RPG design in the “Lady Blackbird” style

So I’ve been recommended Lady Blackbird a couple of times and it’s been in the back of my mind to build something based off it. (Obviously I can’t just play the damn thing as written, that’d be far too straightforward.)

So far I have a new, sci-fi setting (taking some cues from things like Star Trek and Mass Effect, as well as some of the ideas from an RPG I was working on earlier this year that may still see the light of day, tentatively called Erebus).

“Nightfall” (Beta 03/10/2012) (pdf)

I showed the spoiler-free parts to some of the group last night and they seemed pretty positive (the ones who weren’t falling asleep, anyway – we did start looking about 11:30). The traits and tags mechanics seemed clear enough, as did the basic characters I’d created.

Based on the feedback I clarified some of the descriptions and tried to make each character a little more unique. I’m still a bit cagey as to how they’ll work in gameplay but hey, only one way to find out I guess.