If you had the Rights to do Whatever You Wanted with your Favorite Game?

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TristramEvans

TristramEvans

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As per the title, a spin-off from the Which RPG you Wish were more Popular thread...

Raleel said:
what you would change if you had a few million and rights to do whatever you wanted to your favorite game(?)
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So , assume you had (nearly) limitless funds and access to the rights to any RPG system/setting...

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Actually, I have been talking with Tonio Loewald about ForeSight….

I'd simplify the character generation procedure by (1) replacing the age and social background roles with a fixed budget, (2) coalescing the generation-point and education-point budgets into one, (3) doing away with the separate inherent and trained attributes, and (4) doing away with randomly-rolled Abilities and Limitations. I'd merge the Endurance and Willpower attributes. I'd give each attribute a PCS equal to twice its value minus four, and a base ease factor more in line with the BEFs of skills so that ease-factor modifiers had the same impact on skills and attributes. I'd revise the skill list with a few changes of names, mergers of skills, and alterations to formulas and cost values, abolish the Seduction and Artistic Composition skills and a couple of others, and replace the skills Pain Resistance, Scan, and Empathy with Endurance, Perception, and Empathy attribute rolls respectively. I'd revise the Speed formula to depend on Agility alone. I'd adopt a new formula for Unarmed Damage Class that was a bit less generous to low Strength. I'd revise the Fields of Knowledge list quite a bit, aiming to be a bit sloppier and less precise. I'd abolish Temperature familiarity, and replace the system of environments used for Environment familiarity with the one from ForeSight Enhanced. In fact, I've already done all of that and built the character calculator. Might need a bit of playtesting and revision.

I would experiment with using only half the values for attributes (i.e. only odd or only even attributes).

I'd re-write the rules for Fields of Knowledge to increase the emphasis on "if you have a field, you know your stuff and it just works". I'd introduce disadvantages that work like Aspects in Fate (at least for compels), with Hero Points continuing to spend like those in James Bond 007. But I might add optional rules for invokes for effect. And perhaps an optional rule in which Hero Points replace experience points and cannot be spent normally.

I'd tweak the "Resolving Wilderness Encounters" rules to cover patrolling and infiltration a little bit better.

I'd find someone to help me devise a simpler combat system, perhaps based on "Saturday Night Firefight" from CyberPunk.

I'd revise the tech levels and expand the equipment list, and simplify the weapons table along the lines of ForeSight Enhanced.

I'd cut the star system and society generators (replace them with a computerised generator) and the spaceship design, construction, and combat rules.

I'd spend money on art, editing and layout, and hiring a programmer to code a star system, planet, and society generator that suited my taste.

.

Then, since that wouldn’t cost enough, I’d get art and cartography and editing and layout to bring out my homebrew setting Flat Black as a commercial product.
 
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Squeakula said:
Mythras: Comfortable Font edition?

Actually an all in one mythras/classic fantasy book. And then source books for Midnight, Dark Sun and Birthright.
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I've always wanted most of the setting lines from the AD&D 2E era to be BRP publications, so making them all BRP Mythras would be the absolute cherry on the cake. I often read the Dark Sun and Planetscape boxes, and think of doing them with Mythras.

When it comes to Mythras, I'm definately not the only one in this forum who thinks that the game mechanics are perfectly suited to Conan/Hyborian Age and also to The Witcher.

However, if my wishes came true, I would love to see Mythras be the game engine for The Elder Scrolls.
Tamriel is such a huge sprawling classic fantasy setting with moments of both high fantasy as well as sword & sorcery, a near-endless sandbox for adventure modules and such. Yes this would be a dream setting for Mythras in many ways.

I also believe that the current RuneQuest line would have been much better if it had kept RQ6/Mythras as its core engine. That horse bolted, but in this wish list things are different, with RuneQuest 7th edition using the Mythras version of the BRP game engine, keeping all the other trappings of the current RQG publications. Glorantha is very well presented with the current RQG products, so I imagine all that artwork and lore around the Mythras engine would be a match made in heaven.

Regarding what I want from the Mythras corebook, it's probably a bigger font and more colour. I love b&w artwork, but the chapter title pages would look great with gorgeous colour plates, and the chapter titles need to be in colour as well.

Looking at Call of Cthulhu 7E, for the next edition I would get rid of the current Luck Pts mechanic for the core game (perhaps only make it available for Pulp Cthulhu), and I would streamline the character sheet somewhat - there is no need to list all the Skills, just jot down the skills learnt by the character.
I hate clutter on a character sheet, and I see little need by listing the 'hard success' and 'extreme success' values of each Core Characteristic and Skill. They can both easily be handwaved and calculated at the game table, it's not a big calculation. However I would make Extreme Success easier to remember by making it 10% (rounding off) of the Skill value, akin to Mythras Critical Success, as this is an easy glance rather than a mental calculation (ie: a Crit on 36% is rolling under a 03).

