The children of man and their personalities.

Over the past couple weeks, besides being sick as a flee bitten mongrel, I have been working on finishing the six core character races; Dralarian, Golemite, Podling, Vyrmkin, Kudu, and Furbolg.  This has been something of a long process for me because as I have been altering and changing the system, some times though major rewrites, they have had to change a little also.

But the core ideas behind them have also remained the same.  The Golemites will have allot of variety, the Kudu will be Squirrel tech heads, and the Asterilians...well they got the Ax.  They There were just to many issues with them, so I wrote them out of the main story and made their creations, the Podlings, a main race instead.

In any case I have been working to make sure that their background, culture, and core information fits well onto two pages each.  But I am also looking at creating supplementary information about them so that they can be more real if you desire.  I have some time and the writing is fun if not time consuming.

It is all about the details, what happened when and why.  That takes time to be reasonable...even in fantasy, you have to have a little amount of sense.  So any way hat is what I am up to right now with the RPG.

On a side note, looks like opinions of the system are good.  Those that have looked it over and that are in the know have stated it is very complete and they could see nothing wrong with it.  That made me smile since the core of the game needs to be solid.  But I will not delude my self, there is still some rewriting to do.  Old information needs to be reworked a little to make sure it all fits properly.  But more on that one later.

Welcome to 2011, have a nice stay.

This post is going to be a little long, so be warned.  I will attempt to make sure it is laid out better and includes an index...well sort of.

• Festive Niceties
• To the New People!!! (clapping)
• General Goals for 2011
• -  More Writing
• -  Some Formatting
• -  Editing
• -  Art...Lots and Lots of Art
• Getting that much needed HELP!!!
• Clicky Clicky Meow Meow

Festive Niceties

Happy New Year and THANK GAWD it is all in days past.  Now I do like Christmas, New Years, and my birthday all being in the same month.  But at the same time a LOATH them also.  This is just because I can never get anything done in December.  It can be a very frustrating time as I am sure you all know.

So with that said, I am happy to have had those great days and the months festivities.  But I am also ecstatic to be done with them so I can order my mental blocks and get back to writing.  As short lived as that may actually be.

To the New People!!! (clapping)

Wow...I actually have some people visiting.  This makes me happy because for a long time I thought I was going a little crazy.  I mean I had a blog, but no one was reading it.  It was like talking to my self with out a mirror.  I am just glad I did not comment on my own posts...I think then something would be wrong...(Shifty looks around the room).

So thank you very much for visiting and for your continued visitation in the future.  May this blog be worthy of further persons visiting, reading, commenting, clicking, etc.  After all my goal with Manifest Destiny is to try and foster a community.  And that community starts right here, god save us all.

Writing Goals for 2011

On to the meat and potato's of things.  There is allot done, but there is allot to do still.  This fact does not escape me and I know therewill be allot to do for a very long time.  Well...the core book will be done in a reasonable amount of unspecified time.  But then there is more...much much more.  For now, I must stay focused on the task at hand.

More WritingAhh the fun stuff sitting all day while peering at a screen typing away.  There are still some fine points that I need to hammer out before things are close to where I would like them.  I need to finish the section on addiction.  I need to create and refine the section on skill based techniques.

Plus poisons, equipment, and...allot of things that escape me right now.  Oh and examples and fluff also.  Mmmm...love the fluff.  But all in all things have not gone to bad.

The above may look daunting, but compared to the 170+ pages I have already written.  What is left is really not that much.  But it is just getting those portions of my mind to cooperate long enough to do them.  I shall get through it though and that will be that.

Some Formatting
The book needs to be formatted.  That is plane and simple.  Pages need to be split, front pages need to be laid out.  Spaces for charts and images need to be put in to make sure everything fit in nicely.  And to do it all I will need to find some one that can consistently assist on that.  That or I chop my attention into small one inch cubes...but that never works.  The cubes just sprout legs and run off.

Editing
Editing is also of vital concern.  I know my faults and my limitations.  And one of them is that my spelling sucks and we will not even go into grammar.  But fortunately I did find a willing party to do this for a price.  So the editing will get done and will be good.

