I know everyone is busy, but I am a bit surprised that there have been no questions. I would love some advice on how to get people involved. The only questions and such I have had are from Darin. I have been too busy to post his email which he said was okay to post (so I will do that shortly).
So, with the lack of invovlement I would like to put it forward. Here is your chance of imortatlity in the world. Give me a heroic character that you think might exist in the world based on the stories I have written. In story form is great, but if you just want to give me an outline, I will make a story about them. This is also your way to cleverly put something in the world you want in the world.
I hope you will be impressed by the amount of effort I have put into making a character package when I put it out, but just a little feedback would be great.
If I could ask everyone to ask one simple question each week that would be great. I don't care if it is how many suns are there that would be fine.
I know it is a small group, but please ask stuff, especially if you don't think I have the answer. I really want to make this game the "Holy Shit" why have we been playing other games moment.
Hello William,
ReplyDeleteSo I have a couple more ideas to throw your way.
I have been thinking about combat. Have you ever thought about a blind combat system. I mean that everyone would say have a couple standard things they could do, like melee, guard, range, spell, feint, etc. Could even be like D&D 4e with all of our cards we have for encounter, dailys and utilities and then they would choose one or more then reveal them at the same time at the beginning of intuitive. I thought this would be interesting because of the randomness of combat and how you would have to anticipate your opponents moves and maybe it might even make combat go even quicker with everyone knowing what they are doing at the beginning of the round. Then you could also factor in weapon speed and special abilities and so on. Give it some thought. Hard to explain in an email. I could explain it better on the phone or in person.
Casting spells. I also thought that if we were tailoring our spells to what elements we get, could we also make our spells more powerful or less powerful. Could we assign advantages and disadvantages to our own spells. For instance could we assign a disadvantage to our spell that would double the casting time of a spell but make it twice as powerful. Maybe have a spell that has a delay. etc. GURPS had that customization in it and I like that aspect.
Classes. I also liked the class system that you got special bonus for things but not restricted to much. I mean like a striker class that was damage dealer but not restricted to being a fighter with melee but whatever a player wanted, spell caster, ranged or psychic. It is more about the roles you play than the class. ie tank, striker, controller, assassin, support, and so on.
Last thought was on why I play. I think I may have told you this but I like going over the game in my head long after we play. I think about the story and how my character progresses and grows. Sometimes he goes in the direction I want other times he doesn't and sometimes I have no clue what direction he is going. I just get a kick out of being part of the story. Of course if I am a big part of the story it helps it be more memorable. I go back to my character like Morgan one hand. I really enjoyed how he grew and became a major influence in the world he was in. He really had some big changes that impacted the world.
I seems as if I am rambling so I will call it a night.
Have a good one.
Darin
Don't worry about rambling, I appreciate the feedback. You are really the only person who is giving it to me besides some things I ask Wendy. I was going to to send you my spreadsheet tonight but I had to work today and the more I thought about it the more I am torn with whether or not it is a good idea. I have a lot of loose thoughts in there and some things are just names that I really don't know will even make it into the final game. I know you are anxious to get a look at stuff but give me another week to get it more sorted. I have been working on some basic systems and the like so its definately not ready for prime time. If you really don't care and want to see it, I will send it to you but I don't want to get distracted about questions about something that may not be even in the beta of the game.
DeleteI actually have thought about your idea for picking things first and then having everything unfold at once, but ultimately it felt too video game like, and too much like strategy. I hope that what I am working on will make your roleplaying easier without having to refer to books or rules. I want as much of the mechanics to dissappear, so you can focus on fighting, charming, spellcasting, diplomacy, or whatever floats your boat without getting caught up in the game about what your "check" for something is. I think what I am doing is pretty radically different than anything anyone has played before, but I will spring that on you a bit later (and even if you want me to send the spread sheet it would not spoil it). 90% of the game is still in my head at this point. Right now my focus is on world building so that people can get some interest in the menial things of the game, equipement, monetary, maps, and the like. And the maps I will not be showing at least to start.
