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My name is Fraser Simons and I think I’m generally known for designing the cyberpunk tabletop roleplaying games The Veil and Hack the Planet, as well as blogging about the sub genre @cyberpunkblog
#AprilTTRPGmaker
#AprilTTRPGmaker
My games tend to focus on emergent play, have a rich dice component (where a roll conveys more than just a target number), and often lean into suggestive designs rather than prescriptive. They’re also usually cyberpunk, or have cyberpunk themes (not always tho)
#AprilTTRPGmaker
#AprilTTRPGmaker
3) Key to my making process? I guess, figuring out what I think or feel about something and then make the game that I want to play, hoping others will identify with it as well. I’m a very visual thinker and take a lot of notes, sitting with my thoughts
#AprilTTRPGmaker
#AprilTTRPGmaker
Way back in April of last year, I did a big thread of the tools I use to make RPGs as part of the #AprilTTRPGMaker hashtag. The 1st & most useful part of that thread is about conceptual tools--ideas that helped me create, refine & hone my designs.
The 2nd, far less useful, part was about the hardware & software I play around with while designing.
As I say in the thread, I have emotions about all that. I love a gadget. They're fun to play with and fun to play is one of my favorite design goals...
As I say in the thread, I have emotions about all that. I love a gadget. They're fun to play with and fun to play is one of my favorite design goals...
...but I remember being an aspiring writer in the 80s & 90s, when so many folks wanted to sell your own dreams back to you in the form of just the right tool.
It makes one suspicious of "the right tool."
It makes one suspicious of "the right tool."
I'm going to ignore hardware & software for a moment here & discuss them at the end of this thread for reasons I'll get into later.
Instead, I'm going to start with conceptual tools—Paradigms & Practices that have served me well.
We'll start with some Basic P&P…
Instead, I'm going to start with conceptual tools—Paradigms & Practices that have served me well.
We'll start with some Basic P&P…
Designing Vast & Starlit, I delved into the very least a game had to do and still satisfy my own personal needs. Therein I found the 3 things that make game design easy:
• A Gravid Situation
• Functional Collaboration
• Interesting Content Generation
• A Gravid Situation
• Functional Collaboration
• Interesting Content Generation
#AprilTTRPGMaker
"5. Favorite game you've worked on"
Obviously, I should pick #SwordsWithoutMaster⚔️. It's what I'm known for & it is destined to be the game that finally usurps #DnD.
But pound for pound, Vast & Starlit is the most important game I've ever made. So it wins.
"5. Favorite game you've worked on"
Obviously, I should pick #SwordsWithoutMaster⚔️. It's what I'm known for & it is destined to be the game that finally usurps #DnD.
But pound for pound, Vast & Starlit is the most important game I've ever made. So it wins.
Vast & Starlit was unleashed upon the world 5 years ago last month. Originally, it was only available in print—tiny little game books the size of 2 business cards bound together.
To get it, you had a play a game: Either find me & hand me $1/book I'd hand you from my own wallet…
To get it, you had a play a game: Either find me & hand me $1/book I'd hand you from my own wallet…
…or you mailed me the rough equivalent of a dollar in your local currency along with a drawing you made for each book. The subject of the drawing depended on the book. The core rules needed a spacecraft, Bodies in the Dark needed two aliens either fighting or making out…
