Underworld
Land of Darkness. Land of the Dead. Land of Ice and Fire.
In the deep abysses of the earth, there is another realm. It has many names:
Tartarus. Sheol. Yomi. Nifelhiem.
A place where the rules of death and death can be bent – and sometimes broken.
Where the natural and supernatural overlap. Where belief and will shape reality, and dreams and nightmares can take physical form.
Atlantis. Lemuria. Mu. Avalon. Lyonnesse. Ys. Shang-ri La. Agartha. Minonans. Mayans. Olmec.
It is a land of lost and forgotten things. A land of myth. A land of terror.
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When I make homebrew rules I make myself a "inspiration blurb" and a set of "design goals."
This inspiration blurb is to give me a "feel" for the rules. The above is an inspiration blurb for my current set I'm experimenting with. Kinda like the tagline of a movie or the back cover of a book. I wanted a reason to paint my vikings, samurai and Greeks and a "game world" where I could use them all together, on my new foam mat terrain. I'm kinda motivating myself with invented fluff. Luckily for me I only make games for myself so I don't need to worry about how cringey or terrible my prose as long as it inspires me.
Notice I'm making my fluff match my miniatures. Not always a consideration, but an important one. Are there actually suitable miniatures for what you are wanting to play? I'd love a urban horror Underworld vampires vs werewolves game but vampires and werewolves with machineguns (while some do exist) are not affordable nor readily available. So that project sits shelved.
Making a "better 40K" was probably the first step of most game designers and there's a reason for that (besides the base 40K rules beg for improvement) - you and your mates already had access to the minis.
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Completely Generic Rules
Maybe 10-15 years ago there was a flood of what I'd call completely generic rules. Usually they trumpeted "can play anything with these from Roman soldiers to Napoleonics to Star Wars - One Ruleset to Rule Them All." This concept is a little flawed and does not work all the time.
While players like what they like (and not having to learn new mechanics is good!) and can be popular a la Insertname Rampant or the Noungrave of the week I'd say games that focus on melee vs those focussed on shooting probably should differ on a base level. So while Star Wars/40K fantasy sci fi can share a base with fantasy rules, viking shieldwall skirmish should probably not share the same mechanics/activation as a modern fire-and-maneuver squad shooter.
The second issue is: if you have 101 generic rules - why should I play yours over the others? Usually they have some sort of mechanics advantage - maybe it's a streamlined 40K with alternate movement and d10s. Maybe it has a cool push-your-luck activation mechanic. Maybe it has a super comprehensive army builder and point system.
However the main reason we play games is we get hooked by the fluff/shiny things. The cool backstory. The weird. Like the idea of Napoleonic cultists in armour possessed by turnips? A WW1-era ubdergrimdark crusades where you fight demons with swords and Lewis guns? Some games seem to get by on merely a cool art style. Having a rulebook that has NO fluff (reason to play) and merely "solid mechanics" kinda misses the motivation of most players.
Usually fluff drives our gaming so that's why I create my own to drive my homebrew gaming and painting. That's the purpose of my inspiration blurb.
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...before I forget, let's back up to an earlier point: Are there actually miniatures for your game?
Eric reminded me of this in a previous post on projects. I call this the "Zone Raiders conundrum." Zone Raiders is probably the Necromunda replacement we've been waiting for. The simpler Infinity (OK, now BLKOUT may have stolen this). But you'll probably never play it. (And may not even have heard of it)
Zone Raiders is not a generic game. It has great fluff - a strong anime vibe that borrows heavily from the Blame! manga of a giant planet-sized megacity full of strange mysteries and killer guardians. A theme as strong as Necromunda, but with better rules. It has a good campaign system. The physical rulebook is great and the PDF is shiny - and it's all in the one book. No $200 of extra books like Necromunda. Winner, right?
But though the game is "miniatures agnostic" aka "use whatever you want" the game is weirdly specific.
There are not the usual laser rifles, blasters and automatic weapons used in 99% of games from 40K to Star Wars. Instead it only uses Blame!-specific weapons like single-shot javelin spike airguns that have to be crank-reloaded. This means your 40K armies are probably useless (or at least kinda ridiculous for WYSIWYG) and half your Infinity models too.
The miniature profiles are also very specific with special rules. They ain't generic stereotypes you can add gear to based on what you have available; but the gear and traits come premade; in very specific configurations. You can't just get heavy, medium or light armour which you could just eyeball approximate models to - no, no you get rigs, where that heavy armour automatically comes with jump jets and grapnels - which again narrows down the suitable minis.
Yes, you could say the AK47 on my Infinity Haqquislam is a singleshot compressed air rifle... ...but it just seems off. Why bother with such cool fluff if all your models and scenery contradict it?
