Simplicity, Complexity and Tracking NPCs

All games have to start somewhere, and I, even as a naive 19yr old knew that I would not be able to begin with nothing.

So, over the next few years, I played (and researched) in this order: Dragon Warriors, Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Rolemaster, Gurps (fantasy), Traveller, Vampire(VtM) and Shadowrun. I then borrowed and read the base rule set for several other games, including some niche games, such as Tank Girl & DragonballZ.

By 19, I was 4 game systems into this list. I came to Warhammer via HeroQuest & AdvHeroQuest, which we a very clever marketing system for Citadel.

So I had these basic ideas: The game system needs to be rules lite in the basic design, so players can quickly make choices. Attack vs Cast spell vs Heal vs Run away, but I roleplay needed more choices too, rather than 'roll charisma'

How many times has it happened: I try to seduce the girl, roll: 20! crit, she succumbs to your charms and you bed her that night.. if only it were that easy, you'd just go into a club, say 1 line to 20-30 girls, eventually you get a crit20 and you 'win' (or in the new systems, take 20) 


The game system needs to have more reality to it. 

Not in the sense of story, play or otherwise, but the underlying maths need to be mathematical, the structure of the rules need to make sense, so that any human being can make choices in the world, which are logical, predictable and would react the same way in real life & game play. This gives players a nice sense of 'grounding' to work from.

Not having that grounding has always caused ire in games, both from my own experience, and told to me at numerous conventions. 

I had a game where I was playing a Vampire, who could speed up to perform multiple actions. I kicked a cup at my enemy, expecting it to fly across the room at heightened speed (or shatter and the peices fly across the room) but as soon as it had left the tip of my foot, it slowed down to normal speed.. the roleplay was broken by the rules (yes I know GMs should, but often side with rule books until they get more experience) an argument ensured, and the entire nights RP was soured by the lack of trust I had with the world.

So I needed a system that would follow the laws of physics from the start, THEN we could bend the rules for magic etc.

Lastly, I wanted my game world to be both dynamic and static. I can not tell you how many times I felt that the GM was pandering the players, to the point of frustration. (I have also fallen into the GMtrap, players conciously or subconciously become stupid if you let them get away with it, it also spoils the game). Usually this was because the GM had picked a campaign that was too high for the players, or too low, and had to scale it. Sure, a well written campaign can be 'scaled' but as often as not, the scaling causes things to be too easy, lulling the players into false securities, or too hard, causing them TPK more often than not (Why do players decide to keep going, when they probably know they're going to die?)

Probably because I was running a club, where each week I might have a whole new set of players, repeatedly starting campaigns, never finishing the storyline. I began to structure the game in sessions: If you got out by the end of the session, you lived for another day. If you failed, rock falls TPK. Players would look at the clock, and begin thinking about how to get out (one exception. If ALL players turned up the next week, we'd do a 'to be continued' ending)
But this created a sequence of events, in which a group of adventurers would come into the first room of a dungeon, clean it out, loot the room, then realise they were too damaged to continue, and go back to town to regroup, resupply and think it over. The following week, a new group, some of the same players, some new, would return to the dungeon, the older players would explain to the new what happened, and what they intended on next. Sometimes new players would provide new skills and find hidden treasures, or work out a puzzle to help the older team get through without harm (yes, sometimes old players would quickly make up a character relevant to the quest,just for that session,  so they COULD figure out the puzzle).

" Sir Baldwin, Hector and the Bard Zafrodi realise that their quest has come to a premature end. The Puzzle on the door is far too archaic to understand, they return to the city of Malthue and seek out a wizard. Hector, having some duties with his lord, agrees to meet them in a weeks time, leaving Baldwin and Zaf to find a suitable candidate. Along comes Hwentil the Shaman & Mystic, who mysteriously knows the Archaic Language of Hui'k Lui'k and together they figure out the door puzzle, and dispatch the undead they lie in wait behind the locking mechanism"

This meant that the world lived on between adventures.. that between the sessions, people were getting on with their medieval lives, and that was when I began to track these NPC lives, their politics and the world at large. 

The Start of Dungeonworld the Roleplay System

So, I had a club. A captive audience. I could test my new 'system' on these new minds.

My clubs age group was roughly 11-19. Some kids from the after school care I worked at, some from Highschool, and some my own age.

Could I develop a system which was, to my mind, a roleplay system. not a wargaming system.

