Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What D&D reflects today, media wise...
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="jmartkdr2" data-source="post: 8524926" data-attributes="member: 7017304"><p>For myself, if I want a game that does all things I want in a ttrpg and lets me ignore stuff I don't care about, the ideal rpg is PathFinder 2e.</p><p></p><p>But as I think about the people I play with, I feel like, for a lot of them, it might be better to take a few steps in the opposite direction: have character with impact race and background, a class built around a single mechanic that comes online pretty early, and then let the character proceed form there not by class tables or level-based bonuses, but in-universe rewards. This allows the game (the story, the fiction) to guide progression.</p><p></p><p>This is because I find a lot of people don't think of dnd as a game, really. It's a shared story thing, with gamey stuff tacked on. They want to write characters and tell stories about those characters. Maybe roll some dice. They don't want to do "builds" or master systems. They don't care for the wargaming roots of the hobby, but aren't quite willing to go full improv.</p><p></p><p>The structure would be something like: you should have all your core/ key/ defining features at level 1, though perhaps in limited versions. By level 5 or so you should get all the basic stuff up and running. Past that, rewards should have direct in-universe causes: you learn spells by finding scrolls and books, you learn maneuvers and feats from... scrolls and books and maybe trainers. (Skill feats would be the rogue-group option.) You get boons from spirits, and magic items to expand and enhance your capabilities.</p><p></p><p>The decisions you make past level 1 should only be specializing in stuff you could already do at level 1 - ie Fighting Styles. They should not add new options (ie spells at level 3) or change the priority of ability scores.</p><p></p><p>But level 10 or 11, you stop getting major number improvements: your base attack bonus has peaked, you only get a couple hp per level, no more spell slots, etc. It's all about paragon and epic boons and magic items by then.</p><p></p><p>Cons to this approach: 20 classes is probably a minimum. (Not as big a deal since classes don't require subclasses or as much mechanics). Races will be less flexible than the current system (though probably not as much as, say, PF2) You <em>absolutely must </em>give dm's solid, understandable guidance on how many rewards to include. (Bad: no guidance. Okay: you must give X items to players at level Y. Great: here's some different rates for rewards you can give, and how those affect the game as a whole.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jmartkdr2, post: 8524926, member: 7017304"] For myself, if I want a game that does all things I want in a ttrpg and lets me ignore stuff I don't care about, the ideal rpg is PathFinder 2e. But as I think about the people I play with, I feel like, for a lot of them, it might be better to take a few steps in the opposite direction: have character with impact race and background, a class built around a single mechanic that comes online pretty early, and then let the character proceed form there not by class tables or level-based bonuses, but in-universe rewards. This allows the game (the story, the fiction) to guide progression. This is because I find a lot of people don't think of dnd as a game, really. It's a shared story thing, with gamey stuff tacked on. They want to write characters and tell stories about those characters. Maybe roll some dice. They don't want to do "builds" or master systems. They don't care for the wargaming roots of the hobby, but aren't quite willing to go full improv. The structure would be something like: you should have all your core/ key/ defining features at level 1, though perhaps in limited versions. By level 5 or so you should get all the basic stuff up and running. Past that, rewards should have direct in-universe causes: you learn spells by finding scrolls and books, you learn maneuvers and feats from... scrolls and books and maybe trainers. (Skill feats would be the rogue-group option.) You get boons from spirits, and magic items to expand and enhance your capabilities. The decisions you make past level 1 should only be specializing in stuff you could already do at level 1 - ie Fighting Styles. They should not add new options (ie spells at level 3) or change the priority of ability scores. But level 10 or 11, you stop getting major number improvements: your base attack bonus has peaked, you only get a couple hp per level, no more spell slots, etc. It's all about paragon and epic boons and magic items by then. Cons to this approach: 20 classes is probably a minimum. (Not as big a deal since classes don't require subclasses or as much mechanics). Races will be less flexible than the current system (though probably not as much as, say, PF2) You [I]absolutely must [/I]give dm's solid, understandable guidance on how many rewards to include. (Bad: no guidance. Okay: you must give X items to players at level Y. Great: here's some different rates for rewards you can give, and how those affect the game as a whole.) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What D&D reflects today, media wise...
Top