Another very cool aspect is the fights between warbands can trigger harvesters/reapers/immunocytes - robotic guardians who are sent by the world's AI to cleanse it of human parasites. This is very cool for scenarios however:
a) you need to have quite a lot of these robots of various types - extra cost
b) these robots are not readily available for sale - can't source them
Could I use Necrons? Maybe, but again the profiles don't really align.
In short, Zone Raiders is a good game, but there isn't the miniatures for it. It's got good fluff, and in theory it is miniatures agnostic "just use anything" - but in reality the very specific weapons and unit profiles in this "generic" rulebook are better suited to a game with a supported miniature line or at least a STL series. It's miniatures agnostic - if you happen to know how to source a specific type of miniature!
If ZR had added more generic unit archetypes with more generic weapons (chainswords, laser rifles, shotguns, etc) rather than only overly setting-specific characters, weapons and gear it would be way more popular... This is an example of good rules, good fluff - but no miniatures!
In contrast, with my homebrew rules I like to have a very clear set of miniatures in mind; in this case, Perry Samurai, Victrix/Gripping beast vikings, Fireforge undead peasants, Frostgrave cultists, Greek Wargames Atlantic skellies - maybe toss in some 3D printed mythological creatures like gorgons and yokai - which I've already checked my local 3D printer can provide.
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Design Goals
Back to my own Underworld homegame, I also like to have clear design goals before I start. I just realised I may have discussed this before - yep!
Since I've already devoted a big post to this (see link in sentence above); I'll expand on some points - re: the underlying math and how it can save you time.
If you can't be bothered to playtest much - use what already works!
Since I don't like reinventing the wheel, I like to find rules that already do something similar to what I am attempting, especially ones I like. If it's a medieval game, maybe MESBG. WW2 tanks - Flames of War. Preferably a well-tested set where the math already works or you know the "feel" of the game.
Many GW-derived games have a 4+ to hit up to say 24" then maybe a 4+ to kill. That's 25% lethality. If there's a 4+ cover save, then that's 12.5% lethality.
So if I use a d12 (my current favourite) for Underworld I can say a 7+ hits and a 7+ kills. That's 25% lethality. But because we are using a d12 we can dispense with the extra cover save. Maybe cover just becomes a -3 modifier on the 7+ hit roll. If cover is 10+ to hit, 7+ kills the lethality is still 12.5%. Identical to MESBG.
Shooting may use different dice and mechanics but will play exactly the same - and is based on a very tried and tested melee-based fantasy/medieval rule set. That is based on a 6" move and 24" missile range. Obviously if I change these moves/ratios the feel will change - but I can still predict how the game will play.
Usually I prefer to find the simplest rules possible. It's always way easier (and more fun) to add more crap in then to remove or simplify a process. As you'd know if you've ever sat in a work meeting...
So my design goals may also read: "Use MESG % as a base, but alternate activation?" - this gives me a starting point for how I know the game should play.
For example I've been thinking about Zone Raiders and I could say "make a new game: uses traits, weapons and gear from Necromunda & Infinity (guaranteeing easy mini alignment) and BLKOUT/Zone Raiders simple mechanics and math adapted to d12" in the design brief to build a combined ultramodern/sci fi skirmish game. The underlying math could be ported from either game then modified to suit.
I prefer to fit the game mechanics to the setting. For example, reaction moves/shooting may fit a modern SWAT team game well, but may be tiresome for a mass skirmish game focussed on melee.
In my Underworld game, I may have groups of models move/shoot together (or divide into move/shoot phases like MESBG) to allow my viking/Greek shieldwalls to move together. Whereas my d12 Necro Raiders hybrid would probably have individual soldiers moving and shooting; with either hold moves and/or limited reactions (to take cover/shoot back).
Design goals usually include:
"How do players take turns (activation/initiative)?"
"Melee vs missile focus/gameplay focus" (covered above^ i.e. what games/genres do I borrow from?)
"Unique hook" (why don't I just use existing commercial rules?)
"How many miniatures/how fast play?" (You can have more details for 10 minis per side than 40..)
"Key decision points" (what agency/risk-reward/resource management allows players to influence game)
...and a brief description of how the game should play in my mind. I.e.
"Focus on melee combat but minis move individually.. maybe together if within 1" coherency of another grunt or 6" of a hero... heroes have stamina, health and magic stat which can be drained - like a PC RPG - indicate by placing a green, red or blue counter under the mini if drained... ...3-5 "heroes" RPG style, rest can be 10-12 simpler grunts who have no special bars or abilities and die in one hit. Heroes can roll against stat to sprint, do power attacks, heal etc and if fail roll it is drained until recover by rolling next turn..."
As I've covered design goals before in more detail - and my kids are invading my room to play games - I'll sign out...
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