Do we REALLY need races or classes?

[SpiralBound]

Sorry, couldn't resist... The first two topics at the top of the page were the following:

Do We Need Gnomes, Halflings AND Dwarves?
Do we really need Monks?

So I immediately thought of the ultimate "Do we really need.." thread. Ok, so it made *ME* chuckle... ;-)

Although, now that I think on it... Has anyone ever played in or run a D20 fanstasy campaign that was as "typical" as possible with respects to the style of setting and adventures as most FR-style settings & campaigns usually are EXCEPT that there was only one available intelligent race (pc or npc) and no classes with everything being skills-based or some such non-class based structure? If so, I'd be interested to know if it sucked/rocked and why. For those who never have, do you think it would suck/rock? Why?

 

[Ry]

Not quite d20, but I ran a game where everyone was a human knight. Nothing was class-based, everything was level based. So pretty much all rolls were modified by level - kind of like a coolness stat. It rocked, but only because it fit the setting so well.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

No!

Let be be the first to say No! We don't need no rules even! Well just al sit around the table and...uh....

SING!

 

[Crothian]

Of ocurse. The race allowed was human, as it was human centric city campaign. And the point system took apart the classes and had them all as options. It was very successful..ie the players and DM had fun. But if I were to do it again, I'd use Buy the Numbers, a PDF that does a much better job at breaking up the classes then I did.

 

[Felix]

SING!

You can have your draughts and ales,
you can drink them by the flagon.
But the only brew for the brave and truuuuuuuuuuuuue
Comes from the GREEN DRAGON!

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Not quite d20, but I ran a game where everyone was a human knight.

SING!

We're Knights of the Round Table.
We dance whene'er we're able.
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot.
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.
We're Knights of the Round Table.
Our shows are formidable,
But many times we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable.
We're opera mad in Camelot.
We sing from the diaphragm a lot.

In war we're tough and able,
Quite indefatigable.
Between our quests we sequin vests
And impersonate Clark Gable.
It's a busy life in Camelot.

(Solo) I have to push the pram a lot.

 

[Umbran]

So I immediately thought of the ultimate "Do we really need.." thread. Ok, so it made *ME* chuckle... ;-)

The really ultimate one would be "Do we really need someone pointing out every single time there's a small trend on the boards?"

To answer your question, yes, I've played classless games with only humans. It works about as well anything else, if you've got a good set of players who are willing to do a little extra work differentiating their characters.

 

[SpiralBound]

The really ultimate one would be "Do we really need someone pointing out every single time there's a small trend on the boards?"

Hmmm... This seems an unnecessarily volatile and personal attack. Have I wronged you at some point? I don't believe I even know you... I thought that I made it quite clear that I was only really intending to share something that struck me as amusing at the time solely due to the fact that two very similar thread topics were listed together at the top. There are literally hundreds of posts here per day. Two similar threads is hardly a trend, even a small one. Besides, last time I checked, this was the "general discussion" section. Jumping on someone for having the audacity to post something simply because YOU didn't think it was awe-inspiring is hardly conducive to a positive community building experience. We're all supposed to be on the same side here.

To answer your question, yes, I've played classless games with only humans. It works about as well anything else, if you've got a good set of players who are willing to do a little extra work differentiating their characters.

Yes, I agree, good players and good adventures combined will result in a good game, irrespective of the numbers of races or classes.

 

[Krieg]

*chuckle*

Such delicate feathers....so easily ruffled.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm still wondering, do we REALLY need dice?