World Blender

I'm working more with idea blending, and I'm trying to think of ways to mix sci-fi and fantasy.  I want to have something similar to Rifts, but there is a lack of consistency in that system.  Rifts tends to reinvent the wheel for each type of class, making the system extremely complex.  I find the d20 system much simpler to use, but not fluid enough.  Part of me like the idea of formal classes, but without the concept of levels, more like set paths of proficiency with general, but more customizable paths for all to learn.

Unfortunately, making such concepts tangible is a very difficult task.  I am trying to work with transferring the d10 system to something more scalable (rather than simply counting successes), and possibly a d6 system.

Character Driven Design

I am focusing a lot on developing a system that works heavily on character customization.  One of my favorite features in White-Wolf's games is that they don't rely heavily (or at all even) on classes to define the progression of how a character develops, but rather uses the base stats.  I want to do a system that is more general in nature, though, that can branch out into many themes.  As you can see above, I put together several pieces from the Final Fantasy franchise to serve as sort of a conceptual idea for mixing together different themes.

Havoc Symbol

This is a simple iconic symbol I was working on.  Much like the D20 system has its own little symbol with the graphical die and the D20 label on it.  I have a separate logo, but I figured I'd work on creating a different and much simpler symbol to be used for the site and other things involving the game.

Brain Storming

The design for my game is in a very early stage, and I am still trying to group together ideas.  The collage above are of different sources of inspiration for me that I want to use in the flavor of my game.  I am a big fan of Exalted from White-Wolf as well as their Scion and World of Darkness games, and I wanted to implement a similar, though not necessarily as grand, a level of epic heroism and power into the game.  Also, I enjoy D&D's classes, but I wanted to do something like that but retain the freedom of character development that White-Wolf has in its games.  I also really found Rifts fascinating, blending the mystical with the sci-fi, but wanted a more final fantasy-like feel to it.  I really would like to hear some ideas.

Images for collage citation:

"Kain Highwind (Dragoon) - Artwork for Final Fantasy IV - Playfire." Playfire - Bringing Gamers Together. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.playfire.com/a/game/final-fantasy-iv/images/24668>.

"Monsters of Faerûn Art Gallery." Dungeons and Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mof_gallery/MonFaePG42.jpg>.

Paizo.com. Paizo Publishing. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://paizo.com/image/content/SecondDarkness/PZO9013-Drow.jpg>.

Rams, Vinod. "Planar Handbook Art Gallery." Dungeons and Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/planar_gallery/82523.jpg>.

"Rifts Picture by WttWoA - Photobucket." Image Hosting, Free Photo Sharing & Video Sharing at Photobucket. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z179/WttWoA/?action=view&current=Rifts.png&newest=1>.

UdonCrew. "Exalted- Alchemicals." Browsing DeviantART. DeviantART, 5 Jan. 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=alchemicals#/d1smlas>.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Luke Schwarz, and this blog is going to serve as a means of promoting a project I am working on to create a tabletop RPG called Havoc.  The game will also have another site to serve as a method of organizing all of the rules and other information.  The site itself will also take in information from viewers to help construct the game to provide a wider range of ideas and concepts.  This blog is used to compile a series of images to work through various thoughts.