If I make a computer RPG, should I make it 100% faithful to a printed Paper and Pen rules system? Or should I tweak it so that I can take advantage of things that computers would make easier...although it might slightly mess up character conversions for people who''d want to play it without a computer? I was seriously thinking of creating a toy RPG system for my wargame universe. I really intended my wargame setting to have a branched out storylines and be more than just a war. Indeed, there''s plenty of espionage and high drama going on...and a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that you wouldn''t really know about from just playing the military aspect of the game. Some of it is basic soap opera stuff, and other bits being bombshells to the whole reason why the war is being fought in the first place. Course you''ll only know if you follow the storyline, which will be partially included in the wargame, but also in another medium (I''m currently thinking in .pdf format). As a consequence, I wanted my game world to be consistent, rational, and one which could be played in from several different genres. I wanted to create a RPG system in case someone wanted to play out some of the characters from the storyline, or some of the kinds of combat troops from the various factions...whether they are part of the NEC (New Earth Concordium), a High Colony militia, the Autonomous Zone Defense Forces or one of the Martial Orders (including any of the augmented humans from one of several projects designed to create superior military or government personnel). I''ve already been tinkering with a RPG system in one form or another for a few years, but I thought that if I made the game computer based, I could pull off a few tricks that would be clumsy to do in a pure PPRPG. For example, I''m thinking of making it more complex with more data tracking. A big advantage of computers is the ease with which data recording can be done...but without them, if a RPG gets too complex, it bogs down gameplay when you have to keep track of everything. I was also thinking of including a simple hex based map with simple paint tools that the GM could use to mark characters in relation to one another. Plus a multimedia viewer so that the GM can show pictures and sound bytes (or even movies) to help set the tone or mood of the game. The game would rely on chat (maybe even just a heavily modified IRC client).

Im not sure I know exactly what your asking, but Ill take a swing at it...

I myself have also contemplated making both pencil and paper RPGs and newer style RPGs with all the bells and whistles. If I wanted to go for the traditional pencil and paper style, I would create a simple world creation tool for DMs, create a kickass DM interface so he/she can totally run all aspects of the game himeself with ease, and keep the game engine simple so the only thing actually running the game is the DM. What more appropriate for a pencil and paper style RPG then to have the players run the show?

If I was to go for the newer style RPGs, again I would take advantage of all everything I could to make the game immersive as possible. This would be heavily computer driven.

Which you choose is really up to you. However, if you decide to go with the pencil and paper style, you should still take every opportunity to make the game run as efficiently as possible. Like I said above, you can adhere to the pencil and paper style by simply letting the players run the game, but there is no reason why they shouldnt have a kickass interface to do it with

My main concern is compatibility between a paper and pen RPG, and the computer RPG rules. It''d be nice if they were 100% compatible which would be very easy to do...but OTOH, the computer''s ability to keep track of data and make calculations would easily allow me to have much more complex game mechanics than the PPRPG version.

Would I penetrate a greater market if I stuck with a 100% compatible PPRPG to CRPG system?

Simple answer? No.

The more complex answer now. You need to make the game for the mostpart visibly nearly identical to the original. There are many games that are hugely successful because they took the 80% of the ''core'' of the game that makes it good and tossed out the 20% that the computer could do MUCH better. Stats? No reason not to use the exact same stat system. Experience, levels, spells? Not much reason to make changes to those either. When you get to movement and combat though, you will want to make changes to make the game more fluid. Give the players more options to allow them to make bad decisions such as moving recklessly through an area where there are a lot of monsters in order to try and save time. It''s always good to make the combat a bit less ''turn-oriented'' if you can do it well. If you can''t then you just keep things the way they are, but you can look at Baldur''s gate and use that as an example of how to make a game that''s basically true to the system while still making changes that enhance the gameplay.

It honestly depends on the PNP game system. Some translate better than others into a computer game. Computers make it alot easier since they can take every factor into account when it comes to certain roles. On the other hand computers are horrible at allowing the true freedom PNP games have. In fact less than 1% of what you CAN do in a PNP game you can do in a computer game. The changes in the system should be the ones that limit game play in the PNP game, (movement as stated earlier) and things that the computer can''t normally handle.