What are you, a mouse or a man? Oh, you are a mouse? I'm terribly sorry.

Races are a pretty big hurdle in most RPGs that have them. They could be too traditional, too radical, too insensitive, too boring, too powerful, too weak, too many, too little, or any other complaint.

This is can be more apparent in a multigenre game, where almost any race is possible, and encouraged! But what's the stop the dragonman from outclassing a regular ol' human.

Well, guidelines.

How I see it is that things can quickly get out of hand without some sort of guidelines. Thus, Warp-Corp will have some very simple guidelines, but they should help start the mitigation of power balance. Here are some of the guidelines I will most likely include.

1. The race must be humanoid in nature. What is humanoid? In Warp-Corp, a humanoid is a character between 3 and 10 feet tall, that walks upright, and is at most 5 feet wide.

Now, you may be shocked about this: What if I want to be a giant? Or a dragon? Or Cthulhu? Well, your GM can easily override this rule if they feel, but it is to prevent power issues. A giant will be much more powerful than a human, so why would anyone want to be a human? A half-giant isn't out of the question, though!

Another point to consider is that between the 3 and 10 ft range, that falls in the size brackets of Small, Medium and Large in d20 era D&D.It will be easily manageable, the characters will be able to enter mostly any structure, and they won't have to sidle sideways in some corridors (I'm not sure is large characters will be 10 foot wide yet)

2. Special advantages should be balanced with appropriate disadvantages.

If someone wants to be a dragonman, it is understandable that they may want to breathe fire, have claws, and maybe fly a bit. This is fine, but the GM should keep in mind a) what could imbalance the game and b) that these advantages should have like disadvantages.

What would be a sample disadvantage? Well, the easiest one would be a simple bonus to an attribute, and a negative to another attribute. So, a +1 to Strength and a -1 to Intelligence for, say, an orc. This is the easiest way, along with doing some alterations of saving throws.

When it gets into the supernatural abilities, that's when things get a little more plastic. Let's say our orc is an ice orc, or whatever, and the player wants a resistance to ice. This could easily be balanced by a vulnerability to fire.

We could also say the orc wanted to have ice breath. That's getting a little to far into imbalanced territory, and if the GM grants the ice breath, they should have a pretty bad disadvantage, such as a health reduction.

Furthermore, people could get a little 'advantage happy', trying to min-max a character out the butt. For this reason, I would impose a limit of 3 advantages, each with a subsequent disadvantage.

I will probably write out more concrete examples as my thoughts coalesce, so I can have some ideas in the final product ala Savage Worlds, but these are my thoughts for right now.

Next time, I'm going to focus on the next part of character creation, attributes, saves and derived statistics.

See ya!

An Apology! I'm sorry, baby. I did you dirty.

Sorry about the lack of, well, anything on this blog! The main reason is that I am functioning as the assistant editor for John Stater's new game, Blood & Treasure. Check out his blog here.

This is taking up literally all my time, and I haven't had much time to think about Warp Corp. I'll hopefully make a post sometime this week, most likely dealing with a sticky wicket when it comes to multigenre games: races.

So keep your eyes peeled, and all that good stuff!

Welcome to the Corp, Agent.

Hello there, and welcome to my blog that will document my progress in making a rules-lite multiversal tabletop RPG titled "Warp-Corp". I'm going to assume you know what an RPG is, so I will not waste time explaining it. However, I will tell you about Warp-Corp and my goals for it.

What Exactly IS Warp-Corp?

Warp-Corp, as I said, is going to be a rules-lite multiversal tabletop RPG. In it, you play Agents of the Warp-Corp, a multidimensional investigative agency that sends people from all over time and space to OTHER places all over time and space. You have been chosen for whatever reason to join the hollowed halls of the Warp-Corp.You main goal is to stop any potential disruptions to the multidimensional fabric, which if not controlled, could unwind the very essence of the multiverse. 

In Warp-Corp, you can play any kind of character you can imagine. A cowboy may adventure with a superhero, or a golem, or an alien. The cowboy may be a hexslinger ala Deadlands, and the alien could even be a shaman with mystical healing powers. Anything a player can think of will be allowable, as long as the GM deems it so.

All of this will be backed by a simple and flexible rules system that will blend into the background, so the stories of the players can stay at the forefront of the experience.

What Rules Will it Run On?

Currently, I have two options. 

The first is to adapt D&D Basic clones to fit the setting rules behind Warp-Corp. If that happens, there will be a few implied things about Warp-Corp

-It will be class based

-There will be saving throws and attributes

-The combat system will remain intact

-There will be magical items

My other option is to build the system from the ground up. Honestly, this is not ideal, just an option. I would much rather have a flexible modified D&D B/X game than an entirely new storytelling game. 

Either way, all my ideas and progress concerning the rules will be posted on here as I create them.

Can I Help?

Sure! That's why I have this blog, after all. I will take into consideration all of your comments and thoughts as development on Warp-Corp goes along. I will also, once the game reaches a solid state, release playtests for you to run with your own group. 

How much will Warp-Corp cost when it is done?

Probably nothing. I will most likely release it as a free pdf. If there is a desire for printed copies, I will most likely offer them through Lulu or DTRPG

Anyway, that is the long and short of it. I think Warp-Corp will be a fun little game, and I hope you will join me as I flesh out my idea into something playable.