Ah what am I writing? I prefer Mythras anyway, so I would actually like to see Raiders of Ryleh be converted fully to Mythras (it almost is now), and that would be the core Call of Cthulhu engine. Done - both RuneQuest 7th Edition and Call of Cthulhu 8th Edition are now using Mythras as core BRP.

Regarding what I would do with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4E would be to fold the four different Fate Pt economies down into one group of Fate Pts like in WFRP 2E. I would also intersperse some of the great Ian Miller art from WFRP 1E into the current WFRP core book, alongside the new art, just for familarity and setting cohesion.

Turning my thoughts to Fate Core, I want it to be written with less jargon, and keeping to usual rpg lexicon terminology would be a big help. I would certainly want a rewrite of the Create Advantage mechanic to make it more clear, and I would be pushing the main Action/Adventure setting line that initially attracted me - that means a new version of Spirit Of The Century would be in order, and then do a range of era books that jump 20 to 30 yrs each time, each with their own set of resources in the form of adventure scenarios and a campaign. It might actually start in the Victorian Era or Georgian era, perhaps even earlier, such as the swashbuckling Stuart era, for instance.

I could see Everywhen benefiting from a new core book with s bit more streamlining, as well as some full colour art. A setting line needs to go with it, so perhaps a Crime Fiction Noir genre would be good, something that evokes the classic works of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Mickey Spillaine, through to more contemporary authors like Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly.

I quite like the Cypher System, however I would like a wider range of official form-fillable character sheets that have a different flavour for each genre/setting, rather than the current generic character sheets that just look too 'modern/futuristic' for some settings.

That's me done, a man of simple tastes
:shade:
 
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I have a soft spot for TWERPS. I may have only played it a few times, but the style of both the prose and the illustration really speaks to me. Superdudes in particular offers enough customisation with the powers to compensate for the fact that chacters only have one attribute. If I were in charge, I'd try to stick to the style of the orignal, ideally the original artists.

The thing I'd be very much tempted tinker with is to take a page from Lasers & Feelings, the idea of rolling over for mental task and rolling under for physical tasks (or whichever way it works). I think that would massivey increase the range of characters you can create with it without giving up the signature single attribute concept.

I'd also drop the focus on movement and hexs. It is possibly the longest section in the tiny rulebook and feels over fussy for the granularity of TWERPS. If you really wanted a tactical game, you probably be looking for a different system.
 
I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite game, but it’s probably my biggest gaming heartbreaker… I’d buy Rifts and then jettison everything about its rules and start from scratch.

I’m still up in the air about whether I’d stop the overuse of the copyright symbol every time the megaverse is mentioned.
 
I am not saying that Fate Core is my favorite game. But it is one of the systems I am running.

If I could do anything with it, I would keep the rules, but completely change the way they are explained in the rulebook. To me, the Fate Core rulebook doesn't read like someone trying to explain how to play the game. It feels more like a scholar trying to describe the game in an academic way. And I think many people don't understand how to play Fate because of that.

And then I would create few quickstart adventures. Simple setting + short list of skills + few pre-generated characters, and go play the game.
 
hawkeyefan said:
I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite game, but it’s probably my biggest gaming heartbreaker… I’d buy Rifts and then jettison everything about its rules and start from scratch.

I’m still up in the air about whether I’d stop the overuse of the copyright symbol every time the megaverse is mentioned.
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I'd just give the rules to Bill Coffin to rewrite.
 
A Fiery Flying Roll said:
I'd just give the rules to Bill Coffin to rewrite.
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I think I had finally moved on by the time he was heavily involved. He did a lot of the Coalition War stuff, right? The Siege on Tolkeen and all that?

I haven’t read any of that stuff, so I’m not sure how good it may be. I prefer the kind of standoff situation as presented in the core book. Were those books good?
 
