F|nDers Keepers: "F|nD-nally! The Rock.. HAS COME BACK TO..."

Hey all,

At 5.06 pm today, I sent a couple of files over to Vek, who was working in his office. He told me on Whatsapp that he will look through them and print a couple for me.

"F1nD" on my computer, cos files do not take "|" ??!

Yes, the first copy of F|nD Basic Edition v1.1 and Character Sheet has been printed!

I heaved a huge sigh of relief, as tomorrow is the day that my play-testers will meet to take a look and play through some of the material presented inside. Now with some rules in place, I can happily work on the world and populate it with races and critters!

Firstly, I have to thank the influences of all the PnP RPGs out there that made this Edition possible. I borrowed heavily the sleek Health Condition Monitor that I loved from ShadowRun, the brilliant poker-inspired game system of Savage Worlds, the shift and movement ideas from DnD 4th Edition; the swift and intuitive core game-play from Star Wars (Revised and Expanded), the "straight-forwardness" of Dragon Warriors.

Sprinkle in all the ideas I was brought up on. From my childhood experience of Enid Blyton, Secret Seven, Famous Five; to all the Fantasy Game-books I bought and read at MPH and Times, sometimes even bringing my own d6 dice there as I could not afford to buy more of them.

Then, I began craving for more. Printed books were no longer enough. 300 pages of "Turn to Page Bla Bla Bla" was not enough. My imagination was too strong and too vivid. I had to do it. I had to create my own world.

I was ten then, going on eleven. Age was not going to matter to me, I didn't really care that I was not supposed to be thinking on my "own".

At home, I started making my own adventures, plot lines and World, making them come alive with the paper toy humanoids and animals (Kats, they were called?) that I made from cheap vanguard sheet and cardboard. My brother Shane joined me in several of the "Worlds" and the "Adventures" I came up with.

Yes, the paper toys were cheap and self-made. But the ideas and joy it gave me and Shane was priceless. Or at least I hope so for him. I was a geek, nerd maybe :) And Proud of It.

I still am.

C'yall on the flip side, when I reveal bits and pieces of what the heck is going on in F|nD Basic First Edition !