Help Topics

• What is the ToAd
• Getting Started
• User Profile
• Character Creation
• The Frog
• Race Creation
• Adventure Creation
• Prop Creation
• Dictionary of Terms
• General Help
• FAQ
• Lost Passwords.
• About This Site.

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About the ToAd

Before figuring out how to use the ToAd it might be wise to understand what the ToAd actually is. Afterall, there is very little out there which is anything like it (and strangely there is also a lot, go figure).The ToAd is...

• A Pencil / Paper / Dice RPG for the over-30 set who would like to game again but feel as if they don't have the time for it.
• An gaming Co-Op where people are invited to dust off all the stuff they've created for other games and share it with a considerably broader fan-base than can be found in the back of one's desk.
• A Model Reality Kit, where "how it would probably happen" is given precedence over "how the rules say it should happen."
• A home-grown adventure game that is simultaneously intelligent and philosophical, yet still fast, dorky and fun.
• Something you can put between your legs, plug into the wall, and be transported back through time to 1982 - Psyche!.

And the correct answer is: All of the above. (Except possibly that last one :-)

It's true. To some degree the ToAd is a throw-back to 1982. You build it (characters, races, arms, etc...) on the computer, print out what you need, and then play it with your friends - well away from a computer - using pencils, paper and dice. However, it is a bit more sophisticated than 1982. It actually uses the computer to do more than simple printing. Under the hood, everything is interconnected, and a change in one attribute (ex: Vitality) easily changes a number of other attributes (movement, speed, physical skills, wounds, etc...) a task which would take a ridiculously long time to do by hand. Ultimately the result is a more realistic and believable character.

Why bother? Isn't D20 good enough? D20 is both too much and yet not enough. It is basically a paper-based arcade game at heart, and it pales in comparison to what video games offer in the same arena. On top of this, RPG companies stay in business by way of book sales - which has resulted in an unprecedented flooding of the market with unnecessary fluff. While this may be great for the 10 and 20 somethings who have time to waste, it leaves out in the cold the 30 & 40 somethings who grew up with gaming yet barely have the time to get a game together let alone read an encyclopedia of rules to figure out how.

So in steps the ToAd, with nostalgia, simplicity, and something more than just another X-box emulation. The rules are minimal, easy to follow and do not take long to learn. The stuff which makes up the game is limitless. The ToAd does not need to make a ton of money to stay afloat, so it can afford to be itself and not ride on the coat-tails of movies and comic books. And that is a tall order in today's RPG climate.