Breaking It Down

I was reading a post over at B/X Blackrazor about the inherent objectives, or lack-thereof, in role-playing games.  I'm not really sure if games/rule-sets need over all, "meta-objectives", but  it got me thinking about Kinship.  Of course Kinship is a setting, and not a game/rule set, but I've really have been doing a lot of thinking about this very thing.  I've also worried about the fact that I've deviated from my initial design concept, and it's kind of slowed down Kinship's development.

The town of Kinship, and it's surroundings are a setting.  Once a character is there, there really is no quantifiable objective, aside from day to day survival.  It really is up to the player to define their character, and their personal objectives, missions, or goals.  That's the way it should be.  The player can seek assistance from the game master for ideas, but in the end they have to make their own choices.  Of course the GM will throw some missions their way in the form of  conflict and adventures.  We all know there are character goals/objectives, and the game's goals/objectives.  Sometimes they coincide and sometimes they don't.

My initial design concept for Kinship was a cursed town.  A town where it's inhabitants are cursed never to leave, and forever cut off from the rest of the world.  Sometimes people end up there by accident or design, and they can also occasionally escape.

However, it has now kind of morphed into not only a cursed town, but a town that's "somewhere else".  Kinship is now only accessed via the "Road".  An inter-dimensional  highway of sorts.   Which concept is better?  Both ideas have merit, and their pros and cons.  I could run it either way, and have fun with it.

This being said, I think Kinship could have a "meta-objective".  That being returning the town to normal.  This could be done by breaking the gypsy's curse, or?  In, The Town of Kinship book, I may very well cover both ideas.  I want the book to be a bolt of cloth that GMs cut up to make their campaign quilt.

the Kinship Klan

Once I get the first rough draft of the book done, I will want some proofreaders/play-testers.  If you are interested please send me a message via email to zanazaz at yahoo dot com.  The Kinship Klan is going to be limited to about ten people ( or maybe more... ), and these ten people will get a limited edition proofreaders/play-testers copy of the book.  Actually, you will get two copies; one to mark up with corrections, criticisms, etc., and one to keep.  As of now, I  have NO deadline for finishing the rough draft, but I am aiming for the first of the year.  Of course it will also be available as a PDF.  I've got a lot of work to do, but as of now this is my main project.