dm4hire
Explorer
I'm eagerly waiting for my pre-order copy of the DCC RPG to arrive despite already finishing the PDF sent to us for pre-ordering. I'm looking forward to playing it, if only to get a taste of the old school it was based on (I started in 81 with 1st Ed so missed the different versions of basic). I love what I've read and enjoy almost everything about the game presented except the races as class. While I could house rule it I unfortunately fall into the "not enough time due to other things in life" category which the 10 level cap Goodman put on the game was designed to cater to. The DCC RPG does a great job of filling the OSR need for a light, self contained, low level cap game, but we still need one that is aimed for more modern game styles.
E6 and E8 are nice and would almost meet this need, but they tend to allow for progression beyond their maximum level, using skill points and bonus feats. The Pathfinder starter box is pretty good and meets the goals of a lot of things I’d want in a game with races not as class and does go to level 10, there were a lot of things left out to encourage moving over to the full game (which I own a lot of but again don’t have the time to progress beyond 10). DCC putting the cap at level 10 is brilliant in that he understands most players today don't have the time to progress beyond level 10. In fact the highest level I have ever played consistently with a group only reached level nine and it was due to life catching up and taking me away from the game table. Other characters I've made reached similar levels, but with a family and work and now school it’s hard to really progress beyond level 10 if you follow the rules of advancement. Heck, even point buy systems work against the time deficient player by ensuring that all the really cool stuff you’d gain as a player character comes later on, meaning you will probably never see the cool stuff in game unless you start with a higher buy in and miss out on low end experience.
So I’m wondering, who would be a good pick to produce such a d20 game, or other system, offering a more modern approach to character design and game play? The game should be self-contained like DCC RPG. Aimed at the more experienced gamers, but giving a more modern design approach to character development (i.e. race played not as a class and other post basic advancements). Players should be able to retire a character due to level limits and not from lack of play time since level advancement would be set to a maximum level (whether it is level 10 or lower doesn’t matter as long as a player can obtain the determined cap within a reasonable time).
Thoughts or suggestions?
E6 and E8 are nice and would almost meet this need, but they tend to allow for progression beyond their maximum level, using skill points and bonus feats. The Pathfinder starter box is pretty good and meets the goals of a lot of things I’d want in a game with races not as class and does go to level 10, there were a lot of things left out to encourage moving over to the full game (which I own a lot of but again don’t have the time to progress beyond 10). DCC putting the cap at level 10 is brilliant in that he understands most players today don't have the time to progress beyond level 10. In fact the highest level I have ever played consistently with a group only reached level nine and it was due to life catching up and taking me away from the game table. Other characters I've made reached similar levels, but with a family and work and now school it’s hard to really progress beyond level 10 if you follow the rules of advancement. Heck, even point buy systems work against the time deficient player by ensuring that all the really cool stuff you’d gain as a player character comes later on, meaning you will probably never see the cool stuff in game unless you start with a higher buy in and miss out on low end experience.
So I’m wondering, who would be a good pick to produce such a d20 game, or other system, offering a more modern approach to character design and game play? The game should be self-contained like DCC RPG. Aimed at the more experienced gamers, but giving a more modern design approach to character development (i.e. race played not as a class and other post basic advancements). Players should be able to retire a character due to level limits and not from lack of play time since level advancement would be set to a maximum level (whether it is level 10 or lower doesn’t matter as long as a player can obtain the determined cap within a reasonable time).
Thoughts or suggestions?
