My baby... *sniff*

[eurydicebound]

Slayers D20 releases this week. It's either in or on its way to stores right now, and it's thus far the biggest project I've worked on that's been released, and certainly the most D20 design work I've ever done in one place. Even then, a good portion of the book (the magic section in particular) belongs to my husband, who is a far better natural game designer than I'll ever be. I've got that old "publicity is good, but talking trash makes me want to kill you" dichotomy going on. In truth, I can even deal with the bad comments, I just want someone to comment, one way or the other. Here's hoping it doesn't fall off into the market abyss without even splashing when it hits bottom.

In other news, William threw up about an hour ago. Majorly solid stuff, regrettably. Had to cut his shirt off him, because there was no way in hell he was letting me pull it off over his head. I could not blame him in the least for this decision. It's a hell of a way to wake up, poor baby. Looks like he's fine, just dinner didn't agree with him or something. He's getting to camp in the living room while his bedding washes and his mattress airs out, so he's much cheered up now.

Comments

[metallian.livejournal.com]

So, last night I cracked open the book after dinner (we were watching some Slayers Next with dinner) and flipped through it. I didn't put a lot deep thought into analyzing the game balance or anything, but I was very excited by certain things, such as the Psychological Warfare rules (always wanted some of those), the spell lists (didn't actually read the part about how spellcasting works, but it looks promising), and the classes. I really like the classes. In fact, I think I might like them more than the standard D&D classes!

I also flipped through the characters/races/monsters sections and was pleased by the attention to detail. How many times did you watch the series while writing the book?

My favorite little touch? The revised rules for the Jump skill. We had just been watching Prince Phil jump from rooftop to rooftop, and I was concerned that the standard d20 rules would be inadequate to simulate such small-but-important things. But, nope, you guys took care of it.

For that matter, the Warrior of Justice class looks quite capable of handling Phil's battle with Bras Demons, which Mrs. Metallian and I were worried about simulating.

I did find myself thinking stuff like "if no glaring game balance issues become apparent, could this game actually replace D&D?" I've watched enough anime and played enough CRPGs that I've always liked the idea of a system that really separated "white" and "black" magic, and I've never been in love with the standard D&D spellcasting mechanics.

One strange thing we noticed was that Gourry's Int and Wis are actually pretty decent! Am I correct in assuming that you decided his abilities (skill points, will save, spot and listen checks, etc.) demanded decent ability scores, and that his stupidity is best simulated through roleplaying? I can understand that...I recently played a character with an Int of 14 (he needed skill points) and a Wis of 18 (he was a rog/monk with keen senses), but his personality was a bit...well, Gourry-like.

Anyway, as a member of the target audience (Slayers freak and D&D DM), my preliminary assessment is very positive!

[anaka.livejournal.com]

I'm so very glad you liked it. Our goal was to make something that could not only replicate Slayers, but also comedic fantasy anime in general. I think it could be used in place of D&D, honestly, and I'm very proud of it.

We watched the series.... geez, too many times to count. I filled two notebooks with hand-written notes during the course of the research, and then we had to go back and verify things as we were writing them.... so, lots, I guess.

We kept his scores presentable because we feel he's not actually dumb. He has the short-term memory of a sea cucumber, granted, but he can think on his feet, assess his foes, and come up with tactically decent plans from time to time. He's no Einstein, but he's not an idiot either. Instead, look at Toughness again. He's got it at +2 or +3, plus Oblivious. Between that, any time he tries to remember something or come up with a clever plan, he's liable to fail. He still has the stats, though, to pull off some of the things he does.

[metallian.livejournal.com]

I'm so very glad you liked it. Our goal was to make something that could not only replicate Slayers, but also comedic fantasy anime in general. I think it could be used in place of D&D, honestly, and I'm very proud of it.

You should be!

We watched the series.... geez, too many times to count. I filled two notebooks with hand-written notes during the course of the research, and then we had to go back and verify things as we were writing them.... so, lots, I guess.

Well, it shows in the attention to detail, so I'd say it was time well-spent.

Of course, I always say time watching Slayers is time well-spent. ^_^

We kept his scores presentable because we feel he's not actually dumb. He has the short-term memory of a sea cucumber, granted, but he can think on his feet, assess his foes, and come up with tactically decent plans from time to time. He's no Einstein, but he's not an idiot either. Instead, look at Toughness again. He's got it at +2 or +3, plus Oblivious. Between that, any time he tries to remember something or come up with a clever plan, he's liable to fail. He still has the stats, though, to pull off some of the things he does.

First of all: My bad for not reading the revised Toughness feat. Looks like Gourry will forget something important about half of the time! (His Int is 13, and he needs to make a DC 11 Int check whenever he needs to remember something important.) Between that and the -4 penalty to resist Confusion (due to the Oblivious feat), there's definitely mechanical support for his more dimwitted moments. I guess you really did think of everything! :)