*cracks knuckles*

Alright, Mythras. I love it, but it has some stuff I would change
  • Font. Yes, bigger font, but probably more to the point, a more legible one. I'd pick something like OpenSans or Verdana for the main text body. Legible, even at a smaller size, like 10 point. This gives the open for a Pathfinder like pocket edition, as well as cater to the aging d100 crowd.
  • Mythras Imperative is actually core Mythras, combined with some tweaks from Destined. Notably, I'd pull in the skill examples from Destined and a few of the actions (Quick Move being a big one).
  • Movement rules are rewritten entirely and it's clear that it is TotM and what that means. A lot more examples of this. This also will get an optional section for MythWrack, Bilharzia's wonderful little hack for a more action packed fight. There are quite a few other places where it will be more explicit in the rules. I won't go quite with total rewrite, but I will say edited for less is more and more examples and being quite explicit. No inferences, and if you mean GM's choice, just say it
  • A lot of stuff gets moved to optional more explicitly, like the MythWrack stuff and the tactical rules. Ideally, this makes it into an Archive of Nethys-style searchable tagged SRD available online. It incorporates the "rules menu" from BRP and allows you to select options and then collect those together in a downloadable PDF with a character sheet. This becomes the player guide that is easily distributable to players. It's not a fully complete PDF, of course, but it's probably like 20-40 pages potentially. Doing this would require very strict writing and formatting, but would be quite doable.
  • What is now core Mythras gets a fair bit rewritten to be cleaner, clearer, keyworded, and most importantly, becomes the Thennla setting, complete with rules. Meeros and Mersin officially merge. Essentially, this is now a showcase when people are looking for D&D alternatives. This is the prime thing - decide whether you are a setting book or a generic RPG. In this case, I side with it's a setting book and the generic gets put on the web for hackers and homebrewers. The setting context is important for the setting folks.
    • A new adventure, Meeros/Mersin Judged gets written that describes the stories in the examples in the book, the chase for Kratos, the betrayal, etc. Now we have Shrine (which probably gets a bit of a nuzzle for making it a touch more consistent with Mythras, but still a nice one shot), Sariniya's, and Meeros Judged, Meeros Falling, and Meeros Doomed as a trilogy adventure path. This is the new boxed set, obviously, and there is a cloth map. The map includes Monster Island on it.
    • The Thennla freebie gets incorporated into the above archive.
    • There are several adventures in Shores that get pulled out and jiggered into another adventure path, along with Bruce Turner's adventures.
  • The cults book gets published. This is a book of some number of cults with 1 cult on a page and a full page full color piece of art for an iconic member of that cult. There will be notes on how to build cult. Cults also end up in settings like Thennla above.
  • Designer notes. Lots of designer notes. Sidebars where Pete and Loz talk about what they were thinking and where X,Y, and Z came from. This should give explicit references to BRP and Runequest of course, but also whatever other games they pulled from.
  • Classic Fantasy would get a font makeover. Sorry, that font is atrocious. I get the branding, I get the feel, but no. I'd also restructure it so it feels like a D&D book a little more. It's not far off, but you can definitely feel the d100 in it in the structure. Essentially, if you are going to be a retroclone, it's ok to clone. Other than reworking some classes and adding 2 ranks of magic, this one is pretty solid as a whole. It's going to benefit from the effects above.
  • Mythic Polynesia gets rewritten, the Maori stuff is pulled out and made into a new book. This is a far larger portion of money here, because this is going to be a no expenses spared sort of thing. There is a HUGE gap in the Polynesian space, and it needs to be done absolutely right. It should make Maori weep with joy and given the cultural stamp of approval. Essentially, when someone says "I want to do island hopping Polynesian style" this should be the only answer on reddit. It gets published in Polynesian languages. Somehow, with all my phat lootz the premise of this thread is based on, I will survive the slings and arrows I will get for this.
  • Some material from nuMP above gets reused to do an Archipelagan book for Thennla.
  • Monster Island gets its long awaited lizard skin edition. The savages word gets written in a few spots, and a bit of verbiage so you know that the tribal natives are the real heroes here. Ironically, I'd keep the font in this one, as it is large enough and also works for the text. There is a stand for the book available, made out of faux bones.
  • Color - your PDF comes with the B&W version and a color version. You can also order the book in either version, as well as a "only color on the full page art and cover" version. In Raleel's dream, we also do a braille version, as well as Chinese, Arabic, and Hindi versions. Yes, you read that right, I'm after world domination.
  • I hire the Pegasus folks and have them do up Mythras Shadowpunk, which is disturbingly similar to Shadowrun. I tell them a notch less on the crunch than SR, and use the Destined base.
That's probably, what? like 2 million if I pay authors and artists solid wages? There are other things I would do, like the Luther Arkwright episodic series and the Thennla version of the Avengers and the Fioracitta intrigue show, but those are probably a little out of scope.
 
I would give GURPS a new presentation and an open content license. The Core rulebooks would be still around but as a reference. The focus of marketing would be on a series of powered by GURPS RPGs focused on Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror at the minimum. And they would focus on standard tropes not weird outliers in their respective genres. That would come in later products hopefully done by various third parties.
 
The real question to me is which OOP system is most worthy of bringing back and reprinting as is?

