First Steps

Okay, so I’ve decided to make an RPG.

Now what?

First steps are always the hardest, because you have a blank sheet of paper with nothing on it. When you try to think of anything, nothing is always the first thing you think of.

Pearls need sand, trees need seeds, every journey starts with a single step.

There are lots of different places I could start. I could start with the Game-Narrative: develop a setting, make it a great place to tell interesting stories in, and build out from there.¹ I could focus on the Ludo-Narrative: decide what I want to “say” with this game, and develop mechanics that support the specific stories I want my players to tell. I could plan out the Meta-Narrative: start with developing a new or interesting system and develop further based on what is suggested/encouraged by the mechanics.

Heck, I could even, if I really wanted to, take a look at any of the chapters of my treatise and focus on one specific aspect of the RPG medium as a whole, exploring that concept in story, system, and practice.

So. Lots of ways to start, and I have to pick one.

Fortunately, inspiration struck some time ago. As this is my first game, I want to start relatively small and simple, and a friend of mine gave me an idea² during an RPG session: “…anyone who makes an adult version of Pokémon will make millions.”

Now, Pokémon RPGs are not exactly rare. Both official and unofficial systems abound, and clones/inspired-bys like Majimonsters, Melody of a Never-ending Summer, A Monster’s Tail, Animon Story,³ Disk Masters,⁴ and more. Also, there’s nothing to say that any of these games can’t be played with more adult themes and tones.

But that word, “adult.” What does that mean? It could be taken a lot of ways, but after some thought I’ve decided to explore one specific aspect of “adult-ness.”

A quick look at all those examples above, and almost every Pokémon-like out there, and you’ll see one specific common thread: the visuals. All these games have a child-like cartoonish style to their artwork. It’s fitting, there’s nothing wrong with it, and I don’t agree that “dark and gritty” is adult anymore than “wholesome and hopeful” is childish.

Nevertheless, a Pokémon-like game that looks less like Studo Ghibli and more like Francisco Goya, or perhaps even a goth webcomic from the 2000s; a game where the monster-trainer style focuses more on the idea that these are monsters…what would that game be like?

The monsters could be dark creatures that stalk the lands, but I don’t want the game to be exclusively grimdark in tone. I want it to be adult, not dour or horrific by necessity. This isn’t Shattered we’re making. Bojack Horseman is certainly cartoony, but there is no escaping that it is fundamentally adult. So, there have to be monsters that are horrific, yes, but also awe-inspiring, helpful, hopeful, and charming. They have to access all adult emotions, not just a few.

Hmm…Emotions…

Perhaps its because I’ve been coming to terms with my own emotional health, but the idea of monsters that are directly related to emotions in some fashion is appealing to me. Are they drawn to strong emotions? Do they feed on them? Cause them?

If emotions are a significant part of the tone/story/setting, then they should be explored mechanically as well. In my post on Michtim, I discussed systems that encourage emotion as a fundamental part of your character, and I have since noted how rarely emotions are used in RPG mechanics.

So if emotions are to be a constant undercurrent of the game, they need to be implemented within the monsters. What if these monsters aren’t just drawn-to or feed-off emotions, what if they are emotions?

We talk about “big emotions” sometimes, mostly in a condescending or dismissive tone…but what if this setting doesn’t work that way?

You can feel warm. You can feel cold. But what if the heat and cold keep going? Then they get too big, and you get fire and ice.

You can feel angry. You can feel love. What happens if those feelings get too big? When Anger coaleses outside the body, when Fear begins to burn, what might manifest?