Gamers are a creative and opinionated group. I have read so many comments about gamers saying that they have never been able to find the perfect system that fits their gaming group. Or that they always have to modify some aspect of a roleplaying game’s system to fit the needs and desires of their particular gaming group. Game masters are very creative by their very nature, often developing their own storylines and even entire worlds to fit their needs. Our current gaming group’s game master has developed at least two different games himself, with multiple incarnations and different rule sets. The settings themselves were completely of his own design. The rule sets were sometimes completely unique and other times simply hacked up and butchered versions of another game system he liked. This all leads me to ask the question, do you have a home-brew game that you have designed or want to design?

All Gamers Are Creative

Roleplaying is a creative endeavor by its very nature. I think we watch movies, read books, and let our imagination run wild. I can think of many instances where I’ve watched a television show or movie and thought, “Wow that would make an awesome roleplaying game.”

I think one of the main reasons why there are so many roleplaying bloggers out there is because writing is a natural extension of roleplaying. Blogging is a creative endeavor, just like roleplaying. Writing about roleplaying online is just a way to put ‘pen to paper’ but in an electronic format.

All Gamers Are Opinionated

Gamers always have an opinion about game settings, rule systems, and pretty much anything related to roleplaying. I’ve never sat down at a gaming table, played for a few hours, and NOT had a discussion about some rule change that would make a system better. Game designers build systems that they like and believe that others will like. But the truth of the matter is no two gamers will ever have the same opinion about any game.

I personally have been on the lookout for the ‘perfect’ system for me to game master. I always find something wrong with every game I play. One system may have poor rules for miniature combat, another may have poor rules for social interaction, and some games just have lousy artwork. There is always something that you will find that will turn you off to a game.

Spidercraft: The Roleplaying Game

During one roleplaying session, my group was giving one of our players a hard time about how long it was taking him to develop his home-brew game setting and system. He has built and re-built his home-brew setting and system numerous times. Yet, we’ve only play-tested it a few times, and haven’t done so in years. There are entire versions of the game that are completely playable that the world will never see, because he keeps retooling his game in an effort to make ‘the perfect game’. He always tells us how it isn’t ready to play and there are these other parts of the game he still has to work on. News flash: The game will never be perfect.

I was joking with him about the entire situation. I told him that I could create a game world and have the entire thing up and playable in a week. At the time, I was running a Spycraft campaign. Somehow, someone suggested a name for the game… Spidercraft. I don’t remember exactly where this came from, but the other players and I ran with it. In about five minutes we had decided that in Spidercraft, players would ride giant spiders as their mounts. Characters could be defined by the different types of spiders that they would ride. We would use the Savage Worlds system for the rule set. A ton of ridiculous but hilarious ideas were thrown out during this brainstorming session. Honestly, by the end of it we all were actually laughing at how fun Spidercraft would actually be to play. It didn’t even take me a week! I honestly probably could have run the game that night (albeit, we were using an established rule system).

Do You Have A Home-Brew Game?

I think that there are a very large percentage of roleplayers that have an idea in their head for a game setting, rule system, or for both. I’m curious how many of those roleplayers have actually written their ideas down. I’m further curious of those that have written their ideas down, how many have gone so far as to play-test their game setting and/or rule system with a group? I’d be willing to bet that there are a lot of ideas about game settings and rule systems floating out there, but that a small percentage of them have actually been written down or even marginally thought out. Not every homebrew system needs to be fine-tuned for mass publication. It could be something that is just tailor made for your gaming group.

I’d really like to know how common home-brew systems are with gamers. I think they are probably more common with veteran gamers. As they play more settings and systems, they get ideas in their head on how to build their version of a great game. But I’m sure even novice roleplayers get those grandiose ideas in their head when they begin roleplaying. After all, we are a creative bunch.

Do you have a home-brew game idea?

Have you actually written or typed out your home-brew game idea?

Have you play-tested your home-brew game idea with a group?