Marvel Super Heroes?
DC Heroes?
MERP?
WEG D6 Star Wars
(Actually I suppose if you picked any of the above under the “rules” you could reprint all the editions :shade: )
Ghost Busters?
Living Steel?
TMNT and Other Strangeness?
Robotech?

or do we just reprint the Gristlegrim Dungeon?

Honestly what I would probably do is take Palladium so I could protect it from the defilers…
 
First, I would dig out my copy of Revised Tri-Tac rule and implement those. They are clear and easy to use. (The owner of said system did not like these changes).

Then I would quit my day job and do this full time....

Then I would put together an updated version of Fringeworthy, Stalking, and FTL 2448, with the revised rules. I would unleash the super powers game I made for Tri-Tac as well. (If someone asked nicely I would do Incursion). I would also put out new games in the "Squash" series.

I would then do Convergence Point versions of all those games. I would then start publishing Wave 1, 2, and 3.

These are going to be fairly complete supplements for The Convergence Point. Neo Frontieers Series 1 will be part of Wave 1 - ideally the Kickstarter for The Core Rules (And the Waunderer's Way Setting), with Neo Frontiers, Fists of Justice (Martial Arts Genre and MA Rules), and Night Hunters (Supernatural Hunters with advanced Firearm rules). [Note: These are all mostly done] To quote Jimi Hendrix, "You got to give the people something to dream." A universal game can generate nothing but option paralysis. So with a few seeds (and some useful rules) people can go and do things more easily. Wave 2 will be OVA, several Waunderer's Way planet/ clan pieces, and a Comic Book Style Chronicle Book (you could run this straight from the core rules, but this gives you all the tips and tricks) -and maybe Agents/ Criminals/ and Experts (Extraordinaries). Wave 3 will be NF Series 2 and Outsiders (Supernatural/ Urban Fantasy). Then Ryders against The Storm - Dragon Riders vs Monster - AND Under the Red Moon -Psionic Noble Houses conflict with each other and the snowy world AND Tales of the Neo Frontier as well (the series clean up and all the odd things from fanfic) AND A/C/E if not done before. I would also do Nippon! and damm the cultural appropriation talk.

Now I just have to finish stubborn sections of Featured Things (Vehicles, Analyticals, Robos, Buildings, Organizations, Spaces, and Systemic Elements), Do a Grand Rewrite of the entire game to bring all sections up to 1.9/2.0 standards - fix the kitchen sink section and write the player and GM advice (which is partially written).

If I could I might buy Hero and undo 6th Ed, reprice things to their game function rather than "the formula" and put out a single Blue Book (with less of the GMing stuff). But that might be too expensive for the results.

I might hire some people from MWP and redo a Convergence Point version of the Marvel Universe or DC Universe depending on licensing.
 
Hmm, well I wouldn’t need all that much money for Cold Iron, but what I took RuneQuest actually back to RQ2 and continued releases in the style of the 80s… I didn’t need a new rules edition and I don’t need all of what’s caused the cults book to become 10 $30-40 books. Good lord… I don’t need pages of full color art that for me add nothing to the gameplay. I don’t need pages of cultural wanking. Give me simple write ups of a bunch of useful cults with all their special spells and skills and what is available at reduced cost.

This is probably the wrong thread for me…
 
I find it very hard to play favorites, so I'm picking something where this would mean anything to people other than me (so nothing obscure and/or German).

Which means GURPS.

New edition, done by a completely new staff (as with many still-holding-on niche games, the designer community gets way too inbred). The new team will be headed by two "consuls", one for the crunch, one for the fluff. I'm not sure who I'll pick for the rules part of it, but my first choice for the fluff will be Ken Hite (and no, I really like Robin Laws, but he probably wouldn't be the best fit here).

I'll leave most of the design to those two with a small bunch of people they hire. I'll have veto powers and would probably take applications for the art director and primary artist part myself.

The focus for the new edition would be real-world settings. Ranging from actual historic eras and locations (a new GURPS Japan etc.), to real-world inspired mythology (Arthurian myths, Hermetic magic, Vampires). Plus the occasional license, but I don't want to take the "unlimited money" part ad absurdum here. Should fit the core themes, not my other pet faves (sorry, Tamora Pierce and estate of David Gemmell).

The rules should follow this, a "realistic" physics engine, but Low- to mid-power should be possible and well-nuanced (4E has its flaws here). And of course it would be metric. I'd avoid most story elements. Those would be welcome for the new offical magazine, but the main rules would have to be very tightly focused.