I already do have something in the game to make your spellcasting unique, but so far it is not a direct tie to the gurps DA system. I have something that will be called quirks, and you will get some at character creation, but most will come through critical hits or spell misscastings. Since you can choose some of them there is no reason why you cannot take a disadvantageous one, but currently it does not have any benefit to you. Perhaps it will if chosen at character creation. The quirk system is a non-perminant, though difficult to get rid of Disadvantage system.
As for classes, they will not exist in my system. I am still debating on whether you will have something akin to careers in warhammer, but in its current state it will be career and classless character creation
My goal for all of my worlds is to make an environment that you can grow a character into something more than the sum of its parts. That legends can grow and names can be remembered. My only advice on this track is roleplay it. Our group has gotten so far off roleplaying and after playing in Brian's game I see why. We are so caught up in trying to stratigically figure out what we can do, we don't have the oportunity to step out of the mechanics and just role play. I hope that I can bring that back, and as for becoming a legend, my only advice to you is to not force it. You have a tendancy to know what you want your character to be, and try and make him into that thing, rather than know who your character is, and let his decisions and accomplishments shape him.
I have to say I have not looked forward to a game like this since I ran back in lawrence with the time jumpers and paradoxes.
Let me know if you mind, I would rather post these conversations on the blog, so that others might see something in them and comment. For me the best thing any player can do is give me feedback, good or bad, it always helps and the blog is really a great way to discuss things openly for everyone to see. When people care about their characters and the life of their character the roleplaying is always better.
I am excited about your new game and I can wait for the spread sheet later. I do agree with you about it not really being roleplaying right now. With 4e it does seem to be just about the battles and not about the character. Brian really wants us to roleplay and describe things and I am trying but it is just not lending itself to this or I am just out of practice. I would be happy to help with anything you need. Weather it be ideas on religion, money or creatures. Just would like to help in any way.
DeleteYou can post this on the board and I will post my other ramblings when I have more on the board from now on.
Laters
Darin
World Questions...
ReplyDeleteWhat types of government still exist?
How are stranger generally recieved?
How are alignments going to be run? Lawful, Evil, Good etc...
How easy will it be to alter your character as you develop in the story line? (retraining)
Past game likes..
I like constant rewards to improve character or story
Combat.....
Past Game Dislikes
At X level all character types are the same. ie A fireball for a 10 level wizard is just a effective as a waterjet from a 10th level wizard.
A big enemy that always gets away.
Lack of ability for party to exist without NPC's. example. No one wants to run a cleric so you have no healing and must get an NPC to handel that aspect for you.
Combats that take too long. example. 4th edition combat can take hours to have a decent battle.
The answer to your question about government is interesting and one that I have gone back and forth with. Currently I am wanting to keep things about the government a bit more of a secret and let you discover some surprises in the world (that I might hint at through stories). For now I can tell you that largely there are no real governments that currently exist. What used to exist was a well organized regional state system with local barons in charge of their regions with villages handling their own issues. If there was a problem things would elevate to the regional lord then a baron, and finally a magistrate with ever growing areas to oversea.
ReplyDeleteStrangers are looked upon as either freeriders or outcasts, either with great suspicion, They are either people running from a village that kicked them out, or they are adventurers that have decided to risk their lives and not be productive members of the village.
Currently alignments will only be used by me, it will be more of a reputation rather than a guidline. I have gone back and forth with this as well, but ultimately the way you play your character will be the determing factor.
Chracter alteration will be easy, but will come with a price. You may chose to reroll your stats, or make other alterations to your character, but they will be in lieu of other things that you can do. But there will be some enhancement or change every time you play with a couple of exceptions (time runs short and we have to continue a battle for another session).
For the rest of your concerns, much will rely on playtesting, I don't see the enemy getting away being a problem, or forced capture which is my pet peave. I want to create a game that you are not dependant on equipment that could be taken away, but I also have some interesting ideas for equipment that will make things very dear to the character. Constant rewards, I plan on growth after every play session, NPCs will be present, but not necessary, I hope you enjoy them and the more feedback you give them the better (or worst) they will be. Long combats I think are going to be an issue to at least start with, but I am trying to make a complicated system easy to use if that makes sense.