Building a Better Monster?

HorrorScope gets more exciting every time I work on it. What’s even more exciting is seeing something that I’ve written moving through the Alpha phase and steadily approaching Beta. I never thought I would be in the place I am right now. This Saturday, October 15th, I’m hosting my first play test among my gamer friends. While I am excited, there’s a latent worry that HorrorScope won’t roll as well as I want it to.

A big worry, actually, since I’m signed on to demo it on November 4th at Metatopia.

If you haven’t heard of Metatopia, it’s a pretty new convention that turns the tables. The players pay a pretty low rate to attend and try out any game they want. How cool is that? It’s in Morristown, New Jersey, which is pretty dang close to good ol’ Vex. So, fingers crossed and crosses up! I’ll be there. If you attend, drop by my table and toss down some dice!

Away from that, HorrorScope has evolved from my initial vision of it. Originally the system was based around rolling a fist full of six sided dice and praying. Now there are specialized dice rolls and legitimate combat maneuvers. More importantly, I’ve started the rules that really let you make it your own game.

Unfortunately, most of the stuff that has me the most excited is meta-plot related. Can’t have that coming out before the game. A cool feature that Rayne and I are pretty proud of is the Build a Better Monster! section.

I want this game to be open ended, limited only by the creativity of the players and Director. Rules for it were deliberately built in to powers and the like. I have five definite Species that are in the core rules for right now, with a sixth in the works. Of course, if the game gets off the ground we have multiple others in the think tank. If this game is about options and creativity, I feel that I would be cheating the players and Directors if it wasn’t there.

Thus, Build a Better Monster! which gives players and Director’s the freedom to create their latest and creatures to mix up their Features.

We’ll see how it rolls out this weekend and at Metatopia. Stay tuned for more updates!