Monday, July 25, 2011

X-plorers Quick Start in the works!

I’m happy to say we’re hip-deep in making an X-plorers Quick Start document to distribute for Free RPG Day in 2012! As the deadline for publishers is in February 2012, I’d say we have a good head start.

I’m lucky enough to be spear heading this effort and writing a short adventure for it, so while that’s exciting, it’s also my ass if it flounders, LOL. But with several rounds of proofreading and editing to rely on, I’m sure we can make it a strong offering.

The goal is to make it as simple to pick up and play for total newbs as possible, so that the X-plorers brand can grow by attracting new people (which is always the goal, really).

So I turn to you, good reader and X-P fan! What would you like to see in a Quick Start for X-P? The game is already lean (in a good way, I mean) so there’s not any fat to trim, so to speak. What do you think would be ONE THING that it HAS TO HAVE to get new players hooked?

Thanks for your help!

4 comments:

  1. I'd say the space combat is what makes XP stand out in the crowd. I realize that space is at a premium and having ship combat essentially means your trying to condense two games into one quick start, but I think it would be a great way to convert players over.

    Quick thought: Would it be possible to include a laminated bookmark in the quickstart? I'm not sure if it would be economically viable, but a laminated bookmark with the logo on one side, and a standard combat strip would be pretty nifty and it prevent new players from having to cut up (or photocopy) the quick start, plus everyone likes swag.

    I actually really like this idea, I'm going to post it on the BHP forrum to see if these can be made.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the bookmark idea! I'll be talking to John about that.

    The space combat is totally sweet in X-P. Of course, that was the first thing I decided to skip over in the QS, LOL!

    I wonder if we should just do the space combat as it's own QS? Then if you get both, it's like X-P lite in two volumes and sort of defeats the entire purpose though.

    What do you (all of you) think?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah, bummer. Guess I'll have to make my case then...

    For me The Ship and Strip System (as we've come to call it in my neck of the woods,) is what makes XP more then just another D&D in space. I can't think of another game that does cooperative combat so well. It's also the only table top game I've played that can simulate 3d combat in a satisfactory way. Most space games I've played either use standard battle mats and ignore the third dimension, or are needlessly complex. I was blown away by the simplicity in Bezio's design when I first XP. Using relative position to one or more objects was sheer brilliance. Maybe I'm alone on this one, but I really think not including space combat in some form or another would be a shame.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Ship and Strip" I like that!

    It IS really sweet. I just "finished" the QS so we'll see.

    What does everyone else think? It's for you, so speak up!

    ReplyDelete