So here it is, the first version of the GEARS character sheet:

The readable edition of this first part should be available in less than a week.

This kind of writing is a fresh challenge. The raw rules that have so long been at the center are being turned into something practical. And not just a quick set of usable spells or the like, but a rich tapestry of magic systems, with guidelines for creating magic based in ancient lore, fairytale sorcery, technical training, or any other kind. It is far from exhaustive; I have material enough to fill books upon books with magical goodies. But it is extremely dense (one box describes the construction of over a thousand spells!), and allows a lot of variation, using only the basic components of GEARS already created.

There is still a lot to do, but now we have entered the System chapter, the last untamed land remaining. Things are still slated to go up before everything is written, but this makes it look like more will be available than expected when that happens!

I originally wanted to talk about advanced rules in this post, but it seems I have already done that. Then I thought of touching on the idea of the GEARS core book(s) being a kitfor people to easily create lots more material for the game, but I have that covered, too. The rules being written seem, for now, to be smooth as a baby’s bottom, so complaining about problems is out of the question, too.

So my apologies for the blog being a bit thin these days, but it seems what needs to be said has, for now, been said. What is needed is action, and that action is blossoming fast, with Fourth Draft lurking right around the corner.

And with that, a new set of playtests will commence. Now that should be worth rambling about later!

For the time being, here is the cover designed for Fourth Draft. As in the previous two covers (First Draft had no cover), the theme is “Work In Progress”, but the very simplistic logo-and-textlayout is now being transformed into something a little more interesting. Of course, clearly still WIP!

It relates to the last post, really. I’ve been a bit psyched about the Intransigent Design setting, especially with some very positive commentary arriving from playtesters. It’s a complex world, with a lot of deep philosophical choices and concerns. It’s provocative and makes you think. But in the end, those are not necessarily good traits for a game world. For an intellectual debate, perhaps, but game worlds are not pensive documentaries.

The main setting for GEARS has always been Alice 2.0. This has not changed. The question is, is GEARS going to be the source of all the game is, or is Alice? Is this about a new kind of game rules, or about a new kind of game world? Which will be on top?

It might seem a bit redundant. After all, if both are made and both are published, who cares what the intented focus is? But the decision is rather serious, simply because it will influence both the publishing model and the later supplement line. As mentioned before, GURPS is a big inspiration for GEARS, but GURPS also had what some would perceive as a problem, namely that it had game worlds made left and right, with little cohession and followup. Its 4th edition put a multi-world setting at the center, but the philosophy still seems unchanged. Is that what’s ahead for GEARS? Or should the game simply stand up and proclaim that the rules are solely there to flesh out Alice 2.0?

Lord knows Alice allows anything to be used, and poses the kind of challenge to the system that GEARS was made to tackle: Diversity, flexibility, coherence, all the goodies. But Intransigent Design was not made in Alice’s image. If everything is about the core setting, that could be considered a problem, or at least a divergence from the bigger plan.

So… What do we want? A set of rules to rule it all, or a settingfor the rules to serve? Divergences are still possible, no matter what the choice, but the exceptions to the rules (no pun intended) cannot be what carries the system.

I am leaning towards making Alice the focus, and creating the best possible rule system to flesh her world(s) out. Intransigent Design is still in my heart, but I can actually see it as ‘the rebel’, the one setting that defies the mischievous mayhem of Alice and Babylon, by being deep, dark, and foreboding. The sinister cousin of the lovable rogue.

Yeah… I can imagine that!

What is looking pretty sure now is a line-up of what the first roll-out of GEARS settings will be, and they are looking juicy, very juicy…

Alice 2.0 remains the default ‘core setting’. Using it will be optional, but it binds all other settings together very nicely. As is already in Third Draft, Alice arrived to our world in 2007 in an explosion of the coast of Morocco, and promptly swam, ran and commandeered transportation to get her into the Saharan desert, where she founded Babylon. Now, Babylon is a mysterious city, full of secrets, madness and intrigue, the center of worldwide conspiracies and espionage, and very secretly home to super-scientific Resurrection Machines and portals to other worlds. Nobody knows who this Alice is, what she wants, or how she does what she does and knows what she knows, but the world is watching her, and the Iron Ring barricade the UN tries to keep from imploding at the edge of Babylon. And wouldn’t you know it: The player characters are smack in the middle of it all! Lunacy ensues!

Broken Pattern is a post-apocalyptic world set after technological marvels became humanity’s fall. Society did not explode; it imploded, tearing itself apart when we could no longer govern ourselves. The cities are still there, and our technological remnants are fought over greatly, especially by those who gain their power from applying what can be salvaged. In the desolate and destroyed New World, technology like battered exosuits and fickle AI is not a forgotten artifact, but the key to True Power! Broken Pattern is gritty and harsh, but at the same time shows what kind of hope can be built from knowing your past…

Hybrid Elite, set in a far future, has powerful aliens holding Earth in a military/diplomatic deathgrip as humanity accepts their new overlords, getting in return powers beyond belief. Galactic superhumans maintain the seemingly benevolent alien rule, while rebellious powers try to find their way in to deal a much needed blow against the new ruling class. Combining dark, ultra-powerful superheroic adventure with breathtaking transhumanistic ideas, Hybrid Elite is a setting of tremendous powers, to those willing to fight for their species’ survival in the name of another race entirely.

