Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Patryn of Elvenshae" data-source="post: 2414832" data-attributes="member: 23094">Hi, Lukzu!  First, thank you very much for coming to ENWorld to discuss your game!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Fair enough - that's how many CRPG LBD systems work (though some, like Morrowind and most MMORPGs, also add in a character-level layer).  My statement that you referenced can more generally be read as "The DM gets to decide how my character advances" without changing my intent.Similarly, in Morrowind, it's known by the player that using a skill increases your experience in that skill, and when enough experience is gained, that skill goes up a level.That's not entirely what I was talking about, however.  Take your above statement and the one below together:This seems to say that you do not generally progress in a skill at an appreciable rate unless it is an important test.  Moreover, if it's an important test, the person who's the best at the skill is really the only one with a reasonable chance of success (otherwise, there wouldn't be as much dramatic tension).Which is really what I was talking about to begin with.  If I have a character who, sometime after character creation, wants to pick up an additional skill or two (I chose lock picking as my example, but it could have easily been herbalism, or magic, or axe-fighting), in a more abstract game, I can just inform the DM that, in my character's downtime, he's pursuing this skill (and perhaps the DM will place a few roleplaying encounters based around this, though it is by no means required by the system), and the next time I go up a level / gain character points / generally advance, I can improve those skills.In a less-abstract, LBD system, my ability to improve my lock-picking skill is directly tied to the number of locks present in any given dungeon / adventure milieu and, moreover, whether or not I'm the one who gets to attempt them and whether or not I succeed at picking them!If the DM, for whatever reason, creates a series of lockless dungeons, my skill stagnates.Additionally, the more esoteric a particular skill is, the harder it is to advance.  For example, there's a plausible limit to the number of "crucial" Herbalism-related puzzles you can stumble across in any given game session before one's sense of immersion starts getting stretched - and it becomes obvious that the tests are there so that Bob's character doesn't fall too far behind in his primary, favorite skill.  In other words, it's far easier to "advance" a swordsman than a scholar.Now, however, we come to the part that truly has me interested:Can you explain a little more what this means?  I'm certainly intrigued, and it sounds more than a bit like ... er, I forget the system now ... that system where, for instance, a skill rank of "Avenging my Father's Death +10" is more important than your swordsmanship skill when in a swordfight with the man who slew your father.It does - and thanks again for taking time out of your day to explain your game system to a random guy from the internet! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

Verification