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TTRPG Tuesday: Remember When I Did Boardgames

Weeeelcome to TTRPG Tuesday - or it will be if I actually finish writing this entry.  It’s been a long ass time since I updated this blog with anything at all, but here I am.  No idea how long this’ll be or what I’m working for, but I wanted to get some thoughts together for an idea that’s been kicking around my head: The Bulb System!

What kicked this off was my experiences playtesting Aaron Lim’s Spectres of Brocken, and designing Star Baker.  Specifically, the worldbuilding section of both designs.  I love world-building, and I think that developing a setting is one of the most fun parts of running a game, and an important and enjoyable part of a session zero.  But I also think that there is (and always has been) an appetite for pre-written settings.  Existing settings can provide a common foundation, set a tone, serve as a shared vocabulary, and generally do some heavy lifting at several steps of the way.  I’ve also seen creators who’ve made system-agnostic settings that can be adapted to whatever system.

I think what I’d like to create is a set of worlds that all have certain parameters in common: Each world will have lore, factions, geography, some key historical and active personnel, notes on tone and genre (geared towards helping GMs determine whether it’d be a good fit for a particular system) and enough gaps to create a potter’s edge that entices the GM and players to come in and graft on that connective tissue.  I was toying with calling this the cartridge system because you could slot it in and press play, but I’m going with Bulb because of the plant/electric double-meaning.  An inert little globe that can come to life in the right hands, in the right place.

Maybe target 9 Bulbs, for a range of different types of world; the nine points on DnD alignment-style axes? I’ll figure out what the parameters for each Bulb should be and what the axes are later; that’s enough for now and I’m sleepy.  Catch you on the flipside, and tune in next time for another T-T-T-TTRPG T-T-Tuesday!

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