State of the FAR System

With warmer weather, fragrant blossoms, and new leaves, this seems like a good time to assess the state of the FAR System and what’s next.

First, a bit of new news: We’re on RPGnow.com and drivethrurpg.com as Two Far Publishing.

Nothing uploaded yet, but I’m working on a gaming aid that will probably go up for free — a module that will provide adventure hooks, scenario/plot ideas, and backstory ideas that can be used in any game.

It’s a standalone thing, but also dovetails nicely with the FAR System/FAR Western project.

Next, the state of the FAR System itself. The core mechanics are set, having been thoroughly thought through (say that 3 times fast). At least I think they’re solid, but you never know where the cracks are until someone actually tries to play it.

What’s left is a lot of research and information gathering — all the stuff that’s needed to underpin the requisite lists of character skills, equipment, etc., etc.

Theoretically it’s all interesting stuff, but I want to know it, not learn it…if you know what I mean. I love exploring ideas and thinking about how they’re applied and where they can take me, but I don’t have much patience for the grunt work that brings ideas to fruition. (My son has even less, so Two Far Publishing is a bit under-equipped for the mission right now.)

But I do want to see this thing through, so to avoid getting bogged down, I’m going to try hitting the bare minimum that I’ll need to get my current gaming group (entirely family and very much a known quantity) started playing it.

So here’s the pre-playtesting punch list:

• Clean up the character creation process and instructions
• Organize my very messy/random notes into a basic list of skills the group is likely to use
• Revise the critical wound charts
• Work up stats on 3-5 exemplars of each basic weapon type (pistols, rifles, edged, blunt), focusing on what the group is likely to use
• Provide basic stats for horses and commonly encountered animals
• Design a usable character sheet

If that goes okay, I might release an alpha version of Far Western sometime this summer for public playtesting. Assuming there’s a public that wants to try it, that is. 🙂