Dev Blog #0 An intro

Intro

The main purpose of this blog is to help chart the progress of designing a game world, from concept, to writing,to editing and formating. Plus everything else along the path to publication. Hopefully there will be at least 1 or 2 dev blog posts a week, maybe more if time allows.

However, a warning now – I have family members who are seriously ill and they take priority in my life. Real Life rarely allows all of our plans to work out 100% they way we want. Plus those pesky jobs that help pay the bills.

To help fill the gaps there will be other articles and items along the way, such as NPC’s, items,plot lines, deitys etc. Each of these should be featured in the game world at some point. But by following this blog you get a free preview and also the chance to give feedback and contribute to the design(If you like, not trying to make you do my work..but would be nice for ideas)..all for free.. which is good, yes?

Each post be will go over one aspect of the game design. This includes the practical side such as Rules, races, etc. Also theory and thoughts behind the design process and decisions. Some of the more detailed posts will be spread over 2 or more Dev posts in a week.

Basic Format

The game world will be DnD 3.5 & Pathfinder compatible, mainly as that I the format I have played most and understand. There is nothing stopping it being convertered at some point to other systems, just not a priority.

Resources

I’m going to be using a few books and PDF’s to help along the way. Have found over the years that having some form of structure is very helpful for me. I can print out the ideas/sheets as and when I need them.

• Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design
• Fantasy Maker’s Handbook
• Plus many more books and pdf’s from my extensive RPG collection
• Online – There are many blogs and resources on the internet these days.  These are going to  be mostly used for brainstorming and research, such as DnD Wiki  and the very useful D20 Pathfinder SRD
• NPC’s will be designed using Hero Labs.
• Any dungeon tiles or maps will have been done with Campaign Cartographer 3. The actual game maps will be done differently, but I have found this program is excellent for both dungeon tiles and maps that give a good idea of layout

Timeline

At interesting question. At this point, there is no real time frame set in stone. However I would like to get the intial concept and rough design done within a month.

I would much rather take time and get things right then rush and make a pig’s ear of things. As the process goes along and more of the design takes shape, then a more  solid time will be put in place.

The rough order of things will be:

• Outline of the game world and background, Covers the basic of the game world. No rules will be brought in at this point, but features will be mentioned and talked about
• Major Game features outlined – This covers classes and other crunch material. This time period will probably be the longest and most intensive.
• “Fluff” or background material done. Could, in theory, be as hard as the rules section
• Testing – Although this will also be an ongoing process
• Revisions and cutting
• Images and artwork done
• Editing and last min revisions
• Published!
• ???
• Profit

Next dev blog will be talking about the game world itself.  A World Brief can be found here

Latest copy of Setting/rules can be found here. This is VERY rough. It’s almost a combined rule and note book. There is no editing and grammar has been shot and buried.

Related articles

• Pathfinder Online goes time-traveling in latest dev blog (massively.joystiq.com)
• The Gods of Aruneus – available today! (trollitc.com)
• Disbelief 2: The Disbeliefening from Troll in the Corner ” Role Playing Games (trollitc.com)
• D&D Next on Wired (wizards.com)