After some very useful suggestions and points from a few enthusiastic Wheel of Time fans at Dragonmount.com I've had some evolution in the process and potential outcome of the Role Playing Game.
After a bit of discussion the point came up that perhaps an RPG with its own mechanics would be more efficient at honing the elements of the world of A Wheel of Time. This may require a little more work but in the long run it will produce a much more enjoyable and unique RPG.
There are several element I am currently working on which may seem familiar to RPG players but are in fact very different when you look beneath the surface. A good example of this is the Perk and Feat system. Perks are now what used to be feats in traditional RPG's, however their accessibility is directly relevant to the levels of skills under the new skill system. Feats are now similar to what most role-players would know as Prestige, Paragon, or any other connotation of paths. However you can gain one of these feats at first level as long as you meet the prerequisites. My issue with paragon and prestige has always been the fact that every class with every character has that option at a certain level or point. In reality this isn't likely. Sometimes people are naturally better than others and this new mechanic is an accurate representation. It will allow players to more easily hone their characters. So as long as you have mastered enough blade forms and have high enough skill in Bladecraft and Concentration and your particular abilities are high enough you could be a Blademaster by 5th level instead of 10th.
Now I have mentioned it so I wont leave you in the dark, the new skill system. What people would traditionally consider as skills under standard RPG are now split in to two groups. The first is Attributes and the second is Skills, I'll only talk about skills for the moment. Skills will essentially be the important things in the life of your character. The things you'll come across regularly such as Concentration, Weaving, Bladecraft, etc. When you make your character or level up you will find yourself with a number of skill points that need spending.
So what can you do with these points?
Well the first option is the most straight forward. You can use these points, point for a point to increase your skill. Higher the skill better you are with it. The second option is where the fun stuff starts. You can spend your skill points to buy perks. Now not every perk can just be bought, some will depend on the level certain skills are at. This allows player to more readily build the uniqueness of your character faster that one feat every two or three or even four levels.
The other thing I wanted to talk about was Character Backgrounds. These are basically what you would consider races. They identify who you are and give you bonuses to some relevant stats. Luckily though it doesn't stop there. Once you choose your Background you pick a Background Archetype; this identifies more specifically where you are from. SO say your Background is Andor your Archetype could be Camelyn , Baerlon or The Two Rivers. So far there are a planned 18 Backgrounds each with 2 or 3 different Archetypes and sometimes even more.
Fan of A Wheel of Time? or just Bored? then head over to www.dragonmount.com everybody there is friendly and the content is very interesting. I personally suggest listening to some of the 4th Age Podcasts; those guys are interesting and worth listening too.
Monday, 28 May 2012
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Creation: Then it was Skyrim... Now it's The Elder Scrolls RPG Table Top
Well, luckily for die hard The Elder Scrolls fans like myself out there this is my second and most active project. I am currently taking the framework and schematic of Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition and applying an Elder Scrolls theme to it. Now when I say schematic and framework what I'm really doing is rewriting entire parts of the mechanics.
Everyone who loves The Elder Scrolls as much as I do will be familiar with several of the unique aspects that makes it what it is. The first is the triad skill themes. The triad skill theme for those who don't know is Combat, Magic and Stealth. From these three the skills are then divided up in to one of the three themes (mainly the system used in TES V: Skyrim). The second aspect is that of Perks. While the concept of perks is directly from Skyrim previous Elder Scrolls games such as Oblivion had skill enhancements which were unlocked when the particular skill reached a certain level, this is essentially the same as perks.
These and many of the other aspects is what I've taken into account while designing this RPG. The result has turned out quite interesting. Now a character has Abilities (Str, Int, etc.), Skills (the 18 from Skyrim) and Attributes (a selection of skills used in D&D 3.5 and 4th Edition). The Feat system has been replaced with Skill perks which when combined with the new skill leveling system makes for a new experience. The term 'Class' has been replaced with 'Paradigm' and when a character is made you select a 'Archetype' which is either combat, magic or stealth and this provides bonuses with the affiliated skills.
One of the most asked questions I get when I tell people about this project always seems to be,
"Why are you bothering turning a good video game RPG in to a table top RPG?" and my response is always the same and will continue to be the same. That answer is simple. The Elder Scrolls are brilliant RPG's with excellent systems and plenty of freedom however they lack character development. For me nothing is more frustrating that being the Dragonborn and treated at the College of Winterhold as if I'm not anyone, or go to join the companions and they have to test my fighting ability. Your character has no personality or recognition. For all intent and purposes your characters name is irrelevant. The Table Top RPG changes this. It allows people to immerse themselves in this wonderful world and have their characters achievements noted by everyone.
