O.L.D. Careers ("Traditions")
I'm very intrigued by the traditions system. Can I just confirm what I've pieced together? (i'm just going to make up names for skills and stats, those don't need confirming, just the basic mechanics) Then I'll ask some questions...
What I've gathered:
You take a tradition, It gives you a couple skills (2 it seems), a couple increases to stats, and makes you older (that is, your character will have already spent that many years doing that thing). Sometimes you also get a special ability (?Or do you always, I'm not clear on how this sort of thing enters the game, but some of your talk of spell-casting seems to imply it happens sometimes?). Then you take another and repeat the process.
So if i took thief (you seem to call it a burglar, that's cool too), I'd gain 'stealing' and 'hiding' as skills, +1 to agility and dex, and have spent 3 yrs doing this. Maybe I'd get a 'cutpurse' ability that lets me steal stuff.
If I took it twice I'd get 'stealing x2' and 'hiding x2' and +2 to agility and dex, and it would ad 6 yrs to how old I am at creation. would i get 'cutpurse x2' or 'improved cutpurse' or would it be more like 'cutpurse' and 'softpad' abilities?
Questions:
If i took 'thief' three times, would I be overdoing it? Or is it possible/probable to make a character that takes the same tradition 4 times (every time but the starter) and not be very, very narrow in what you are good at (or crippled in a way you wouldn't want to be)? What is the 'average' number of different traditions people will likely take (in your estimation)?
Is the goal to (ideally) encourage player to pick traditions that fit their story, not fill out their stat block? Will they be designed so you can sort of do both (ie a thiefy character who wants more strength can find a theify-strengthy tradition to take once or twice)? If you stuck to a Tradition Theme (military or magical or 'thiefy', etc), would you mostly end up building one stat or skill, and then be able to round out other parts of your character by varying within that theme?
Are traditions the main way you get speacial abilities that would in D&D be class features: backstab, spellcasting, bard song? Or is 'special abilities' not how O.L.D. handles some of those things?
Are these basically the appetizer sampler version of classes; you get to pick out a bit of everything you like, and maybe try something new without comiting to eat an entire plateful of jalepeno squid-cakes?
What I've gathered:
You take a tradition, It gives you a couple skills (2 it seems), a couple increases to stats, and makes you older (that is, your character will have already spent that many years doing that thing). Sometimes you also get a special ability (?Or do you always, I'm not clear on how this sort of thing enters the game, but some of your talk of spell-casting seems to imply it happens sometimes?). Then you take another and repeat the process.
So if i took thief (you seem to call it a burglar, that's cool too), I'd gain 'stealing' and 'hiding' as skills, +1 to agility and dex, and have spent 3 yrs doing this. Maybe I'd get a 'cutpurse' ability that lets me steal stuff.
If I took it twice I'd get 'stealing x2' and 'hiding x2' and +2 to agility and dex, and it would ad 6 yrs to how old I am at creation. would i get 'cutpurse x2' or 'improved cutpurse' or would it be more like 'cutpurse' and 'softpad' abilities?
Questions:
If i took 'thief' three times, would I be overdoing it? Or is it possible/probable to make a character that takes the same tradition 4 times (every time but the starter) and not be very, very narrow in what you are good at (or crippled in a way you wouldn't want to be)? What is the 'average' number of different traditions people will likely take (in your estimation)?
Is the goal to (ideally) encourage player to pick traditions that fit their story, not fill out their stat block? Will they be designed so you can sort of do both (ie a thiefy character who wants more strength can find a theify-strengthy tradition to take once or twice)? If you stuck to a Tradition Theme (military or magical or 'thiefy', etc), would you mostly end up building one stat or skill, and then be able to round out other parts of your character by varying within that theme?
Are traditions the main way you get speacial abilities that would in D&D be class features: backstab, spellcasting, bard song? Or is 'special abilities' not how O.L.D. handles some of those things?
Are these basically the appetizer sampler version of classes; you get to pick out a bit of everything you like, and maybe try something new without comiting to eat an entire plateful of jalepeno squid-cakes?
That's pretty close. You get a choice of a handful of skills (some traditions are more varied, some more focused/regimented with fewer choices). You *always* get a special ability. If you take the tradition again, you get the second special ability, and so on.
You can, and most traditions have up to five "grades", so you can repeat them and gain additional special abilities. It depends on how focused you want to be.
It's kinda of a to-and-fro; the traditions help create the backstory, and also they can be chosen to fit the backstory. I think both approaches (or a mix) to character generation are viable mindsets.
Errm... lemme read that question again! I'm not sure I quite get it, but some traditions are focused but not to the degree that only one attribute or skill is advancing.
That's exactly right. Plus spell lists, and so on for the magical traditions. All the unique stuff you can't do with just an attribute (plus skill) check.
I don't quite follow! I guess a tradition (or a career in N.E.W.) is like a small class, yeah; or a very broad skill. It's not directly analogous to either.
There are no "generic" careers full-stop. Soldier types have knights and archers so far; I expect others will be added as and when.
Twiggly the Gnome
Legend
Artisan's apprentice?
Primitive Screwhead
First Post
Rat Catcher?
that was my favorite career in Warhammer 40K
It looks like a good list.. altho you are missing a 'noble scion' type
Another possible career would be 'exiled', when the character is charged with a crime {whether true of false} and exiled from the area.
In real world history this was a much more common thing than imprisonment simply because it was cheaper. The exile was branded and sent packing with nothing... and I do mean nothing, often without even a tunic.
Surviving exiles often learned to forage and fend for themselves, and were willing to take less savory work just to get by. Or go to a monastry and be a monk.
that was my favorite career in Warhammer 40K
It looks like a good list.. altho you are missing a 'noble scion' type
Another possible career would be 'exiled', when the character is charged with a crime {whether true of false} and exiled from the area.
In real world history this was a much more common thing than imprisonment simply because it was cheaper. The exile was branded and sent packing with nothing... and I do mean nothing, often without even a tunic.
Surviving exiles often learned to forage and fend for themselves, and were willing to take less savory work just to get by. Or go to a monastry and be a monk.
I guess we can come up with a dozen alternate names for each, and maybe I'll change some along the way (I'm considering "Minstrel" in place of "Bard").
I'm not fond "Wizard's Apprentice" as a name. It does the job, but it's a bit Disney.
GX.Sigma
Adventurer
But what if you want to play a normal soldier, who isn't specifically an archer or a knight? It seems like there's something missing.
