I discussed the plight of the small, new RPG publisher last time. Today I’ll talk about some design choices in Shattered Dawn (SD).
I’ve thought about ways to drastically simplify RPGs for a basic RPG intended to be included in a board game. The Shattered Dawn guys have greater ambitions than that, but their choices and mine have several similarities.
They wanted to focus on the “arc”(story). I’d say, focus on the adventure, which isn’t quite the same thing. So they chose the route of quick-to-create characters that evolve in detail over time, rather than the “crunchy” character generation of games like 3e D&D and Shadowrun. Wizards of the Coast did the anti-crunch with 5e D&D, to a lesser extent, by limiting choices and offering character backgrounds to choose from.
There is no ability number generation in SD, and only three numbers that seem like ability numbers: stamina (used up by such actions as running, and rapidly regenerated over time), health (hit points), and potency (manna for magic/spell points, more or less). There are five “frequent” abilities, but they were hardly used in the games I played. In my simple RPG, there are no ability numbers at all, though there are hit points.
There are no classes/professions. Everything is skill-based. If you want a sneaky/stealthy character who can cast spells, you don’t choose magic-user and rogue as classes, you just pick skills that achieve what you want to be. You get two new skill slots per level, and you rise in levels quite rapidly. (The latter is just about inevitable with modern gamers who are often used to rising rapidly in video games.) But the advanced skills are level limited. The second tier of any skill cannot be attained until the character’s sixth level, and you wait until 12th to be able to take a third tier. This means the character will have 10 different skills as they reach 6th. (Level cap is 50th.)
The skill system for my basic RPG doesn’t have that level limitation, but it’s only made for 5 levels, for scenarios rather than a campaign. Some skills preclude use of others in my system, I didn’t notice that in SD (I don’t have the rules, so I cannot check).
In SD you also get 60 points to allocate amongst your three main numbers (which all start at 50) when you rise a level. This means you can rapidly attain hundreds of hit points, but damage is commensurately higher. As third levels we fought a “boss” with 420 health.
There are people nowadays who much prefer larger rather than smaller numbers, even if they are the same functionally. +5 in a d100 system is the same as +1 in d20, but somehow excites them more. So larger numbers makes some sense. For my RPG-for-a-boardgame, I stuck with simple single digits (and 2d6 for dice rolls).
In SD you’re allowed to fire into melee without danger of hitting your own people. The designers chose this as a simplification (it certainly is), but for me it’s a big blow to immersion, because it’s so ridiculously unlike real life. After the first encounter my scout character with Marksmanship found a good bow, and did 51 damage per hit (there are no dice rolls for damage). That was +30 for the skill, +15 for the bow, and 6 for each arrow. As some compensation, a bowman gets fewer attacks than a melee warrior (who can attack with both hands without penalty!).
Not rolling for damage, but only to hit, speeds up melees of course, so that you can get on with the story.
SD is using their setting (“expansive lore”) as a major attraction to buyers. Their website says “Shattered Dawn is a story driven game.” They emphasize story by calling their GM guide the “ArcMaster Guide”. I’m used to story arcs as being overarching themes behind everything that’s happening, such as “In the war of Good vs Evil, you’re supporting the Good in the city of Tonilda and environs. The ‘home’ of Evil is northwest, in the Land of Chaos.” But in SD “arc” is synonymous with “story”. A significant part of one of the two books is about their setting, and they offer a poster-map ($25) as a supplement.
Most of the early RPGers were wargamers, but now most new players are not boardgamers at all, or at least not wargamers. There is much more emphasis on story and less on competitive game in RPGs. SD appears to be appealing to both camps as much as possible with its emphasis on story, even as it is played as a game (with a board and pieces, though that’s optional) rather than as a storytelling/story-generating machine.
This article was contributed by Lewis Pulsipher (lewpuls) as part of ENWorld's User-Generated Content (UGC) program. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!
I’ve thought about ways to drastically simplify RPGs for a basic RPG intended to be included in a board game. The Shattered Dawn guys have greater ambitions than that, but their choices and mine have several similarities.
They wanted to focus on the “arc”(story). I’d say, focus on the adventure, which isn’t quite the same thing. So they chose the route of quick-to-create characters that evolve in detail over time, rather than the “crunchy” character generation of games like 3e D&D and Shadowrun. Wizards of the Coast did the anti-crunch with 5e D&D, to a lesser extent, by limiting choices and offering character backgrounds to choose from.
There is no ability number generation in SD, and only three numbers that seem like ability numbers: stamina (used up by such actions as running, and rapidly regenerated over time), health (hit points), and potency (manna for magic/spell points, more or less). There are five “frequent” abilities, but they were hardly used in the games I played. In my simple RPG, there are no ability numbers at all, though there are hit points.
There are no classes/professions. Everything is skill-based. If you want a sneaky/stealthy character who can cast spells, you don’t choose magic-user and rogue as classes, you just pick skills that achieve what you want to be. You get two new skill slots per level, and you rise in levels quite rapidly. (The latter is just about inevitable with modern gamers who are often used to rising rapidly in video games.) But the advanced skills are level limited. The second tier of any skill cannot be attained until the character’s sixth level, and you wait until 12th to be able to take a third tier. This means the character will have 10 different skills as they reach 6th. (Level cap is 50th.)
The skill system for my basic RPG doesn’t have that level limitation, but it’s only made for 5 levels, for scenarios rather than a campaign. Some skills preclude use of others in my system, I didn’t notice that in SD (I don’t have the rules, so I cannot check).
In SD you also get 60 points to allocate amongst your three main numbers (which all start at 50) when you rise a level. This means you can rapidly attain hundreds of hit points, but damage is commensurately higher. As third levels we fought a “boss” with 420 health.
There are people nowadays who much prefer larger rather than smaller numbers, even if they are the same functionally. +5 in a d100 system is the same as +1 in d20, but somehow excites them more. So larger numbers makes some sense. For my RPG-for-a-boardgame, I stuck with simple single digits (and 2d6 for dice rolls).
In SD you’re allowed to fire into melee without danger of hitting your own people. The designers chose this as a simplification (it certainly is), but for me it’s a big blow to immersion, because it’s so ridiculously unlike real life. After the first encounter my scout character with Marksmanship found a good bow, and did 51 damage per hit (there are no dice rolls for damage). That was +30 for the skill, +15 for the bow, and 6 for each arrow. As some compensation, a bowman gets fewer attacks than a melee warrior (who can attack with both hands without penalty!).
Not rolling for damage, but only to hit, speeds up melees of course, so that you can get on with the story.
SD is using their setting (“expansive lore”) as a major attraction to buyers. Their website says “Shattered Dawn is a story driven game.” They emphasize story by calling their GM guide the “ArcMaster Guide”. I’m used to story arcs as being overarching themes behind everything that’s happening, such as “In the war of Good vs Evil, you’re supporting the Good in the city of Tonilda and environs. The ‘home’ of Evil is northwest, in the Land of Chaos.” But in SD “arc” is synonymous with “story”. A significant part of one of the two books is about their setting, and they offer a poster-map ($25) as a supplement.
Most of the early RPGers were wargamers, but now most new players are not boardgamers at all, or at least not wargamers. There is much more emphasis on story and less on competitive game in RPGs. SD appears to be appealing to both camps as much as possible with its emphasis on story, even as it is played as a game (with a board and pieces, though that’s optional) rather than as a storytelling/story-generating machine.
This article was contributed by Lewis Pulsipher (lewpuls) as part of ENWorld's User-Generated Content (UGC) program. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!
