Following a largely successful and very fun playtest of Saga using the Wild Blue setting on Saturday, I’ve made some minor updates to the core system. Of note is the fact that I changed the way pushing works in the game; rather than being based off of spending additional tokens, it’s based on how many net marks you roll. Pushing also has more specific effects, and is generally (I think) more useful. I also removed the concept of burning a token from the game to eliminate confusion; you now always spend tokens, but you regain tokens at different rates in and out of a conflict. Also, since the version on Lulu is free, too, I’m just going to point you there (after all, you get cover art that way).

At any rate, here’s the new revision:

Saga, Version Beta 3

I’ve just finished posting Saga as a free PDF on Lulu.com. It’s the same file you can get on this site, except that it’s got a cover.

Alright, some news: Gamecraft 2.0 is no more.

Wow. That was misleading. What I mean to say is, the project is still happening, but the name is changing. Gamecraft 2.0 has always been a working title for me, and I’ve been wanting to change it for a while; it’s too wordy, and the system has never really been that similar to the original Gamecraft System. More a spiritual successor than an actual successor. Thus, I’ve changed the name to Saga.

Oh, and one more thing: it’s done. Sort of. The system is mechanically complete, but still under development. To put it in computer terminology, it’s entered beta phase, and is ready for open testing. As such, I’m releasing it on this website, in this very post. Feel free to download it, peruse it, play with it, and give me feedback on it (please). Also note that it’s being released under a different Creative Commons license from everything else on this site; effectively, you can use it, modify it, and create and sell a commercial product with it, as long as you give me credit for its original inception (the full license is in the document, itself). Anyway, here you go:

The Saga Rules System (Version Beta 2)

The Saga Character Sheet

[Edit 5/18/07: Saga has been updated; specifically, the rules on using skills and tokens outside of conflicts have changed.]
[Edit 6/10/07: Another Saga update. Mainly rules clarifications, but the rules for pushing have been improved, too.]
[Edit 2/6/09: The file that you used to be able to download from Lulu was corrupted somehow, and I'm unable to replace it. I'm now hosting the file directly on this website.]

I did more playtesting over the weekend for Gamecraft 2.0. I’m not going to do a full session report like I did last time because, frankly, not a lot really happened. I got to put the conflict system through its paces (at least, so far as physical combat is concerned; I still want to use it for social and mental conflicts), and I got to see how easy the character generation system is for other people to use. I can bang out a character in about 10 minutes, but I designed the system. I playtested with the same people I did last time, but last time they got pregen characters and this time they made their own. It took us more than an hour to put them together, but I think that a lot of that was rules explanations and coming up with stuff that went with their concepts, but would be useful in the scenario we were playing.

In the end, the session was pretty valuable. I changed how certain things work based on the session, but I think I’m getting closer to what I want each time. I still want to playtest social and mental conflicts, and I’d like to try playtesting with a different group at least once, just to get another set of eyes on it, so to speak. At any rate, one thing that hasn’t changed as a result of either playtest is the skill list (though how skill specialties functions has changed, for the better I think). So, by way of preview, I’m posting a PDF of the skill list. As with everything else on my site, this is released under a Creative Commons license. Note that the license that I actually release the full system under will likely be a little different; I’ll probably lift that ‘noncommercial’ restriction, largely because I want people to be able to use my system in commercial products if they so choose. For now, though, because this is just a preview, the restriction stays. Enjoy.

Gamecraft 2.0 Skill List

I used to have a Downloads section, but it got hosed when I converted to WordPress. So, I’m creating a Downloads section again, or at least a Downloads category. The only thing from the old site that I really, really wanted to put back up was this:

The Gamecraft System

The Gamecraft System is a free, generic, open-source RPG ruleset. Download it and use it if you want, and you won’t owe me a dime. All I ask is that you give me some credit in your product.

I also wanted to say that I’m currently in the process of creating a new version of the system, which I’m (very creatively) calling Gamecraft 2.0. I’m designing it in conjunction with a setting, both of which I plan on getting published commercially when they’re done. I’ll probably be posting stuff about this in the future, FYI.