Comments on: What an RPG should be: An Opinion

By: NFG

NFG — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:32:42 +0000

When last we played Warhammer Role Play I really enjoyed the class advancement system. I could see a modified version of that being a great way to customize a character. However, I could also see it becoming a very complex set of skills and feats for the wizard or mage type.

Complex enough that a DBase would better suit the skill selection.

Think of it as a Skill “wizard” (bad pun I know) but it would ask you basic questions or allow you to select the class you are looking for as a template. One template you would offer would be “Complete Custom” or something like that…

Others would be like Ranger with x skills and ranks, another might be scout, like ranger but with fewer pre-reqs. etc…

Play testing and getting balance would also be a very long process.

But that could be part of the fun too I suppose.

By: Rekres

Rekres — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:43:27 +0000

Why bother making a hodge-podge by trying to convert a class/level system into a classless system. Why not simply use one of dozens of classless systems already on the market.

For example:
GURPS Fantasy/Magic
Fantasy HERO
Runequest

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:06:48 +0000

Nice post! I’ve often toyed with the idea of a classless RPG – but my players have been resistant. Now with 4E D&D, it seems easier than ever to implement. Not to plug myself here, but I wrote about this same issue back in July and I thought the post and comments people left might also be germane to this conversation.

Thank you for the post – you’ve stirred this issue up once again for me. =D

By: Arbitary XP Threshold = Level Up « tenletter

Arbitary XP Threshold = Level Up « tenletter — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:47:46 +0000

[...] post info By jatori Categories: Dungeons and Dragons, game design and rpg Tags: dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, role playing games, rpg Inspired by this post. [...]

By: jatori

jatori — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:52:25 +0000

You may want to check out the new World of Darkness Mage magic system. It’s close-ish to what you described.

By: The Recursion King

The Recursion King — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:14:10 +0000

That could indeed be a good compromise for a skills based system.

By: Wolfgod

Wolfgod — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:02:28 +0000

Excellent point. I would propose to use classes as a social guideline, however; something along the lines of ‘Aruthien Duellists are famous sword-fighters; to qualify as one of their members you must have X, Y, and 10 ranks of Z’. That might give a player a template to shoot for without too much confinement.

By: The Recursion King

The Recursion King — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 09:21:17 +0000

First of all good article.

Why do we need levels and classes?
I see this brought up a lot, normally in references to computer RPG’s where classes have been abandoned. To see this actually being used, check out Oblivion.

Classes give players a useful starting point for building a character. Especially new players. Everybody understands what a fighter is, what a wizard is, etc. It is the use of stereotypes that make the game easy to pick and play. Classes are also easy to balance and their limitations easily accepted, like their strengths are.

Classes are useful for *roleplaying* too. When you start with a totally blank canvas, you put a lot of onus on the player to come up with how his character works. Classes give him a very definite, defined starting point as classes are essentially stereo types.

The downside to not having classes is that although it opens up characters to being made that are very different from each other, you remove the player incentive of playing something *very* different – in a different style – to a previous character. While nothing really prevents a player from trying anything in a classess system, they likely will not try anything as radically different as a mage to a fighter when playing in a class system. By this I mean that the limitaitons of playing a mage are accepted when choosing the class; in a classless system, the player will try to minimise any penalty from skill selection (in fact – there may not even be any penalties!).

To sum up, classes are good as they give new (and old) players variety and a starting point for kicking the game off. If you like agonising over skill choices then classes probably aren’t for you; but if you just want to roll a few dice and start playing – they really are.