h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A600706

I hope this informative.

BTW, not all RPGs use dice... perhaps you ought to explain WHY you are using dice.

Hey there, Zonker!

This is looking great, and is definitely on the right track! I really appreciate all the work you've put into this, and how responsive you've been to everyone's comments and suggestions.

My suggestion at this point would be that you might want to start with a paragraph briefly explaining what an RPG is, and why people might enjoy creating their own.


Mikey

Thanks for the advice, done. Any other advice for me?

Dr. D

entry
I definately think that it should be in the edited guide
I really can't find anywhere where it is lacking so I hope it gets reccomended soon

This is certainly a useful topic, as the writing a game phase is surely one all gamers go through. I do however think that the entry could stand a significant expansion.

Useful additions would be:

Genre - is the game gritty and realistic, or high-powered and cinematic? Is it geared towards puzzle-solving and interpersonal roleplaying, or fast-talking, two-fisted action?
Stat systems - what attributes does a character have? Should there be many or few? How do these relate to your skills?
Racial traits - what effect does race have on a character? Do they possess different skills? Variant attributes? Special abilities or restrictions?
Racial character - what defines your races? Are they distinct cultures, or essentially just humans with pointy ears? How are they governed? Are they a single culture, or like humans are they many?
Character class - does your game need character classes, or would it benefit from a more freeform character generation system? If it has classes, how big a role do they have in defining a character?
Magic - does the world have magic? If so, how does it work? This is a particularly important area, as the commonly received wisdom is that a game has to have a magic system, even if it's a WWII mech-warrior game.
World - how do your races fit in the world? Are there gods? Or a God? Do different races have different gods?
Rules and dice could usefully be combined under the heading `system', as the two are difficult to separate, and you could expand on how your choice of dice relates to your system of attributes and skills - do you use a percentile roll? a d20 base? Also, if you use more than one type of dice, why? How do you maintain game balance? If your game is realistic, how do you simulate that? If cinematic, how do you allow for spectacular stunts.

The Prophet.

I think this entry is a bit too short for such a difficult topic. I used to know a friend who wrote his own and he would take ages doing, inventing stuff like traps, and planning for as many eventualities as he could.

This is a good start.
Ad

DOn't take this the wrong way - I've played RPG's myself so I'm not knocking it - but it might be funny if (in the most serious factual way possible) one could satirise ppl's opinion of those who play RPGs...

Eg:
It is seen by some that in order to be a truly committed creator and player of RPG games one must have the minimum of social contact, suffer from various cleanliness issues and have a collection of brown anoraks and matching cords...

I mean - it would be quite funny...

I've written a guide of how to role-play. It might go well with an entry like that.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A363502

There is definitely a place for RPG humour - for example, one of the people used to work out his characters at home...and when he 'just so happened' to create a really amazing character he would get his mum to write a note saying that he didn't cheat and rolled all the dice fairly - how sad.

No kidding; what kind of loser works up characters in private and doesn't fiddle the rolls?

Out of curiosity, is there much of a gamers community on h2g2, does anyone know? All I've really come across is articles suggesting there was no RPGing prior to MUDs/Final Fantasy, and of course this one. Heh; if nothing else this entry has reassured me that there are people out there who recognise that history goes back before the beginnings of the internet.

The Prophet.

I'm not sure that there is a gamers community as such, but there are a lot of people that like role playing here. There is an entry somewhere with a lot of ongoing roleplaying on it. I'll find the link if you are interested.

My intent with this piece was to give the basics. I have written my own system and I am continually adding ideas to it. I am also starting on another system.

Do so, please.

Dr. D

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A533251

A first person reference has creeped in to this entry, and it probably won't be picked until it's re-worded or better still, removed. You shouldn't mention about the things that you've done, as the guide isn't a diary, it's more of a guide.

Hope this helps.

Ad

I partially disagree, Ad&Trees. While i agree that the first person grammar needs to go, I think the author's experience is part of what makes this a useful entry. I just think it should be worded as "one researcher" rather than "I".


Mikey

Good entry, although I agree it might be a bit short for the topic covered.
Under 'Character Classes' you wrote:'Every system I have ever played has had: Warriors, Mages, and Rogues (Thief, assassin, bard, etc.)' Perhaps you might want to include the possibility of other character classes in eg sci-fi games, such as technician, pilot or navigatior.

RE: including personal experience...

A similar topic arose with the how to form a failing pop band. The actual entry was based mainly on the author's experience of their own band, although it didn't fit in nicely with the entry. In this case, the two were split so that they stood alone and as a result, two, much improved entries, were written.

I still think that the author's experience is out of context with the rest of the entry. It really doesn't add anything. And, re-wording it to "One researcher wrote an RPG called AENAR, which is a fantasy based system", really doesn't add anything to the whole entry. It doesn't explain what it is and this level of minutae detail is uninformative.

But, like I always say, it's just my opinion, and writing is such a subjective process.

Let me work on it some more.

Dr. D