Art...Lots and Lots of Art
And then there is art.  Art is necessary and there will need to be allot of it.  Currently I am looking at needing about 120 to 150 individual images.  Now that may seam like allot, but consider your average RPG book.  If you look there is either a piece of art or a chart on each page.

Assuming that I have 170 pages of usable material right now and about 30-40 charts you get an approximate amount of art needed.  This helps to understand how much art is actually needed.  And this varies between full page images and small quarter or eighth page images that are used to help space things and break up the text walls that are present now.

This will also take the time of others.  The time of my self to make sure things are right.  And money, a small mountain of money.  When doesn't it right?  Well that or I have to deal with people doing it on the side and then things get very very iffy.  So...money it is.

Fortunately I have found one person so far that is interested in the task at hand.  And I am hopeful that when things progress I will be able to find others.

Getting that much needed HELP!!!

Help is an important thing right now.  I have been doing this on my own for a while...several years now and it can be hard.  Never underestimate how much a single person can make things better.  So, if you have read the above and think you have something you can contribute...I am all eyes.  I would be all ears but unless you send me a audio message...I can not hear text all that well.

If you have a thought, and idea, a musing that can assist, drop a comment.  If you have an idea for a monster, poison, spell, or item power just drop a comment.  My goal is not to make the game about me and mine.  It is to create something bigger then what my mind can devise.

Clicky Clicky Meow Meow

For now, in lieu of a donations tag on this blog I have ads.  If I get enough traffic and clicks on them I will get money.  That money will be in turn used to pay for all the stuff that needs money.  Now it is not as daunting as one may assume.

Right now I have $5 in add revenue sitting around.  Editing is going to run me about $1 per page.  So right now if I got a check in the mail, I could have five pages edited.  Images are going to range between $20 to probably a couple hundred depending on what is being drawn.  First are the little things and them we go up.

But the simple thing is that my efforts will be ad driven for a while.  So if you feel you want to help...you know where to put your mouse.  Sorry...no naked lady adds...not that kind of blog any way.  But there are some good game adds...League of Legends is a particularly interesting game if you get it as an ad.

So that is that...my text wall is done and I thank you for reading it all if you did.  I promise to keep these to a minimum, may be once a year.  In any case thank you again for visiting and taking a little interest in this game and I hope you find it inspiring, enjoyable, and entertaining as I write it and move to release it.

What odd things creep into the mind...

Or may be out of it when one is idle.  Not to sure...do things really creep into the mind...oh well...thoughts for another day.  But what I was thinking about before random musings was vehicles.  Now really...what do vehicles have to do with Manifest Destiny?

They have allot to do with it actually.  Magical vehicles that mimic reality, cars that can fly.  War machines that spit fire and bolts of energy.  From a simple cart to a 30ft tall mecha...it is all possible cause it is powered by magic, by imagination.

What I got to thinking about was how much of the operation of a vehicle in combat is the vehicle and how much is the crew.  In doing so I thought about weapons and accuracy and believe I have a system.  Maybe...maybe not...not to sure.

See what I am thinking about is that the weapons provide the dice for the roll in the form of an accuracy attribute.  And the crew provide the bonuses and skill.  So really any idiot can fire a gun, and that gun can be accurate.  But with out skill, their chances of hitting the broad side of a barn are slim.

So lets say we have a hypothetical tank.  The tank mounts a very good gun with an accuracy of eight.  So the crew would get 8D12 to roll with each shot from the gun.  You then toss in some crew using the same skill set that MD uses skills for general, specialization, and familiarity.  So lets say our gunner is rather new...and between the three he has a plus three from general tank guns, but only a plus one for time with medium tank guns.  And no time at all with this medium tank gun.  So he adds a plus four to all rolls resulting in a 8D12 + 4 for any attack made by the tank.  Not a bad thought I think.

