EotW redesign, part one: In which the Author has thoughts

I’m working on redesigning a role playing game I wrote last year, Ensign of the Week (link is to the current final version of the rules, and the picture at the top of this entry is my sister’s art for a sample character), and it’s having some problems. Most notably, the magic system just isn’t working. I’ve solicited feedback from pretty much everyone I know who’s into rpgs, and everyone’s given me a different answer. From “keep it” to “cut it” to “simplify it” to “cut something else so it’s the easiest option”, they run the spectrum of opinions and options. 

I need to decide on something to do about the magic system, so I’m going to ramble on about it here and see if it helps. (And as an aside, the title is with apologies to A. A. Milne and the Winnie the Pooh books.) Sorry this is so late in the day, but today has been high stress and no time.

The problem

The problem is that the magic system is too complex for the game. The game is meant to be an easy game to play and learn, because one audience I intended this for was little children, roughly kindergarten age or so. This meant using 2d6 as the main mechanic, making it so stats (called modifiers in the game) affect a roll directly, and making sure there’s a flexible setting that acknowledges that kids want to add things to the game (actual examples from the playtest: “everyone has an ATV now!” and “I’m a black Labrador dog, not a human”). 

The magic system doesn’t fit the goal of making things simple and flexible. It requires the rules to be nearby, because the base spells require adaptation to do pretty much anything; the spells all make the GM have to calculate actual distances and weights rather than relying on a qualitative description; and there’s a lot of points where I waved my hand and said that GMs have to figure something out rather than actually writing down a guideline. 

And people didn’t use the system in the playtest, which means there definitely needs to be some serious changes. 

Additionally, the system does not match the setting. I said spellcasting produces obvious effects, the player characters are secret mages, and the mages don’t want to be discovered by everyone else. This is incongruous with a benevolent United Universe government promoting equality. Why do mages want to be secretive, if they know nobody’s going to dissect them or enslave them for their abilities? (This point was brought up by a number of people, and I didn’t originally notice it.)

The options

The way I see it, I have a couple different options I can do. Broadly, they fall into three categories: Keep (with minimal changes), Cut (completely or almost completely), and Simplify (most of my options are in this category). 

Option 1, keep as is: this is the default option. It doesn’t solve the problems but it doesn’t require more work or create new problems. There’s not much else to say about this. 

Option 2, keep, but change the fluff: this handles the plot hole about magic users being secretive but doesn’t solve the problem of the magic system being complicated. Also, I have to rewrite some lore to account for magic being known. 

Option 3, cut completely: this cuts out the problem with the mechanics completely, but does change the feel of the game and the themes noticeably. Now, that might not be so much of a problem, because the game sometimes feels to me like it should be straight sci-fi, but it is important to note. 

Option 4, simplification part 1: this is the “cut a simpler system so that the players use the complex one” option. I don’t like it; I only include it here because I discussed it with a friend so I at least need to consider it. But it solves no problems and really only creates more problems. 

Option 5, simplification 2: split it into 2 separate but compatible games, either one all about magic and one all sci-fi, or one sci-fi and magic and one with no magic. These aren’t quite the same option, but I’m grouping them together because there are many similarities. The good thing about doing this would be that it gets rid of the mechanics problem by making it a decision for the GM and group to use more complicated mechanics, but it means more work for me. 

Option 6, simplification 3: drop the idea of specific spells and instead say magic allows certain limits to be removed or an extra benefit. The good thing about this is that it lets magic still exist without being so overpowered, but again, it’s extra work on my end and I have to figure out what kind of in-story limitations can be removed with magic without breaking staples of the sci-fi genre. 

Decisions

I think I’m going to try two things in combination. First, I’m going to get a playtest group together (preferably multiple unrelated ones, but that’s a stretch) and use the current rules as is to see whether I’m misremembering the problems. Then, I’m going to make a version with no magic rules and a version implementing simplification 3 and see if either option works. 

If anyone has questions, feedback, or opinions, please let me know! And if anyone wants to get a copy of the updated rules and play them, I will happily link to them when I finish them. All I ask is that you offer me feedback if you find something that needs improvement.