The first question I would ask is: what games have you played before? What pleased and displeased you in those games? What would you do differently?
Because, let's be honest here, there are many fantasy games out there, everyone will have a personal favorite. There's no "universal" rules to make a good system, that's why there are so many.
And I wish you good luck, because creating a system from scratch is hard work and a lot of frustrations. I speak from experience here, I'm at my... fourth version for my own game, I think? And I still can't see the end of the tunnel.
I've had some experience with 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons and one or two of both the Old and New World of Darkness. I really love how flexible World of Darkness is/was, but I also really like the class system and the races available to the player. Outside of Tabletop Gaming, theres Skyrim, whose world I just love and combines what I love in both Dn D and WOD (flexibility and races).
Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.Ok, I thought I might put down the ideas and notes I have so far for races available. I've tried to put twists on some of the more well known species you'd find in games like Dungeons and Dragons. These are very basic, so thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated. I should note that all these names or simply working titles for now.
- Lilliputians: Diminutive beings who stand at 6 inches tall on average. Despite their tiny size, these beings are incredibly enterprising, capable of truly miracles feats of engineering and agriculture. From a mega-cities the size of a modest villages, the Lilliputians run a vast commercial empire that spans the land. As a result, the Lilliputians are the most cosmopolitan of the available races with a natural bonus to their social skills. One should never underestimate a Lilliputian despite their size; they have access to some truly bizarre weaponry.
- Colossi: Their strength is legendary, their fortitude awe-inspiring and never will you find a more talented artisan than a Colossae. Made entirely of stone, these beings literally sculpt themselves into works of art; no two Colossae will ever look alike. While a Colossae physical prowess is impressive (giving them a bonus to their physical skills), the Colossi themselves are slow to act. A civilized and egalitarian race, the Colossi would prefer to discuss politics, art and economics. When they are provoked into war, the opposing enemy will usually find themselves shocked to see how regimented and effective the soft spoken Colossi are.
So, will there be Houyhnhnm
s too? :P
As for combining a point buy and class system... While that's certainly doable (Exalted and Scion both do it in different ways) there's a lot of thought to be put into how these two mesh together: thinks like to what extent each system impacts the character's capabilities (you don't want neither point nor classes to end up meaningless compared to eachother), how restrictive the classes are (can a character only have abilities that come from his class? Can he learn any ability and the class only provides a discount for some? Somewhere in between?), how does leveling up work (levels or point buy? Maybe both? If you have levels, do they give you things you could buy with points at character creation or something completely different)... Those sorts of things.
Obviously, we can't tell you anything more specific until you give us a little more detail, so until then, I will simply cheer you on.
Colossus is singular, colossi is plural, colossae is incorrect.
Besides that, the best advice I can give you is this: balance. There is nothing quite so frustrating as being overshadowed by everyone else in the party because of Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards. If you have to create a class that is weaker than everything else its level, go ahead and make it explicitly non-player. Additionally, it's a good idea to just make everyone in the party the same level, all the time. Saves on bookkeeping, too.
Oh, yeah, one other piece of advice: nobody likes save-or-dies. Save-or-be-hindered, sure. Save-or-lose-health, definitely. But save-or-dies do not make for happy campers.
edited 9th Nov '12 10:34:02 AM by Muramasan13
Smile for me!@Xeniph: Haha, no. No talking horses in this setting I don't think. That being said, I have been giving it alot of thought and no matter how I work it out I just can't make a point/class system work without one or the other feeling redundant. As much as I really like the idea of classes, I've ultimately decided to drop it. I simply like the degree of freedom a point-based system can offer so much more. So right now I'm working with a point based system based with a point buy levelling.
@Muramasan 13: Thanks, haha. Yeah, Linear Warriors etc. are the last thing I want.
Thanks for the advice guys!
Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.There's a considerable amount of people who make their own D&D-esques. There's even a word for the genre "Fantasy Heartbreaker".
There's nothing really wrong with making one, but you ought to realize its probably not going to sell or become very popular.
If you want to sell your RPG, I'd recommend you think about where you're going to sell it. Savage Worlds publishes a lot of off-beat settings, but you'd have to like their system.
RP Gnow.com is a good inlet for new publishers, but their RP Gs tend to be less setting focused than your's.
A lot of games get their start at Indie Press Revolution, but their stuff tends to be more off-beat than your's.
Well I never really intended it to be commercial, it was really just a challenge to myself. If I did intended it to be commercially successful, of course I wouldn't make a Dn D copycat.
Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.A friend of mine made two lectures on hte subject in a chat session some time ago. Here are the logs.
I hope that helps.
When you have a basic system worked out, I'd recommend just going to a forum somewhere and starting an RP using the rules you establish. If you luck out and get some devoted players, then you can figure out the strengths and weaknesses of your system. particularly if you get a good enough variety of players. It'll probably take a few tries and a few threads to strike the right balance, but I believe in the trial by fire approach.
edited 26th Dec '12 8:40:11 PM by Zeromaeus

I suddenly have a mad hair to try and write up a fantasy RPG. I have a few ideas in mind like setting, classes and character creation, races etc. but being fairly new to RP Gs I have no idea as to nuances or pitfalls I should be avoiding or things I should be doing. Anyone willing to help a guy out? Who knows maybe we could even get a group to beta test it?
Anyways, the idea thus far takes place in a land of High Myth similar to Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age or Tolkien's Middle Earth (very original I know). In it, the newly arrived Mankind would attempt to gain the protection and recognition of a council composed of some the land's more bizarre inhabitants.
The idea so far for some of these creatures include Lilliputians, walking and talking peices of stones and nature spirits/fairies. I was also thinking of basing character creation on the point system of the old World of Darkness games.
So thats the idea thus far. What do you guys think? Anyone willing to help me out?
Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.