Now this leads into armor also...what to do what to do.  Two routs I can see, both are in MD really.  The first would be the usual, each gun has a power rating and the projectile provides the damage.  If the power of the attack is greater then the armor rating, it goes though.  But that leads to having to track the armor of the tank on all facings and can have armor degradation...kind of messy when it comes to streamlining things.

The other option is a simple bounce/no bounce roll.  Instead of the gun having power, it just does damage based on the round.  If the round hits, another roll occurs with 1D12.  IF the roll is over the armor value, the round penetrates.  If the round is under the armor value, the hit bounces.

Both can allow for effects like armor piercing ammo and the such...and both offer their own unique spin on things.  And this is not even getting into more complex systems like say...vehicle size, its height, the size of a turret if it has one.  That matters since if only the turret is showing...you can only hit the turret so you need to know its size.

The things I think about when I can not think about things.

Spells and Manipulating them...

Since I have not posted allot recently and things have changed, I think I will go into how Manifest Destiny as a RPG handles spells.  This is partly because if any one ever actually visits this blog and reads it, they may be interested.  But also cause I have recently done work on the second part of spells: Spell Manipulation.

The short of it, in MD spells are skills.  As a player gains experience, they can spend that to rank up skills including spells.  This makes them better by adding a bonus to the players focus test (casting test).  This allows spells to grow in power as the player develops their character.

But This did not satisfy my interest in the games spells.  They needed something else, something that made them more versatile so that I did not need to make twenty different spells that all did the same thing...just that little bit different.  A little simplicity can go a long way.

So this is where spell manipulation comes in.  As a spell gains ranks, it gains manipulation points.  The points act like a open pool so the player can alter a spell to do things its base design was not meant to do.  So the better you know a spell, the more you can do with it.

Spell manipulations are simple really, once you have the points you can put what ever manipulation you please on the spell.  Want more power, that is one point.  Want to make an area effect spell only do damage to enemies?  Well then use the Friend or Foe manipulation for two points.  Want to chain fire a lightning bolt spell?  There is the rapid cast manipulation allowing you to fire the same spell for as long as you have mana in your turn.  Oh and that is three points to use.

There are more in the list, but really the list is not the point.  The point is what manipulations do for spells.  They broaden the usefulness of spells so they are not just static things.  They make them worth investing experience in giving the player more control and variety from something that is truly based on imagination.

After all, I am just making the system and the world.  Your making it live.  Giving characters shape and form with in your dreams.  So why shouldn't I facilitate that as much as I can?  Right?

Revelations about Surprise

I think I may have a path that will work for the surprise system.  Instead of thinking about this in normal means i have to think in a more abstract manner.  Since the system has to fit into different areas at the same time.  To think of the system in absolutes will only cause me issues as I would then have to map out each absolute.

So with that in mind, I have come to the idea of passive and active surprise.  Passive surprise occurs when characters meet with out any use of skill.  Random encounters, bumping into another in a crowd, things like that. While active surprise applies any time a character is using a skill to surprise an opponent.

So both of the examples that I used in the previous post would be considered instances of active surprise.  This way I can make a system that is varied and complete but will also not take the better part of twenty pages to write about.

Surprise and Ambushes

I have been thinking about this for a bit.  At on point I wrote a section covering the basics of surprise and ambushes since they are related.  But what I wrote, upon reflection, is missing something.  And while I understand it...I doubt that others would not.  Especially those that are new to RPG's.

So I have been thinking about surprise and ambushing again.  But it is a hard thing to apply rules to if you think about it.  The reason is how the skills are set up and how certain skills can apply to different situations then intended.

An example: Your setting up outside a a door with your team.  Once ready you kick in the door and charge in yelling at people inside to get down.  This is a tactical application of surprise, but can not be considered an ambush.  May be...

Example 2: You and your adventuring group are hiding off of a road in the bushes.  Their target is coming with in range with a number of guards.  When they are right in front your team jumps out and take the initiative killing three guards before they can put their hands on their weapons.  After a short fight, the guards are dead and the target is in custody.

