No More Decimals, Version 1 Is Ready

What?! I haven't posted since Tuesday? Holy crap!!

(ahem, cough, cough) I am the Warden!!

For the past 3 weeks, I've been knee-deep in rewrites for the Optional System. Completely, from scratch, start to finish. It has been a refreshing experience and has boosted my confidence in this game. There's still a lot of work to be done (there's a reason why it's not recommended to design a huge game on your own), but I'm feeling really confident about the latest updates.

On my screen, Optional: Playtest Version 1.0 sits smiling. 108 pages and 50,000 words of awesomeness. It's so good, it requires a made-up word: cramtapulous. Creator's pride, perhaps, but I'm feeling positive tonight.

Still, I'm going to wait until the next playtest on Friday the 21st before posting anything for it, particularly with some of the new terminology to ensure clarity. In the meantime, my mind wonders how to make vehicles work in the Optional System.

Thank You, Google!
Over the past month, this blog's been getting an inordinate number of hits to the Matrix: Restoration posts and all signs point to search engines and the word "matrix." Most of my pages peaked around 35 views so far, but Matrix: Restoration (Part 3) is closing in on 200. It's been a comfort to know there are people still itching for more Matrix and has pushed me to finish up the Optional: Playtest rewrites so I can move on to new material.

(If anything, I'm working on vehicle rules specifically because I've been listening to "Mona Lisa Overdrive" from the Matrix: Reloaded soundtrack at least 100 times back-to-back-to-back-to-back and have nothing but car chases stuck in my head.)

Optional: Playtest will include a revised version of the Monitor creed and will soon pair with the Redpill creed to flesh out the original concepts of the films before branching off into unique directions. As various Redpill-appropriate rules and material come about, I'll pop them into future drafts of Optional: Playtest for feedback.

To clarify, this blog is not using AdSense or any other special services, banners, or whatever other than what comes with Blogger's free hosting program.

Playtesters Wanted
And so we come to it. I'm looking for comments on the PDF itself and playtesters to give this a whirl. Don't see any creeds, skills, or genres you want to play? Let me know and I'll draft up some concepts. This is designed as a universal RPG to cover as many genres and settings as possible; there's only so much playtesting one man can do, dammit! Feel free to post in the comments section below or email using the link provided in the PDF (first page) when it comes out in just over a week. Whether it's just a read-over, one-shot, or an entire freaking campaign, I'm itching to get as much feedback as possible in whatever way I can get it. But not with violent threats or dumbassery - I have feelings too.

Thanks to everyone in advance who takes the time. Highly appreciated and I'll be hovering over my iPhone for the next few months if you need me.