How to make an RPG? The Easy Way.

• Do you want to offer your Public the greatest Experience?
• Do you want to Provide Fantasy to your Public?
• An Alien World?
• Memorable Characters & Environments?
• Here we go.

Summary – 6 Elements to make an RPG

1. Fun, Most RPG take themselves too seriously.
2. Balance, Replayability & Customization options.
3. Classes which deliver a sense of Identity.
4. An Adventure, where you start as nobody & grow to Fame.
   • Or the other way around.
5. Choices that Matter.
6. Interconnected Quests.

• All Games & Stories need to offer a Balance between Diversity & Consistency.
• Even more so when it comes to Role Playing Games.
• They need ample time to Unfold.
• Progressiveness is key to install a Coherency between the Elements of your Game.



The Greatest source of Entertainment

• Balance
• The Players always need to Succeed.
• It is a prerequisite in order to progress in the Game.
• It is why Success shouldn’t be handed.
• Give Players a high chance to Survive.
• Not a high chance to Succeed.
• Success should rarely have desirable Outcome.
• Only a Necessary one.
• Players need to use their Resources efficiently to Succeed.
• And it should almost never be Comfortable.
  • You’ll give the Players some easy victories for the sake of Diversity.

• Fun & Replayability
• Simple Rules are the Best Rules.
  • Organic Rules which unfold as you play.
  • Oriented towards Fun.
  • Allowing the Players to Learn & Develop.
• Rules should be oriented towards Player Satisfaction.
• Wherever it is when they Triumph over the Game.
• Or when they look for a way to Beat a System.
• Players will break your Game.
• Provide them the Rules to do so.

• Customization & UI
• Design your UI as an Interactive Character Sheet.
• Display the core Information on same Screen:
  • Status
    • Afflictions/Alterations
    • Class/Role/Statistics
    • Skills – Combat & Exploration
  • Inventory
    • Key Items
    • Equipment
  • Core Rules
    • Map/Mini-Map (if you need 1)
    • Active Quests
• Then you can have Sub-Menus for each Category.
• You can even display the synergy between these pieces of Information.
  • e.g.: Indicating which piece of equipment enhances/decreases which statistic.

If you want to know more about creating Games easily.



Adventure

• Characters make a Story Real
• Diversity make Characters feel real.
• Some of them will have Likeability factor.
• They’ll display Friendliness.
• And be particularly Helpful.
• Some will be more Relatable.
• They’ll mirror the Players through their Weaknesses.
• And the Players will want to solve their Issues.
• Other will be more Memorable.
• The Memorable factor comes from Quirks.
• Why Quirks?
• Which one do you remember best?
  • The Character which Threatens the Region you’re trying to save?
  • Or the one with the funny hat which uses this stupid catchphrase each time you meet her?

• Exploration
• Role Playing Games are Discovery.
• We play these games to experience diversity.
• Diverse Environments, diverse Settings & diverse Quests.
• Multiple Questlines is an essential part of RPGs.
• And a Hierarchy of Questlines is an easy way to organize the Game progression.
• Players can then, Follow it or Ignore it.
• The Escapism is even more essential.
• Players should be able to enjoy an RPG without finishing the Main Questline.
• These games transport them Out of the Mundane.
• They offer them New Possibilities.
• They shouldn’t be relented by unnecessary constrains.

• Growth & Immersion
• Let your Character grow as the Story unfolds.
• Start as an simple Character.
• Someone unimportant.
• And from there, Grow.
• Have your 1st Achievement.
• Gain some popularity.
• Most people will doubt your claims.
• Have your 2nd Achievement.
  • a.k.a.: Defeat a larger Threat.
• Gain some Approval from the reigning Authority.
• Many People may still question your value.
• Have your 3rd Achievement.
• This time make it so that everyone will Recognize you.
• Beat the Menace.
• Get Renown from all over the World.
• Gain new enemies, new followers & so on.
• Immersion is key to Roleplay.
• You want to let this Consistency of Immersion unfold progressively.

If you want to know more about Improvising Adventures.

