Wordplay

With Wordplay now significantly updated and published we have decided to remove the very old free PDF from this site. A future task will be to provide a revised PDF with all the considerable enhancements to the game for download here. In the meantime you are encouraged to head over to our store and get yourself a copy of our highly affordable little rulebook!

The Wordplay download has been updated to the most recent version and now includes the ‘Epic Fantasy’ Theme! This is the full pre-edited version of the game with all the refinements added since last September.

The full game is here. I hope you enjoy it. Click on the download tab and you’ll find it there.

A significant milestone has been achieved today. The first draft of Wordplay is now complete and has been sent to the editor. Focus will now switch to refining the text and producing the PDF and book!

We’re on the way…

So, I am just looking to round off the first cut of my Epic Fantasy Theme when I start to explore how players can develop new settings from scratch. I suggest that a serring could be created just like a character, with a Concept, Name, Goals and Traits. These will give insights into what the Navaigator, or if undertaken collaboratively, the players, want to get out of a setting.

I now wonder if this should appear in the navigator section of the main game rather than specific to a Theme? I think it probably should.

This is just a mock up of the cover for the Wordplay Core Text version. Dom has put together an excellent template that we are presently playing with.

Perhaps it should be obvious but with the Core Text version of the game now in preparation in anticipation of the return of the edited text I need to think about such fripperies as a Back Cover for the book. Here’s where I’ve got to:

Wordplay is an exciting new and easy to play pen and paper roleplaying game for group story telling in any genre.

Story descriptions are allocated a number of six sided dice to be used in the game. Suddenly, everything described in Words have a game impact during Play.

Wordplay features the following:

• Create characters using descriptive phrases, ‘Traits’, which are then allocated to either your Body, Mind or Soul categories
• Create Goals for your characters and drive them forward to succeed
• A simple dice building game at the heart of all the action in the story
• Describe your character’s action and make use of as many supporting descriptions as possible to fill your hands with dice.
• You and your opposition each roll your dice trying to get as many successes as possible – highest number of successes wins. Beware, only the dice that land on the table count!

This is the ‘Core Rules’ version of Wordplay which, with a light dose of imagination and a large number of six sided dice, provides everything that you need to play.

The Wordplay Playtest 0.51 – ‘Pleasure is Nature’s test, her sign of approval’ is the fully proofread core rules of the game. Many thanks to Nick Bradbeer for doing such an excellent job.

This version has just been sent through for editing.

My Epic Fantasy Theme is 4000 words in and should be completed by Christmas, along with the others that are in development.

We remain on track for a Spring 2009 release.

The main rules are now in for proofreading and work commences on the themes. I am heartened to see that some of the theme writers are playtesting their work at Furnace in October. I hope to play in some of the games!

Work on the Epic Fantasy theme has started in earnest; I am about three thousand words in. Here’s an example ‘Place’ that I have just added:

The Isolated Village

Far away from the main trade routes and ancient roads of decaying empires, hidden between hill and forest lies the isolated village. Self sufficient, this forgotten community has either become slowly detached from the rest of the realm, is geographically challenged, or has specific reasons for hiding away from the rest of civilisation.

The village perhaps has a secret that has to be kept at all costs. A home to some evil or curse? Or perhaps this place is a sanctuary, an idyll, that provides the heroes with much needed rest and respite, a home away from the battles that they have faced? An isolated tower just beyond the village would be home to an old wise wizard with enigmatic answers to the heroes’ difficult questions. The tavern, small and well kept, is either warm and welcoming, or filled with suspicious locals who wish the player characters would move on.

The village’s isolation weaves an effect on the inhabitants. Here you will find unexpressed love, hidden royalty, hero wannabes, simple wisdom and suspicious knives in the dark.

There’s almost certainly an adventure or three in or around the isolated village.

Body: Lungs full of fresh air, Six fingers, Strong as the mountains

Mind: Beast lore, Farming, Forage, Hunting, Ignorant, Know everybody in the village, Know secret lore, Know the way to the hidden dungeon, Magic craft, Self sufficient

Soul: Direct, Dreamer, Four leagues is a world away, Heir to the throne, Naïve, Secrets and lies, Simple wisdom, Suspicious, Starry eyed, Uncomplicated, Wary of strangers, Wide eyed innocent, Yearning to find love

The August version of the text is now available for download. This version is the pre-proofreading and editing version of the text, so we are getting close.

On which subject, I am delighted that Nick Bradbeer will be proofreading and Mike Mason will be editing the text. These two strong additions to the team have really helped to make the prospect of the release much more achievable. I ma too close ot the text and impartial and skilled eyes will help shape things up.

Comments on this release are welcomed. Download, read and, if you can, play. Just click on the Donload tab and get yourself the PDF.

Below are the things that I am working on for the July release of Wordplay. Thanks to Tweaker and the Collective Endeavour for providing the suggestions.

• make the rule and trait examples consistently fantasy related and not mixed and matched.

What do you think of this one? It keeps a consistent theme in the rules and prevents ’swordbearer’ and ‘SQL administrator’ in the same trait lists. Expressions of adaptability will be found through the themes.

• A single or two-page extended example of play showing how the players and the GM negotiate the results of their roll, assembling their hand and counting their dice, and perhaps using a multiroll contest to play out a fight, a social event or both.
• Advice on getting on the same board and agreeing on the theme, tone, setting details, etc.
• Who is in charge? The role of the Guide and the Players.
• Advice on creating adventures, possibly using the traits and defects selected by the players as an springboard.
• Advice on creating new templates for Places, People and Professions, though this might not be necessary if the themes included provide enough examples.
• How do you deal with those characters whose equipment is an integral part of their concept or is a signature element of their personality?

So, a lot to go in the Guide chapter.

July and August will see the great editing hack. My aim is to condense the text and remove duplication as far as possible. I see this as freewheeling on the downward slope to the release. I suspect that I will find it rather painful!