Everyone who loves The Elder Scrolls as much as I do will be familiar with several of the unique aspects that makes it what it is. The first is the triad skill themes. The triad skill theme for those who don't know is Combat, Magic and Stealth. From these three the skills are then divided up in to one of the three themes (mainly the system used in TES V: Skyrim). The second aspect is that of Perks. While the concept of perks is directly from Skyrim previous Elder Scrolls games such as Oblivion had skill enhancements which were unlocked when the particular skill reached a certain level, this is essentially the same as perks.
These and many of the other aspects is what I've taken into account while designing this RPG. The result has turned out quite interesting. Now a character has Abilities (Str, Int, etc.), Skills (the 18 from Skyrim) and Attributes (a selection of skills used in D&D 3.5 and 4th Edition). The Feat system has been replaced with Skill perks which when combined with the new skill leveling system makes for a new experience. The term 'Class' has been replaced with 'Paradigm' and when a character is made you select a 'Archetype' which is either combat, magic or stealth and this provides bonuses with the affiliated skills.
One of the most asked questions I get when I tell people about this project always seems to be,
"Why are you bothering turning a good video game RPG in to a table top RPG?" and my response is always the same and will continue to be the same. That answer is simple. The Elder Scrolls are brilliant RPG's with excellent systems and plenty of freedom however they lack character development. For me nothing is more frustrating that being the Dragonborn and treated at the College of Winterhold as if I'm not anyone, or go to join the companions and they have to test my fighting ability. Your character has no personality or recognition. For all intent and purposes your characters name is irrelevant. The Table Top RPG changes this. It allows people to immerse themselves in this wonderful world and have their characters achievements noted by everyone.
Friday, 25 May 2012
Discussion: Wheel of Time RPG Table Top - Perspective Game Play
As I mentioned in the previous post, one of the projects I am currently working on is an updated version of The Wheel of Time RPG for personal and private use.
In terms of process it is slow going. I've been at it a number of months now and the degree of content created and developed is small. This is mainly due to the issue of reality perspective. While I have both the series and Teresa Patterson & Robert Jordan's The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, as well as the previous source book published by Wizards of the Coast, these sources are predominantly perspective based. This meaning that they have the context of perspective from characters and event.
The reason this has caused a bit of an upset in the process is because as a role-player you want your experience to be either as unique or as open as possible. Using perspective based game play it would be impossible to be an Asha'man during the Seanchan invasion of Falme. Now from the outside this may seem to have a simple fix, 'Don't present it as perspective game play', however under the circumstances it is difficult to do anything other than exactly that. The Wheel of Time being a series has an obvious order to it. The creation of anything outside of that order while still maintaining the similar content would be Fan Fiction and not simple the world in which your playing.
e.g. You play as Rand Al'thor and spend nine months wandering the Blight with your companions to exit the blight to find the Seanchan have conquered the whole of the Westlands.
What I'm aiming for is you can do that, but not as Rand Al'thor. Once again as I said this causes hiccoughs in the process. I want players to be able to play in a campaign where the Seanchan are pushing against the Stone of Tear prior to it being conquered by the Dragon Reborn. The best solution to this it seems will be removing mention of specific characters who have a role in the series. This way Game Masters can have the world and mold it as they wish. Simply presenting all the features of the world untouched by the characters which do so in the series.
Also a little bit on The Wheel of Time: Reign of the Ten Nations and The Wheel of Time: The War of a Hundred Years for anyone who noticed their inclusion in the proposed source list. These two sources will be an attempt to expand the world prequel to the series. Providing options for players in a campaign set either a thousand or two-thousand years prior. The way I plan on writing these sources will allow players and Game Masters a like to either play a solid time restricted campaign or a more flexible mixed campaign where Manetheren is warring against Arad Doman.
In terms of process it is slow going. I've been at it a number of months now and the degree of content created and developed is small. This is mainly due to the issue of reality perspective. While I have both the series and Teresa Patterson & Robert Jordan's The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, as well as the previous source book published by Wizards of the Coast, these sources are predominantly perspective based. This meaning that they have the context of perspective from characters and event.
