Thursday, April 29, 2010

My First Published Supplement!


No, not the B/X Companion (May, remember? And anyway, still waiting to hear back from my guy doing the cover...uh-oh!).

Nope, I've just made available my first micro-supplement for my micro-game War of the Mecha. The supplement (also one page) is called War of the Mecha II: Clan Invasion! and it is to be used in conjunction with WotM. You can download it from mediafire right here.

It's easy to see how game products (and supplements) can so easily spiral out of control. Once you get a halfway decent idea (including streamlining or re-inventing someone else's game!) you can find yourself wanting to add "just one more paragraph" (or page!) as new ideas pop into your head. The trick is to hold yourself to the minimum (a one-page micro or 64-page RPG) and then allow players to make it their own.

Because, face it: no matter how big and bulky you design a game, people are generally going to tinker with it (and in fact, the bigger and bulkier you make it, the MORE people will tinker with it to make it manageable). Look at this recent post over at the Black Gate (and the comments on the same): here are folks willing to play 4th edition D&D (something I am NOT) but they're just changing the damn thing to fit their own "fun." What's the point of Hasbro publishing an extra 20-30 pages of rules and instructions when people just throw 'em out anyway? People who want additional complexity will ADD IT THEMSELVES (I know we always did as kids!). What...are people too stupid to write their own random charts?

Anyway, the Clan Invasion! supplement is NOT needed to play War of the Mecha, but it can add an extra dimension to your WotM campaigns (players can create Clan characters or GMs can use the Clans as uber-adversaries). There's also a little addendum with (hopefully) useful info for WotM, but nothing that is necessary to play the original micro-game.

Enjoy!
; )

4 comments:

  1. om nom nom, printed double sided with the original release, ready for when my mate moves back east. cant wait to try it! :D
    One Page Rulesets and One Page Dungeons are the greatest idea i have ever seen, anywhere.

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  2. oh, and i've spent a good hour or so at work looking for cheap battletech minis now... thanks... :P

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  3. Awesome. I hope you folks enjoy it...I wouldn't mind seeing some Actual Play reports posted here or on your own blogs.

    Thanks for giving it a whirl, people...about 40+ downloads of each at this point!
    : )

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