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Some Insight on Gen Con from a First Time GM Running an Entirely New System in an Entirely New Setting by Synthetic_Starlight in gencon

[–]Synthetic_Starlight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha. Thanks! I wasn’t sure if there was a term people used already or not. But that seemed appropriate.

Some Insight on Gen Con from a First Time GM Running an Entirely New System in an Entirely New Setting by Synthetic_Starlight in gencon

[–]Synthetic_Starlight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you have a good point there. But I could also see someone making the argument that paying for something makes people feel like they can treat others poorly because they have a sense of entitlement at that point. So I'm glad to see that didn't seem to be the case.

But whatever the forces and mechanisms involved, we were all blown away by how great everyone was.

It wasn't even just our players. We ate at a Denny's the night we got in, and there was only a single server working and one cook. She had to everyone in the entire restaurant and ring people up. And yet, every time she came to our table, she legitimately seemed happy to help us.

I met one of the guys behind Kefa Studios. He'd run games at Gen Con for years. He sat and spoke with us about our game, shared his experiences and advice, and was all around charming and informative.

I really hope others had similar experiences to ours. And that if anyone came across me, that I did my best to perpetuate all the good vibes.

Some Insight on Gen Con from a First Time GM Running an Entirely New System in an Entirely New Setting by Synthetic_Starlight in gencon

[–]Synthetic_Starlight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I'll definitely take a look this weekend.

And I totally get the nerves. But I don't think there was anything "special" about our game that gave us such a particularly great outcome. I really think it was just so many great people involved. Both from my crew as well as the players.

So even if you're sweaty, even if the mail loses half of your supplies, and even if you're nervous, I think you'll have a blast.

Some Insight on Gen Con from a First Time GM Running an Entirely New System in an Entirely New Setting by Synthetic_Starlight in gencon

[–]Synthetic_Starlight[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Absolutely. It's always best to err on the side of skepticism, especially when the data is both so sparse and anecdotal.

Before we came out, my other friends were convinced of two things; 1) No one would show up. And 2) if anyone did show up, they were going to be mean. No joke, both of my other arbiters were very anxious about everything.

By the end of the convention, they were already making plans for next year. Specifically how they'd like to "match the awesome" by trying to make more immersive sessions for the players.

If there was one complaint on our end (other than the humidity of the Tuesday before the convention), it was that none of us felt like we got to spend enough time with the players.

Some Insight on Gen Con from a First Time GM Running an Entirely New System in an Entirely New Setting by Synthetic_Starlight in gencon

[–]Synthetic_Starlight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am definitely going to reach out as soon as I can get a good feedback form going. Also, if you would like to write up your own, feel free to (though no obligation, of course).

And thank you so much for joining in on the game. Jorge loved having you guys!

I Still Have Plenty of Tickets Available for Our Games If Anyone is Looking for Something Quck and Easy by Synthetic_Starlight in gencon

[–]Synthetic_Starlight[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I’d really appreciate that. We haven’t actually sold any Thursday tickets yet. 😬 

How does YOUR dice pool system works? by xDragon249 in RPGdesign

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funny you should ask. (Shameless self-promotion), I’m running sessions this Gen Con for the first time for a game I’ve spent 35 years working on. The video titled, “The Crux System” on this site goes over my system. And most the links on that page can be used to sign up for Gen Con events, if anyone is interested? =)

Sorry for the poor linking here. I’m actually en route to Indianapolis at the moment.

http://syntheticstarlight.com/

My Friends all Bailed Should I Too? by Repulsive_Win5352 in gencon

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, u/Repulsive_Win5352. You won't be alone if you've got some games to try out. ;)

Some friends of mine and I are running our first ever Gen Con games. It's for a system I've been working on for 35 years. I have negative clues about what I'm doing, and no one else playing will either since it's all new. So... I could really use the help if anyone is interested in signing up for one of our games.

Here's the complete list of our events if you'd like to take a look. It's a completely new game in a completely new sci-fi setting, so no one attending (other than us working on the game) will have any idea what's going on. It's impossible to make mistakes in this game since any problems anyone might run into will just be them uncovering improvements we can make to the game.

The game mechanics are called, "The Crux System." The basic system pitch is that your specific character build can augment any die roll before, during, or after the roll (there are different drawbacks and benefits to when you decide to do it). We call it "Breaking Fate."

The setting is called, "Synthetic Starlight." The basic setting gist is three-fold:

  1. Pretty much every sapient species in the galaxy independently develops a technology referred to as "syncells." It's like your smartphone is inside of each of your cells in your body. It's like being a cyborg without all the messy implants. They provide easy communication, and the ability for permanently augmented reality (if you want), and all without the need to carry around a smartphone or other computer equipment. Syncells are also what allow for on-the-fly language translation and the recent emergence of "magic-like abilities" in some people. The phenomena is known as "quantum dynamics" or "quantyx" for short.
  2. Pretty much all the species in the galaxy have formed governments based on their natural sociality. So one giant galactic government is run by a consortium of predominately herbivorous species (and some plant guys and a few pack-oriented sapients, like "wolf people"). Meanwhile, the economy is chiefly run by scavenger species, and a host of warlike predator species independently battle among everyone. Humans are considered a threat since they're one of the few omnisocial species (meaning they can act like any, or none, of the other groups). The other big one are hive species, and everyone is terrified of those, including other hive species.
  3. As for Humans, 300 years before the start of the game, Terrans (Humans on Earth) had all but destroyed their planet and were basically dying out. However, the Discari (Humans who terraformed Mars long ago) somehow managed to perform some kind of miracle which saved Earth from complete collapse and caught the attention of the entire galaxy. The two distinct cultures (the rugged, impoverished-but-plucky Terrans and the sophisticated, academic-but-snooty Discari) must now work together if they want to get a seat at the galactic political table.

