[d20] Restrictions on Experiance?

[daMoose_Neo]

Ahkay, I feel like I'm bartering with Bealzibub, but I have a cool *concept* that is not a game in and of itself, but makes a bitchin supplement to d20, in part thanks to the sheer amount of material already available for it.

Heres my problem: I really really want to add some alternative experiance rewards to the system to help re-enforce the concept, but I'm not clear on the lisences stance on experiance. Is ANY alternate award system barred or is it just different experiance ladders, IE anything that would suggest a player not need the PHB.

[Sean]

I think you're fine, daMoose. I am not an expert and IANAL, but I know that the Necromancer Games Player's Guide to the Wilderlands, which is d20 and OGL both, presents an alternative experience point chart to slow down advancing to make the game more like D&D. Also, Clinton's been thinknig about doing a 'Sweet20' system using TSoY keys for 3e, which is also an alternate experience system, and nobody's mentioned any problems for that in the many threads where I've seen it discussed.

I think unless you're going to talk about your idea in more detail this thread belongs in publishing though.

[daMoose_Neo]

Well, may as well talk it up some ^_^ Not too revelutionary, just some really really cool bits put together.

Twas some discussion over on RPG.Net about MMOs that brought to mind a concept for doing a table top game based on MMO playing- in essence, playing a game where you are an MMO player in your standard MMO world. Looking at it, I realized that it'd be a chunk of work to do all by myself, but then thought 'Wait a second- out of the box d20/D&D isn't all to hot for "role playing"...its really a dungeon crawl system...and what is an MMO other than a giant dungeon crawl?!' - Hence the idea to use d20 and create my cool bits and use d20/D&D material for the rest!

The experiance idea isn't all that complex or difficult and actually meant to accelerate the growth of the characters, as you see in MMOs and other CRPGs.
Modeling it after the quest/sub-quest idea, you take on different quests of varying difficulty and completing them grants an additional award of XP aside from monster slaying. Other social groups in the MMO can impact how XP would be earned as well. For example, if you joined a Guild thats goal was to educate newbies, you'd recieve rewards for running newbies (OPCs - Other Player Characters, a different kind of NPC) through areas and helping them level or get good gear.

And just to add some extra thought/discussion, primary Prestige Classes added are going to relate to being a player in the world- the Hacker, Power Gamer and Mod classes.
Hacker class is easy to obtain (as are the tools to hack) and easy to use to make large changes to yourself and the world. Drawbacks on getting caught include restrictions on the character, loss of some legitly earned EQ, or banning (Character death). Characters who are effective hackers will end up running simple hacks (ie a Map hack, an inventory hack for potions of health, etc) as opposed to noticeable hacks (invulnerability, all the best EQ).
The Power Gamer is a little more difficult to earn, but doesn't carry the Hacker drawbacks. They include the abilities to identify items on sight (without needing to use outside resources), plan Mob ambushes effectively, gear up almost all levels of players with the most effective gear, etc. A Power Gamer may also have some Hacker levels, but at a detriment (the idea being that relying more on tools than experiance makes them a little less effective, especially without the tools).
The Mod class is easily the most powerful, but not as uber cool as one might think. Difficult to earn, includes Lawful Good record as defined by the laws of the server, no hacker levels what so ever, being a higher level (Power Gamer levels grant additional consideration) and performing a noteworthy example of public service, such as quelling a reletively volotile flame war rationally and amicably. The Mod has a lot of the same powers as the Hacker, without the repercussions of course but with tighter restrictions; willy-nilly use of the Mod abilities can result in removal from the position as well.

[Quinnfry]

GO for it, altering game systems to fit what you want is a good thing it encourages new play styles and forces the "kill style to change" often thats the problem with D@d is it is a Kill style RPG change the award system. enjoy
Trevor

[daMoose_Neo]

Thanks for the encouragement ^_^
Might want to watch the old posts, however, we generally don't post to anything thats fallen off the front page (and I could have sworn this one did...)

Question was more of a legal one, as the d20 lisence forbids the use of alternate experiance systems, but as I read the nature of the restrictions they are primarily to make sure players need that PHB. Hence, the question. I've been looking around, so it would seem that alternate methods of reward are acceptable, just not replacing the experiance charts and what not for the game. Which I can deal with.
To be honest, though, thats why I decided to use d20 for the stated endevour- I have yet to see an MMO that wasn't about killing things and taking its loot. Change up the reward system a little bit to facilitate faster leveling, as you see in many MMOs (people spend a couple weeks at one level its maddening to them. Which means they should never play D&D, where you can spend years at the same level).

[Ron Edwards]

Hi folks,

In the interest of thread cleanliness, let's close this one and do a couple other things. (1) Discussion of the mechanics should be taken to Indie Design (for an actual game/supplement in production) or to Theory (if not). (2) Discussion of the legalities should be taken to Publishing.

But no matter what, new threads.

Best,
Ron