Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

Tales from the Golden Dragon started out as some useful Fate rules I wanted to share with the community. After trying to run it with my gamer friends, who hadn't played Fate before, I realized there was a real need for a Fate book intended for new players. It's not the mechanics that they had trouble with, as much as the shift in play styles. 

If you've been in the TTRPG scene, you probably know what I'm talking about. There's a spectrum of play styles. On one end, there is the old school, with roots in war gaming, and on the other end, the new school, where games start to resemble improv acting more than any sort of traditional game. Any game can be played in any style, but the unspoken assumptions of a play style are reflected in the text. 

So how do you introduce someone to a new style of play? It's hard to even describe a style of play. We lack a common vocabulary. The new school vs old school rubric I'm using is barely adequate. 

At first, I thought it would be easy. RPGs attract imaginative, creative people, right. Just provide a little ramp for the players to launch from.

Turns out it is actually super difficult. Players aren't used to telling the GM what they want to see. It feels like cheating. Players aren't used to doing any world building at all. Things like the phase trio feel like pointless homework. The lack of boundaries is confusing. The open-ended freedom leads to paralysis. 

Most published games aren't good at introducing a new style of play. Spirit of the Century did it best, but later Fate games have been aimed at Fate veterans. 

It's not hard to see why. It takes a lot of verbiage to support newbies. Most games skip the "What is Roleplaying?" section, so why not skip this too? It's page count you can use elsewhere.

Tales seems like a natural fit to for that niche. It evokes D&D, which is everyone's first RPG. But it is starting to sink in on me how large and difficult a project this is going to be. As far as I know, there isn't a published game out there that does what I'm hoping to do. This is uncharted territory. 

I have trouble focusing on one thing at a time. I only managed to write this much by developing each chapter in isolation. I already have other RPG projects competing for my attention. So I hesitate to commit myself to such a long-term project. But I'm going to try. It might take a few years, but right now, making a game to bridge that style gap is my driving passion.