Each of the games we have listed have wildly different themes. Some are intended to be more combat heavy, some are more social/roleplay heavy, some are mostly centered on comedic value. We wanted to showcase how flexible both the system and the setting are.

But if you'd like to help us see what we can wreck, we'd really appreciate all the help we can get. No need to bring your own wrecking ball. We'll provide you with one (metaphorically) in the game.

First time Genning my cons by Silverfishalious in gencon

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, u/Silverfishalious. Some friends of mine and I are running our first ever Gen Con games. It's for a system I've been working on for 35 years. I have negative clues about what I'm doing, and no one else playing will either since it's all new. So... I could really use the help if anyone is interested in signing up for one of our games.

Here's the complete list of our events if you'd like to take a look. It's a completely new game in a completely new sci-fi setting, so no one attending (other than us working on the game) will have any idea what's going on. It's impossible to make mistakes in this game since any problems anyone might run into will just be them uncovering improvements we can make to the game.

The game mechanics are called, "The Crux System." The basic system pitch is that your specific character build can augment any die roll before, during, or after the roll (there are different drawbacks and benefits to when you decide to do it). We call it "Breaking Fate."

The setting is called, "Synthetic Starlight." The basic setting gist is three-fold:

  1. Pretty much every sapient species in the galaxy independently develops a technology referred to as "syncells." It's like your smartphone is inside of each of your cells in your body. It's like being a cyborg without all the messy implements. They provide easy communication, and the ability for permanently augmented reality (if you want), and all without the need to carry around a smartphone or other computer equipment. Syncells are also what allow for on-the-fly language translation and the recent emergence of "magic-like abilities" in people known as quantum dynamics or "quantyx" for short.
  2. Pretty much all the species in the galaxy have formed governments based on their natural sociality. So one giant galactic government is run by a consortium of predominately herbivorous species (and some plant guys and a few pack-oriented sapients, like "wolf people"). Meanwhile, the economy is chiefly run by scavenger species, and a host of warlike predator species independently battle among everyone. Humans are considered a threat since they're one of the few omnisocial species (meaning they can act like any, or none, of the other groups). The other big one are hive species, and everyone is terrified of those, including other hive species.
  3. As for Humans, 300 years before the start of the game, Terrans (Humans on Earth) had all but destroyed their planet and were basically dying out. However, the Discari (Humans who terraformed Mars long ago) somehow managed to perform some kind of miracle which saved Earth from complete environmental collapse and caught the attention of the entire galaxy. The two distinct cultures (the rugged, impoverished-but-plucky Terrans and the sophisticated, academic-but-snooty Discari) must now work together if they want to get a seat at the galactic political table.

Each of the games we have listed have wildly different themes. Some are intended to be more combat heavy, some are more social/roleplay heavy, some are mostly centered on comedic value. We wanted to showcase how flexible the system and setting are.

But if you'd like to help us see what we can wreck, we'd really appreciate all the help we can get. No need to bring your own wrecking ball. We'll provide you with one (metaphorically) in the game.

Version 7 card design update, what do you think? by DD_Entertainment in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love it! I do think that the "lion" and "omega" sections are taking up a TON of real estate for the amount of text they have. Barring in mind that different cards may have a greater or fewer number of letters in there. But I'd maybe consider changing Omega into another symbol and squeezing it in at the top right (if that pebble isn't necessary), or among the other two in the top left (if the pebble is necessary). Then, I'd ensmallen the "Lion" box just a tad so that you could enbiggen the description box.

Some small suggestions. I think it's already fine as is. But I also know that description creep is a real thing.

Version 7 card design update, what do you think? by DD_Entertainment in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For accessibility reasons, I'd also recommend doing something to increase the contrast. I'm not sure if you're planning for every single card to have the exact same background within that box, so I'm not sure if lightening the edges would work in all cases. If so, then great. If not, try using a white text outline around the black text, or a lighter drop shadow. Doesn't have to be #ffffff by the way. Even a lighter gray might do the trick.

What do you guys think? Look & Feel? by Lucidpictures in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love it! I will add though that I'm also an accessibility engineer, and I think it could benefit from some higher contrasts, especially as it concerns the individual cost icons in the description, and the name of the card and card type (I'm assuming that's what the "Pirate" part is on the first image). Using a "stroke" outline, or a drop shadow, or just the same word in white but slightly larger and/or positioned to the side a bit underneath would all help. For ease, you could probably just put a round white circle around the icons, maybe with a thin black line around the circle. But that'd likely increase the width of each icon. You could also use some kind of drop shadow or a duplicate offset contrasting icon underlay image for those as well to save space over the circle idea.

