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Rev03: The Origin Story, Pt. 2
By Corvus | June 11, 2009
This is the zeroth(+1) post in a an ongoing series explaining the basics of Rev03. I’ve been asked, “Why are you doing this?” several times now, so I thought it might be good to give a bit of history, share my plans for the future, and talk the design goals that led to the design of HoneyComb Engine Rev03.
The last post ran roughshod over my first two decades of RPG history. This post will cover the last decade, from 1999 to the present.
A Fresh Start
Storytellers participated in the destruction of the multiverse–I owed them that much. The decisions they made, in fact, had a pretty large impact on how the new world evolved over time. So together we fashion a simpler world based on real human cultures and real human interactions. And a simpler world deserved a simpler system.
You likely noticed that I didn’t talk about my earlier systems in any depth. That’s because they really aren’t worth talking about. And frankly, I’m not sure I can recall enough about them to make any sense of them myself. These early systems weren’t so much built, as they were taped together after I tore apart some other designer’s system. They were rude, cobbled-together, constructs–unwieldy and prone to breaking.
But, for the first time, before I let anyone else into the new world, I sat down and asked myself what I really wanted from my system. I decided that the two most important things to me at the time were–it must be simple to use and it must be possible to talk about the system within the storyworld itself. I also wanted a system that didn’t limit character possibilities, so much as helped guide appropriate character decisions. I wanted it to reward risk taking, rather than punish it. I wanted it to foster storyteller cooperation
And so I came up with a rudimentary version of the system that I still use today. All six attributes are there–Control, Strength, Lore, Craft, Agility, and Wit. The small grids next to each attribute were for marking failures and when you filled up a grid, your attribute went up a point. The grid of icons was the magic system and some of the meanings behind those symbols are still in use today.
Over the years since then, I’ve continuously made changes here and there to the system. It become more complex for a time, and even had region-specific designs…
Then it became simple again for a time, followed almost immediately by a scalable system that could be played with as few as three stats on a single card, or many more across multiple cards.
It was evident to me that I had achieved my original goals and maintained them through each subsequent revision. In a world where the magic was elemental in nature, it made sense that the character attributes be aligned with the elements and this holistic approach in turn made it possible to skip the previously-obligatory, “here’s how the system works,” gaming session–jumping right into the world with new storytellers. But I still kept running up against a very unpleasant fact–no matter how much gaming experience the storyteller might have, no matter how tightly the system was integrated, no matter how simple and elegant I made it–dealing with the system brought us out of the storyworld. It was never for terribly long, but every time a storyteller looked at a character sheet–they were no longer a character in the world, but storyteller looking at an assemblage of numbers on a piece of paper.
And I knew I had to stop iterating the same basic failed design and try something very, very new.
The Present
Earlier this year, I decided to remove numbers from my character sheets and replace them with tokens. This was a huge, and largely successful change. I became excited, knowing that I was on to something good. Then, after quite a bit of playtesting, I made yet another sweeping change to the core system, a change I’m now referring to as Rev03.
And as excited as I was earlier this year–I’m more excited now. There are still minor tweaks to be made, but those tweaks are mostly in the presentation and terminology. The system as a whole works as intended.
Rev03 is a very simple system and yet allows for quite a bit of personal expression on the part of the storytellers. It is a system that is very easy for the inexperienced to understand, yet contains enough subtleties that old-pros appreciate the nuances of it. It is a system that can guide world creation as well as character creation. It is a system that can absolutely be talked about within the context of the story, meaning you need not break character to discuss your capabilities.
But most importantly of all–it is a system that does not require breaking the fourth wall to use it. The movement of tokens about the the life wheel represent the flow of energy through your character, so when you interact with your character’s real-world representation–the character sheet–you do not need to step out of your character’s mindset to do it. There isn’t even any math to do beyond the simple comparison of two numbers.
And so, it would appear, I have finally reached my goal–an intuitive RPG system that puts the focus on story and furthermore, that allows for fully participatory storytelling experiences where each storyteller at the table has a full and reasonable grasp of how the storyworld works and can contribute in equal measure to the unfolding of the narrative.
The system, though designed for my particular storyworld, is not setting-specific. It does require, however, a certain underlying cosmological viewpoint to make sense. But so far it lends itself quite nicely to the martial world of Slayer Hopefuls and the mental world of the Three Ladies as they stumble across murder in the 1920’s.
