Subject:
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Re: Elements of a brick oriented RPG
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.gaming
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Date:
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Thu, 16 May 2002 00:44:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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23 times
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As a long time gamer I thought I would make a few
suggestions
--- Frank Filz <ffilz@mindspring.com> wrote:
> I've been thinking about combining my hobbies of The
> Brick and Role
> Playing. The question is what is the best way to go about
> it. Some
> questions I've been asking myself:
>
> 1. Do I go with an existing RPG and just use LEGO bricks
> to build sets?
If you plan to play locally with friends, i recommend us
3rd edition D&D. If you want quicker and easier for
convention play, I suggest using brik war rules for the
combat and making some basic rules for character classes
and skills
> 2. Do I use LEGO minifigs, or do I use standard metal
> miniatures?
Lego minifigs are of course larger than standard metal
figs, but far less costly because every AFOL has dozens of
minifigs and the possiblities of color, weapon and
equipment combonations are endless.
> 3. Do I use a rules light system, or a heavy system, or
> something in
> between?
As i said mentioned in question 1, heavy rules if u want
to game with friends locally, light to medium for
convention play.
> 4. Do I use a canned setting, or build my own setting
> which is keyed to
> a LEGO theme?
For local game doesn't matter much, for convention play i
would suggest having planned modules, possibly
incorparating one or all the lego castle themes
> 5. If I key the setting to a LEGO theme, do I try and
> maintain purity,
> or do I just use the theme as a starting point?
Use the theme as a starting point then expand from there.
> 6. If I don't go with an existing game, do I build from
> scratch, or do I
> start with an existing game, and adapt it?
Use modified brikwarz or castle war rules for combat and as
a basis for magic rules and expand on the standard classes
and skills and abilities
> 7. What is the intention of the game? A game for one off
> con events? An
> alternative RPG to give a break from something else? A
> long term
> campaign as a primary game?
Already answered above i think
> I'm very strongly thinking that I want to use LEGO
> elements for scenery
> and miniatures. This will limit the inhabitants of the
> setting to those
> easily representable by LEGO elements. A reasonable
> number of creatures
> exist, and many more can be built from bricks, so a wide
> range of
> settings should be possible. I'm mostly leaning to a
> fantasy setting
> since I find that is what I enjoy gaming the most.
> Science Fiction also
> works well and could be fun with LEGO.
I would stay with fantasy first and see how it goes then
convert rules for a SF setting
> There is some consideration of a Pirate themed game to
> interact with
> Evil Stevie's Pirate Game.
>
> I've been looking at FUDGE, http://www.fudgerpg.com for
> one possibility
> of a game basis. My gut feel is that I want a game of
> modest complexity.
> It should be skill based, and have enough detail in the
> skills to allow
> for interesting characters. I would like to be able to
> run a moderately
> long term campaign, but probably won't play too often, so
> character
> development should be granular so something can improve
> at least every
> few sessions, if not more often. On the flip side, there
> has to be
> enough depth that a years worth of gaming doesn't result
> in unplayable
> characters.
>
> I'd like to base the game heavily in an existing rules
> set to make it
> easier to recruit players (this makes me wonder if I
> should look at D20,
> though long ago I got tired of many of the elements of
> D&D).
I would take a look at 3rd edition D&D. It is an easy to
use and comprehensive rule base and allows for great
varitions.
> A brick based RPG clearly calls for a moderately detailed
> combat system
> which is tactical in nature (this would probably
> eliminate Everway for
> example [of course Everway's character generation system
> wouldn't
> interact with LEGO too well either I don't think]). On
> the other hand,
> the toyness of bricks suggest that the system should not
> be too serious
> or too detailed.
Rules for convention play or less complex local rules would
be necessary. As i said a modification of existing lego
war rules could be used. the scale and weapon damages are
established, only character creation would have to be
different
> I had been thinking of trying to use LEGO pieces to build
> the character
> sheet, but I think that wouldn't really work out (you'd
> be constantly
> looking at the rules to determine just what skills you
> had). On the
> other hand, keeping track of things like hit points and
> spell points
> screams out for use of bricks (for wounds, you can even
> use different
> colors for different meanings [red=wounds, blue=stun,
> green=poison]).
> Depending on the system, either a large plate or a
> baseplate could be
> used (20-30 hit points would fit on a 6x6 plate, magic
> users could use a
> 6x10 plate to have room for their spell points (even
> larger if they have
> things like crystals which store spell points, or
> familiars which have
> their own).
>
> It might be interesting to produce printed tiles for all
> the equipment
> used in the game. Then you can just stick the tiles onto
> a plate and
> have an easy record of your equipment, and encumbrance
> could even be
> based on the space taken on a plate by all your
> equipment. Things like
> arrows could be represented by bricks where different
> colors represent
> different quantities (though don't use too many colors).
> An alternative
> would be to just assume the quiver is the main
> encumbrance, and just
> keep track of the arrows separately.