Classes

• Balance
• Balancing Classes…
• Some games don’t offer a class system because Classes are Inherently Unbalanced.
• Specific Classes will be adapted to specific Situations.
• Focus on always giving the Player 1 preferred Option.
• And allow her to find others.
• You need to balance the Experience as a whole.
• Not each part.
• For a similar reason most Games won’t provide a satisfying Magic system.
  • This and… physics.
• There are multiple Difficulties when it comes to balance a Magic system.
• And 1 plausible Solution.
• Don’t balance it by limiting the effects of Spells.
• Balance it, by Give spells to everyone.
• When it comes to Single player games, prioritize Fun over Balance.
• Games with a more Complex & Versatile Magic system would be appreciated.

• Customization
• The Class System is the foremost tool of Customization.
• It induces a sense of Identity.
• It should factor 3 individual criteria :
  • Origins
  • Behavior
  • Equipment
• You can improve on it by including a Backstory system.
• You may want to Combine it with Species system.
• And finally introduce a restrictive system of Equipment.
  • For simplicity purpose include Spells in Equipment.
• From options for Armor sets to Armor slots availability.
• Define specific Weapons for each classes.

• Replayability
• Classes are a Main reason most Players will replay a Game.
• Even so, new game should offer a Replayability factor even if the Player doesn’t want to change of class.
• By proposing a flexible class system you increase the game’s Replayability.
• Offer Hybrid Classes.
• Allow the Players to Develop their Character in a different manner.
• By offering them new Items which develop the World.
• Or by offering a Different Story.

• Guilds & Organizations
• Class should open the Player new Relationships.
• Relationships which will help the Player grow faster.
• Organization ensure your World’s administration.
• Therefore choosing a specific class should have an effect on your World’s balance.
• Choosing a specific Class may also have effects on the Organization members.
• Organizations are always Heterogenous to some degree.
• Which opens a possibility for conflict & cooperation.
• You can increase the consistency of your game by developing Interdependences between these Organizations.

If you want to know more about Classes.



Roleplay & Choices

• Impersonation
• Impersonation is the Core of Roleplay.
• When it comes to Impersonation there are 3 Main cases:
  • Impersonating the Main Character as Interpreted.
  • Play yourself.
  • Try all the Options because you want to 100% the game.
• You can try Silly Dialogue options.
• Shocking Phrases.
• You also want some Mundane & Boring lines.
  • For diversity.

• Narration & Anticipation
• You’ll want to implement a Diversity of Quests.
• Some Serious ones.
• Some not so Serious ones.
• Why?
• Diversity help to provide a Narrative Structure.
• A Narrative Structure allows to deliver Predictability & Anticipation.
• You may even want to have some Bad quests.
• Especially if that makes them Memorable.
• The Main Quest may have an impact on all other Quests.
• It is not a necessity.
• Players need a Common reference Point in order to predict the next event.
• To predict a Crisis.
• And, if you allow it, prevent this Crisis.

• Choices that matter
• Players need a way to make Choices.
• Choices which, at least, seem to matter.
• Namely, you need to be able to see the Consequences.
• How Can you tell that the Choices you make Matter?
• There are 4 Criteria.
• These Choices:
  • Affect your Reputation.
  • Should be directly Acknowledged by the person you helped.
  • Allow you to develop new Relationships.
  • Allow you to Solicit these Relationships.

• Branched Options & Consistency
• There’s an easy way to introduce Clarity in Branched options: Colors.
• Use Color code for your Options.
• Give the Player 3 Options max.
• A Color code & limited Choices help the players to decide efficiently.
• It hints to the outcome a due Choice would lead to.
• You can go for Good, Neutral, Bad or Order, Neutral, Chaos alignment systems.
  • If you design a Universal alignment system give Players a frame of reference.
• There are other options:
  • The Efficient option. (most objective approach)
  • The Fun option. (most subjective approach)
  • The Balanced/Reasonable option.
  • The Dramatic/Exaggerated option.
  • The Compassionate option.
  • The Hateful option.
    • Here, Compassionate & Hateful are different from Good & Bad as they are specific to the Character your choices apply to.

If you want to know more about Choices & Consequences.