The thing is how the skills apply to the situation.  For the first example, the skills used are more tactical and related to strength and the body.  While the second case relates to stealth and quickness, the ability to stay quiet.  So how do I apply this to the myriad of situations that can occur.  Hurm...

Long time no post

Well, it has been a while since I last said anything. My goal was to post things on here regularly. But when life gets in the way...that can be difficult. But there is news and I am going to place that here.

U have been motivated again to work on the RPG again. I am right now rewriting and expanding/clarifying the combat section. There were allot of holes that no one was telling me about. It was not till I talked to a complete RPG virgin that I realized there was allot that was needed there. And really in other sections.

So, I am going to get back to it. I am about half way done with the rewrite before anything like fluff or charts. But when I am done some things will be cleaned up, expanded, and more concise.

When a wall is in the way...

With kids in the background screaming and getting into things...I have hit a wall in writing the core elements of Manifest Destiny. SO, what I am going to do is take a little side trip into the Table Top rules I have in one of my many notebooks.

I will admit, I am a fan of some games...not because they are good mind you. But because they are different and have a perspective that breaks from the usual formula. Games like Navy Field, Naval Ops: Warship Gunner, and Warship Gunner 2. The idea of being able to build your own ship is something I like. I guess that is why I played Eve Online for two years.

Manifest Destiny: Star Blazers is based in the old world before the time of colonization. Taking place in the age of war that engulfed the player empires and nearly destroyed the universe it's self.

The idea behind this game is that the player can manage a single ship or a fleet of space fairing vessels in to combat. I have looked at different sources and have been talking with people in the field of table top strategy titles and have the basis of a simple system for the game. There are of coarse things to work out because the current system is just about 12 hand written pages. Any way, I think I am going to write a little bit and put what is in my notebook into a document.

Fortunately I am not planning this game to be a two hundred page core book. Probably something allot smaller that can plug into an old world campaign setting. But I must go where my brain takes me. :-)

Building the Habit...

Well, in an effort to keep things going and build up a steady habit of writing. I am going to discuss one of MD's side projects. This is kind of in the same line as the business, since it is the expanding of the game into other genre's.

As I may have said before, I have filled or almost filled three notebooks by this point. One day about a month ago, I started to play another MMO style game called Navy Field. Not really the best of games, but it is addictive and it is also a play for free title.

As I played, something in the back of my mind started rolling and out came a fourth notebook. If your interested, this one is a black covered wire bound. The others are blue, red, and one of the less expensive black and white string bound types. Any way I started writing in it and twenty three pages later, I have the ground work of a table top strategy game based in space.

I have been wondering what to do with it since it is based on and in the Manifest Destiny universe. It takes place with in the age of war where five of the player races are duking it out in an interstellar war. There is allot of possibility in it, and with some massaging and polish, it can become one of the MD product line.

But I would be very interested in hearing opinions about this idea. Space based table top strategy games are a little rare from my experience. And there really is allot of room for them in table top and computers. I am open to suggestions.

Business and Pleasure

I am writing this RPG for a simple goal, to make some money. Now I am not expecting to make millions. I would like to make enough to comfortable with, more then that goes into the real of creating a broader business and pullin in full time people. But for now, I have to still get the Main book out as I note where it will go. And may be pull in some extra help willing to have their name in it over cold hard cash. Hey...stop laughing...I'm serious.

So the question is, where am I going to go and how will I get this to the seathing masses just waiting to plunk down twenty to thirty dollars for a new game? I will tell you. I am planning two initial books and to distribute them thought both PDF sales and physical copies.

The two books for the RPG are really the same. The first book is the full core rules and all of the fluf. It is everything that people expect from a core rule book. Pictues, story, hooks and ideas for the GM, the whole base system. The second book is a striped down version. This is a travel book, it has just the rules and space for some notation. No fluf, no pictures, no character creation...just everything you need to play the game.

I am doing this because if one or to people have the core book, why then does every one need a copy. Books are heavy things, and carrying them around can break your back. Why carry around seventy pages of story and character creation stuff when you have a character and do not need to story...right?

