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A design goal: making different races FEEL different.
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<blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 5762178" data-attributes="member: 3192"><p>Many Euro games like Puerto Rico and Agricola are like competitive puzzle solving. Each player builds their sheet (farm / character log) to reach a predetermined winning condition, normally a specified number of points. Like a race, the first to reach this condition is the winner. I don't think RPGs necessarily have an endgame condition, but I do believe many are built upon the increasing and enhancement of abilities as the game goes on. Buy a plantation, a mill, or a warehouse and the player gains more options. </p><p></p><p>While classes could be construed as the role of plantation farmer, races could be construed as character traits attributed to physiology. This does not mean they cannot be morphed, only that they are a set of abilities held when that race or species. Be an elf and you can detect secret doors, be a dwarf and you can detect sloping passages. It's not that other races cannot do this things, but these races do them better. They get a bonus on rolls and may even perform these acts automatically, like seeing in the dark.</p><p></p><p>Arkham Horror is more akin to RPGs in my opinion because it's based on cooperation. Each of the players is doing their own thing, but the game's objective is shared by all of them. With each turn they can choose to work together or apart to achieve it, but ultimately personal success relies on the success of the whole. Racial differences in this game have more to do with the individual traits of the investigators. Each has different starting abilities. While they are all human, they have different physical traits which carry throughout the play of the game. </p><p></p><p>It isn't hard to see how a teleporting Eladrin could be a great benefit as an investigator. We attribute the teleporting ability to the character as well, but assign it as a racial trait. They are a different species, so they can breathe water, survive in poisonous fumes, move through the 4th dimension, and so on. The key to race here is it is categorical*. Humans average 4-6 on speed, Slyferians teleport anywhere they wish to every other turn, but average 1-2 on speed.</p><p></p><p>While class may be me playing a farmer while you play a race car driver - and we have very different play experiences because of it, even in a co-op game - a shared race can mean we both have the ability to read the surface thoughts of intelligences nearby. This isn't the focus of the game for use because we're not trying to improve these racial abilities. Even attempting to do so or gain extra racial abilities would simply evolve us out of one race anyways, something not necessarily undesired. But the majority of the game remains the focus of the class actions, not racial constants.</p><p></p><p></p><p>*Categorical in that a human is not understood to be a 50' long fire breathing flying lizard with magic abilities, genius intellect, and an eons long lifespan. Nor are they an eggplant, an aardvark, or applesauce. Nor are we omnipotent omniscients. YMMV.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="howandwhy99, post: 5762178, member: 3192"] Many Euro games like Puerto Rico and Agricola are like competitive puzzle solving. Each player builds their sheet (farm / character log) to reach a predetermined winning condition, normally a specified number of points. Like a race, the first to reach this condition is the winner. I don't think RPGs necessarily have an endgame condition, but I do believe many are built upon the increasing and enhancement of abilities as the game goes on. Buy a plantation, a mill, or a warehouse and the player gains more options. While classes could be construed as the role of plantation farmer, races could be construed as character traits attributed to physiology. This does not mean they cannot be morphed, only that they are a set of abilities held when that race or species. Be an elf and you can detect secret doors, be a dwarf and you can detect sloping passages. It's not that other races cannot do this things, but these races do them better. They get a bonus on rolls and may even perform these acts automatically, like seeing in the dark. Arkham Horror is more akin to RPGs in my opinion because it's based on cooperation. Each of the players is doing their own thing, but the game's objective is shared by all of them. With each turn they can choose to work together or apart to achieve it, but ultimately personal success relies on the success of the whole. Racial differences in this game have more to do with the individual traits of the investigators. Each has different starting abilities. While they are all human, they have different physical traits which carry throughout the play of the game. It isn't hard to see how a teleporting Eladrin could be a great benefit as an investigator. We attribute the teleporting ability to the character as well, but assign it as a racial trait. They are a different species, so they can breathe water, survive in poisonous fumes, move through the 4th dimension, and so on. The key to race here is it is categorical*. Humans average 4-6 on speed, Slyferians teleport anywhere they wish to every other turn, but average 1-2 on speed. While class may be me playing a farmer while you play a race car driver - and we have very different play experiences because of it, even in a co-op game - a shared race can mean we both have the ability to read the surface thoughts of intelligences nearby. This isn't the focus of the game for use because we're not trying to improve these racial abilities. Even attempting to do so or gain extra racial abilities would simply evolve us out of one race anyways, something not necessarily undesired. But the majority of the game remains the focus of the class actions, not racial constants. *Categorical in that a human is not understood to be a 50' long fire breathing flying lizard with magic abilities, genius intellect, and an eons long lifespan. Nor are they an eggplant, an aardvark, or applesauce. Nor are we omnipotent omniscients. YMMV. [/QUOTE]
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