We'll publish a more "welcoming" initial set of books:
- 128 page core rulebook.
- GURPS Holy Roman Empire (the "medieval" book, 250+ pages, includes "Low-Tech" equipment and guides)
- GURPS Tales of the Secret Masters (wainscot historic magic, includes a flexible magic system)
- GURPS Special Forces (includes tacticool rules)
- GURPS Car Wars (includes vehicle design)

Soon after this is done, we'll publish the big "Designer's Manual". This gives you the behind-the-scenes guides how to design all the advantages, powers and subsystems from the core rulebook and the extensions. Aimed at hardcore players, we'd be aiming at a cheap enough book (this won't win people over with art), and it'll all be available as a massively hyperlinked web site.

The rules will be published under an open license. ORC, GFDL, CC-BY, something like that. We'll have three tiers of "seals". GURPS Prime - the main company. GURPS Select - a few chosen publishers, would need approval, and then the big "Made for GURPS" tier where everyone can just publish their own creations.
 
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It's hard for me to pick a single "favourite game." So I'll say a few things about the three games that are my foci these days.

Mythras. I like Raleel's idea of reworking Mythras Imperative into Mythras Core, but I think it should remain setting-neutral. MI actually is pretty great -- I find it easier to consult than the full rules. So I would do the following:
  • Expand the 3rd edition of MI. It already covers the "fantasy" and "modern" genres but doesn't provide enough for a complete game.
  • For the fantasy side of things, greatly expand the bestiary and add some more spells.
  • Keep the book short, so that can be read in an afternoon. Something in the 80-120 page range.
  • Something like this would be successful, I think, in getting more people to look into the system and try it out. The core book is rather intimidating, while MI is a bit too minimal.
  • The additional material from the core book could be moved into a Mythras Expanded book or into genre- and setting-specific supplements. (I prefer the latter idea.)
  • Make Classic Fantasy a self-standing game like Lyonesse.
  • Optional: Provide setting books for CAS's Zothique, Hyperborea, and Averoigne. Maybe a setting book for REH's Kull setting (i.e., "Not-Conan-but-really-Conan"). (I think that's all public domain now. Perhaps play up the Mythos connections without entering the overly-crowded Lovecraft-focused territory.)

Against the Darkmaster. The main problem with this game is that's it's hard to get hardcopies of the core book. The PDF is on DTRPG but not POD.
  • So, to increase availability, provide PDF and POD options for the entire system via DTRPG by adding a Gamemaster's Guide to the Player's Handbook already available on DTRPG (the huge core book may be too large for DTRPG POD so break it into two smaller books for folks who have trouble obtaining the core book through other venues).
  • Optional: provide a complete setting for the game (perhaps flesh out the "9 Kingdoms" setting that is alluded to in the rules).
  • Provide more high quality adventures like the mini-campaign in the core rulebook (64 page "modules" available in PDF and POD).
  • Make sure that the forthcoming Secrets of the Golden Throne campaign book is awesome and maintain support with similar products.
  • Optional: obtain rights to the Midnight setting and adapt it to VsD.

Into the Unknown. Even though this game is a "Platinum" best-seller on DTRPG, it could use some help IMO.
  • Clean up and edit the core books. (They're quite charming, but I've noticed some minor layout problems and typos that should be fixed.)
  • Finish and publish the 6th book (The "Companion" volume.)
  • Publish a supplement that "AD&D-izes" the game (provides 9 alignments; adds gnomes, half-elves, and half-orcs; separates classes and races; adds options for paladins, illusionists, etc., as first-level options for standard classes).
  • Purchase some art specifically for the game (don't rely so much on public domain material). Covers by someone like Erol Otus would be great for the "old school" ethos of the game. (Or Jeff Dee. Pete Mullen's stuff has a cool "old school" vibe as well.)
  • Optional: make the system also available in two hardcover books (PHB + DMG).
  • Optional: provide a setting for the game and some adventures (not essential, given its compatibility with 5e and the advice given for converting material from earlier editions).
 
Exalted 3.5e - which would be little more than a rewrite of the core book. Edit for clarity, toss out clunky systems and redo them if they're absolutely necessary, and completely rewrite the Solar charms to be concise, clear, and consolidated with fewer incremental/speed bump charms. All with an eye of retaining the core systems, if a bit more simplified, to retain compatibility with the much better written other-Exalt fatsplats.

Then, if the book is still over one inch thick, start pulling some sub-systems and/or extraneous charmsets into their own book or books, as a companion or player's guide kind of thing. Further, any books based on a system that just didn't work (cough cough crafting cough) then it gets dropped and rewritten to be compatible with the new core and actually useful to players and/or GMs.

All this with an eye towards tearing of the band-aid and actually fixing Exalted 3e's real problem - a nightmare of scope creep and incompetence housed in a 3-inch thick, obtusely-written corebook that drives away anyone coming to the game without previously-held absolute devotion to the franchise (and even many of those fans). You know, that vital element of new blood coming into the player base that RPGs require.
 
