Happy birthday, CotDS. Erm, I mean Blade of Desecration. I was 14 when I started playing D&D. It was also the year I had the most growing up to do, thus far.... I wish you luck in your growing pains to come.
Even before I stumbled across the Dungeons & Dragons game, I had been searching for something. I always enjoyed playing simple board games and card games (especially Magic the Gathering), but nothing had the detail to satisfy me. I thought I had stumbled upon a great treasure when I discovered D&D, and I proceeded to soak up all the 3.0 rules. However, I was unfortunate enough to discover it at the time when D&D was switching over to 3.5, and I still don't entirely understand all the new rules. That aside, even though I found D&D very enjoyable, I still never satisfied myself entirely, and so the hunt continues.
Before stumbling upon the game, I had made countless efforts to create my own game that eventually developed into a very detailed card game that was much like a roleplaying game. After familiarizing myself with the D20 rules, however, my approach to this new game has changed dramatically.
I have recently once again taken up the charge of creating this new game, and I believe I have made huge milestones in advancement compared to before. My hope is to create a game much like D&D, but that would be more true to the Lord of the Rings setting, as well as simplifying some areas and expanding upon others. I eventually hope to end up with a game that is enjoyable to play, is structured and balanced, is stream-lined while providing more options, takes a different approach to Magic (stupid Vancian spellcasting...), and that eliminates the "power creep" of D&D.
So far, I've redone combat so that Attack and Damage are dependant on a single roll, I've eliminated the necessity of all other dice except for the 20-sided die (and perhaps the 6-sided, since everyone has those anyway), I've begun on a leveling system that takes characters to level 100 (instead of 20) without all the Epic Level mumbo jumbo, and I've brainstormed some ideas to make the game depend less on magic so that it would be more mysterious and more of a bonus instead of a necessity. I've also begun on an arcane spellcasting class that uses spells much like a Warlock, instead of those darn spells per day and preparing ahead of time. The game will probably end up being Low-Magic (compared to D&D), but I've already got some ideas to give more options for mundane things. Weapons are more unique statistically (there is a big difference between a longsword and a battleaxe, not just crits), but I have yet to convert all the D&D weapons over. But, so far, weapons can grant AC bonuses (since you can block with a sword, for example) instead of just being used to attack, and different weapons are betting at blocking with and such.
This whole thing will be an epic undertaking, so I may bounce some ideas off you guys from time to time. Currently, I'm trying to figure out how to do a Mage and how to make potions based off Alchemy. I believe Mordmorgan has already altered the rules for potions so that they depend on alchemy, so it would be appreciated if I could get some input from him. For the Mage, I've been trying to compare a Sorcerer to a Warlock in order to make a balanced class. So far, it looks like a Warlock actually surpasses a Sorcerer in spellcasting power. :\
), but I'm going to nominate him for the spot.
