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<blockquote data-quote="Bill Zebub" data-source="post: 9864155" data-attributes="member: 7031982">Riffing off of what [USER=6901101]@Scott Christian[/USER] wrote above, some thoughts (that stray from &quot;core mechanics&quot;):First, I strongly believe that mechanics can evoke setting &amp; mood.&nbsp; It's why I'm not a fan of porting/re-fluffing 5e to every setting and genre, or the way Modiphius uses their same mechanics for everything under the sun.&nbsp; So start with the feeling you want to evoke, and then design mechanics that support that.&nbsp; (Giving you feedback on that process would be fun, too.). When I first discovered TOR it took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that Hope points did not refresh.&nbsp; There were a few ways to get them back, but basically it was a resource that dwindled over your character's career.&nbsp; That blew my mind, and it was very evocative of Tolkien!&nbsp; But in return for it being precious it was powerful: you could use it to alter a roll after the fact.&nbsp; Then in 2.0 they made Hope a cheap resource, easy to replenish, but all it did was add bonuses before the roll.&nbsp; Which is just like so many mechanics in so many games.&nbsp; Blah.&nbsp; If there was any single thing that made me stop playing TOR, it was that.(By the way, a principle of mine is that bonuses that modify a roll should be passive, situational, or risk/reward, but shouldn't require resources to be expended.&nbsp; If you have to expend a resource it should be after the roll, such as re-rolling.)Second...and responding to the comment about &quot;hit point bloat&quot;...I have been increasingly favoring fairly flat power curves.&nbsp; I don't think you should have to introduce new adversaries constantly in order to challenge players.&nbsp; A pack of orcs might swing from &quot;deadly&quot; early in the game to &quot;easy&quot; late in the game, but I really dislike how in so many games it swings from &quot;impossible&quot; to &quot;trivial&quot; in the span of a few levels.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bill Zebub, post: 9864155, member: 7031982"] Riffing off of what [USER=6901101]@Scott Christian[/USER] wrote above, some thoughts (that stray from "core mechanics"): First, I strongly believe that mechanics can evoke setting & mood. It's why I'm not a fan of porting/re-fluffing 5e to every setting and genre, or the way Modiphius uses their same mechanics for everything under the sun. So start with the feeling you want to evoke, and then design mechanics that support that. (Giving you feedback on that process would be fun, too.). When I first discovered TOR it took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that Hope points did not refresh. There were a few ways to get them back, but basically it was a resource that dwindled over your character's career. That blew my mind, and it was very evocative of Tolkien! But in return for it being precious it was powerful: you could use it to alter a roll after the fact. Then in 2.0 they made Hope a cheap resource, easy to replenish, but all it did was add bonuses before the roll. Which is just like so many mechanics in so many games. Blah. If there was any single thing that made me stop playing TOR, it was that. (By the way, a principle of mine is that bonuses that modify a roll should be passive, situational, or risk/reward, but shouldn't require resources to be expended. If you have to expend a resource it should be [I]after[/I] the roll, such as re-rolling.) Second...and responding to the comment about "hit point bloat"...I have been increasingly favoring fairly flat power curves. I don't think you should have to introduce new adversaries constantly in order to challenge players. A pack of orcs might swing from "deadly" early in the game to "easy" late in the game, but I really dislike how in so many games it swings from "impossible" to "trivial" in the span of a few levels. [/QUOTE]

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