The reason this has caused a bit of an upset in the process is because as a role-player you want your experience to be either as unique or as open as possible. Using perspective based game play it would be impossible to be an Asha'man during the Seanchan invasion of Falme. Now from the outside this may seem to have a simple fix, 'Don't present it as perspective game play', however under the circumstances it is difficult to do anything other than exactly that. The Wheel of Time being a series has an obvious order to it. The creation of anything outside of that order while still maintaining the similar content would be Fan Fiction and not simple the world in which your playing.
e.g. You play as Rand Al'thor and spend nine months wandering the Blight with your companions to exit the blight to find the Seanchan have conquered the whole of the Westlands.
What I'm aiming for is you can do that, but not as Rand Al'thor. Once again as I said this causes hiccoughs in the process. I want players to be able to play in a campaign where the Seanchan are pushing against the Stone of Tear prior to it being conquered by the Dragon Reborn. The best solution to this it seems will be removing mention of specific characters who have a role in the series. This way Game Masters can have the world and mold it as they wish. Simply presenting all the features of the world untouched by the characters which do so in the series.
Also a little bit on The Wheel of Time: Reign of the Ten Nations and The Wheel of Time: The War of a Hundred Years for anyone who noticed their inclusion in the proposed source list. These two sources will be an attempt to expand the world prequel to the series. Providing options for players in a campaign set either a thousand or two-thousand years prior. The way I plan on writing these sources will allow players and Game Masters a like to either play a solid time restricted campaign or a more flexible mixed campaign where Manetheren is warring against Arad Doman.
Creation: Wheel of Time RPG Table Top
For all those fimilar with Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's series The Wheel of Time, will know what a wonderful experience it is being able to emerse yourself into this world. A decade ago the well known and popular gaming company, Wizards of the Coast released the official Wheel of Time role-playing game. This game was based on the Dungeons and Dragons D20 3.5 Edition.
Unfortunately like a lot of things in life this was left at one edition and never updated. I have now taken it upon myself to write a second edition. It's important to note that this is a not for profit project as I have no rights to the Wheel of Time. It is planned to be a series of book for people who love the Wheel of Time and role-playing games.
This is the proposed series of source books so far:-
-The Wheel of Time: The Westlands
-The Wheel of Time: Tales of the Waste
-The Wheel of Time: From the Stedding
-The Wheel of Time: Shara and the Aryth Ocean
-The Wheel of Time: Land Across the Sea
-The Wheel of Time: Shadows of the Blight
-The Wheel of Time: Reign of the Ten Nations
-The Wheel of Time: War of a Hundred Years
Truthfully I don't know when these can be expected, but as it is one of my current projects its bound to be at some point.
Unfortunately like a lot of things in life this was left at one edition and never updated. I have now taken it upon myself to write a second edition. It's important to note that this is a not for profit project as I have no rights to the Wheel of Time. It is planned to be a series of book for people who love the Wheel of Time and role-playing games.
This is the proposed series of source books so far:-
-The Wheel of Time: The Westlands
-The Wheel of Time: Tales of the Waste
-The Wheel of Time: From the Stedding
-The Wheel of Time: Shara and the Aryth Ocean
-The Wheel of Time: Land Across the Sea
-The Wheel of Time: Shadows of the Blight
-The Wheel of Time: Reign of the Ten Nations
-The Wheel of Time: War of a Hundred Years
Truthfully I don't know when these can be expected, but as it is one of my current projects its bound to be at some point.
General: Hello!
Hello!
So I've started this blog with the sole intention of keeping a public record of my love and creative intentions towards the Fantasy and Science fiction realms of the world. I intend to not only discuss both Scintasy (a word of my creation being a cross between Fantasy and Science Fiction becuase it feels strange writing the full thing over and over agian) novels and games but also put forward some of my creations; many of these being story ideas, created Scintasy worlds and modifications and adaptions of table top Role-Playing Games.
It's important to remember that much of what I put up is protected under copyright and I claim no ownership to many of the things I plan to post unless I state otherwise. What I do is not for profit because I really hope not to tread on any toes.
So I've started this blog with the sole intention of keeping a public record of my love and creative intentions towards the Fantasy and Science fiction realms of the world. I intend to not only discuss both Scintasy (a word of my creation being a cross between Fantasy and Science Fiction becuase it feels strange writing the full thing over and over agian) novels and games but also put forward some of my creations; many of these being story ideas, created Scintasy worlds and modifications and adaptions of table top Role-Playing Games.
It's important to remember that much of what I put up is protected under copyright and I claim no ownership to many of the things I plan to post unless I state otherwise. What I do is not for profit because I really hope not to tread on any toes.
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