Neu RPG

[Master Merlin]

hello i've been working on a RPG and i've got a problem, i corrently have 4 abillitys(dexterity, strength, intelligents, charisma) but i just came up with alot more but there are so many that the players would probobly only be able to raise less then half of them when they level up.[/b]

[MPOSullivan]

(i'll get this one, guys!  ;-) )

heya MM, and welcome to the Forge, newcomer!

now, to answer your question with another question:  huh?

quite frankly, i have no clue what you're askig us about.  you have a problem with your system, that's cool.  would love to help.  but we do need to know some stuff to help you out.

first things first, have you read the stickies at the top of this forum?  they have a general guideline in them on how to post to the Forge in order to get the most out of your posts and to get the best responses.  trust the stickies, they are written by the top mofos and these guys know what's up.  

in order for us to help you with your problems, we're going to need to know a bit more thna what you've supplied us with here.  you'll see that everyone here is rather vocal and has a lot of insight to share, but it's kind of hard t get assistance when we really don't even know what you're alking about.  

so, tell us aobut the system.  what kind of game are you trying to create?  what are the the roles of the players in the game?  what does the system try to do, and how does the system do this?  then we can talk about your problems with attributes and levels and etc.  

please post back.  would love to help.

[Master Merlin]

it's based in D2, and it's like D&D, but mage oriented, i'm tolled it like a game called "grunts"(or something), i'm realitively new to gameing so i've missed some things like skills, but i'm working on adding that and otherthings now.

(question: do you want exact stats?)

it's a pretty basic game, you roll dice cast spells finish quests, and so on.i added something called "powers" that are like skills(sort of), like  for instence my character has a power called "enhanced magical sensitivety" that gives him the ability to sens if someone within 400 feet or so is casting a spell, sense if an item is enchanted, and makes it so that he can sense if someone is a mage, the players get three powers at the begining of the game. another stat i made is "disadvantages" are basicly the disadvantages of haveing powers, like for haveing his advanced magical sensitivety my character gets "no sense of direction" and "bad eyesite"(usually a character only gets one disadvantage for each power, but in this case i decided to get two) no sense of direction makes it so that my character can't remember which way is north can't read maps and can't remember which road he came from, because of that he could probobly go in circles for years before he  even notices. bad eyesite make it so all his spot checks get -4.

right now i only have one player(not counting me), i've decided not to look for people to have join until i've finished it, my character is a young eager human mage(who happens to be 43). the other character is a cyborg(odd for a midevil setting) who i don't really know much about. i plan on asking for bios at some point(might start a new thread for that at some point.)

[MPOSullivan]

heya man, and thanks for writing back.

okay, i'm not the admin here, but i do want to point this out.  this particular section of the Forge forums is dedicated to the creation of independent RPGs.  as such, i don't think it really fits the local... "paradigm" if you will, wo be discussing a game that uses the D@) engine seeing as how that is decidedly not independent.  

perhaps your questions would fair better on the "actually play" section of this forum, as this is used to discuss any role=playing experience garnered from sitting 'round a table (or running around a hotel or what have you) playing an RPG.  

but, as i said, i'm not that admin here.  

for better ideas on how to post a topic and a game for review, look here and here for stuff about the kinds of games that are welcome for discussion in this particular forum.  quite frankly, MM, read the stickies and stick to the rules, otherwise you aren't going to get anywhere near as much out of this great resource as you could.

if ron or clinton or anyone would like to correct me or chime in, feel free!

[Sean]

Hi, Master Merlin.

First off, using the d20 engine is not a problem for the Forge as I understand it. "Independent" just means you're planning on publishing the game yourself, not selling it to someone else - it can use the d20 and OGL licenses as long as you own it and it's under your control. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, gang.

Assuming, as it sounds like, your game will be independent, some issues for you to consider though:

1) Are you planning on publishing this game, at least by putting it on a website? That's a necessary precondition of the indie game design forum.

2) If you're designing a standard fantasy adventure game, you have a thirty-year tradition of wonderful (and not-so-wonderful, natch) designs to look into for inspiration. Local offerings along these lines include Burning Wheel and Riddle of Steel, both of which are exceptional members of the genre by most accounts (including mine). Lots of ideas there for the mining.

3) As far as your original question goes, I generally prefer games with fewer attributes - and I like the four you chose under one name or another - but that's totally subjective and useless information without knowing more about your design goals. I assume you're coming out of D&D 3.0 by your post, but maybe not (does "Neu" indicate that you're German, maybe a DSA player)? If so, here's what you should start with as a minimum: what don't you like about D&D 3.0 or 3.5, and how is your proposed design going to fix those problems?

4) If you're running games in your experimental system, the right forum for that is Actual Play, and it's a good place to get feedback on what you're doing.

Apologies to moderators if any of this information is wrong - feel free to step in and correct me, gang.

[Master Merlin]

1) Are you planning on publishing this game, at least by putting it on a website? That's a necessary precondition of the indie game design forum.

well i have it at a yahoo groups, if that counts as a website.

[Master Merlin]

i also have it at a geocities website now(and no i'm not german, why does Neu mean something in german?).

[contracycle]

"neu" = "new"

Alright, to tackle your initial question directly, if you have more attributes than can be reasonably be raised at level up...

- do you need so many?  If so, why?
- do they all need to be raised at level up?  If so, why?

Dealing with this question in abstract, I can only suggest that you re-examine why you are introducing these attributes, and what impact you intend for them to have on the actual play of a game.  If its not necessary, cut it out.  If it is necessary, make it fit.  It is not clear, for example, what is preventing you from just increasing experience (I presume) rewards to take account of the newly increased number of attributes.  What problem do you see with this?

Anyway, this question is rather to vague to really give much advice on, as we cannot yet see the rest of the system.  Can you post the link to where you have this available for viewing?