The Future
I will be self-publishing the Rev03 system as The HoneyComb Engine. It will be freely available on the web, as an inexpensive PDF download, and a POD book. I will then look into publishing world manuals demonstrating how the system works against the backdrop of my storyworld. I will also be working on a series of applications that will support the development of stories and development of worlds and of characters.
I am continuing to work on creating system tools for the HoneyComb Engine that will help storytellers approach the building of narratives using the same techniques I do instinctively. These tools aren’t necessary for the system to work well, but I would like to include it in the original HoneyComb Engine manual.
For the last six years or so, I’ve been focusing on how my RPG system could be integrated into a video game experience in a meaningful fashion. By that, I mean–how could it be implemented so that everything the player experiences is consistent with the core system. I’ve touched on it here and there on the blog, but haven’t gone into any great depth.
Well, that’s going to be changing over the course of the next year. I will be blogging less and designing more. But when I blog, I will be sharing my project with you–whether they succeed or fail. I haven’t been ready to move too far beyond the design of the tabletop system because I sensed I wasn’t ready. But now, with Rev03 in place, I am ready. The system is already inspiring new thoughts about how to run traditional sessions, and how to use it to drive video game mechanics.
So stay tuned–I’m going to try to make sure it’s a lot of fun for all of us.
P.S. I’ll resume with the regularly scheduled Rev03 posts next week! I hope these two origin posts have answered your questions about what I’m doing and why. If not, please share your questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Tagged:Honeycomb Engine, rev03, rpg, rpg history. | 13 Comments »
June 11th, 2009 at 7:07 am
I feel complete now. The fog is lifted
Thanks for taking the time to tell us this origin story Corvus. Was a great read.
June 11th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Wow Corvus. This is a great story and an truly original and compelling system. I look forward to digging through all your posts on the subject. You are onto something here!
June 11th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Thanks Stu and Stephen!
June 11th, 2009 at 8:43 am
This looks like an incredibly interesting system, Corvus, and I loved reading a little about your creative process.
I’ve got to go back and read the rest of your Rev03 posts, but I have one question: are you still using the cup design for your character sheets? If you are, you should consider distributing those, too!
June 11th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Thanks, Ted. While we will be distributing PDF Life Wheels for free, we’re going to encourage people to craft their own personalized Life Wheels using the medium of their choice. We even plan on having a showcase for storyteller-created LifeWheels.
However, two of my regular storytellers are fiber-folk and one works a bit in wood and leather, so it’s possible we’ll have a variety of patterns and/or kits available for purchase. I’m also strongly considering making “official” elemental tokens available for purchase too.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I love a good origin story, and the system looks and sounds great. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
To be honest, I just barely skim most of your RPG posts, but the origins tale here and previously have been interesting. I certainly agree with your stated aims above and would like to see it in action sometime.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Thanks Destral and Max.
I’ll be toting a Rev03 storyteller kit around with me at PAX this year and, with the possible exception of my own proposed panel, I’m going to make running short sessions a priority throughout the weekend.
June 12th, 2009 at 11:13 am
What makes tokens better than numbers in your opinion?
June 12th, 2009 at 11:23 am
@Ash I’m sorry if I wasn’t explicit enough about that in my post. Using numbers serves to distance the storyteller from the character, in part because it’s too abstract a representation of their character and in part because it forces the player to use a different part of their brain than is required for the storytelling itself.
The tokens are moved about the Life Wheel (character sheet) to represent effort and the transfer of energy as the character exert their will upon the world. It’s still an abstraction, but it’s a kinesthetic representation which serves to draw the storyteller deeper into the character they are portraying.
The fact that the character sheets rely predominately on iconography also helps, as our brains are keyed to have deeper emotional responses to symbols than to text.
June 12th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
So I have a philosophical/metaphysical question for you: In your system, what role do Mind, Body and Spirit play? Are they purely mechanical stats for the purposes of, say, combat, or do they also serve to represent the ’self’? I ask this because I’ve noticed in most of the HCE logos you’ve been showing, the Will/Ego arrow is similar or the same in most cases. I guess what I’m trying to say is, Will is the character’s intent, but is that intent subservient to the motives of the Mind, Body, and Spirit (which are not always aligned)?
June 13th, 2009 at 7:38 am
That’s a great question, Destral.
Spirit, Mind, and Body are the elemental spheres through which Will can be channeled. Think of them as layers of influence through which Will can flow.
Will is more than just intent, it is the actual energy that fuels a character’s ability to act, while Ego is the energy that protects a character from action. It is the combination of Will & Ego (the Source) that actually define a character.
June 13th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Ah, ok, that makes sense.