This is my introductory post on my Legacy of Heroes role-playing game. Legacy of Heroes is a fantasy setting about exploration, warfare, political intrigue, the corruption of absolute power, fierce and unusual beasts, and the legacy great heroes (or villains) leave behind. It is largely based off a novel I am currently working on. It is intended to be a slightly darker setting, as personal and political corruption are common themes.

Since this role-playing system implants a lot of mechanics I have no tried playing before, I wanted to get community feedback.

Class and Level

Here’s just some background on the system before I get into the question part.

LoH is not a, pick a class and it’s your class forever, kind of system. I personally prefer the ability to customize character development via class changes. So this system, with a level cap of 50, offers three different types of classes: General (which can be freely taken as long as the character’s race allows the class), Specialized (which can be taken once the character meets the statistical and role-playing requirements and belong to the correct race), and Racial (which work like general classes, except they are the only classes available to unusual races).

Anyway, the way I wanted to do is make it so that characters feel encouraged to take multiple classes, not intimidated by it. So, I thought I’d make classes simple. Right now, I have 3 type of points that classes give: physical skill, mental skill, and combat points. Physical and mental skills points, quite simply, are added to the character’s bonus to skills. Combat Points are basically kept and spent on abilities (such as a defensive stance with a shield or a wide swing capable of hitting multiple blows with a sword) and passive combat bonuses (such as increased health or attack bonus).

Here is an example of the warrior general class, the different types of points it gets, and what skills it can put its physical and mental skill points into.

Warrior (General)
Combat: 7
Mental Skills: 3
Physical Skills: 5
Skills: Climb, Swim, Authority, Ride, Endurance, Intimidation, Trade, Jump

Does this system make classes *too* simple? Should there be some bonus or incentive to sticking with one class for a while? I’m thinking about the specialized classes having their own special point trees to chose from.  This is an example of the knight class, for instance.

Knight (Specialization)
Combat: 10
Mental Skills: 2
Physical Skills: 3
Specialization: Battlefield Fighting, Battlefield Role
Skills: Climb, Swim, Authority, Ride, Endurance, Intimidation, Trade, Jump

The Battlefield Fighting and Battlefield Role would be the unique point trees.

One of the ideas of the specialized classes is that they are less well rounded as the general classes. I think, in comparison of the knight versus the warrior, someone *might* take a few extra levels of the warrior class instead of the knight just to get some extra skill points.

I thought of two ways of doing the specializations. The first is that each of level of specialization has 3 points that can be spent on the specialized talents. The other is that the combat points can be spent on the specialized talents when the character takes a level in that class. Which is better?

Is there any other way the point system can be broken down further, like each level getting Offensive Combat Points or Defensive Combat Points? Or is it okay the way it is? Would people find this an interesting level up system, like balancing the point totals and saving their combat points to get a better reward? Would it be too bland with all of the classes working off the same points mechanic? Would the system be better if Physical and Mental skill points could be added to skill bonuses OR be used to purchase new abilities related to class skills?

I’d appreciate any feedback on my class mechanic and point mechanic.

It looks fine to me. You won't know till you playtest it. Make up some characters and "advance" them (by yourself, as lonely fun) and see what happens. Imagine you're four different people:

You, who knows the game design and wants characters to come out like your stories.
Max, the min-maxer, who wants to create the most powerful characters in various arenas (combat, skills, politics, etc.).
Flower, the quiet player, who wants to fade into the background (do you want your rules to let him?).
Cruella, the evil griefer who wants to make the GM's life miserable.

Make a variety of characters from their points of view. Try to break your game.

This system does not mention the most fascinating part of your intro: "personal and political corruption." How does that tie into character generation and advancement?

Adam wrote:
This system does not mention the most fascinating part of your intro: "personal and political corruption." How does that tie into character generation and advancement?

Instead of skills, think people. You get to write people on your character sheet with numbers next to each one. Those numbers could be how much influence you have over them, or they have over you, or both. Fuck skills like Trade and Authority. I want to write down "Count Belarus 7/3" and have that mean something.

I'd agree that if you are working with a novel as a basis you are probably better off going with a less is more approach in terms of mechanical complexity and conventional use of attributes and skills.

I'd take a look at the novel itself, examine the things within it that are important, and see how that is best put on paper. I mean really from the other thread Adam makes a point about granularity of the d100 system. Nothing wrong with d100, but if you're trying to capture the feel of a novel, i think d20 is probably too granular already . . .

I really like your influence idea Adam. And to be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of social skills. I’m not sure why they are in my game right now. I feel players use them as a substitution of thinking of compelling arguments in role-play situations. I definitely like your idea of having an in-depth influence system with different individuals or factions that determine your power with them, over them, or under them. I’m not totally sure how to implement that quite yet, but I’ll think on it.

Trade is actually like crafting trade, like being a cobbler, blacksmith, or fisherman. Just a gauge of how successful you are at those sorts of pursuits.

Thanks for all your constructive criticisms Adam, you’ve been a great help.

The big lesson here is to avoid doing things in your design just because every game you've read does those things. Figure out what you want your game to do and make it do that. Look at other games (LOTS of them!) for inspiration and ideas. In the end, though, cut out everything your game doesn't need and make sure that's what's left shines your ideas like a golden lighthouse!