Hello, my name is Malckuss, and I design RPGs...

[vulpinoid]

[Third Try]

It's a bit of a minefield in some RPG discussion groups...but...

Have you heard of the power 19?

It's a series of questions designed to help focus a designers mind when developing a game. A lot of your questions seem to echo it's points at some level.

[Malckuss]

It wouldn't surprise me if this was originally part of or based on power 19. I got it off of the Forge. TBH, as sideways speaking and mired in their own language as they are, one thing I really liked about the forumites at The Forge is that they do ask some useful questions. Though some of them come off as pretentious, they do mean well. They are trying to come up with a shared language for discussing design, but much of it is obtuse and opaque, understandable only by those who have been there from the very beginning. I know John Wick's 4 questions are worked in there in a paraphrased form.

Any comments/questions/diatribes on what I have presented?

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

These are all good answers to the questions. However, I wonder if these are the right questions to ask.

In literature, there is something known as the "Death of the Author". In short, you don't ask what the author is trying to say, or try to see the book as a product of its time, but rather simply take the text as is with no external stimuli. For example, reading "War of the Worlds" and disregarding the claim that HG Wells wrote it as a critique of British colonialism.

In an RPG we see what happens in play, not necessarily the author's plans. So if you want to encourage a lot of character classes, make the setting one on the frontier where many different types of people come to seek their fortune, and thus many types would be present. For cinematic combat, include few or no penalties to stunts, give lots of neat special abilities, and split enemies into extras, minor threats, and the main event.

Bringing another writing adage into play - "Show, don't tell."

There is nothing wrong with what you have so far. Certainly, the game introductory text or the chapter on being a GM can reference many of the goals and ideals. But I would like to read a story set in your world, or see some images of the setting, and look at the system to understand if it lives up to those texts. Understanding that different people seek different things in an RPG is good, as is knowing what you want to do. But in the end, bring the awesome, and let people then be able to take part in it.

You know how cut scenes in video games often seem to annoy players? Its because they break immersion for some reason. The player losses control, the avatar does something out of character, or annoyingly impossible to do within the game proper, or simply falls for a trap that couldn't work in actual play.

We need to focus on avoiding cut scenes, go for the play and not a script. An RPG author is a producer providing tools and locations for the movie, but the GM and players are the true directors.

[Malckuss]

In response to some of the things Chainsaw Aardvark said: My game is still developing, so much of that stuff is still churning. I'm especially struggling with the system mechanics, so I am trying to nail down the things I want to include and see what it suggests.

However, I am willing to show you some of what I have, in regards to the races, classes, and backgrounds I'm wanting to include in my game. No game statistics, but a general idea of where I'm going.

Since I'm not going with a level-based progression, I can have races that are less expensive, and more expensive in the same play space, as the cost balances them. Also, this means you can treat the more powerful & advanced races, like the dragon, as a class and have them purchase additional abilities, as well as more potent abilities, down the road. Explicitly, advanced race templates require you to "opt in" either during character creation with customization picks, or later with advancements. Advanced templates also layer on top of your primary racial template.

Racial Templates
Animal Folke
Constructs
Drow
Dwarves
Elves
Fae
Gnomes
Halfblooded
Humans
Advanced Templates
Celestial-blooded [Heavenly & Infernal]
Elementally Aspected
Dragon
Undead
Werefolke

I want to start the classes section by stating: I have a great deal of classes. 40, by last count. This has to do with having narrowly defined, interesting classes that are available to you right from the start of the game, instead of needing to plan your progression into an advanced class much further down the road. I also think I have covered a great deal of ground when it comes to what someone might want to do in a fantasy game, baring psionic classes. I do plan on having class creation rules; between those rules and the 40 classes, I highly doubt I will ever need to put out any additional classes.

These templates give you your basic abilities, support your basic playstyle and give you a bonus to the skills and abilities you want to focus on. Each class provides your base Offensive Bonus, Defensive Bonus, Resistances (think saves), Class Abilities, Bonus Talents, Skill Boosts, and starting gear.