Warhammer: I'd dial the setting back somewhere between 1st and 2nd edition. So, somewhere where it was when the first Realms of Sorcery book was published. Secondly I'd dial the system into some kind of sweet spot between 2nd and 4th editions and just ignore any rules resembling the third edition. Thirdly, I'd add a bunch more chaos gods. Like a lot more, to make chaos seem less... organized.
 
I'd make a big push to make Mythras as newbie-friendly as D&D. The rulebook would be a full-colour treatment, rewritten to make things a lot easier to understand by newer gamers. Also, do a players-only book that just has the player-facing rules for character creation, skills, magic, etc. No GM stuff in there so that it's a) inexpensive and b) not too thick.

At the same time, I'd publish a brand-new full S&S-style campaign setting in a big hardback like the 3E Forgotten Realms book, or Golarion (but as I said, S&S rather than high fantasy). It would be the key setting for the game designed to really show off the rules, and include all kinds of cults/brotherhoods that the PCs could join, a short bestiary, and that kind of stuff.

In addition, I'd produce a line of shorter adventures that can be dropped into various areas of the setting that really give the feel of the different areas. And also produce a couple of large, campaign-length books that a GM could pick up and run with.

Obviously, I would include the production of things like a really well-done book of NPCs/monsters, with a section for that new setting, and then a section for other monsters usable in different fantasy settings.

I'd make Classic Fantasy an alternate version of Mythras in a stand-alone book, and produce a smaller (but also high-quality) more traditional fantasy setting campaign book. So you'd have two parallel lines, one focused on S&S gaming and one for Classic Fantasy.

Lastly, I'd invest in building a platform similar to D&D Beyond that at least handles the management of characters and the encounter builder. Seriously, there are tons of face-to-face groups that use D&D Beyond on their iPads at the gaming table, and it makes it so much easier to pick up and play.

Once that was done, I'd purchase Spycraft from AEG and/or Crafty Games (whoever owns the rights to that), and make a Mythras-powered version of Spycraft that is complete in one book. Again, a series of shorter missions and then a few movie-length longer missions that could be strung together into a high-action espionage campaign in the vein of James Bond or Mission: Impossible. I'd probably streamline the Mythras rules a bit to encourage that high-action flavour, but it would be fully compatible with the full Mythras rules if you wanted to mix and match.

Edit: I’ve thought about pitching the campaign setting to Loz as a licensed product like I did with my last two RPG books, but I’d need to do a Kickstarter to fully realize the book that exists in my head.
 
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Runequest III: The earth as a fantasy setting. All of it. Skinny little rules book and a 600 page setting guide. A separate campaign book using travel from the edge of the world (Ireland/Scotland) all the way to the ends of the Earth (Japan) as a framework, like a reverse Journey to the West.

Then a series of historical guides allowing play in later periods, with various campiagn frameworks.
 
