How would you do 3.5e in 160 pages?

[ColonelHardisson]

Personally, I would like to see a system for creating spells, instead of a system for picking spells that are already created by someone else.

Those premade spells really speed up play. Ever play something like Ars Magica, where characters make up spells on the fly? Sounds cool in principle, can bring the game to a grinding halt in practice, especially if the spell is one that is complex in concept. That is, until the player comes up with at least a few premade spells on his own, many of which would be served just as well with a premade spell. So instead of making the player re-invent the wheel with each spell, having hundreds of them already made and playtested for decades seems like a huge plus. It goes with the territory of a game with magic in it.

 

[mmadsen]

Those premade spells really speed up play. Ever play something like Ars Magica, where characters make up spells on the fly?

Agreed -- but there's plenty of middle ground between D&D's hyper-specific spells and Ars Magica's roll-your-own style.

 

[Slife]

Those premade spells really speed up play. Ever play something like Ars Magica, where characters make up spells on the fly? Sounds cool in principle, can bring the game to a grinding halt in practice, especially if the spell is one that is complex in concept. That is, until the player comes up with at least a few premade spells on his own, many of which would be served just as well with a premade spell. So instead of making the player re-invent the wheel with each spell, having hundreds of them already made and playtested for decades seems like a huge plus. It goes with the territory of a game with magic in it.

True. But it saves a lot of space, which is what the topic's about.

Something similar could be done for monsters.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Agreed -- but there's plenty of middle ground between D&D's hyper-specific spells and Ars Magica's roll-your-own style.

Sure, but I think that making a 160 page SRD would be more useful by winnowing down the spell list to those spells that are most common and useful, rather than coming up with a "roll your own" system. Saving space by sacrificing ease of use at the table wouldn't be a good idea, in my opinion.

Anyway, there is a "roll your own" system for d20 out there - True Sorcery by Green Ronin. Anyone interested may want to give it a look.

 

[Flynn]

I am going to try it with the SRD so that leaves out Dieties and most examples and iconic characters.

I would love to see what you come up with, if you don't mind sharing your results when you are done.

In terms of helping to cut down on space with spells, I would suggest you review the following thread for formatting ideas:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=198414

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[ColonelHardisson]

True. But it saves a lot of space, which is what the topic's about.

Something similar could be done for monsters.

Like I said up above, saving space by giving up quick playability seems pointless in a project like this. I mean, I thought the point was to simplify the game, not just make it more easily portable in a physical way. Again, I think it would be better to cut the spells (and monsters) down to an "essential" number.

 

[Slife]

Like I said up above, saving space by giving up quick playability seems pointless in a project like this. I mean, I thought the point was to simplify the game, not just make it more easily portable in a physical way. Again, I think it would be better to cut the spells (and monsters) down to an "essential" number.

Ideally, there would be only a few monsters for each CR, along with ways to enhance them on the fly (similar to advancing HD, but a little more robust).

 

[drothgery]

Like I said up above, saving space by giving up quick playability seems pointless in a project like this. I mean, I thought the point was to simplify the game, not just make it more easily portable in a physical way. Again, I think it would be better to cut the spells (and monsters) down to an "essential" number.

FWIW, the 'powers' section of the XPH is about 70 pages, and covers most of the ground of the about 120 page 'spells' section of the PHB.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Ideally, there would be only a few monsters for each CR, along with ways to enhance them on the fly (similar to advancing HD, but a little more robust).

That seems reasonable to me.

 

[Ry]

I was going to say the 1-12, but pretty much the same gist.
Basically you end up then with a set of books of: basic book, superhero book, epic book

I'd love if we had
Basic: 1-6
Expert: 7-12
Advanced: 13-20
Epic: 21+

That way all I'd need to buy was basic!