Mythic Bastionland - initial impressions, and making a Realm

[pemerton]

I think I might just fiddle with the progression system.

What have you got in mind.?

The progression system reminds me of Prince Valiant - where the players' knights gain Fame for resolving situations, winning jousts/tournaments, taking part in battles, etc. The main differences in Mythic Bastionland are (i) that you can lose Glory when you lose a joust, and (ii) that gaining progression doesn't, in itself, advance your PC - that's dependent on the passage of time.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Well, using OD&D as an example here is setting the bar about as low as it can get. Even a lot of pretty lightweight modern RPGs would consider it woefully incomplete in comparison. You had to really want to be doing an enormous amount on pure judgment calls to consider it complete.

I think you are misunderstanding me, that I am not being clear. I am not holding up D&D '74 as a ' bar' at all. It's an example of a design which fails to even attempt to be complete, or even explain itself at all really.

Later versions of classic D&D (TSR D&D) sometimes expound some of their principles of play, but oddly all of them largely assume a vast amount of unspoken 'stuff' related to various aspects of the function of the game. I would rather say that their various authors are the ones who set a low bar!

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I think, no offense, that you're missing the point. The extent to which a given RPG is 'complete' is neither, IMO, obvious nor easy to assess.

I think it is, perhaps, difficult if you have not really analyzed the makeup of RPGs and the structure of play in a clear way. I find there is great resistance to doing so in certain circles. Classic signs of this which I often see are statements about how system and related things are unimportant. Or people who attempt to conclude that all sorts of play are doing the same thing.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I think you are misunderstanding me, that I am not being clear. I am not holding up D&D '74 as a ' bar' at all. It's an example of a design which fails to even attempt to be complete, or even explain itself at all really.

Which is why its a pretty low bar.

I'm beginning to wonder what part of my statement was so unclear to people.