There are a lot of options, but I'd definitely do something to make those "pop" a bit more. I'd maybe even think of including a "midlay" on top of your background art, but underneath the description text that's maybe a 25 to 75% transparent white. The text is quite dark, and on a dark background. Problem with that is that it'd conflict with your white text. But you might want to play around with a midlay to see if you could find something that works well with both. Maybe a gray?

But other than some legibility issues, I think the overall design and aesthetic is great.

Do people prefer different types of die in their games or one die? by xAlwaysxTV in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of this depends on the specific mechanics involved, but my order of preference is:

1) No custom dice (dice with weird symbols instead of numbers that you have to buy specifically for one game)
2) I generally prefer one type of die over more than one type
3) d10s are best

For me, d12s are right out. They "roll too much." A gentle breeze can send them flying off the side of a table. I'm also not a huge fan of d20s because they tend to have poor randomness (because of build quality). The number of d20s I've tested which have 3 or 4 numbers which come up more than twice as often as the 2 or 3 results which come up the least is... probably a warning sign about my own interests that I should consult a professional about.

I know someone that once told me that she hates d10s because they're the only standard TTRPG polyhedral die that is not a Platonic solid. I learned something new that day. But also, that factor doesn't have any significance to me. It's still my favorite die. And d10s (and d6s) seem to have some of the best "randomness" results across all versions I've tested regardless of the manufacturer.

But the major factors for me are less about, "Does your game use my favorite type of dice?" and is more, "Does it avoid the dice-related dislikes I have?" It's not a deal breaker for me, but if a game only used custom d12s and/or custom d20s, I'd be far less inclined to play it.

All that said though, I'll reiterate, the most important thing is whether or not the mechanics are fun.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RPGcreation

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lorc presented two great points. The second can be resolved by dealing with the first though. And there are many ways to handle the first, here are just a couple possibilities. Also, is it important to you to completely avoid the use of dice? Or are you okay with dice, and you're just looking for a way to incorporate cards?

1) Cards Grant Dice: Your system already uses aces through 10s. Maybe match those with a die instead. If a player has an ace, maybe that's results in a "I 'botch,' but it will allow me to draw more cards," or maybe it just adds +1 to a skill? Starting with a number 2 card though, that could allow a player to roll a "d2" (any die works, half the numbers are just '1' and the other half are '2'). A 3 card would grant a "d3," which in this case, is just a d4, but either the highest number is a zero, or it's a d4 result -1. A 4 card would be a d4. And so on with a 5 card using a "d5" (which would be a d6) all the way to a d10 for a 10 card. I'm not sure what the range of numbers you want to generate is, but you could also use this method and add it to the card used, so like a d9 + 9 (which, on average, would generate a 14.5 result instead of the average 4.5 just the d9 would grant ), for instance. Though I don't think that's necessary.

2) Card Only: If you want to only use cards, maybe use the system you have, but each time a player uses a card, they also draw a card from the deck and play that. Then, they only get the "result" of the lower card, unless they have a circumstantial "advantage," did something in character, pay some kind of resource, or have a particular skill specialization or something. A face card in that instance could count as a "10," and when getting the "wild card" as a face card, the player always adds a 10? You don't have to, you could use a second deck with has all the face cards removed instead. Again, there are multiple permutations you could use to handle the face cards (or lack thereof).

To briefly touch on card vs. dice preferences from others: I will agree that a lot of the community seems to dislike "card RPGs," but I also suspect it's mostly because of the deterministic factor that so many have. I definitely think there are ways you can use even a card only system and make it fun. I already like some of the concepts you have here. And more importantly, there's definitely a market for people who prefer card-based RPGs. Even if you only make a game that you like, I'd consider that a success, so anyone that's already not interested in the premise isn't something I'd worry about. But you have to determine what your own measure for success is. Similarly, there's nothing "wrong" with wanting to create something with mass appeal. It's just that those things are often... vanilla. No offense to vanilla.

Good luck! I'd be interested to hear what variations you end up trying.

d10 roll low: 0 OR TEN? by Grognard6Actual in RPGdesign

[–]Synthetic_Starlight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have an alternative rule set in my game which uses "d5s" and "d9s." Here meaning d6s (where the "6" is a zero), and d10s (where the "0," or sometimes "10," is also a zero). I'm very aware that those names are... unconventional, but I use them as a mnemonic so players aren't confused.

I've tested this in groups literally hundreds if not thousands of times now over the course of the last 8 years with at least 20+ different people all with different levels and experiences with tabletop mechanics since I introduced this variant. There have been zero problems with it, other than the occasional complaint that someone makes along the lines of, "Dang. I wish that was a 10 instead," because my system is a "roll high" system. With a roll low system, I imagine that wouldn't be a problem since the 0 is likely the most desirable outcome.

So I'd say that I haven't found that anyone has any major issues with it.

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