Push: A Plan to Publish

Well, the heat just turned up a tad this week as the HiBRiD™ Logo and the designs for the Ité™ coins were completed. (You can see them on the Ité Gaming Engine Page), it is time to start the marketing push for injecting this game into the world.

As I have said all along, HiBRiD™ is a philosphy of gaming, not a plan for financial gain. The ultimate goal is to play the game I want to play and share my way of playing with others. While we play the Shades of Silver (the more detailed version which shreds the templates, uses age-based skill selection, bases movement on character height, and provides quick and fun rules for limb amputations, etc.) in my current games, I am planning on launching the Black and White version for the general public to maximize exposure. My current rough plan goes something like this:

1. Place small pieces of the book up on RPGNowand DriveThru RPG one at a time at minimal or no cost to gauge interest in those outside our modest HiBRiD™ community.

• Each piece will consist of 1 to 4 pages and include a quick synopsis of a necessary component that will allow experienced roleplayers to try out the game.
• The current initial documents planned include the Ité Gaming Engine, Preproduction: A Character Creation Guide, A HiBRiD™ Action Summary, The Director's Handbook, The Aspect Collection, and the Shades of SIlber Supplement.
•  Each component will include an example of a character, a creature, and three aspect descriptions.

2. Start to promote them a bit on BoardgameGeek.com, Twitter, Facebook, and a few other sites to expand interest outside the HiBRiD™ community.

3. Once I have receieved feedback, initiate a Kickstarter project to defray the cost of production of the Ité™ coins or the HiBRiD™ Black and White version, depending on which generates more interest.

• The Black and White version will be an amalgam of all 6 pieces, along with bonus material, including an expanded Aspect list, an introduction to new players, and an expanded equipment and vehicle list.
• There will be two types of Ité™ coins: Vital and Floating. Vital Ité™ coins will be made of two-tone metal while the Floating Ité™ coins will be of black/blue metallic plastic. After having flipped each type of coin a couple thousand times (Thanks, Jim Donley for the advice), I decided using both types. will give each coin a uniquely different sound and look as they hit the gaming table.

  Well, that's about it. Any revisions or ideas, let me know. I'm feeling this out as I go and appreciate any feedback...and I'll see you at the gaming table...

HiBRID Spellslingers Part Two: Determining Character Class and Level

How to Determine Your Character's Class and Level

In HiBRiD, the object of the game is to simplify the game in general. As a result, only the four standard classes are represented in the conversion of a HiBRID character in terms of the Reference Document's spell descriptions. As you go through the process, you will determine which classes your character “possesses”; the classes your character "possesses" will determine how your character is affected by class and level dependent spells.

It reads complicated, but graph it out and the if...then...else tree is pretty simple and clean.

Step One: Determine Spellcasting Classes

If your character possesses one or more grades in the Spellslinging Aspect, your character possesses the Mage/Wizard class. If your character possesses one or more grades in Providence, your character possesses the Cleric/Priest class. If your character possesses one or more grades in both, he possesses both classes.

Step Two: Determine Non-Spellcasting Classes

Determining whether or not your character possesses non-spellcasting classes depends on the priorities of your character's Combat and Fringe Skills.

If your character's two highest grade (+5 and +4) Standard Skills are Combat and Fringe in any order, your character possesses both the Fighter/Warrior/Fighting Man and Thief/Rogue classes.

If not, your character's highest grade Standard Skills (+5) determines which  non-spellcasting class your character possesses. A character with Combat as the highest grade Standard Skill possesses the Fighter/Warrior/Fighting Man class. A character with Fringe as the highest grade Standard Skill possesses the Thief/Rogue Class.

If any other Standard Skill possesses the highest grade, look at the rank of the Fringe or Combat Skills. Whichever of these is ranked with the highest grade determines the single non-spellcasting class your character possesses.

Step Three: Determine Your Character's Class Levels

Single-classed Characters

For characters possessing a single-class, your character is considered to be of a level equal to the Heroic Level described in the Campaign Background with respect to spell effects. If a character possesses a single class but does not have their highest grade skill in the class-determining skill, then that character's OSR/d20 "level" is determined by subtracting the number of levels between the grade of the class determining Standard Skill and the Heroic Level. For example, a character in a Heroic Level 6 campaign possessing the Fighter Class with a Combat grade of +3 would be considered a third level Fighter.

Multiclassed Characters

For multiclassed characters, when a spell effect depends on the total number of levels possessed by the character, the total number of levels is equal to the Heroic Level of the campaign.

Spell effects based on a single class will effect any character that possesses that class. For purposes of these spells, the character level is equal to the Heroic Level of the Campaign.

If a spell effect has a different effect on single-classed when compared to a multiclassed character, the character suffers the worse of the two effects. For example, if a character possesses both a Fighter and Magic User class and the spell says a fighter/magic user may save but a fighter may not, that character may not save. Spells are mean and horrible and scary, so this is not a house rule. Deal with it. Seriously.

...Oh..and have fun...