Raleel said:
*cracks knuckles*

Alright, Mythras. I love it, but it has some stuff I would change
  • Font. Yes, bigger font, but probably more to the point, a more legible one. I'd pick something like OpenSans or Verdana for the main text body. Legible, even at a smaller size, like 10 point. This gives the open for a Pathfinder like pocket edition, as well as cater to the aging d100 crowd.
  • Mythras Imperative is actually core Mythras, combined with some tweaks from Destined. Notably, I'd pull in the skill examples from Destined and a few of the actions (Quick Move being a big one).
  • Movement rules are rewritten entirely and it's clear that it is TotM and what that means. A lot more examples of this. This also will get an optional section for MythWrack, Bilharzia's wonderful little hack for a more action packed fight. There are quite a few other places where it will be more explicit in the rules. I won't go quite with total rewrite, but I will say edited for less is more and more examples and being quite explicit. No inferences, and if you mean GM's choice, just say it
  • A lot of stuff gets moved to optional more explicitly, like the MythWrack stuff and the tactical rules. Ideally, this makes it into an Archive of Nethys-style searchable tagged SRD available online. It incorporates the "rules menu" from BRP and allows you to select options and then collect those together in a downloadable PDF with a character sheet. This becomes the player guide that is easily distributable to players. It's not a fully complete PDF, of course, but it's probably like 20-40 pages potentially. Doing this would require very strict writing and formatting, but would be quite doable.
  • What is now core Mythras gets a fair bit rewritten to be cleaner, clearer, keyworded, and most importantly, becomes the Thennla setting, complete with rules. Meeros and Mersin officially merge. Essentially, this is now a showcase when people are looking for D&D alternatives. This is the prime thing - decide whether you are a setting book or a generic RPG. In this case, I side with it's a setting book and the generic gets put on the web for hackers and homebrewers. The setting context is important for the setting folks.
    • A new adventure, Meeros/Mersin Judged gets written that describes the stories in the examples in the book, the chase for Kratos, the betrayal, etc. Now we have Shrine (which probably gets a bit of a nuzzle for making it a touch more consistent with Mythras, but still a nice one shot), Sariniya's, and Meeros Judged, Meeros Falling, and Meeros Doomed as a trilogy adventure path. This is the new boxed set, obviously, and there is a cloth map. The map includes Monster Island on it.
    • The Thennla freebie gets incorporated into the above archive.
    • There are several adventures in Shores that get pulled out and jiggered into another adventure path, along with Bruce Turner's adventures.
  • The cults book gets published. This is a book of some number of cults with 1 cult on a page and a full page full color piece of art for an iconic member of that cult. There will be notes on how to build cult. Cults also end up in settings like Thennla above.
  • Designer notes. Lots of designer notes. Sidebars where Pete and Loz talk about what they were thinking and where X,Y, and Z came from. This should give explicit references to BRP and Runequest of course, but also whatever other games they pulled from.
  • Classic Fantasy would get a font makeover. Sorry, that font is atrocious. I get the branding, I get the feel, but no. I'd also restructure it so it feels like a D&D book a little more. It's not far off, but you can definitely feel the d100 in it in the structure. Essentially, if you are going to be a retroclone, it's ok to clone. Other than reworking some classes and adding 2 ranks of magic, this one is pretty solid as a whole. It's going to benefit from the effects above.
  • Mythic Polynesia gets rewritten, the Maori stuff is pulled out and made into a new book. This is a far larger portion of money here, because this is going to be a no expenses spared sort of thing. There is a HUGE gap in the Polynesian space, and it needs to be done absolutely right. It should make Maori weep with joy and given the cultural stamp of approval. Essentially, when someone says "I want to do island hopping Polynesian style" this should be the only answer on reddit. It gets published in Polynesian languages. Somehow, with all my phat lootz the premise of this thread is based on, I will survive the slings and arrows I will get for this.
  • Some material from nuMP above gets reused to do an Archipelagan book for Thennla.
  • Monster Island gets its long awaited lizard skin edition. The savages word gets written in a few spots, and a bit of verbiage so you know that the tribal natives are the real heroes here. Ironically, I'd keep the font in this one, as it is large enough and also works for the text. There is a stand for the book available, made out of faux bones.
  • Color - your PDF comes with the B&W version and a color version. You can also order the book in either version, as well as a "only color on the full page art and cover" version. In Raleel's dream, we also do a braille version, as well as Chinese, Arabic, and Hindi versions. Yes, you read that right, I'm after world domination.
  • I hire the Pegasus folks and have them do up Mythras Shadowpunk, which is disturbingly similar to Shadowrun. I tell them a notch less on the crunch than SR, and use the Destined base.
That's probably, what? like 2 million if I pay authors and artists solid wages? There are other things I would do, like the Luther Arkwright episodic series and the Thennla version of the Avengers and the Fioracitta intrigue show, but those are probably a little out of scope.
Click to expand...
1. Do you have any idea how many Polynesian Languages there are? You gonna take the hit for missing any? Obviously have to redo Mythic Polynesia, but I'd have the Maori/Moriuri rewritten not expunged.
2. Mersin?
3. Monster Island I just don't know about. Loz and Pete did it right. Make a classic S&S island, with all the proper tropes, and had a reality that
It's the Lizardmen that are preventing a Kaiju Apocalypse and Colonialists fucking with the Obsidian Mirrors.
was clear to people who actually think and don't repeat dogmatic mantras. Lizard Skin though, sure. Iguana skin from Florida must be cheap as chips.
4. I'd definitely publish more Thennla, Meeros and The Realm.
5. No sense in going solely TotM. Lots of the combat is crunchy enough to warrant tactical movement, it just needs to be redone a bit, because Loz and Pete kind of tacked it on, and it does show.
6. Definitely a Cults Book, Magic Book, and Combat Book with examples on how to roll your own when it comes to making Mythras fit your setting.
7. If I had the money to buy IP, then Conan is the obvious one for me. Buy everything Howard, letters, poems, drafts and get that published. If anyone doesn't want to sell that's why God created PMC's. I'd have it set up so when I die, everything Howard goes into public domain.
8. Somehow the draft version of AIG pdf floating around the net would get cleaned up, reformatted and made very easy to acquire via basic filesharing methods. I would be offline on sabbatical in Alaska at the time.
9. New font, sure, but the Extra Special Collector's Edition will have ligatures.
 
If I have any re-occurring theme then this should be obvious.