Class Templates
Alchemist - Chemistry for fun and profit
Archer - Warrior skilled in the use of bows and crossbows.
Armsman - General Man-at-Arms
Assassin - The subtle knife
Avenger - A knightly warrior who uses the arcane to met out vengeance for those who need avenging
Berserker - A warrior who uses Rage and might to obliterate his or her foes
Black Mage - Master of dark and offensive Magics
Coistrel - Armored Warrior
Conjurer - A mage who specializes in calling forth substances from nothing; summoning a sword to fight, or a wall to hide behind
Dark Knight/Blood Knight - A warrior who follows his own code that cuts himself to unlock dark powers and hurt all of his foes in combat
Defalcator - Thieves, brigands, and ne'er-do-wells; from corsairs & pirates to highwaymen and brigands
Elementalist - Mages specializing in the classical elements, either in balance or focusing on one one to the near exclusion of others.
Fatespinner/Fateweaver - Oracles who can see your Fate, and manipulate it, change it, or use it against you
Feign - A warrior who uses his magics to copy the abilities of beasts and monsters.
Gadgeteer/Artificer - Mechanical Sciences and specified application of chemical energy allow this scholar to devestate his foes...and sometimes his friends.
Geomancer - A mage who tapes into the spirits of the land and then unleashes its anger
Grey Mage - A mage that tries to balance the force of White and Black Magics, and shores up his weakness with skill at arms.
Gunner - Warrior who uses the joint creation of Alchemists and Gadgeteers - the firearm - to great effect on the field of battle
Hexcaster - A Mage focused on the use of the so-called "Evil Eye"
Illusionist - A mage who uses chicanery, misdirection, and a clouded mind to circumnavigate problems and gain control of his surroundings
Justiciar - Analogous to the Inquisitor. A warrior focused on meting out the law, keeping it intact, as judge jury and executioner, as well as messenger and emissary of his Archon.
Knight - An armored warrior who follows a strict code, and protects the weak.
Lancer - A warrior focused on the spear, lance or polearm, either on the back of a horse or afoot.
Martial Artist - A disciplined mind, body, and soul who uses esoteric techniques and practices to learn peace by way of being prepared for anything
Necromancer - A mage focused completely on the darkest of arts.
Paladin - A knightly warrior who melds swordplay and minor White Magics to protect and serve his kingdom
Runecaster - A mage who carves runes upon gear, runetiles, and the environment for lasting effect.
Scout - A lightly armored warrior who moves quickly across the battlefield.
Shaman - A tribal magician who speaks with and controls the spirits of man, beast, and nature
Slayer - A warrior focused on a particular vicious foe
Sorcerer - A mage whose Magic comes to him naturally, pure and potent from a source he may or may not know
Shadowmancer - A mage focused on the magics of the Shadow, the place between worlds, movement between them and the speed of travel they can provide
Summoner - A mage focused mainly on utilizing creatures from the great beyond to come forth and do his bidding
Tradejack - Jack-of-all-Trades
Volleyer - A master of the thrown weapon, from daggers to spears
Warlock - A mage who has made pacts or bargains, or somehow wrested power from an outside source
[Weapon]master - A warrior focused on mastering one weapon over all others
Wordsmith - A warrior-poet who uses song, dance, and word to make use of the language of creation and evince power and change through the tongue of the gods
Wizard - a learned man who can call upon all of the different fields of magic, if only at a pale shadow of the masters through discipline and learning
White Mage - A mage focused on protective and restorative magics, and is a natural warden against the things outside our world

Suggestions for names are welcome, as well as suggested themes or abilities. I am happy with most, but I will at least hear you out.

I have an idea to take some of the more minor classes from other games, or classes that seem weak in comparison to the main classes, and turn them into mechanically supported concept frames. These would reinforce certain skills, provide a bonus Talent perhaps, additional starting funds and minor gear, as well as perhaps having a minor ability you could pick up later. I should note that I'm thinking seriously of transfering Knight to this list, as it seems more endemic of a concept to play an honorable character of several of the main classes. Opinions on that are welcome.

Background Templates
Adventurer
Criminal
Commoner
Disciplined
Exile
Faithful
Heroic
Mercenary
Noble
Occultist
Outcast
Rogue
Savage
Scholar
Swashbuckler

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

That is a very interesting set of lists, and you seem to have most of the bases covered. I highly approve of the idea that classes are ready from the start, without planned progression. (I rather dislike d20 style feats and its progression system)

However, a lot of the classes seem to be like ones from final fantasy (yes, nothing new under the sun and great minds think alike) and others are a bit too generic. Similarly, we've seen the same sort of non-humans before.

What you might want is to have say Profession/training so for example, A soldier on the path of the musketeer (use of firearms) vs path of the code (knight/paladin that receives special training but holds an oath) vs traditionalist that forgoes these "new-fangled" guns for a real blade. I've never been to fond of there just being a generic "beat people up" class - but like derivatives of the concept.

Speaking of tradition vs gunpowder, about what historical period has technology advanced to in the world? Actually, that could be a running theme in the world. Some people want to recover the lost artifacts and rebuild the ancient civilizations, others feel those things fell apart for a reason and want to turn to new avenues of progress. This could split character types and concepts into traditional vs forward, and open a few new spins on things - like a necromancer is a type of archeologist that raises and asks questions of the former inhabitants, rather than a zombie controller.

Now there is nothing wrong with an elf-like race, but we need a change from the "prefect ranger/perfect miner/mechanically oriented short humanoid" we get in a lot of games. Familiarity has its place in introducing people, but changing it up makes the world yours. What if forest elves really are the forest anthropomorphised, or dwarves aren't miners, but rather spirits trying to return hewn stone and collected gems to their rightful place underground?

One other quick point on race - while Trow seem to be traditional folklore of the Shetland islands, I believe "Drow Elves" specifically are a property of D&D.

If your having trouble with the mechanics, write a story about some of these character classes meeting, and a fight breaks out. Illustrate how you would want a fight like that to play out, and I can help suggest some mechanics. Another good starting point is people following a caravan - why are they there, and what happens when bandits attack?

