Some have wondered what I have been up to the past few weeks. The answer is seen over at d6gaming.org.
It has been a massive undertaking to get the whole of the Amar RPG online – rule system, information on the Kingdom of Amar, world mythology and more.
The whole system is now Open Source and put on a wiki so that anyone can pitch in to improve or add to the system or the world.
We welcome anyone to contribute new skills, spells, potions, rituals, magical items or any other neat and worthwhile additions.
And we welcome every nitpicking language enthusiast to correct errors in the text.
There is also a good collection of graphics included that any Game Master of any RPG system can freely use.
Go adventure!
Geir Isene - uncut 
Very impressed, I’m learning to program a little myself.
Ok, and the start playing button is…
It’s a role-playing game 🙂
Great work on the Amar upgrade! I’ll add in.
You can turbo charge this with ONE 1,000 word example.
Rafael just demonstrated the problem with RPGs with his “start button” comment! The biggest problem with RPGs is that people who are new to them can’t experience how a game feels and works mechanically until they know the rules and are smart enough with them to create the game experience.
They can’t find the “start button.”
So after a good amount of time and concentration in a mind scape, that is foreign to most, comes the notion, “Okay, this seems like fun …IF I understand it.
OR you show them the fun first!
What could be really helpful would be a running example of two players starting from character creation and progressing to the end of a short adventure with the new player following along with character sheets. This way, a new player can get the game experience and experience examples of die mechanics without having to digest rules text first. After that, they will be excited enough to bore into the rulebook completely and master the material.
“Kate and Tom are prepping for their first adventure. Tom gets his character sheet for Yor the Warrior of Virtue…”
Yor climbs a wall …
Yor fights an Ogre …
Tasha and Yor face a Magician who unleashes magic on them.
Tasha and Yor solve a puzzle.
Tasha and Yor learn a new skill …
Tasha and Yor climb a tall wall and both fumble and fall!
Tasha and Yor victorious!
***
What you get with such an example is an “instructional sandwich.” You get an example at the beginning. Then they read the rules and then they go back to the examples if they forgot something.
Stories turning into ideas is easier than ideas turning into stories!
I’ll throw one together, but I bet you will have yours done faster. I never have actually played Amar. I’ve only read the rules and mocked up a few scenes and that was a couple of years ago.
Feel free to smack one together.
I put a ultra-quick-intro on the front page as a small start.
What gives this game potential is that it allows for different mediums to carry it. Most RPGs work off of books and figurines and modules.
Amar can present the game itself in different forms:
Card Stock: Using Tarot sized cards, you could print all the rules and tables and character sheets on the same size card. One could also hold an adventures schematics on the same card stock.
Everything fits in a one simple stack to go into a back pack.
A small 2 x 3 inch book could be made so the rules fit in one’s pocket and one could keep the Character Sheets and adventure details on the phone.
Children’s modules with bedtime in mind could also be created.
The SIMPLICITY of this engine is where its potential lies.
Nobody has ever gotten an RPG into main stream consciousness. It has always been fringe, even when at its peak.
Making the “Start Button” clear could change that.
Amazing ideas. Katageek is on a roll. Keep rolling.
We are remodeling so I have to find where my laptop is buried!
Your system is also very LARP-able So with hand gestures in lieu of dice, one could make up realistic stories on terrains.
Will start one of these soon.
But that is GREAT work Geir. Amazing website. I think I’ll actually play it now and see if I can add anything to your effort.
That would be über-cool.
Or – we could do a video 🙂
I was thinking that last night. Short videos would be amazing. What makes Amar work is that there are really only TWO big ideas:
1. How a basic result is achieved on a skill being used or an attack being made.
2. How the die rolls work to get the final number (including fumbles).
Starting with those as the motif and playing it over and over in different ways releases a rapid understanding of the basics.
AFTER those prioritizing ideas are solid, the rest of the rules unfold easily.
Awesome suggestion katageek and great intro Geir. I would suggest an introductory story like katageek suggested AND a video. Do you think you could make a short video from a role-playing session Geir?
I think we could do that 🙂
BTW; My next project could be to put all of the available Midnight Magic shows online. These are the radio shows I did together with Stein Halvorsen from 1987-1990. We made history with the first Role-Playing show on Norwegian Radio (not sure if this was done anywhere else before that either), and it’s the only show that had a thriving black market for recordings.
And then I discovered that this wasn’t needed 🙂
Okay. I’m tried to make a book on your web site, but I couldn’t figure out how to edit text in book mode. So, instead, I’ll just do it in a word processor and copy and paste from your site.
It’ll take awhile. And I have more than one version.
Peace out till then.
The book only makes a pdf (i.e. not editable. I could simply make a user for you and you can start editing pages and add new pages 🙂
Well, hmm … if you think that would be faster. I have no idea how the interface works.
This layout you currently have is fine. I think I can cut and paste any table, text or graphic and that should be enough.
If there is an advantage to doing that – great!
I have one question for you Geir: If you would like to improve the control, organization, and quality your everyday life using RPG framework and tools, how would you do it? What would be the basic parts of that framework? 🙂