Getting Started - Features: Likes & Dislikes

As we endeavor to create our own system we will need to fall back onto our previous experiences to build from. As such we can easily get overwhelmed with all of the different options, so to get us started lets come up with some basic info.

In this thread lets compile some likes and dislikes of other systems. Feel free to express your over riding joy for a particular feature or your never ending loathing of another feature here in this thread. The only two rules we want to follow is this:

1. Be specific, don't just say "I don't like D20" or "I Love Gurps". Express why you love them, specifically list features that you enjoy or you hate and why. What is it that makes it a good or bad feature in your eyes. The more info you give the more we can use it to build off of.

2. No theory here. We will have another thread dedicated to "New System Theory". If we start off writing theory here it will get confusing and many of our reasons may get lost. Lets keep this thread just for "Likes & Dislikes" and we can come back to it and use it as a sounding board when we start considering options down the road.

To that end, lets come up with a rating system so as to know how each of us feel about a particular feature. This rating system can be used to show how we feel and to what degree. This will help us to fine tune all of our ideas.

Rating system: Make sure you read below so that you know how to rate the features and what those rating subsequently mean.

***** = 5 Stars equal - "I LOVE THIS FEATURE!!! NO MATTER WHAT WE DO WE MUST HAVE THIS FEATURE IN OUR SYSTEM. IF WE DON'T I WILL QUIT!!!"

- Notice the all Caps? That's to show how serious a 5 star rating is. If you rate something a 5 star rating then you are drawing a line in the sand and saying you have to have this feature and there is no debating. Now make sure you use this lightly as we can certainly see where this might cause some controversy, especially if the feature isn't so popular with others.

**** = 4 Stars equal - "I love this feature! I really want it badly. However I'm not married to the idea and if push came to shove I'd be willing to compromise or adjust it a bit."

- This is probably where most of our loved features will fall. As long as we have the essence of the feature we can live with little changes.

*** = 3 Stars equal - "I neither LOVE or HATE this feature. I Like it, but I don't have to have it. I certainly wouldn't fight to keep it if someone else was strongly against it.

- Hopefully we don't have to many of these ideas. If we do then we aren't creating something we are passionate about.

** = 2 Stars equal - "I hate the idea. Not so much so that it would ruin the experience for me, but If I had my choice, it wouldn't be in the game. I could live with the concept if it was adjusted just a bit.

- Two stars means you really don't want the feature in the game at all but if someone else persisted AND they were willing to adjust it some you'd support it.

* = 1 Star equals - "I HATE THIS IDEA AND WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER AGREE TO IT!!!"

- Like with the 5 star rating, this is drawing a line in the sand. Hopefully most of our ratings will fall in the 2-4 range because 1 and 5 stars might cause some friction. However, if you rate something a 1 star you should have a good reason why and should be able to support your stance vigorously. If you just kinda don't like the idea then a 2 or 3 star is more appropriate.

I'll start to so that we can get the idea training rolling.

** - In the Star Wars Saga RPG (I'm told its pretty standard to most D20 systems so perhaps its like this in other games as well). I really hate how Jedi are so over powered. I find that I have to break the game to get them to not overshadow other PC's. I really don't want to have anything that resemebles the Force or magic or anything that will break the game and make other character types useless.

*- I hate the star wars saga rules for Jedi. I would give it negative stars if possible.
*****- I love the Edge of the Empire rules of getting XP and using that for upgrading skills and talents. I love the idea of a talent tree but I feel the system should be based off of XP as a currency and not just an indication of levels.
** Dont really like the EOTE dice.
**** I miss not using all the dice. We have all those dice for a reason .
**** The Focus and Descriptors of the Cypher system I enjoy. They add some variety and personality to the characters.
***** If there was some way we could make a system based off of the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X, that would be amazing. That would be my dream system. But I haven't really sat down and thought it out.