HERO system, streamlined and trimmed up to make it more accessible, but still very recognizable to existing players. The most controversial aspect would be breaking the assumption of Supers being the default, as in my opinion most of HERO's bad rep comes from the supers genre (complexity, not the players).

I'd initially focus on the heroic levels which would also be complete games with the appropriate rules included (like 3E). Supers would not be ignored, but would be handled down the road as an advanced option (not my thing, so I'd farm it out to a supers devotee once the new core was established).

Rules wouldn't differ between the books, other than not including rules for things outside the scope of the genre. How stuff had been built however would differ from genre to genre where appropriate. Genres with magic / psionics etc would include full power / spell lists, not how to build your own (that would come in later books).

A tool kit book would be offered with all the building rules, powers, advantages etc for advanced players but would not be necessary for general play. "How the sausage is made" would not be visible in the core rule books, just pick and choose from lists (with the exception of Supers which like 4E Chamions would basically be the full kettle of fish). Additionally there would be compatible but stand alone limited build books for magic, arms & armor etc again to keep the "noise" down for those not into the whole power build thing.

I'd aim for keeping the basic rules portion under 100 pages with the genre books aiming for a page count of 256 pages or less no massive tomes. In the spirit of keeping it tight and orderly I'd use a nice large older eyes friendly font, matte pages and stick to B&W artwork.
 
CRKrueger said:
1. Do you have any idea how many Polynesian Languages there are? You gonna take the hit for missing any? Obviously have to redo Mythic Polynesia, but I'd have the Maori/Moriuri rewritten not expunged.
2. Mersin?
3. Monster Island I just don't know about. Loz and Pete did it right. Make a classic S&S island, with all the proper tropes, and had a reality that
It's the Lizardmen that are preventing a Kaiju Apocalypse and Colonialists fucking with the Obsidian Mirrors.
was clear to people who actually think and don't repeat dogmatic mantras. Lizard Skin though, sure. Iguana skin from Florida must be cheap as chips.
4. I'd definitely publish more Thennla, Meeros and The Realm.
5. No sense in going solely TotM. Lots of the combat is crunchy enough to warrant tactical movement, it just needs to be redone a bit, because Loz and Pete kind of tacked it on, and it does show.
6. Definitely a Cults Book, Magic Book, and Combat Book with examples on how to roll your own when it comes to making Mythras fit your setting.
7. If I had the money to buy IP, then Conan is the obvious one for me. Buy everything Howard, letters, poems, drafts and get that published. If anyone doesn't want to sell that's why God created PMC's. I'd have it set up so when I die, everything Howard goes into public domain.
8. Somehow the draft version of AIG pdf floating around the net would get cleaned up, reformatted and made very easy to acquire via basic filesharing methods. I would be offline on sabbatical in Alaska at the time.
9. New font, sure, but the Extra Special Collector's Edition will have ligatures.
Click to expand...
1) I am aware. I figure you get several and it will be reasonable. This is also why I picked Hindi and not several of the thousand or so languages that are on the subcontinent. Also I want to break out the Māori because there is a lot of research and a large and active community.
2) Mersin is a city in Thennla that is the recommended stand in for Meeros. I like the idea of that, and think it should be exploited.
 
Bring back AD&D 1E as Classic/Hard Mode with modern editing and production values and all of my preferred house rulings and additions integrated into the rules. Buy out the rights from Gail Gygax and Rob Kuntz and hire Jeff Talanian and Luke Gygax to develop and release the real, original Greyhawk Castle dungeons (and anything else of interest that turns up in the Gygax archives).
 
Eclipse Phase - I'd completely redo the rules- or even better yet, use variation of another rules system, and concentrate on the rich setting.

Gumshoe - I'd not depend totally on skills or types of skills, but have some other descriptor to mesh with that- to allow you to better define the character consistently.

Trinity/Aberrant/Adventure - finally jettison that Storyteller BS and either use or create a better system.
 
Probably hire Steve Kenson to help me do a serious overhaul of Marvel SAGA. Since we're playing fantasy here, this assumes I also have the Marvel license, so for module support I'd do multiple themed lines of adventures and roster books that cater to different eras of Marvel to allow maximum flexibility for groups to settle into gaming in their preferred era.
 
Define "nearly limitless funds'?

Because if I had like, Elon Musk level money, I'd acquire the rights to a good system (e.g. Year Zero Engine, BRP), raise the designer's and publisher's salaries, and then market the crap out of it.

Blanket streaming and podcasts with ads for the game.

Get sponsored streamers of the Critical Role variety to do spin-off streams/live plays. Turn those into animated or live action series/movies.

Do super-bowl ads a few years running.

Basically, I'd try to get a flywheel going for a huge boost to the number of people playing TTRPG's through the power of marketing. I'd leave thee system design to the professionals.
 
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