogger offers the convenient Atom format for your backups. Try converting that to a usable form. I dare you.) So I may have Blanc and Paris rewritten soon.