New to TTRPGs

[raschlain]

Hello guys!

 

I have grown up working on a story with my brother my entire life, with video games elements (paper heads up displays, tracking level gains, doing manual math for battle scenes, etc) but have never heard of Dungeons and Dragons, TTRPGs, etc until I was much older.

 

Now my brother and I continue to work on the world we developed when we were kids but struggle to find the balance between written and game elements for expressing the story (we have 7 gbs of spreadsheet data, to give you an idea).

 

Since learning about DnD and other TTRPGs, I was struck how many parallels there are between those games and what we've been working on all this time.

 

They are completely different, mind you, but the idea of building a consistent world with lore, races, rules and telling stories within that universe is very similar. It's one of the issues we have - many stories instead of focusing on one!

 

Anyway, I've been curious about TTRPGs ever since and have been wondering if I should cut up the stories in my world to act as different campaigns or games set in the world we created, as well as releasing content for people to make their own campaigns out of the rules of the world we created.

 

As such, I've been trying to find a way to play some games in a way that allows me to learn if the setting is a good fit or not, as well as to marvel at all the creativity and love people have had for these games for so long.

 

So much of what I've read about hooks, campaigns, etc have been so charming and fun that I think I would enjoy it for it's own sake.

 

Trouble is, I don't know how to play. I hope by lurking on this forum I can learn more and maybe get a chance to try out a character in a game when I learn enough.

 

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me.

 

Nice to meet you and can't wait to learn! 🙂

[Powderhorn]

It's wild that you basically created a TTRPG without the framework of TTRPGs!

I think what might be beneficial is to learn more about the setting, and then there is probably a rules set that works well for it.

Is this a medieval fantasy style setting (if so high magic or low magic?), a modern fantasy setting, a cyberpunk, a sci-fi, a superhero setting, or something else that doesn't immediately come to mind?

[raschlain]

2 minutes ago, Powderhorn said:

It's wild that you basically created a TTRPG without the framework of TTRPGs!

I think what might be beneficial is to learn more about the setting, and then there is probably a rules set that works well for it.

Is this a medieval fantasy style setting (if so high magic or low magic?), a modern fantasy setting, a cyberpunk, a sci-fi, a superhero setting, or something else that doesn't immediately come to mind?

We have built a spreadsheet that considers resource cost for every spell in the story. We are still building spells through it. Every type of magic power has a history and lore behind it which explains how it came to be and what it's roots are. I hope that helps with the magic system (I'm unfamiliar with the high vs low magic terms).

 

The current story we are telling is set in a post apocalyptic Victorian era but the history stretches from primordial to futuristic. So the idea would be to lay out a canon story for various settings and provide the population snapshot and relevant historic context for whatever campaign players would want.

 

Every character is run through a similarish engine to the spells with trade offs, growth and ranking - you can be an average Joe or an exceptional Einstein/Warrior equivalent level character. So, not exactly super heroes but lots of range depending on what players want.

[Powderhorn]

The idea of high magic and low magic is basically a question of how rare magic is - in a high magic setting, it is readily available for people to learn and use. In a low magic setting, it is much rarer and might be treated with grave suspicion!

In some ways, you're describing a setting book - in other ways, a rules system (this makes sense for how you describe it was developed).

I'd recommend looking at a few different styles of rules sets - anything free so you're not spending money while looking - to see what you might be able to mesh your mechanics with. I personally like the Without Number rules sets, which are linked in my signature, but you also should look at the free documentation for Dungeons & Dragons, and Pathfinder.

[raschlain]

Oh, I see!

 

This would be considered low magic setting.

 

That's exactly why I wanted to play some games - to learn how rules and games are developed and played. 😁

 

My ideal is to develop those rules and carve out campaigns that fit in the world and to have a companion web series.

 

I'll check out your links. 🙂

[Powderhorn]

Yes, and feel free to join the discord! It's a great community :)