Workable ideas. Players could each have a small plastic
box like one of the gladware disposable food storage boxes
to keep everything there character carrys. Weapons,
treasurs and equipment would be in the box and if the
character is using it they just put it on there fig. I
still think u would need a little pencil and paper to keep
track of things if you go with moderate to heavy rules but
I think it would be possible to go paperless with light
rules
> Of course treasure would be represented using LEGO
> treasure. Assume the
> values of gold coins are the number of silver pieces. Use
> grey 1x1 round
> plates to count silver pieces. You could make a little
> compartment for
> small treasure on the hit point card. The compartment
> should have a
> firmly closing lid (attaches by a few studs for example).
>
> Character's minifigs should try to be representative of
> what the
> character wears, but need not be absolute. Perhaps the
> system should
> encourage modest or light armor so not everyone is
> wearing a helmet. A
> fair range of armor is certainly representable given the
> variety of
> armor pieces, and torso printings.
Inumerable configurations would of course be the highlight
of the game, and it would very cool when u whip out the
villian to be representive of how he or she looks
> Even before thinking about a brick oriented RPG, I've
> actually had
> thoughts about setting up a campaign world where most
> folks only wear
> leather or similar light armors. The game system for such
> a campaign
> should then balance the effects of armor with the
> benefits of mobility
> for lightly armored folks. The common LEGO weapons, broad
> sword,
> cutlass, hatchet, and spear all work well with light
> armor. The heavier
> weapons, katana, lance, battle axe, and bastard sword
> would then be
> restricted to knights and nobility. Making the world
> metal poor might be
> interesting. Then the silveryness of the bastard sword
> might be easily
> justified by implying that the only way to get such a
> large weapon is by
> magic. Of course the silver breast plate would represent
> magical armor
> which is much lighter. Of course implying magic by a
> silver weapon means
> that no one has a common dagger, but perhaps you just
> assume everyone
> has a common dagger, and silver daggers are the most
> common magic weapon
> (of course the large number of silver daggers suggests
> playing in
> Katherine Kerr's world...). Of course a number of
> constructed weapons
> can be made and need to be dealt with (has anyone put
> together a nice
> catalog of them?).
Individual game master's decision. On the whole not a bad
idea and should be fairly workable
> I haven't thought as much about non-Fantasy genres, but
> the whole
> weapons issue is a whole lot easier there. You don't need
> anything more
> than what's available for Pirate, Wild West, and other
> similar
> historical genres. There's plenty of good space weapons
> ideas to fulfill
> anyone's needs there.
>
> One question is how the standard LEGO factions play into
> the game. I
> think I would build a campaign world to suit. I would
> probably try and
> make most of the factions available to the PCs, but I
> would probably ask
> the players to decide as a group which set of compatible
> factions they
> would play (though it might be possible to play a
> character from an
> incompatible faction in certain circumstances). Generally
> PCs aren't
> usually connected too tightly to the government though,
> so probably
> there wouldn't be much of a problem (so perhaps the one
> or two
> soldier/knight/noble characters come from a faction, and
> every one else
> uses a generic factionless figure). Of course shields
> present somewhat
> of a problem, but maybe the Dragon Masters and Black
> Knights are
> declared to not be a faction, and perhaps the dragon is
> the symbol of
> the adventurers guild or something.
>
> I would make the campaign mostly human centric, but some
> non-humans are
> clearly useable. I don't usually do elves in my FRPGs
> because they
> generally are just set up as humans which are better at
> magic. Some of
> the possible races (not all would be available for PCs):
>
> - human
> - dwarf (use stubby legs)
> - wookies
> - ewoks (well, maybe not - though I'm not personally
> offended by them)
> - goblins
> - cat people (Fabuland head)
> - rat people (Fabuland head)
> - wolfman (new head or Fabuland)
> - Stingrays
> - Bulls
> - undead (skeletons, mummies, Darth Vader heads)
> - lizard men (Fabuland head)
>
> I think I would be inclined to restrict PCs to human,
> dwarf, goblin, and
> perhaps cat people (the Fabuland cat head is just to nice
> [almost cute,
> but not absurdly so, and hey, I'm a sucker for cats]).
> I'd probably
> allow rat people also (I've used rat people in some of my
> FRPGs as a
> race which lives in the undercity, too bad the Fabuland
> head looks a
> little to goofy for such a shadowy racial concept.
>
> I think I would set up the campaign to be strongly
> centered on a modest
> town for which the important buildings and their
> neighborhoods could be
> constructed as permanent sets. I've got some ideas on
> modular dungeon
> pieces which would make it easy to set up dungeons for
> exploration (the
> ease of this compared to building wild expanses of
> wilderness suggest a
> return to the dungeon oriented campaigns, but with care,
> plenty of
> outdoors can be done also).
Individual game master choices. A lot of work for the game
master to build and construct dungeons and ruins, but you
can but the players to work on the non-essantial buildings
like the town and of course when the PCs earn enough to
build a keep, they really get to build it. Players can
help with non-specific things like the modular dungeon
tiles for mass production, then the GM can modify them as
needed for the encounter.
> I welcome additional thoughts and ideas.
Your ideas sound like a lot of fun! If You need help,
please LMK! I have seen or played at least 3 dozen
different game systems and would be happy to help with more
ideas. I plan on being at brickfest so you would have at
least one player to try rules on.
> FUT: lugnet.fun.gaming
>
> Frank
Joel (Building and equipping his ninja now!)
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