Base Classes Tied to Ability Scores

[Prak]

For D&D? Know where I can make four clones of myself to make games starting at level six happen?

For the game I'm writing? Not necessary. I'm working on new ideas for the base archetypes that will have more options and more to do. I'm also going to write up at least a conceptual sketch of the minigame systems so I have a better idea as to what they're supposed to interact with (as opposed to the vague broadstrokes I have now)

[Prak]

I'm going to start posting anything that I write for this game over in IMOI. The Social Combat system is there now, the game is called Tides of Shadow.

Archetypes are getting a significant rethink, and I should have at least one up tomorrow--Investigator(/Sleuth. I'm not sure what it will ultimately be called)

[CatharzGodfoot]

PL had some great suggestions. So does Frank.

Don't come up with a list of minigames and then come up with a class for each minigame---Design each class to contribute in each minigame, ideally in different-seeming ways. Don't design the classes to be boring until level 5---figure out how you can make them fun from level 1.

Basically, you should be trying to make a game that is fun to play, not just fun to design.

[Cyberzombie]

Also I know that I am in the minority in thinking levels 1-5 of D&D are boring and uninteresting, and others may want to play "Level 1- mundanes discover weird goings on, Level 2- mundanes make Shadowkin friends, Level 3- mundanes acquire Shadowkin willing to teach them to use magic/Shadowloot phlebotinum."

There are a great deal of people that like low-level play for the specific reason that it is boring. They want to limit people's options and don't want to have to worry about spellcasters teleporting and flying around. They don't want a bunch of magical solutions to every problem because it makes the game too complex for them to run.

[deaddmwalking]

Also I know that I am in the minority in thinking levels 1-5 of D&D are boring and uninteresting, and others may want to play "Level 1- mundanes discover weird goings on, Level 2- mundanes make Shadowkin friends, Level 3- mundanes acquire Shadowkin willing to teach them to use magic/Shadowloot phlebotinum."

There are a great deal of people that like low-level play for the specific reason that it is boring. They want to limit people's options and don't want to have to worry about spellcasters teleporting and flying around. They don't want a bunch of magical solutions to every problem because it makes the game too complex for them to run.

I don't think anyone would say they like it 'because it is boring'. In 3.x, low-level play involves more limited resources, so it often involves more creative problem-solving.

Many high-level abilities are 'knot-cutters'. They let you bypass some challenges to hopefully focus on something interesting (ie, you can skip the walking through the forest once you have fly). But if the part you could skip is interesting, you're not bored when you deal with them (even if you can't skip them).

Collecting 'perfect solutions' to problems is something you can do, but a lot of people enjoy MacGuyvering a solution. That's more likely in low-level play.

Just an example - in one game we needed to cross a fast-flowing underground river of significant depth while ambush was a real possiblity. Crossing in armor was suicidal; crossing without armor was dangerous. Fortunately, we had a fair number of dead bodies from a prior encounter. We built a 'corpse bridge'. That is still referenced many years later in all kinds of circumstances (a bunch of dead bodies around - let's build a bridge out of them). Crossing the river wasn't 'boring', and the solution turned out to be more memorable than having and passing around boots of jumping.