I had, subconciously, not liked any roleplay system, because it was based around a table-top concept. miniatures might be needed (which none of us could afford) many, MANY books might be needed (AD&D, I'm looking at you) and the biggest part. RULES were needed..

You have to realise, I'm writing this as a 40yr old. some of my thoughts have been stewing in my mind for 21 years, realisations occured about what it was I was thinking.. Back then I didn't like it because it felt wrong. I didn;t know WHY it felt wrong, it just did. 4 years ago, I clicked, when talking to a 19yr old. It felt wrong.Therebecause it WAS wrong. They had created a set of rules that went against what was possible in reality.

I've come to refer to it as Bandaid Gaming.

Bandaids solve the problem for now, cover the wound until it heals. If the wound is not properly cleaned & sutured, this bandaid will not be a solution, the wound may or may not heal, will likely leave something, a scar or problem that might need to be ignored, or fixed later.

Many Game systems, created a set of rules that suited the needs of the designers, for now. They test it, but its broken and the cost to fix is above that they are willing to do. Many fixes are bandaids. They find a problem and fix the bandaid for that problem, but in turn that sometimes breaks and they need to fix it again.

This actually turns out to be a good business model. D&D is up to 5th edition now? Make a game, realise its flawed, make a magazine which addresses the flaws, bring all the flaws together til you have a nice big list. fix the flaws with an Uber bandaid, print new edition. Ad-infinitdum!?

So over 1994, I was trying to find a game system that wasn't all bandaids. I failed.

So I decided to make my own.  

Dungeonworld, The Beginning of the Club

In 1992, I was in Highschool, Year 12. I had an after school job in Childcare, and alot of kids from the after school care were interested in board games,. one in particular was Heroquest.

Back then I was paid $7 an hour to look after kids. I worked one hour after school from 3:45 to 4:45 when the school care had the most kids, and needed extra help.

I volunteered to run Heroquest for any of the kids interested, from 4:45 to 5:45 as some of the kids had to wait around for their parents until 6pm.

while I recognised that I was giving up a potential $7 an hour.. I also saw this need. Kids wanted to play these games, and their parents might be in the need for them to get out of the house and give them some peace and quiet..

So I started a club, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, 12pm til 4pm, for $2 an hour (I was expecting the kids to get most of this from their parents)

First of all, this partly didn't work, Parents had choices, and many of them were not as expensive as $8 for the day. Magic mountain, down at the beach, cost 20c a game, and $2 would get you a hot dog and coke.. so parents could leave their kids there for the day, with barely $5 in their pocket.

Most of the kids who wanted to come to my club, couldn't get $5 a month out of their parents, let alone $8 a week.. So I had to scale this.. firstly I made a set of 'helpers' those who would turn up at 11:30, help set up, and get in free.. then I made a membership card, laminated , which allowed 5 'visits' for $10.

So my next big problem was gamesmasters.. which is still a problem to this day.. I ran games, I never once had anyone run a game for me, For the next 4 years, I would run games. 

In the beginning

In 1990, Students of Modbury High were instructed to contact businesses, to organise work experience.

I organised to work for a Printing press, where I learnt about separation of prints into Red, Yellow Cyan and Blank. To demonstrate my knowledge, I was asked to take an Icon, Logo or Title of something and make it work with both this YCRB system, and an old B&W PhotoCopier.

I chose to do my 'club' name. Dungeonworld.

From there, my friends and I began a club for roleplay & boardgames.

In 1992 I was employed at the Modbury South Primary School After School Care. I was helping look after kids ages 5-12. Some, between 8-12 wanted to play board games. so I began bringing my games to the after school care. We played Heroquest, Talisman and Monopoly. more...

By the end of 1992, 12 kids wanted more, so I formed the Official Dungeonworld Club, Registered my business name, Trademarks and bought some more board games with my meagre inheritance when I turned 18.

By Christmas of 1993, I had 30+ members, we played Advanced Hero Quest, some guys came in to play D&D, Traveller, Vampire, Gurps. There seemed more interest in roleplay games than board games, I looked at many of them, over the shoulders of the other players. I gave them a go, as a player, but I always suspected there was something very wrong in what they were doing.

So Sometime in 1994, we started development on our own system. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay + Dragon Warriors + a little D&D, Some Rolemaster for good luck.

And thats how we started...