Well, it’s now the second week of my two-months long challenge to create a new TTRPG and have it ready to run (or playtest) by the end of May. If you’d like to check out the first part, click here to read it now.

Like I’d written before, it’s set in a cyberpunk-futuristic setting. As someone who’s only played games in a traditional fantasy setting, it felt like a neat challenge to step outside of my comfort zone and try something completely new and original, at least to myself. Inspired by classic works of the genre, my biggest goal was to make combat feel quick and gruesome. There really shouldn’t be a winner of a firefight in my eyes, as it feels way more dramatic if everyone’s feeling bruised afterwards.

Character Creation

Character creation is one of my favorite minigames of any game, really. I tried to keep it pretty basic, as there are only four stats. Stripping it down to the basics has made my life a lot easier, and it feels pretty intuitive to be the game master for. There’s no stats that risk overlapping, you roll your dice pool, and something good or bad happens. Easy! Classes have followed your standard design as well. Gives you your health, armor type, weapons, and abilities as you level up. Since I’m using an action point system, it’s been interesting to see how minute changes to a class can really expand or limit your options. Each action has a cost, and that limits your turn.

Upgradeable Body

Sticking with genre tropes, I’ve also introduced ways that you can improve yourself physically as the game goes on. You can upgrade limbs, replace them, or by neat enhancements. I’ve tried to limit it to your extremities (including head and chest) as a way to provide extensive customization beyond your class. Although your class gives you your basic abilities, variety is the spice of life and it’s more fun if two different characters of the same class can play completely different.

The Beauty of Spreadsheets

I absolutely love a good spreadsheet. Believe it or not, any spreadsheet program can work great for playtesting your character creation or even serving as a character sheet. Seriously, I spent maybe two hours building out some simple formulas and a decent layout, and now I can create a handful of characters on the fly to playtest with. It might take some time, but it really saves you hours in the long run. I can’t recommend it enough .

What’s Next?

Over the next week or so I plan to continue building out the gear and upgrades you can buy. I think the core rules are in a pretty good spot right now, so coming up with new ideas and items while playtesting are my big goals. Once the core classes are finished as well I plan to have some of my friends try out the character gen rules, then it’s on to having them over to try the first official session! If you want to stay tuned on my updates along the way and get an early sneak peek of the rules once their done, join my mailing list today!