Originality, the big concern

Since my last article you have possibly started to broaden your horizons, and have a more concrete idea in your head as to what you want to achieve for your project, whether that be a game or supplement. Now, I hope, no matter how big or small your idea is, whether supplemental or original, that this blog will be able to impart some value. However, it will be geared a lot more to those who are going the whole hog, and making a full blown game of their own, so keep that in mind.

So, you have your theme, right? The type of game you want to make, maybe you have an idea of the setting, what the players will get up to (Monte Cook refers to this as the ‘heart’ of your game - take a look here for more on that). Great, so… now what?

Well, let’s talk about one of the key worries you may have (I know I did) at this stage. How original is my idea?

Well, let’s address it outright. It doesn’t really matter.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit reductive. Let me explain.

Sure, fully ripping off a whole game, leaving its core mechanics and not changing it, then claiming it is an original game, isn’t great. While not technically plagiarism (you can’t copyright maths) it is certainly not honourable, and will definitely be found out immediately if anyone who knows even a little about RPGs picks up the core book.

If thats the route you see yourself going down, then I highly recommend you pivot, and turn your idea into a supplement, adventure, or sourcebook for that system instead, which is an equally valid and just as creative and rewarding an endeavour as creating one’s own system.

But, maybe you recognise a couple of mechanics in the games you have been playing. The core resolution mechanic from here, or the progression system there, and you think they would work your game, but need some changes and additions to bring it to life. Now you’re onto something. These mechanics are tried and tested, they work well, and if you identify that they make sense for where you want to go, you’re onto a winner. All they need is your brilliant idea. If you identify something that you are confident will work, that has been proven to work well, then there is no absolute need to try to make something up from scratch (though you certainly can). It is absolutely okay, and even commonplace, to take the barebones of an existing system, and make it your own. There are thousands of RPGs out there. The chances that your core mechanic are wholly original is probably almost nil, everyone has discovered the ones that work well already. It is what you build around that mechanic that matters and makes the difference.

Let’s talk about that in practise with the game I am working on.

We have a theme, an idea, a heart. Infiltrations and heists set in a world on the edge of the next apocalypse, where everything and everyone you didn’t know personally, is a threat to you. We also knew we wanted low crunch, not necessarily rules light, but it has to be relatively simple and smooth to run and play games. We needed mechanics to reflect and work with both the theme, and our desire to keep things mechanically digestible.

So, we began with ideas surrounding the core resolution mechanic that is heavily inspired by games like Blades in the Dark, Spire, and Heart. Increasing the amount of dice you roll based on your level of experience, and the final result coming from the highest number in the roll you made. The highest number on the die representing a resounding success, with anything lower meaning increasingly worrying levels of failure, from a small setback but still succeeding, all the way to massive critical failures that puts everyone on the back foot.

It’s a great start. The dice mechanic matches up to the theme: gritty, threatening, but still gives scope for dramatic moments of great success that you have somehow pulled off using the bare minimum resources available to you, and, from my knowledge and experience of these games, it should be relatively light on rules for now.

But, there comes that initial ‘problem’: Left unchanged, it would be no different to the games that are the source of inspiration. Which, if we were making a hack or a sourcebook, wouldn’t be an issue. But that’s not what we are aiming for, we want this game to be our own. So, instead of ripping it out and trying something completely different, we realised that it was a great foundation and wanted to add to it, to tweak it to our tastes and aims. We did this by looking at what was missing to really capture what we wanted our game to feel like.

Sacrifice.

It was missing an element of sacrifice, spur of the moment choices, dramatic conclusions where one character gave up something in the final stretch in order to get the job done or to help another, sometimes at the expense of their own safety or even lives. We felt that we needed something like this mechanically, in order for the game to feel close to its theme and eventual setting. We got to talking about how we could do it and, as players of tabletop, card, and video games, something that we hadn’t considered came into focus: using dice as a form of currency, and allowing it to be a choice. Results as a resource.

It makes sense. It allows for player agency, and backs up our desire to make a cinematic, narrative experience for player, and marry the mechanics to it.

Remember the core mechanic? The player rolls an amount of dice equal to ranks in the relevant skill and the highest result on those dice represents the outcome, with lower numbers netting a success with a drawback, or outright failure, and higher numbers representing success with no drawbacks.

The prevailing idea, is such that when a player rolls those dice for a check, they have a choice to make. They can either take the result they have, the result gets narrated, and the next thing happens. So far, so normal. Or, they can “bank” the highest die. This banked die can be kept around to be used to boost a check in the future, give the die to an ally to boost their check, buff a piece of equipment, and so on. The catch being, that they re-assess the roll results. You no longer count the die you banked, and you take the next highest die as your new result. Bank a 7, and now you’re left with a 4? That previous success is now a failure, in exchange for having a banked resource ready to go for yourself later, or right now, for someone else in need. Sacrifice.

We, at the moment, feel like we are onto something on this one. It takes a mechanic we know works well, makes it closer to our vision, and makes it our own. We envision characters making tough decisions, giving up their guaranteed success in exchange for a failure, in order to give their friend a boost on a check that is mission critical, maybe even taking damage in the process as they last minute throw a weapon across the room as the heavy doors shut between them.

That feeling, of taking something you know works well, and having a lightbulb moment to bring it closer to your goal, is so gratifying and satisfying. It makes you excited and motivated to continue, you can take that motivation, and put it towards the other mechanics you feel inspired to create, and see in your minds eye, and start to plug them in piece by piece to the core system design.

So maybe try that approach, if you are worried about originality. Take something you know works, and pull it closer to you. It isn’t sacred. It is mouldable. Of course, I applaud you if you can come up with a cohesive system that doesn’t yet exist on your own. But especially if it is your first endeavour, why not stand on the shoulders of the giants that designed before us?

Thank you for reading, next time we will start looking at how to start, orders of creation, and how to break that initial writer’s block to tackle the blank page.