5 Years of Tabletop RPG creation (Part 2)
Part 1 Recap
In Part 1, I rambled about how the pandemic accidentally got me into making my first published Tabletop RPG work, a spooky Cosmic Horror D&D 5e adventure. I also talked about how that whole experience somehow snowballed into me becoming a Game Writer and Narrative Designer.
Fast‑forward five years, my partner and I just put out The Knight Errant, our very first old‑school style 4‑pager for the Appendix N Jam. I also talked about how I fell down the OSR/NSR rabbit hole (Shadowdark, Cairn, Electric Bastionland, Mythic Bastionland, all that good stuff) and why it heavily influenced how I am as a player, gamemaster, and designer.
I wrapped up by looking back at that first module with a creepy manor, a cult, all the eldritch horrors inside, and the realization that I care more about mood and story than perfectly balanced encounters.
For Part 2, I finally talk about The Knight Errant itself, what I learned making it, and how it stacks up against that very first adventure. Oh, and perhaps some closing comments.
My Latest Module: The Knight Errant
A bit of context, Appendix N is a list of books and authors that heavily influenced the creation of Dungeons & Dragons. The Appendix N Jam is about making adventures that takes inspiration from this list. My partner and I had a long talk on our way out of town about the premise of our adventure. After going through several genres, themes, and premises (all of them involving Cosmic Horror, and a few with some Indonesian touch that we might revisit in the future), we decided to go mix science fiction and fantasy.
The main inspirations for The Knight Errant's come from Clark Ashton Smith, H. P. Lovecraft, Jack Vance, and Michael Moorcock. Outside of that, I was (and still) crazy about Mythic Bastionland and wanted to write something about knights. But we needed something wacky, so we thought... SPACE! And... DYING EARTH! We combined those elements, and BOOM! The Knight Errant. That is also why we went with a pulp retrofuturistic raygun gothic look for the spacefarers in the cover and the flying saucer in the map (that was originally a rocket).
I wanted to portray The Knight as a tragic figure, doomed for eternity for saving Earth. I also wanted the PCs to have a moral dilemma when they encounter The Knight. You might also see some Alien, Prometheus, and a bit of Mothership's Another Bug Hunt on some of the stuffs that I wrote for the adventure. I try to balance the fantasy side with the science fiction side.
Also, the whole Medieval-Gothic vibe of the ruin, decaying, is influenced by Elden Ring's aesthetics. We also took inspirations from dungeons like The Positronic Library (Yochai Gal) and Winter's Daughter (Gavin Norman). Originally, I wanted the ruin to be cliff side, and most of them will be inside the cliff and underground. But we went with the current one, with multiple ways to enter the ruin to give more sense of exploration and encouraging the players to interact with the world. All of that is the reason why ended up with an isometric map, which was a pain for my partner to draw. It's her first hand drawn map and it's isometric lol!
What I wish I had put more thought in was treasures. How could I forget about treasures! I was too focused on creating the vibe, the atmosphere, the lore, and the story. A newbie mistake. A big one at that! I'm sorry for making your job harder, gamemasters! I'll do better for my next adventures (and put lots of treasures).
As for the decision to use Mark of the Odd, I see the ruleset to be something that I am familiar with. I have been running and playing Cairn 2e, Electric Bastionland, Mythic Bastionland, and Liminal Horror, and I feel that the adventure's themes would fit any of Mark of the Odd/Odd-like games. I wish I had known about Monolith and Screams Amongst The Stars, because it fits the science fiction space horror vibe of the game.
I also find the rules to be easy enough and also not get in the way of play, helping the players to interact more with the world and the fiction, and also giving room for gamemasters to make the game and the adventure they want it to be (still within the lines of the ruleset). And to be honest, I didn't use much from Mark of the Odd. I only used the Saves and statblocks as references.
It's safe to say that this won't be the last time I'm making an adventure for Mark of the Odd/Odd-like games.
So... What Have I learned?
I believe the old school style and mindset fits me perfectly, hence why I have been applying that to the way I run my games. Clearly it has influenced the way I design my latest adventure. I also learned that the quirks that I have when making trad adventures fit more with the old school style. I feel burdened by some of the restrictions that I have when I make trad games (e.g. balancing).
To be fair, the act of balancing, designing encounter, mapping out dungeon, they're not strictly a creator thing. Gamemasters also do that because they are also designers. They design the experience they want to have for the table.
This won't stop me from running trad games and creating trad works. My partner and I are still working on our Pathfinder Infinite stuffs with our friends. I'm still running Pathfinder 2e, Call of Cthulhu, and others. But just like how PbtA influenced me, OSR has also influenced me in a huge way.
I do feel that what I have learned isn't exclusive to certain playstyle. I personally think that I shouldn't limit myself by thinking "I will run Game A with Style A, because that's how it's designed, even though Style B from Game B can be fun and can still fit Game A." And yeah, systems matter. Systems might not matter. One of the discourses of all time.
In the end, it's a matter of preferences. But! Learning different Tabletop RPGs and applying what you've learned from them to your regular games and to your works will certainly help you. It's fun!
So... What's Next?
Back on the grind! My partner and I already talked a lot about what we're going to do next. It's going to be another adventure. But we also have ideas on making our own setting and game. We believe that we are comfortable with having weird fiction elements in our works, and we want to stick with that. We also thought of creating works that are inspired by our Indonesian heritage. Who knows, we might combine all of them!
My partner and I already have a project that is heavily influenced by Indonesian culture, history, and myth. And there are lots of amazing stuffs out there that do the same thing from their respective origins.
So... We might make something different. Something... Odd.