When is it too much?

[randomling]

Those of you who've seen a thread or two of mine might know that I'm trying to put together a swashbuckling campaign. I have a great setting and a lot of really cool ideas - but none of the rulsets I own or have access to really capture the "18th century pirates" flavour and feel that I want. So, being a perfectionist, I've been messing extensively with the ruleset, and ended up wanting to start with D20 Modern base classes and build a new d20-based system from the ground up to get the flavour that I'm after.

This is starting to feel like a lot of work.

Well, of course it's a lot of work: I'm writing brand-new advanced classes, tinkering with the combat system, and p-retty much ripping out all established ideas of DnD magic and starting again. For an inexperienced and out-of-practise DM who wants to get stuck into running adventures, though, it might be too much.

I've had lots of suggestions for other systems in other threads, so I'm not necessarily looking for advice on what ruleset to use. My question is: where do you draw the line? When do you say that it's too much work to modify the rules for the flavour you want? And what do you do then - run the game with rules you've got, or try to think up a new idea for a game that's easier to run without modifications?

As usual, thanks in advance.

 

[Talmun]

My question is: where do you draw the line? When do you say that it's too much work to modify the rules for the flavour you want? And what do you do then - run the game with rules you've got, or try to think up a new idea for a game that's easier to run without modifications?

You draw the line when it stops being fun and exciting and turns into work.

I have seen DMs become burned-out, tired and cranky (Ahhh run! a cranky DM!) when they bite off more than they can chew with regard to world-building or rules-changing. Do what you are comfortable with, know that you may have to put up with some things that are not exactly the way you want them for the sake of your own sanity.

Why don't you show some of the work you've done so far to another DM (if memory serves, you have access to that resource), and see what they think. If I were you I would change a few big things, but not worry to much about changing everything (i.e. change some class abilities, but not create new classes from scratch).

It sounds like you're really excited about this campaign...Good Luck!

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

My line is when it stops being fun for me to do all the tweaking. In general, the creation and tweaking is the most fun for me. Running the adventures is generally stressful for me.

 

[Arnwyn]

My question is: where do you draw the line? When do you say that it's too much work to modify the rules for the flavour you want?

"When I have to modify the rules for the flavour I want". (That's the answer for me... well, almost. )

I agree with Talmun, though - it's when it starts to actually feel like work.

 

[Psion]

I'm willing to do a little work to satisfy myself.

But I do draw the line somewhere. I have had dozens of different ideas of things I want to do, but in many cases have had to consider things like how many games is this going to work for, how much fun is this really going to be, etc.?

On a related note:
http://www.io.com/~sjohn/funwork.htm

 

[randomling]

Thanks for the link Psion - definitely a useful read!

 

[S'mon]

My tendency in your shoes would probably be to do the minimum - run it as regular D&D with suitable class & race restrictions - eg no spellcasting PCs, maybe just Rogues* & Fighters (actually, all Rogues would probably work fine!) - and limit equipment availability. I might also give out some free skill ranks in appropriate background skills like sailing, at generation & during the campaign, and I might use Conan RPG's Fate Points. If there's no PC spellcasting, you can make magic do whatever you want, no need to define it with rules.

Problems w this approach - the main one I think is that everyone will want to wear armour, which you might not want. Maybe give characters a +1 Dodge/Parry Defence bonus per 2 levels that doesn't stack with armour bonus, that'd encourage unarmoured swashbucklers at higher levels. And enforce drowning in heavy armour, of course.

You can worry about the magic system later, once play has started and you have a better feel for what you want. I'm not sure if WP/VP or d20 Modern classes are worth the effort of adjustment - I flirted w WP/VP for Borderlands, but decided against it; abstract hit points make for a more flamboyant, less gritty, game I think. If there's a few days between battles hp will recover ok at the standard 3.5 rates (bedrest gives 2/level/day, otherwise 1/level/night's sleep).

*Actually, the more I think about it the better this idea seems. The Rogue class seems perfect for swashbuckling types, and if EVERYONE's a Rogue there are no Fighters to hide behind! People would be forced to distinguish their PCs by personality and unusual characteristics rather than by class.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

My question is: where do you draw the line? When do you say that it's too much work to modify the rules for the flavour you want? And what do you do then - run the game with rules you've got, or try to think up a new idea for a game that's easier to run without modifications?

Well, too be honest, I don't draw any line to define "too much". I want my game complete, in-total, all wrapped up and packaged, and running exactly the way my group likes.

However, there is such a thing as over-producing. What I mean is that about 3 months ago I realized that I was putting off campaign building because the rules weren't COMPLETE. While we were doing one-nighters for the sake of playtesting, the "main" campaign groups (i.e., the ones with a plot) were at a standstill waiting for me to complete rules that weren't actually applicable to those groups to begin with (i.e., if no one's playing a Divine Caster, why is the game waiting for rules only used by Divine Casters?).

Now I have a new design strategy: What do I need this Friday? And I must say, everything's coming together a lot smoother, easier, and cleaner for it.

 

[Henry]

The EXACT second I've had to design more than one character class, it's too much work.

Seriously, each DM has their own limit. Some prefer pre-packaged all the way, some like the start with the SRD, chuck out 90% of it, and build their own ground-up. If you feel like you are putting in too much design time to the sacrifice of your "coherent game plot" time, then it's probably better to either streamline and take gratuitous assumptive shortcuts, or time to search up a rules system already closer to what you want.

Seventh Sea calls and beckons... Well, that, or Green Ronin's Skull and Bones, but I think S'mon said he already had a copy of Seventh Sea you could borrow.

 

[S'mon]

Seventh Sea calls and beckons... Well, that, or Green Ronin's Skull and Bones, but I think S'mon said he already had a copy of Seventh Sea you could borrow.

Nope, sorry, just glanced at someone else's. :\