Modern Sagas Development Log Entry 17
Posted by: Ruel Knudson in Developer Blog, E-RPG General DevelopmentWell, I don’t think I’ll make it by Halloween. It would have been nice, but the truth is I don’t think it is realistic. I would like to say by the end of the week the full demo would be ready, but that requires alot of things to work in my favor in a big way, which I am not betting on, but I am hoping for.
The book is getting big. That’s a good thing. The content is manifesting itself largely in the equipment section. I have taken some approaches to equipment that is a bit different than before. One of the things we have added is more packages, and less itemization on things not directly related to missions. For instance, in fantasy you would by and outfit or articles of clothing. In Modern you purchase a wardrobe. Other things we added just for character fun, like hobbies and interests that you can purchase involvement in. They don’t have any direct influence on the game itself, but are interesting for character depth. The appraoch to these lifestyle types of equipment is kinda like experience. You buy levels in these items much like you do skills. So that in one session you may purchase a hobby at level 1 for a few hundred bucks. A few sessions down the line you may purchase a level 2 in the hobby for an increased cost. Of course, you could buy multiple levels, but the cost is handled like experience points.
For instance, you can buy a hobby for say $100 at level one. Level 2 cost you 200, and level 3 cost you 300. However, to purchase the hobby at level 3 you have to purchase level 1 and 2. This means that you spend $600 to have the hobby at level 3 ($100 lvl 1 + $200 lvl 2 + $300 lvl 3 = $600). The only difference is you could spend this all at once for a hobby, unlike a skill which requires you to use it first.
What does lifestyle equipment do? Well, that is ultimately up to the campaign. Lifestyle might give you some knowledge skill uses, although the target levels will be higher. They may also give you a network for certain things. For instance, you could have an interest in Rock Music. If your mission is to find out why certain musicians are getting killed you could use the interest to lower target levels for finding information within the network of people involved in this sort of thing. The only thing that interests cannot do is substitute for a skill. For instance, you can have an interest in computers, but that doesn’t mean you can fix computers. It may mean you can network within the computer know-it-all scene and get information you need, but it does not inherintly make you skilled with computers.
Another thing they do is add some depth for developing your character. Its one of those things that is there for people who would want it, but not a necessary component of the game. This is important because the list for hobbies and interests for lifestyle items is relatively small. It could be developed alot further. However, I honestly don’t see using up the space on it. It is there to get players thinking of ideas and to provide a way to use the E-RPG system to do these things. That being said, I think I will compile a list of some lifestyle items and post them as a download sometime.
Regarding my comments about developing sci-fi after modern:
I think we can expect a brief break from developing core rules for sci-fi. There are some projects I really am more interested in at this point. So I am planning on finnishing some adventures and two suppliments for Fantasy Sagas, the Modern version of Paradigm, a Modern adventure, and one more project we have not announced yet. The latter I think will be a big surprise for people, including the industry as a whole. However, I am not going to give up the secret until the design doc is done and we are in full production. Sorry, you’ll just have to wait and see.
