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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4607246" data-attributes="member: 54707">In closely examining design elements I'd like to radically overhaul in RPG gaming systems, and as part of this <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/247021-great-conjunction-rpg-design-contest.html" target="_blank">Design Contest</a>, I'm going to concentrate on the following elements:COMBAT - I have never thought die rolls reflected anything even remotely resembling the chaos of a real combat, even in the sense of merely emulating "the friction of chance." Too many things happen in a real combat that simply exceed both training (as a control element of intentional action on the part of the combatant) and mere chance (as an element of seemingly random entropy, which is, in fact, not really entropic at all). There are elements like heightened awareness and supersensory intuition on the part of individuals engaged in fights for their lives, team cohesion or lack thereof, morale, environmental disposition, technological advantage or disadvantage, the psychological differences inherent in close quarters combat versus indirect combat or combat from a distance, and so forth and so on. So combat is gonna get a radical overhaul. The first step of course will be a careful and accurate analysis of what really happens in a combat versus what is imagined to happen, and how to weave those separate elements together into a single, fluid, unencumbered, and uncomplicated mechanic that both flows and projects realistically.MAGIC - For many of the same reasons as the weaknesses that are so apparent in most RPGs regarding combat, I intend a radical overhaul in the way magic is imagined to function versus how it would likely really function, if such a thing really existed. COUNTER-REALISM - This goes to the entire issue of milieu relevance and of psychological sympathy and interaction with the developed background ideals. It extends of course into arenas like history, real world areas of player interest, TSS, Character Classes (Professions really), Races, and so forth, and how such milieu elements affect both player and character conduct in-game.HEROISM - Heroism needs to be reintroduced into many modern RPGs, not as an abstract mechanical mode of advancement, or as a generalized background game supposition (of, well, we're playing heroic characters, so ergo, we must be heroes - aren't we? - duh!), but as a functioning ideal of personal conduct.I'll probably also address other issues as the project proceeds, but for now I suspect these will be the top four areas of concern I'll address.</blockquote>

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