Genrenauts RPG update (Patreon)

Hi all,

I'm working on the Genrenauts rpg today and thought I'd share a little of my thinking/process with y'all.

This weekend I ran the first session of a planned miniseries playtests. We're reprising one of the groups from the initial playtests, adding a fourth PC. I ran a mission in the Rom-Com region, which was an absolute delight.

I grew up with very combat and adventure-focused games from D&D to Deadlands and so on, so running an entirely socially-focused game was very fun. 

Something I struggled a bit with was shaping a mission where the team didn't know what specifically the breach was. It's a format I've used in the series, but it presents different challenges for the rpg. The group handled it well, but it changed the shape of the mission to be much more front-weighted, and not necessarily in the way I wanted. My inclination at the moment is to lower the threshold of success/effect needed to pinpoint the breach in order to not leave the team under-prepared in terms of legwork/recon before the engagement roll. I think there's also something I can do to help there in re-evaluating the Intel Questions I have for teams to gather information before deploying.

Adapting and translating the premise of Genrenauts from what works in a series of novellas and short stories into a role-playing game is an interesting challenge. It's made me re-evaluate some of my earlier choices - not to change my mind, but to think more deeply about how and why I made the choices I did. 

I've also been spending time thinking about the downtime and campaign aspects of the game. I already feel pretty good about my Forged in the Dark hack in its ability to handle missions, but I want to create an engaging full cycle of play and some tools for campaign pacing and structure.

I've already got ideas for variant campaigns, providing groups with options beyond the metaplot I've created in the novellas. I'll work on the "Default" campaign first and add the others later in the design process in order to not get bogged down. Better that the game runs one type of campaign very well than three campaigns in a middling way. 

When I get the draft of the rules to a place I'm happy to call a viable draft and not just a working reference document for myself and my internal playtest groups, I'll share it here for backers and see what y'all think. I don't have a timeline for that just yet beyond "This year, I hope."