CRPG Characters

June 25, 2015June 25, 2015 Greg Caughill

Now that v0.4 of the Broken Staff CRPG has been released I will discuss the various new files in the system and how they work starting with one of the most important elements. CRPG Characters Characters are covered later on because they build off of and use many previously discussed elements: race, class, attributes, skills, feats, items, spells and effects. You can find the available/saved character information in one file: Characters.xml. There is also a Parties.xml file that stores groups of characters and saved games which will contain character information. These two files form the core of the Broken Staff […]

How I Review CRPGs – My Methodology & Rating System

June 18, 2015June 18, 2015 Greg Caughill

Before I put the time into designing a game I want to have a clear set of rules or guidelines I can use to see if the game design will live up to my expectations. I intend to use this system to review a number of games so I can extract design best principles from them. Some of My Favourite Role Playing Games The best way to start this process was for me to think what my favourite games were before deciding why they were my favourites. Western RPGs My favourite games tend to be western-style CRPGs that are computer […]

Races are like Species in the Broken Staff CRPG

June 11, 2015June 11, 2015 Greg Caughill

CRPG Races There are two parts of the race sub-system: racial groups and races themselves. The system includes standard fantasy races from Tolkein as well as what are commonly called ‘furries’, elemental style races and even a couple of undead options. In the Broken Staff CRPG system we use the standard term races even though with the large breadth of selection they are more like species with ‘races’ within each. The races are grouped into a number of racial groups for organizational purposes. RacialGroups.xml Racial groups are basically types that allow for races to be grouped. In the default system […]

Broken Staff CRPG v0.4 Has Been Released

June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 Broken Staff Studios

Broken Staff CRPG v0.4 Available After a long wait the next version of the Broken Staff CRPG (v0.4) is now available. You can download the release here. This release contains updated .xml data files, an updated System Browser utility and for the first time source code of the System Browser and the RPG system. What’s Included in the Download? If you open the zip file you will notice three folders and two files. The readme file gives and overview of the various parts of the system and how they work together. You should also read the blog series on http://www.brokenstaffstudios.com/ […]

Can We Build a Classless Society? I Hope Not…

June 1, 2015May 24, 2015 Greg Caughill

CRPG Classes When thinking of the ideal CRPG I kept taking classes out and making skills the key to character builds and then later changing my mind and putting them back in. While I think you can design a CRPG without classes, I kept coming back to them as a way of making meaningful character choices and differentiating characters. One of my pet peeves in a party based system is “uber characters” that can do everything. In a single character game having no classes seems to make more sense but the Broken Staff CRPG is designed first and foremost for […]