As for getting the RPG out there, I plan to publish through lulu.com. Their rates are good and I do not have to sell my soul to get things published. I can even offer a quality product that will not fall appart after you flip the page five times. Value keeps people comming back...and I want to offer value. IF you buy the core rules, why souldn't you get the PDF of the same book while you wait for your book?

If you buy the core rules, why shouldn't you be able to choose the redacted rule book instead as a PDF bundle. Heck, if you buy the main book, why not get the redacted book for less as a bundle. Are they separate producs, yes they are. But the goal is value.

There is allot more to this, and as you can see value is a key word to my efforts. So right now I am going to plan out my days for this blog so that you know when I will be talking about what...a little structure never hurt anybody. But needless to say, I am a gamer. And I plan to to offer great value for your hard earned dollars. It is what I would expect my self.

A place in two Universes

Manifest Destiny takes place in two separate universes. The first universe, called the old world, is where the player comes from. While the second universe, the new world, is where the player will end up living. Bot universes present a unique opportunity for the role playing game experience.

The New World is the focus of the core RPG rule book. The player lives a life, becomes a colonist, and then is tossed through a portal to end up in the new world. Never to return to the old world and all she knew. This give you the opportunity to really break from the mold. As there are no archetypes, there is no real establishment, and the character can choose a path to do what ever. Be a raider, a thief, an enforcer, a hero, a guard, pretty much anything the player and the GM can come to agreement on.

The Old World is a place of established rules, of laws and cooperate task masters. Where the rich have the money, and the poor, if they get to rowdy, are hucked through a gaping hole in space and time. The governments of the old world are puppets and the wealthy keep it that way. This is really where your coming from, or being evicted from in Manifest Destiny.

I realized both areas are fertile soil for ideas. This has lead to my planning opportunities for players to play in these areas once I have completed my core book. Rules for table top battles in both space and on the ground. A game where you player a runner, attempting to escape forced colonization while committing criminal acts for the highest bidder. There is just allot of room for things in this two universe idea. That is why I did it...we are imaginative people. Why not use it.

Manifest your Destiny

So the very first post of the blog.  What to say.  This has been something of a long trek for me.  I have been working on this RPG for some time and have been whittling closer and closer day by day.  But things always get in the way.  Finances, reality, virtual reality (Games), and so forth.  But still I continue.  So why don't I just talk about the game in this one.  If any one actually visits that is.

I have been playing RPG's for nearly twenty years now, since I was eleven.  I have always found them to be interesting.  Some times more then computer games have been.  The problem is no system really ever had the right balance to me.  And so a few years ago I got a notepad and started writing.  It is a tradition in this genre I guess.

Manifest Destiny is a game about possibility.  Based in a distant time, humanity has left the physical plane leaving technology in place that make magic possible.  This opened a whole world of possibilities for the children of humanity.  Those beings who we humans had a hand in making, be it purposefully or by accident.  In time Humanities children found a path to another universe.  This is where the player hangs his hat.  Not in the old world...but as a colonist, separated from the rules and shackles of society past.

The game its self is a D12 based system.  Attributes set the number of dice you roll and skills add bonuses to those rolls.  I endeavored to make the system simple...may be at times to simple as people some times miss the point.  But all in all there is consistency.  All of the math is additive, so bonuses go to rolls, while hindrances go to the target number.  The die is the random factor of luck.  And yes, something can be so easy, that there is no need for luck at all.  It has been my goal to break out of tradition though and so my magic system, initiative, and rounds are a little more experimental.

I will not get into magic and the rest now.  But as it stands, this is what I am working on.  I am also working to get an editor so that I can keep my mind where it wants to be.  Working at odd angles and in the shadows of reality.

Currently, I am also working on better race descriptions...my first ones were simple.  But as the image in my mind grew, so have the races the player will know and hopefully love.  So back to the grind and I hope that some one actually reads this.

Note: When writing on the fly, like in a blog, my spelling and gramar tends to get left on the side of the road.  This is one reason why I have been working on getting an editor.  So please...no roasting me alive about it.