Stone Sky Kingdoms is GEARS’ contribution to the fantasy genre. But it is not fantasy as you may know it; it’s both darker and grander, as powerful sorcerers try to make the stars fall to the ground and build mighty cities around them, draining the power of these fallen pieces of the ’stone sky’. A power so great that few dare go too close, and the lands around the fallen stars warps with magic only tapped by the most insane. Stone Sky Kingdoms explores fantasy as a large and bewildering tapestry of magics, faith, arcane torment, chaos, and immense beauty and heroic values that may be the last defense against those who want the sky to truly fall!

Ectopia, “the outer place”, is a cyberpunk world of the near future. But something is wrong. There is something lurking in the artificial realms our technologies have created. ‘Ghosts’ seen only through bionic eyes and in data archives, entities wanting to reach out to us, for reason we cannot, perhaps dare not, understand. And as material greed and carnage claw at society, in a world that has not come to terms with the power it has attained over such a brief age of progress, something new is being born in its blind angles…

These five will all get a treatment in GEARS Fourth Draft, and presumably in the final First Edition. The following two, however, are slated as the first settings to get separate treatment as supplement:

Intransigent Design, where our world is rocked to its very core in a not so distant future. As humanity looks on, God returns, bringing with Him the armies of Heaven, a civilization of unimaginable power, loyal to a Plan so far beyond the understanding of humanity that we have, inadvertedly, strayed from it. The loyal and devout will submit, the rebellious will fall. But God has adversaries, both human and other, and as the realms of Heaven and Hell and the intricacies of the human soul becomes the stage of the greatest battle faced by either of those fighting, the world is changed forever.

Reich X is picked as perhaps the truest of Evils, a world in which Hitler claimed victory and subdued the world… by magic, alien saucer technology, mythical creatures and advanced inventions. Inside Neuropa, brains in jars plan the war of a Third Reich armed with sorcerers and cyborgs, ravaging unconquered lands with vampires and werewolves, and hunting Qabbalist rebels with saucers before the spirits of the slain Hebrew people can give the Underground a foothold in the glorious Nazi empire.

Roleplaying games are a shaky one; the market is vulnerable and not that strong, and there are plenty of options out there for anyone to go grab. The old proverb is that “to make a small fortune publishing RPGs, you have to start with a big fortune”, meaning that most of it is money out the window. Who would publish in a climate like this?

The answer to that is easy: Diehard roleplayers, and crazy hopefuls with an idea. Why? Because of a love of the game (or just the idea. It happens). But the big question is how? In the olden days, it was about getting a bunch of prints made, taking them to a game event like GenCon, and hoping someone would buy them. Then came Print on Demand and PDF publishing, and the business changed. Well, it changed a little; books were suddenly easier to produce and sell, and online sales were easier to get to a larger market. Free samples were affordable, and some people sold their wares. But things changed even more…

The business plan that I have been poking at for some time, without really understanding its practical implications, is ransom publishing. Essentially, it involves making people pay for something before it’s even created, like a massive pre-order, and then making it freely available once it is done. To a business man, that might sound like lunacy, or a wet dream, but people are doing it. I found out exactly how much the idea of ransom has spread when I came into contact with Kickstarter.com, a site that facilitates the creation of art and other things with the ransom process. Simply put, they collect prepayments and only bill them when a project has enough of them to be fully funded. Then, the creator can create it and make it free or hand out erly copies to those who supported it.

I like this as a business model for GEARS, but it is filled with uncertainties. The big one, of course, is whether people will fund a game book before it is made, or if they want to see it before buying it. But the potentials of this model are staggering! For one, it would provide opportunities I like, such as allowing anyone to print and sell copies for free. If the game shows its true worth successfully, that means a lot of people will be making money on it with little investment, and odds are they will be first in line to facilitate the creation of more books, giving them something to sell. Others can support with lesser sums to move things along, since 500 people supporting with $10 is $5000, which is enough to get a fiar-sized game supplement written. Having the line free after that makes it highly available, and people can print it however they see fit.

But the greatest win from a ransom model is freedom. In that, I mean freedom to focus on the writing and playing part of the game! A ransom model would take away a lot of business responsibilities from myself and those helping GEARS get created, allowing more to be written for it. No print hassles, no rights issues, no worries what book to write first, because the funding will show the interests that exist. It would allow us to be exactly what we want to be: Game creators, not business people. If we wanted to do business, we’d be making silly ringtones, after all

Ransom is not a guaranteed model for GEARS to launch on, but it is on the table, and it has a lot of attractive qualities. More research will have to be done, but if it can be pulled off, the need for extensive business research will fade in the future. It will be what it was always meant to be, anmely about the game!