Designer Diary: The Nile Empire Part 2 (Magic and Faith)

This week we take a look at some of the decisions made and principles used when designing the magic and religion of the Nile Empire:

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Designer Diary: The Nile Empire Part 1 (World Laws and Pulp Powers)

“All of the cosms are going to be tweaked in some way, some a bit, some a lot.  But not the Nile Empire. It’s perfect.”

That’s an imperfect paraphrase of what I told a Torg fan at GenCon 2015 after we had announced the coming of Torg Eternity the month previous, and it’s completely, utterly, 100% true.
Well…not so much. I said that in something of a tongue-in-cheek manner, but the Nile Empire was arguably the most popular of the original Torg cosms, which meant that we had to be especially careful in updating it. (more…)

Torg Designer Diary – August 2018

The Ins and Outs of Dramatic Skill Resolution

Hi Storm Knights,

Deanna suggested this month I do a deep dive on Dramatic Skill Resolution (DSR), and I think that’s a great idea. DSR’s were a major feature of the original TORG, and they’re very similar in Torg Eternity, but not identical. There’s some tricky nuances to explore, and some design tips to cover for GM’s creating their own. It’s easy to go off the rails, even in the published adventures.

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Torg Eternity Designer’s Diary – May 2018

Infinite Possibilities – The Torg Eternity Metagame

One of the most interesting features of the original TORG was the idea that your campaign results influenced the overall course of the war. Spending Possibilities in a realm gave the High Lord a boost, so some thrived while others faded. Stelae were mapped and sent out as GPS coordinates so you could follow along at home. Even more impressive was this was all done by mail!

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Torg Eternity Designer Diary – March 2018

The God Box

It’s no secret that Land Below had a huge impact on the Living Land. Ross Watson had the brilliant idea of threading the “Law of Wonder” through the entire cosm and that opened up so many doors. Why do we have ruined skyscrapers even though according to the axioms there should be nothing but jungle in dominant and pure zones? The Law of Wonders lets them stay intact. Why would anyone go into the dinosaur filled jungles on purpose? The Law of Wonders scatters potent treasures to find.

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Torg Eternity Designer Diary – January 2018

A Question of Difficulty

I get to play Torg Eternity with all sorts of people, from storied veterans to absolute beginners, and the question of game difficulty is always an interesting one. For those who’ve mastered the system some of our published adventures seem all too easy, and there’s a strong reflex to make things tougher all around. But then I’ll play with a table of new players fresh to the game and remember just why we set our balance point where we did in the first place!

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Torg Eternity Designer Diary – December 2017

Desperate, but not Necessarily Dark

Shane Hensley had a strong vision for what the Possibility Wars would look like in Torg Eternity, and his keyword for describing it was “desperate.” Early on we had some trouble confusing that with “darker,” which wasn’t really accurate. Darker meant less hope overall, more unhappy endings, and more focus on the unsavory aspects of the war. But that wasn’t what Shane was aiming for. Desperate meant there would be more pressure from the High Lords, more danger that forces the Storm Knights to engage, but once they engage they might still win, and win big. Things are intense…but not really dark.

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Torg Eternity Designer Diary – October 2017

Building a High Lord

There was some debate about whether we should do statistics for Baruk Kaah and the other High Lords, but in the end we decided it was an absolute must for a couple of reasons. (more…)

Torg Eternity Designer Diary – September 2017

Monsters of the Living Land

For me, one of the best parts of working on Torg is getting to create the strange creatures that populate the different cosms. Ross Watson did an amazing job on the Living Land sourcebook, but there was room for me to contribute by bolstering the character options—and adding some more monsters! (more…)