[Malckuss]

I am not surprised you found the correlation to Final Fantasy; that was done on purpose. As I mentioned, one of the things I wanted to do was pull in some influences from video games; not in trying to emulate the mechanics of a game like World of Warcraft or anything, but some of the concepts and style. I want to have an implied setting where either a) the gods are present but only move behind the curtain, not acting directly b)dead or c) non-existent. I'm sick to death of gods mucking about in mortal affairs, largely due to the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance. It's also become a major fantasy trope, which is hilarious when you meditate on the fact that the genre as we know it started with Tolkien's work (Tolkien's elves were also tall, and his wizards fought with swords and axes).

If you could elaborate on which of the classes seem "generic" I would appreciate it; I'm working really hard so even the four die hard standard classes feel flavorful (hence Armsman instead of fighter, which always sounded like a pugilist to me).

My tech level is across the board: I have a kingdom that makes use of steamtech, one that uses magitech similar to FF6, and unbeknownst to the teaming masses, there are crystal based highly advanced constructs - robots- that crashed here several millennium ago and have tunneled deep into the planet seeking more crystals to power/repair their ship.

I've included Dwarves and Elves mostly for those who want them. The weirder ones are there for those who don't want to play the same old thing, and the racial creation rules are going to be for those who want the really weird stuff. I'm not really trying to reinvent the wheel, or redefine fantasy; I just want to take the elements I like and run them more simply and more closely to how I've always wanted to play.

I was thinking of calling the Drow Unseelie Elves, anyway, so this isn't really a problem. I'm going to separate all of the Fae into the categories of Seelie/Unseelie.

I'm not catering to the the races being the best at their respective stereotypical classes; their stat bonuses will make them good, but far from perfect. To be the best, they'll have to work at it like everyone else. A PC will have a leg up by dent of the fact they are Heroes, but they will still need to focus on those things to be The Best. If that's what a player wants to do, though, I don't want to stop them. Again, I'm not reinventing the wheel or the genre.

I know what I want the rules to do; I'm just not certain the best way to go about doing that. I want the rules to be cinematic. I would, in theory, like to make use of a single d20 for task and conflict resolution and use d6s for damage. I don't really want to go with a d20 for everything, and while I think die pools of d6 would be cool, I think it may be straying too far from my base line. I do not want everything to feel like a rehash of the bog-standard d20 system. I'm trying to rework a few things to change that very thing, like reworking the skill system.

For example, I'm currently thinking that you get a +5 bonus to all of the skills that your Class would suggest you receive training for, whether you purchase any skill ranks in them or not. Those skills are also cheaper to raise later in play, as well. However, much to my chagrin, there seems to be no way to avoid the Stat + Skill + Modifiers + d20 result for actual resolution, unless I move to a pool system. Now, I'm not saying this is necessarily a problem, but it feels the same to me, not different, even if it's on a slightly different scale. On a brighter note, I'm stealing a page from Cthulhutech and making each Primary Attribute have a corresponding skill for ability checks, so they feel less gimped.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

Here is an idea for you: 3d6+2 vs 1d20. Both ways give a range of one through 20, but the former automatically means you can't roll less than five (like your proposed class bonus) and has an identifiable zone of competency (reliably about +10).

Untrained people with a d20 might get lucky occasionally, but they have a chance of rolling far lower than a pro could possibly do as well. (professional soldiers are predictable, but the world is full of dangerous amateurs)

The same small bonus given to the two results in rater different chances. A professional can be confident about the expected results, the non-proficient less so. Add in some sort of hero/fate point mechanic to boost rolls further, and you have the lucky vs the good.

Shadowmancer, Hex Caster, Gunner, Lancer, Fate-spinner, Coistrel, Avenger, Blood-knight, Geomancer, Justicar, Volleyer, Warlock, and Shaman stand at as the fairly unique classes, or at least ones underrepresented on the table top. It would be a rather interesting world if you just had those sorts running around. Most of the others I've seen before, or overlap to some degree. As I stated prior, you might want say class+subtype/specialization rather than armored fighter/spear fighter/fast fighter... Wouldn't a Lancer just be a [Weapon]Master with a focus on polearms? An archer the same, but with bows?

Furthermore, you seem to be focused on combat capable classes. Yes, playing a wheel-wright when everyone else is a ninja is a bit of a disconnect But surely your world is open to traders seeking new markets, archeologists searching for great artifacts (and great fedoras), big game hunters dreaming of bringing down legendary creatures, and con-men looking for marks? Not every character has to be a warrior, alternate professions can bring in a number of new skills and contacts to deal with a situation.

As a thought on backgrounds - perhaps you could set this up as each player chose a background sort of like an initial class, and assigns some skills and abilities. Then some big event happens, and they chose the real class they want to play, and add it on top, as well as some possible attribute adjustments. So all characters have the story "I was once an X, but then Y happened, so I became a Z and set off for adventure/revenge/pancakes" For example, "I was a peaceful scholar, but then raiders sacked the village and burned the library, so I took an oath like the great warriors I read about and became a Knight". It would help players get into character considering a big change in their life.