Here I'll be posting drafts of my fantasy heartbreaker as I write it. I'm back at work at this, and a few things may have changed from the old threads where I spitballed and/or brainstormed this project.

Right now, I've got a still very rough level 0 character creation. When I finish transcribing and clarifying the combat rules, I'll have enough to test this game out a little bit.

If you have questions or comments, I'd be happy to hear them. Feel free to rip this thing apart. And if you're interested in the earliest of the earliest tests, I'd be happy to have the help. Though the early early tests may be more of a PvP arena until I have decent support for monsters and traps.

Sorry I've been slack...

Good intro I thought. Power descriptions are clear, mechanics themselves are reasonable.

I initially didn't like the organization so much (with class/race abilities under feats instead of being under the class/race), since it meant more reading to  find what a race can do and perhaps robs the individual writeups of flavour. However, reading the feat descriptions themselves I think I can see why - you've managed to use the various feat description categories to efficiently describe the feats themselves with remarkably little text, but consequently I guess they wouldn't make sense without description of how to read the writeups.

Not sure about the setup where you combine prime score/saves/skill groups from class and race separately. As with the feats, there's a bit of flipping to and fro (in this case to try to determine optimal combinations). I don't think anything is really wrong with the setup, objectively speaking, but I think I prefer the simpler D&D approach.

Also, Saves, Proficiencies and skills all seem to use the same mechanic, so possibly the number of categories could be simplified.

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;660871Sorry I've been slack...

Good intro I thought. Power descriptions are clear, mechanics themselves are reasonable.

Thanks. The clarity of the power format is a high priority for me, and one of my biggest worries with this draft.

QuoteI initially didn't like the organization so much (with class/race abilities under feats instead of being under the class/race), since it meant more reading to  find what a race can do and perhaps robs the individual writeups of flavour. However, reading the feat descriptions themselves I think I can see why - you've managed to use the various feat description categories to efficiently describe the feats themselves with remarkably little text, but consequently I guess they wouldn't make sense without description of how to read the writeups.

I'm not 100% on the organization yet. I'm really tempted to have each class and race set of feats listed with the class and race. In this case I would probably have to describe the components of races/classes before the things themselves, which would be unfortunate since it shouldn't be super important to the decision of which race and/or class to take.

Maybe I should just double up the descriptions of the level 0 feats? I don't know.

QuoteNot sure about the setup where you combine prime score/saves/skill groups from class and race separately. As with the feats, there's a bit of flipping to and fro (in this case to try to determine optimal combinations). I don't think anything is really wrong with the setup, objectively speaking, but I think I prefer the simpler D&D approach.

Also, Saves, Proficiencies and skills all seem to use the same mechanic, so possibly the number of categories could be simplified.

They use the same math, but they're bought differently. I wanted to treat them as the same category initially, but I'm no longer certain that this would be wise. Freedom to choose save and proficiency training through the skill mechanism might mean some characters would choose zero skills trying to cover their bases in combat.

Quote from: beejazz;660881I'm not 100% on the organization yet. I'm really tempted to have each class and race set of feats listed with the class and race. In this case I would probably have to describe the components of races/classes before the things themselves, which would be unfortunate since it shouldn't be super important to the decision of which race and/or class to take.

Maybe I should just double up the descriptions of the level 0 feats? I don't know.

You could move the powers descriptions to before the character generation maybe? Not sure. Or if you had some pregenerated characters at the front as examples maybe (like Shadowrun Archetypes I suppose), they would perhaps give an idea of what the classes/races look like when completed, before the player builds their own.

QuoteThey use the same math, but they're bought differently. I wanted to treat them as the same category initially, but I'm no longer certain that this would be wise. Freedom to choose save and proficiency training through the skill mechanism might mean some characters would choose zero skills trying to cover their bases in combat.

Fair enough.
Rather than having each save be a separate skill, it might also be possible to sort of diffuse what they do through a longer skill list. Maybe it doesn't really match up exactly vs. your existing skills, but you could for instance roll Tumble vs. fireball, Balance vs. Grease, Enigmas vs. Maze or Mind Fog, Endurance vs. a poison effect, Stealth vs. scrying, [creature knowledge] vs. illusions, etc. That'd be basically how a skill-based game like Storyteller does it, I think. Just a thought.

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;661024You could move the powers descriptions to before the character generation maybe? Not sure. Or if you had some pregenerated characters at the front as examples maybe (like Shadowrun Archetypes I suppose), they would perhaps give an idea of what the classes/races look like when completed, before the player builds their own.

The solution I'm likely to end up settling on is to include the 0-level powers with the class description, and describe how powers work later (before a long list of the post-zero powers). That way the only sections you have to use during character creation are classes/races, abilities, and gear. The rest can be saved for later.

QuoteFair enough.
Rather than having each save be a separate skill, it might also be possible to sort of diffuse what they do through a longer skill list. Maybe it doesn't really match up exactly vs. your existing skills, but you could for instance roll Tumble vs. fireball, Balance vs. Grease, Enigmas vs. Maze or Mind Fog, Endurance vs. a poison effect, Stealth vs. scrying, [creature knowledge] vs. illusions, etc. That'd be basically how a skill-based game like Storyteller does it, I think. Just a thought.

In the case of combat skills, I kept the math similar so normal skills could be used to stunt easily. I wouldn't necessarily want more weight put on non-combat skills for the sake of their combat utility. I'm giving people a lot of leeway here. Perfect balance isn't going to happen, but I don't want to present a system with clearly optimal and clearly suboptimal choices.

Mostly a note to self.

Next draft changes:
Probably changing abilities to all positive numbers (0 to 5).
Probably changing training to a +5 bonus.
May need to rejigger damage/hp/armor/thresholds in light of ability changes.
Move level 0 feats so they're grouped with their respective class/race.
Use feat rules for post level-0 feats.
Probably going to need to power down the soldier, and power up the wizard.
Still not entirely satisfied with druid or warlock at level 0.
Probably going to take healing ritual down a bit from full hp.

Next session should cover:
Combat rules.
Weapons and armor.

I've made some of the changes I intended to. I've powered down the soldier a bit from the original version, but hopefully I've also made that class a little more versatile. I also made the changes to the math that I said I would. HP, WT, and HD might need revisiting, but that is a task I'll leave for another day.

I've also taken burrowing and biting off the goblin default list. They're still down at the bottom as options that a goblin can take later, but the list of goblin abilities at 0 was a little long.

I've also added a brief section on leveling, which will be expanded a bit in the GM section.

The druid, wizard, and warlock still need more work. And when I finish this up, hopefully I'll have at least tier 1 covered adequately, as far as powers. Especially since humans having customization at level 1 is kind of their big asset.

Here's the very early beginnings of combat. As usual I'm not entirely confident I've expressed these rules in the most clear/concise/precise way I can. I'll include a link to last year's thread brainstorming these rules in case anyone wants to get a peek at the whole or see it worded in a different way. Just note that the brainstorm might not line up 1:1 with the final version.

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=23459

Little bit at a time, as usual. I'm not entirely certain where to put certain info, like how attack rolls and defense rolls work (I don't know whether proficiencies should have their own section or whether this should all be lumped under combat or what). But work continues.