A fruitful week brought to light new GM aids

This week has been definitely fruitful: I had the chance to work together with two persons which helped me to strongly focus on the project and this generated the so called "virtuous circle" effect. I will be happy to detail the two events on a separate post, however I do confirm here that these both helped me to move ahead and to foster the development of the setting for the game! A lot!

Back to this positive momentum: while I was thinking to the contents and how to organize and deploy the mass of ideas within the books, I had a moment of reflexion on the proper order I should follow to be able to carry out all the sub-projects I have in mind with a consistent sequence.

The first priority goes, useless to say, to the core rules. Once I will get the proofread, I need to concentrate all the energies over there so that I can launch a playtest edition and have time (while playtest takes place) to complete the other parts of the project.

In this context I asked myself: is the GM receiving a complete set of products for a playtest of not? Well, my answer has been: no. Along with the core rules, the PC notebook/sheets, the GM notebook/log campaing there are two other elements I would love to provide the GMs:

  • a bestiary
  • an NPC roster
The first one is under construction: it is a book where I will list the most useful creatures for a campaign; in this sense, I will make available "ordinary" animals only. Despite this is an FRPG, I have clear in my mind that the complete "Monster Manual" will have the section I am currently compiling along with a specific and precise chapter on legendary/mythological creatures. This will not be like any other monster manual roster, I will apply the KUP paradigm even in this circumstance and make this interesting enough for the "kuppers" (i.e. players who enjoys this way of play). But at the end of the day, I cannot compile a Monster Manual in a short time and, at the same time, I cannot leave the GM without a monster roster. For this reason I am writing only the first part of the future Monster Manual where only normal animals are detailed. 

Along with the "animal roster", I thought these is something useful I can prepare for the GM. If we assume the GM will run the game by using animals only, he will need for sure to build up some NPCs (btw magical monsters can also be done). For this purpose I made up a very simple NPC roster where the GM can save in 1-page sheet an NPC. This helps to keep consistent the campaign and makes easier the work of the GM compared to the loose sheets he could use. For this second GM-aid the only concern I had was the number of pages: how many pages should this book have? 10, 100, 1000? Being very subjective (every GM has his proper style), I used a Solomonic decision: this booklet will have room for 33 NPCs. This is the same page-numbering of the GM Notebook so that these will be similar in size (if otherwise the GM is over-prolific in terms of NPCs, he can order a second copy and keep two digest-booklets with him...).

...as soon as I have the finished products, I will be happy and proud to post their pics here!


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