Influences on Roguish

As I have labored on Roguish I think I've written the rules 4 times now.  Each time I get so far, dislike the direction, take a few bits and then start anew.  Why?  Because it becomes too much like game "x."  Don't get me wrong, there are obvious influences abounding in Roguish, but I certainly don't want it to be another retro-clone.

My post regarding OSR earlier this on Sword & Shield will tell you in general what I am doing with Roguish, looking for inspiration-not re-creation.  How successful will I be in that endeavor?  I know what I think, but more importantly you will get tell me what you think.

To that end I am looking at releasing Roguish in 3 small books:

1) Sword & Shield covering warriors and rogues
2) Staff & Spell covering wizards and spells
3) Traps, Terrors, and Treasures covering the referee bits

I will most likely also put a master edition with everything in one book.

So why 3 books?  I liked Melee and Wizards break up of the rules into bite size booklets.  If you buy one, you'll probably want to buy the other.  I also do not want players to have at their finger tips all treasures and monsters, so I am making a 3rd book.

A referee may want everything at their fingertips, so it makes sense to a master edition reference.  I have plans to do a game bag edition (like I did my COLLAPSE RPG) but with a different bag. I already bought the bags and the sit near the desk staring at me imploring me to FINISH.  I think getting the warrior/ rogue book out will be easy by June and I hope to get the magic book out shortly after.  There will be overlap between them (character creation/combat) but they should speed things to finish I think.

I've read Dinky dungeons, Fighting Fantasy (the RPG), Adv, Fighting Fantasy (all books), Melee/Wizard/TFT, B/X D&D, Dark City Games Legends rules, Dragons of the Underworld, GURPS/GURPS lite, Dragon Warriors, Thieves Guild along with random bits of stuff here and there.  No doubt all of that has had an influence. Looking at my monster write up for Roguish and the character sheet/bookmarks you can see brevity plays an important role in what I am attempting with Roguish.

My goals-
D6's for everything
contested roles, with the option to use targeted roles
simple character creation
easy pick up and play
character options at higher levels
short rules
focus on exploration, not rules encyclopedias

As you have seen from my Pockets full of Peril adventures, my goal are quick play adventures over an evening or two.  I don't know a lot of people who can offer to play more than once a week, so I'd rather have people chain together adventures and play rather than fell burdened to show month after month to slog through the same dungeon level.

Campaign play is certainly possible but the referee can create that on his own.  I love mega dungeons, but each floor should be an adventure, not one floor taking weeks of adventure.  You can of course disagree and go epic, but I don't see myself offering those sorts of things.  The B2 module or sandbox style is my goal not the World's Biggest Dungeon.


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