Mrred82 wrote:*- I hate the star wars saga rules for Jedi. I would give it negative stars if possible.
*****- I love the Edge of the Empire rules of getting XP and using that for upgrading skills and talents. I love the idea of a talent tree but I feel the system should be based off of XP as a currency and not just an indication of levels.
** Dont really like the EOTE dice.
**** I miss not using all the dice. We have all those dice for a reason .
**** The Focus and Descriptors of the Cypher system I enjoy. They add some variety and personality to the characters.
***** If there was some way we could make a system based off of the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X, that would be amazing. That would be my dream system. But I haven't really sat down and thought it out.

Alright! Great job

I'll go down your list with thoughts on your points.

1. We are agreement with the Jedi in Saga. I think that should be set in stone. No Jedi/Force users/Magicians or anything that allows supernatural powers. (This is slightly different though than "Scientific improvements" but we can address that in the theory thread)

2a. You'll need to explain how EoE awards XP, I don't remember.

2b. I love the idea of using XP as buying power or currency. We would need to come up with a balanced scale. I would give this idea a **** (4 star rating)

2c. Having a Talent tree is a *** (3 star) for me. I can see where it would be an awesome way of being able to customize your character but I don't like how EoE does it. If you are suggesting to do it exactly like EoE, then I would drop my rating to a ** (2 star) because I find that system to limiting and slow and makes characters very linear. There is a way however to make it a very cool idea but I'll get into that below.

3. I agree with you, no EoE dice. * (1 star rating from me)

4. I agree, lets make full use of all of our dice. I have some ideas but I'll save those for the theory discussions. - ***** (5 star rating)

5. I have no idea about the focus or cypher descriptors. You'll need to be very specific on what you enjoy about those systems.

6. I don't necessarily remember FF 10 grid system but if it is anything like FF12 grid system then I agree with you. I love that system. The only thing I didn't like about it was that by the end of the game all of your characters were the same because they all had the ability to fill up the grid. So as it is I give it a **** (4 star rating) However if we can make it to where all characters can be truly customizable and different then I will bump this idea up to a ***** (5 star rating) BTW, I think it can be done.

2a- EOTE gives out XP during gameplay like normal but its less. Way less. Like 50-100 xp. Around that. The players in turn use that XP to rank up their skills, buy new talents and buy new talent trees. Jedis use XP to strengthen force powers. I like using XP to spend on building characters.

5. In the Cypher system, Foci are kind of what sets your character apart. It gives you benefits to start with and each time you gain a tier, which are like levels. For example, some Focuses are Controls Beasts, Wears a Sheen of Ice, Exists Partially Out of Phase, and there are many more. They give you abilities that relate to the name. Descriptors describe your character and gives them abilities and inabilities related to that. Such as a Charming ___, a Stealthy ___, a Clever___ and so on. There are many of these as well.

6. I would think getting to the end of the sphere grid would take a long time so you would have to invest a lot of time and stick to your character. I wouldnt want it to be that easy or quick. I you have the time, check out the grid system for a game called Path of Exile. I like that one better and its not easily traversed. Its makes you think on how to build your character.

Mrred82 wrote:2a- EOTE gives out XP during gameplay like normal but its less. Way less. Like 50-100 xp. Around that. The players in turn use that XP to rank up their skills, buy new talents and buy new talent trees. Jedis use XP to strengthen force powers. I like using XP to spend on building characters.

5. In the Cypher system, Foci are kind of what sets your character apart. It gives you benefits to start with and each time you gain a tier, which are like levels. For example, some Focuses are Controls Beasts, Wears a Sheen of Ice, Exists Partially Out of Phase, and there are many more. They give you abilities that relate to the name. Descriptors describe your character and gives them abilities and inabilities related to that. Such as a Charming ___, a Stealthy ___, a Clever___ and so on. There are many of these as well.

6. I would think getting to the end of the sphere grid would take a long time so you would have to invest a lot of time and stick to your character. I wouldnt want it to be that easy or quick. I you have the time, check out the grid system for a game called Path of Exile. I like that one better and its not easily traversed. Its makes you think on how to build your character.

Ok, I have created an area for us to discuss some of these ideas in detail. I even did a mock up of a sphere grid (not a great one mind you) and it gave me some ideas. I'll look at the Path of Exile's grid and see what its like. I agree, it shouldn't be easy to fill up the entire grid. My main thing is that I want the grid to make the characters vastly different from each other, so that they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.