Update - 21/03/2022
Hello! How was your weekend? I hope you all had time to rest and do some fun activities. Mine was quiet, working on the system-neutral dungeon I'm preparing for you guys. It's slow cause as you know I suck at this type of things, and I'm trying to avoid doing something too typical. Also, it's firmly grounded in Empire Undying's lore and worldbuilding, and I had to define some other aspects before I could really work on the dungeon. But it's finally moving along!
On Saturday I had a small existential crisis with Across a Thousand Dead Worlds, mostly caused by EU actually. I thought how most of my purchases are OSR/D&D-related, and how awesome is that I have all these resources and games that are essentially all compatible with each other. So then I thought about maybe making EU compatible with D&D, which would mean reworking the Thousand Worlds engine... I would be fine with changing how attribute and skill checks work, and using the standard ability modifiers so it's like in D&D, but one thing I wasn't willing to change is how combat works, or removing Wounds in favor of HP. So does it make much sense to change a game that is now in the editing phase just so the Attributes and Skills are in line with D&D? I think it doesn't so I finally left ATDW alone, but I'm still not 100% sure what to do about EU. What do you guys think, should I alter it and make it as close to D&D as I can? Or should I just use what I have, since I know it works?
This week I think I'll be able to finally upload the EU lore material I have ready for you guys. Carlos sent me some sketches for the page frame and it's going to look really cool! Once I have that, I'll hand it over to Phil and he'll create some page templates for me to use. Then it's just a matter of me doing a quick layout based on that, and it will be here on Patreon! As I said, this is just a small first taste, so you guys get a peek into the world I'm creating. After that, the dungeon comes next, and then I want to start with the rules for character creation, most likely. I have so many notes and things to work with that it's going to be complicated to organize, haha. I can't wait!
Vi is still editing ATDW, and I'm hoping the first chapters are finalized soon so I can hand them over to Phil ASAP, so we can progress as fast as we can. It's all looking really good though, I'm very happy and excited!
I think that's it for this week, hope everyone has a great week!
Comments (10)
Good choice! If you want to recycle OSR adventures/stuff you can create conversion tables. Don't know if this is possible/it's too much work
I'll look into that, definitely. Thanks for the suggestion!
I prefer an original system. Too much OSR games nowadays. Also...I'm not fan of the magic system of D&D, I prefer an original one. The one you talked me about ;)
Haha yeah I'd never use Vancian magic. My idea was to simply take the OSR ability score-style of mechanics, that's basically it. But it's probably not worth the hassle to change how ability and skill checks are performed just to have such a small degree of compatibility... So yeah, I'm sticking to my own stuff!
I would also agree that you should stick to your own system. Sometimes I buy settings even though they are OSR/D&D-related, but prefer not to, especially when the alternative is a new independent system with creative approaches to task resolution and other crunchy stuff.
Thanks! I do also love exploring new systems, but I always thought I was in the minority. Most people stick to D&D-related material. In any case yeah, I'm sticking to my own game engine!
I say just stick to making content for the Thousand Worlds Engine. Eventually, you'll have lots of material for it, and if your games jump off enough and people really like it, inevitably, people will begin making content and conversions for your engine. I say stick to your stuff, and don't worry about OSR compatible.
Thanks! This reminds me I really need to get that SRD up and running ASAP...
While I like the OSR style of games, it isnt the end all be all of systems. One of the best parts of ATDW is the unique system. The system in ADTW is yours. Your creation, you adaptation, YOURs. Keep it that way. If you decide to allow third parties to use the system to craft supplements, great, work out an SRD CC license for the system. Feel like EU could expand on a world that COULD exist in ADTW, great, use that system for both games. Feel like EU could be an OSR style game supplement, where you just want to reuse OSR mechanics, then do it. One of the most compelling parts of the current playtest document is the feel of the game which is in large part the skill check and combat systems.
I really appreciate your support! And you're right, I'll not touch ATDW's systems, and for now it looks like EU will have the same ruleset, with adaptations to the different setting, but with the same mechanical base.