Enjoy. I've been really enjoying The Murderbot Diaries as of late.
Ejomatic
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A member registered Jan 02, 2022 · View creator page →
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Thank you so much for the kind words! It really means a lot to get feedback.
I'll admit I'm terrible at keeping track of my inspiration... I read a lot of classic sci-fi (Heinlein, Haldeman, Clarke, Asimov) growing up and found myself loving the adventures and technology but finding some of the social aspects deeply lacking. I've got a huge anthology of old pulpy sci-fi somewhere as well. Later on Le Guin's work gave me the social nuance and forward thinking I craved but those stories didn't play much with technology.
And of course I loved the 'clunky' technology I saw not just in Alien, but in movies like Clear and Present Danger, Jurassic Park, and the old Bond films. While I still love sci-fi, I feel that technology lost a bit of its personality when it became all touch screens and frosted glass and brushed aluminum. I want to push a switch and hear a thing go 'chonk' and another thing go bzzzZZZZ. I miss the sound and smell of my old crt monitors I had growing up, even if the new screens are easier to haul in a move :p
The tv show Firefly also was, well, it was the sort of inspiration where the premise is really fun, I have a soft spot for spaghetti westerns as well... but the execution wasn't great. I felt there was a way to do a frontier in space that could still feel like a 'better fix it because no help is coming' frontier without hitting the same potholes I felt that show hit.
Unfortunately I didn't read 'The Ship That Sang' until after I'd made the game, but somebody pushed that in front of me the moment I told them about Shiphearts haha. I think my original inspiration was fleet command in Homeworld? I've been on the 'I want to be a spaceship' boat since I was a kid, so who knows what got me hooked on it.
As for your suggestion to put that header on the page, I can absolutely do that in due time. I'll be updating things when I finish with the next version; I'm currently fixing some issues some folks found and revamping how Melee weapons work so they're as fun as firearms. The timeline is being modified a little bit as well, but the core themes aren't changing.
EDIT: I completely forgot to answer the question about design choices. So the main systems through which I was introduced to TTRPGs were Savage Worlds and Pathfinder, and for a solid decade I kept trying to do more and more esoteric homebrew within Savage Worlds and Savage Worlds Deluxe. Finally I got frustrated enough to make my own system from the ground up.
I wanted to try and build meatier, more realistic combat while streamlining (and freeing up) the storytelling and lightening some of the things that were slowing my games down. I wanted things to be faster and easier, especially the dice; my goal was to have it so there is almost always the d10, and then you're just grabbing the correct amount of d4's. No need to worry about, 'do I have the right amount of d6s, oh wait I need a d8, let me grab that d12...' A number of discreet objects is faster to grab than discerning die shapes for me.
I also wanted to keep the books as short as possible, and gave myself very strict page limits. I am a GM who wants the players to read the book, and thus I want the book to be easy to read and even more importantly, be easy to understand. Personally I think character creation shouldn't need an app, and it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes per player. I wanted it so people don't have to go hunting for rules; the chapter titles should bring them close enough to find it quickly.
Also, I made this game for me. If the mechanics ever seem a little bit weird or off the beaten path, I made the choice because it's easier for me. What can I say, I'm selfish! Haha