What is SinisterForces supposed to do?

SinisterForces is supposed to be filtered version of the Fudge system. That is it. No more, and no less.

Fudge is a great game designer’s kit, but in my opinion it is not a game itself. It isn’t even a game engine. It is a collection of parts and tools from which both games and game engines are built. You build games using Fudge instead of playing a game called Fudge. Just like a blueprint, a stack of lumber, bags of concrete, bricks, and other building materials do not equal a house the same is true of Fudge.

Now you can build a great home with those materials and a strong design, or you can build a shack that barely stands up in the wind. Quality materials do not equal quality results. A bad Fudge game is not a reflection on Fudge itself, but on the game designer. Too often though I have heard other gamers bash Fudge because it is “unplayable” and a bad system. This is because the only Fudge games that they have played were shacks. I’m trying to design a universal game engine from Fudge to show how great of a house you can build using Fudge.

And that is merely the first part of my agenda. SinisterForces will be a basic game engine that has no setting and focuses more on the common elements of an RPG. Just like Savage Worlds by Pinnacle Entertainment (great game by the way) is a bare bones RPG that you can apply settings and details to, I want to create a game based on Fudge that does the same.

Now the second part of my agenda is to create the settings, details, and cool game mechanics in the form of supplements for SinisterForces. The Sci-Fi supplement would contain the rules for starship battles, the fantasy supplement would contain the settings material for elves and dwarves, and so on, and so on.

There can even be cool concept games like my Holy War proposal (the first project on my list following SinisterForces release). I would be thrilled to see someone else take SinisterForces and use it as the foundation for their own game. First I have to finish it though.

And that is really what SinisterForces is supposed to do – be a generic game system upon which cool game concepts and settings are built. It will be a generic model home once finished, and it hopefully will be the standard upon which an entire neighborhood of custom designed homes are built.

What do you think of that idea? Do you foresee problems, or are you interested in the concept? Leave a comment below to share your view on the matter.