Guild Wars 2.

[Empath Negative]

If you prepurchased Guild Wars 2 you were allowed into the beta.

So, like um, ZOMG. Bai teh gaym. Itz duh smaq.


That being said there was an element of the game that I felt could be introduced into Dungeons and Dragons *culture*.



It's called "Dynamic Events". Stuff is happening, happening, happening... and then you show up... and stuff keeps happening... and then, you win.

You can stick around, or split, it's upto you.


I was thinking... well, why not actually *build* that concept into the game?


Why not build it into the game that you can just have a character and show up... or not, week in week out. Their character not really wholly dependent on the DM.

Each weeks adventure would have a cash/experience value and if you attend that week you get it. If you don't... well, the plot moves on without you.

A key thing though would be to make leveling less something that granted ever increasing *power* levels but more ever increasing choices. Sure, a guy will be more powerful if he has more choices... that's usually the essence of power creep, but the hitch is to make it so they're not noticably more powerful or it's possible to reduce the oversized players down to the campaigns level.

 

[trancejeremy]

So basically how old school D&D worked? Where things were more sandbox-ish? Where the characters were more pro-active, than just re-active. And where you might have 2-3 DMs and a dozen players...

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I thought that was the way D&D had always worked, regardless of edition.

 

[Minigiant]

Yeah, isn't that normal old-school play?

Interestingly, I am more impressed with the class/powersource spread.

 

[Blackwarder]

What I like about GW2 is the fact that different weapons give you different abilities.

Warder

 

[Dice4Hire]

I have been playing like that for years and I suspect a lot of people have been also. It is not new.

 

[Empath Negative]

But is it built in?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Agamon]

You can play that way without "building it in", thereby allowing other play styles to flourish, as well.

 

[JoesephBear]

Also a GW2 fan here.

This kind of thing was more common in AD&D and Basic/Expert D&D where PC's in a party were not expected to all be the same level. There were some limits of course, but one could reasonably get by with a level 4 fighter when other members of the party are around 7 or 8. This was also during a time where PC's were not expected to fight every baddie they came across. It was totally possible to randomly bump into a monster far stronger than what is appropriate for your level, and beating a hasty retreat was completely acceptable.

Nowadays, this type of play would lend itself to a d20 variant where attack roll and defensive bonuses don't automatically increase with level. The concern is that you don't want a player stuck getting one-shotted on the first turn of every battle due to the math being against them. What I do is to keep AC and spell DC static then treat BAB as a bonus to damage rolls instead of attack rolls.

 

[B.T.]

If you prepurchased Guild Wars 2 you were allowed into the beta.

So, like um, ZOMG. Bai teh gaym. Itz duh smaq.


That being said there was an element of the game that I felt could be introduced into Dungeons and Dragons *culture*.



It's called "Dynamic Events". Stuff is happening, happening, happening... and then you show up... and stuff keeps happening... and then, you win.

You can stick around, or split, it's upto you.


I was thinking... well, why not actually *build* that concept into the game?


Why not build it into the game that you can just have a character and show up... or not, week in week out. Their character not really wholly dependent on the DM.

Each weeks adventure would have a cash/experience value and if you attend that week you get it. If you don't... well, the plot moves on without you.

A key thing though would be to make leveling less something that granted ever increasing *power* levels but more ever increasing choices. Sure, a guy will be more powerful if he has more choices... that's usually the essence of power creep, but the hitch is to make it so they're not noticably more powerful or it's possible to reduce the oversized players down to the campaigns level.

Welcome to a non-scripted campaign. We hope you'll enjoy the stay.