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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7314629" data-attributes="member: 82106">Obviously fair enough. I don't think there's really THAT much less mechanical intricacy in HoML, but its maybe more at the level of a 2e in that regard (maybe not quite that simple). You have roughly the same range of initial choices as 4e, and then each level you get (definitionaly) a major boon, which is at least equivalent to a 4e feat, and usually provides access to at least one, possibly up to 3, new powers. There's thus a LOT of character growth/advancement that can happen. You can kind of double-down on your character theme, say acquiring more options in line with your Fire Elementalist character build (IE get some more specialized kinds of fire stuff, apply fire stuff in more kinds of plot situations, etc.) or you could definitely add other elements. Maybe you become a Thief, learning the Thievery skill and ways to apply it (probably firey ways). Of course this WILL depend somewhat on your initial allotment of ability scores. A thief with a crappy DEX will probably need to learn a bunch of techniques that allow offloading those checks onto say INT or something. Anyway, its a half-written game. In some sense there's vast flexibility in terms of what actually works. I also don't hold much to the "You have to have X before you can get Y" sort of design concept. I understand it can be a thematic aid, but HoML pretty much lacks it (there is an attribute of boons called 'association' that tells you basically what sort of character might want the boon, and there's even a 'prerequisites' as well, but those are purely to tell the GM that certain game mechanics build on each other and won't work without some other piece). This kind of design might actually be a charop issue in a different sort of game (like 4e itself) where everyone would just cherry-pick 'Twin Strike' or whatever, but in HoML progression is MUCH more organic (at least how I run it, when I get to). So there's rarely a situation where a player plots out getting all the best goodies in the game. I think there's a LOT of room between say Cortex+ and 4e, and that's the space that HoML is falling into. It has the elements of both a 'D&D' and the elements of a descriptor-based game, but in a somewhat mild form. True descriptor games, like say PACE (diceless, nothing but descriptors) exist and there EVERYTHING is driven (obviously) by your descriptors. HoML plays more like segments of 4e where things spin off in a particular direction that some player initiated by leveraging a descriptor to use Inspiration, but then there will be a series of very D&D-like sequences where that plays out for a while, and then things will reach another pivotal decision point and the players will push it again. I think this is a bit more like say Dungeon World, almost, though HoML doesn't owe anything to that mechanically.One thing is for sure, its nice to have your own tool. I can't complain about anything in a game I designed, I just have to make it work! Maybe that's the harder task....</blockquote>

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