First-Time RPG Designer Needs Help

[F. Scott Banks]

I'd like to start off by thanking you for your patience in this post.  I am a writer by trade and have little experience with designing game mechanics.  Simply put, I have written a story that I think can be better enjoyed as an interactive game rather than as a static novel.

I won't bore you with the intracacies of plot and such (send me a message if you like and I'll respond with as much storyline as you want) but the game design I'd come up with was pretty basic.  Using six attributes; strength, intelligence, dexterity, perception, endurance and willpower, I'd come up with part of a character creation system that involves characters posessing a primary atribute and a secondary attribute.  If the primary attribute were...say, strength, and the secondary were...dexterity, then that character would be a decent fighter.

The problem I run into thus far is leveling.  Using my current system, high level characters are absurdly unbalanced, their primary and secondary attributes being far higher than their other four stats.

I'm sure I'll run into other problems as I try to make my first game, but so far, it's this one that's got me hemmed up.  Any help would be appreciated.

[Ben Lehman]

If you could give a little more context (what characters do in the story, what the rest of the system functions like, how closely you want to tie the story to the fictional work, etc.) it would be enormously helpful.  Do not be afraid to provide a link to the system wholesale.

My initial thought is:  If the players are only going to be playing for a short, defined time (the length of the story) then why bother with advancement at all?

yrs--
--Ben

[Mike Holmes]

WK, welcome to The Forge,

It sounds to me, and I apollogize if this sounds presumptuous (but, hey, that's me all over), that your main experience with RPGs has been D&D and the like. Is that true? If so, then I'd say that you're inadvertantly limiting your system in ways that aren't neccessary (as Ben points out, levels are an old concept that don't fit many games well). If you have had limited experience, I'd suggest that you take a different approach than just diving in at this point. The two paths I can see are:

A) The easy way: just make your game and application of some existing system. D20, Action!, Fuzion, FUDGE, etc, could all potentially handle your game. Why reinvent the wheel when systems are available for your use for free?

B) The hard way: If you really are dedicated to the idea of being a designer, I'd take a step back and get a little education. Which leads to Mike's Standard Rant #1: Designers! Know Your Hobby!.

Now, maybe I'm underestimating your ability or breadth of knowledge, and your intent to put in the elements that you state are well thought out. If that's the case, then, again as Ben said, we'll need a lot more detail to be able to say anything really coherent about the system.

Also, I just want to check that you're thinking about making a tabletop game here (because that's mainly what we deal with). That is, I assume that you're not making a CRPG? In any case, have you considered all the options in the larger sense? For example, are you aware of what Interactive Fiction is (www.skotos.com)? Or MMORPGs (Everway and the like)? If what you have is a "plot", then there may be many better ways than a tabletop RPG to go.

Mike