A Review of the Rules of Godkillers and What I Learned

Godkillers is the first and only RPG that I have designed and published. I did this with Journeyman as my full creative partner -- he painted, collaborated on ideas, and did most of the organizing. We were ably assisted by Jamie Chestnut, who did the layout, and  Jacky Leung (deathbymage on Twitter), who edited the manuscript.

Below is the ad copy for Godkillers that you can see on drivethrurpg: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/266374/Godkillers

To kill the cult, you've got to kill their god.

His greed corrupted your god's offspring. His blasphemous acts shattered your faith. His lies cleaved you from your family, and now Reverend Hubert wants your flesh as the ultimate sacrifice to a hungry god.

"Godkillers" is a short scenario that includes the following:

  • Simplified OpenD6 rules -- everything you need to run the scenario
  • Five pre-gen characters, complete with stats, backstory, powers, and full-color portraits
  • Background for the world of the Post-Human Condition, including the Church of the Deep Water, the "Anuran" mutants, the philosophy of the Red Shift, and the drug god's tears

This the first entry in the world of the Post-Human Condition, which asks, "What would happen if chaotic, cosmic gods came to Earth, and we adapted to them?" 

MY REVIEW OF THE RULES

Though they are based on the superb OpenD6 rules, my rules stink.

That's one reason I want to revise Godkillers. (The other is more positive -- I turned the background material into a scenario for a group around a year ago. I've to write that up, of course, but I digress).

Wait, if the OpenD6 rules are so great, why did mine stink?

Because I was dumb about rules back then. 

I knew I needed to do something, and I only really focused on the mutations/powers part of the rules. I do like the powers I came up with. They were flavorful, they were part curse, part gift. Those were mostly successful.

But I didn't think too hard about the kind of gameplay that I wanted.

Look, a group will do whatever they want with a set of rules, but if a group takes your game as intended, the rules you design for your game had better help that effort.

OpenD6 was not the system I needed. It was meant to emulate adventure films such as Star Wars, with wild swings of action. You can be on top one moment and down the next. 

Godkillers is not a rollicking adventure. It is the exploration of a setting with a tightening dramatic if not tragic trajectory. It has a narrative side, not just a tactical side, and I needed a different rules set for that.

WHAT I LEARNED

I need a different rules set for Post Human, and I have to figure out exactly what I need from a rules set before I design it.

That will be my next post.

 

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