Some Racial Ability Advice

[Jeff B]

I know you asked for help with skill generation, but there are underlying issues that make it difficult for me to offer anything:

Your text in this thread suggests that this game is in a fantasy setting.  But your description for the bow ability references a machinegun, which I assume is not actually available in the game.  This reference breaks your own genre and should probably be avoided.  This is the equivalent of a fictional movie referencing other fictional movies in its script.  For example, consider a character in a Star Wars movie referencing a Star Trek character.  "That Sith Lord talks like Mr. Spock!"  it would jerk the audience right out of their trance and distance them from the setting in a bad way. It's an out-of-character reference that breaks the magic of roleplay.

Second naming issue I see is "sneak sneak sneak", which actually is a skill of moving quickly in the woodlands.  To sneak is to move while avoiding detection.  But the skill in question apparently has nothing to do with stealth or detection -- it simply mitigates the normal forest penalty.  By mismatching these references, you will probably dilute the feelings of setting and situation for players.  Each word needs to have power and be placed appropriately.  Save "sneak" for a skill that's actually about moving unseen, which surely would be available to multiple races.

The historical overview of the game and your references to factions give a deep, dark, epic and political feel to the world.  But the language used in the skill names is very lighthearted.  Such naming conventions may contrast inappropriately with the serious design-feel of other aspects of the game:  A lighthearted game does not put undue stress on background concepts, whereas a deep and thoughtful game does not make light of any of its components.  I'm skeptical that the two types can work in the same game.  A good, lighthearted fantasy game would be a great thing to see, but it has to be consistent with itself.

As was mentioned elsewhere, the sheer number of races and tasks you have in mind is almost staggering.  It might be best to start with 3 races and 3 skills each, and make sure the setting and style is completely polished between them all, before tackling such a large order.  Else it may come out seeming like a mishmash of concepts.

[Excalibur]

Thanks for the input. Like Munchkin, these names are a bit tongue-in-cheek. The "Sneak Sneak Sneak" reference is from a movie called "Top Secret!" and It's Like a Wooden Machinegun is from a few scenes in Hawk the Slayer. I let my comments from old 70's and 80's movies slip in.

I've got ideas and thanks for pointing out the flaws in my initial post. I love any and all feedback.

[Excalibur]

Well, an initial playtest was conducted (and chronicled in the playtest area TCoT) and I have come to a conclusion about the game parts and racial abilities.

I believe that the combat version of the game, without the RP and adventure aspects can do without racial abilities. It makes the game go faster (for the combat sense) and more importantly, provides a "Basic" version of the game.

When I begin designing the adventuring and RP aspect, I will include racial abilities then. Titles can be just about anything, though I'll probably go for immersion over humor (not everyone who will be playing the game was even alive during the 80's to know about the movies I'm talking about).

I've got a list of modifiers that the abilities will provide such as "Bonus to an Attribute," "Penalty vs Terrain," "Reduced Equipment Cost," etc. There will be varying degrees of each and they are all designed to help offset the natural limitations of the character brought about by his race. Thus a Giant might have "Magic Resistance" and an explanation such as "Due to the Giant's severe lack of magical ability he has built a resistance to Magical FX and Attacks. The character's Magic Attribute is considered to be 4 levels higher but requires 3 times the experience per level to increase." (This is just an example, but might make its way into the game).

So, instead of coming up with snappy names, I think I'm just going to stick with a general description based on what the ability does. I should just pay attention to the K.I.S.S. principle

[Jeff B]

Snappy names have their place, definitely.  Tunnels & Trolls and the video game Disgaea 2 make use of that kind of language, very successfully, and there's an art to being able to produce it.  You seem to have the knack.  So don't get me wrong, I just there might be a conflict of mood in the game.

[Excalibur]

Yeah, it's meant to be light-hearted and non-immersive in order to calm those of my gaming friends who do not like to use the imagination role-playing requires.

Thanks again for the feedback