This game was invented for giving players the freedom of choice that every other game has been lacking in. So often with classes, even level progression and abilities that made no sense, players were often left with the feeling of “Why can’t I do this or that?” Character creativity is first and foremost and all players should be welcome to develop a background that makes sense but most of all that they are invested in both mentally and emotionally.
Races have been an issue for a long time. All elves are tree snipers that move unseen. All dwarves talk in a Scottish accent and smash things with hammers {or axes}. All thieves are evil, all fighters are brutes and everybBarbarian is illiterate. We will show that with character and world development, these stereotypes can be changed for the better.
The idea that classes determine what I can and cannot do, because of one decision I made in the beginning of my career, absolutely makes no sense. There are NO classes in this system. A character’s actions are what make them. If a character decides to steal or pick pocket, then he is a “Thief” if the law of the land says so but that same character could stop doing it and decide to abide by the law.
Allowing players to decide who they are throughout the entirety of the campaign, instead of boxing them in from the start, is one of the things in our system that players love the most. *Side note, the fact that a “Ranger” or “Fighter” can’t use a Wand, even though the wand has a command word, makes no sense. Any person, knowing the command word, should be able to use it, regardless of their “Class” or Occupation. Two mages, with exactly the same point value and Attributes, could essentially learn three of the same Magic Disciplines and operate them completely different from each other. This is showing that even though they are learning at the same rate, they are not learning the same things.
We despise levels. The thought that EVERYTHING you can do and be, levels at the same exact progression, is inconsistent with reality. A swordsman can practice the sword and gain progress and mastery but that doesn’t mean his secondary skills or his hit points or his other melee abilities level as well. Not every “Thief” uses Pick Lock. Why would his Pick Lock increase if he is just the fighter, brigand type who never attempts to infiltrate and steal? Or a “Ranger” who hardly Tracks his prey or enemies but is very good at Ranged combat and hiding in nature? Nothing ever levels exactly the same at the same time.
NO is the infamous word of the Game Director that so famously stops all investment in the Director’s story and leaves the players uninterested in anything. In this system, ANYTHING is a possibility and the role of the Director is to make every possibility a balance, stable and continuous reality. Too often Directors stifle their players creativity by never allowing them to fully play the character and in doing so cause the player to reach the inevitable “Who Cares” mentality. “Just charge in and kill, why bother to negotiate? The bad guys know everything about us. We could never surprise them and everyone we ever meet in the game must be an enemy and will eventually betray us.”
Sound familiar to any player? We can show that if the Director changes their perspective on how to lead and if the Players invest in character development, the game will take on new heights with a reversal in the players desire to sit at the table and be immersed in your game.
But players, that responsibility is also on you as well. “The speed of the game is the byproduct of the players”. A motto at my table. A prepared Director is ready to go with any scenario, any question, any predicament, at any time. Players tend to lag the game, no one makes decisions or if decisions are made, it is because players are either bored or not invested and just want to have some action. Combat – We will spend page after page explaining how combat can be both realistic and in real time, done in a second by second manner to give a full, dramatic effect. The stop and go, 8-bit game system style is outdated and boring. We will show that combat can be fluid.
Now as you can tell, this has been presented as a defense lawyer would their client. Reason is we know the skepticism in your mind right now, the thoughts of how all of this is impossible. We know that we will have to present and most of all defend everything that you will read here. But understand, just as every test player that has sat at my table has found out, you will leave this system with satisfaction and the understanding that we have developed a game with freedom, creativity and most of all, a way to have a mental and emotional investment in the story.