/gdg/ - Game Design General

Good, then your say is disregarded.

I have a similar design goal.
I think it's more dynamic to give the weapons "feats" than to have more attributes.
It keeps all the processing of abilities relatively one-sided; there's no reading of enemy statistics needed when you attack.

I nonetheless will agree that the common Slash/Smash/Pierce damage labels are very effective at categorizing a huge range of weaponry.

Design isn't just the statistical spread of your dice mechanic. Your game does not exist in a vacuum. People's approach to it, and their enjoyment of it, is influenced by the context of prior art in the medium - other games - and to discount discussion of those games wholesale as "not relevant to your design" is to fail as a designer. Much like your prior experience at a job seemingly unrelated to what you're doing might lend you some mote of extra competence, understanding many different games will give you a greater breadth of knowledge with which to solve your design problems. Moreover, plenty of discussion of this sort occurs already, as people suggest to check out a published game's approach to a problem in response to someone's question about their own mechanic.

In a strategy game where you control a bunch of little guys versus one dangerous target would it add to strategy or cause frustration to only give about 5 randomized conditions that you need to meet at least one of to do damage to the target?

Rather than being able to do steady attacks and deal with the life score.

It means you're not dealing with your momma's biscuits today, bucko.

Not to mention that homebrews have been the core of these threads since the very beginning, and homebrews encompass both games made from the ground up AND modifications to already established systems. We've just shifted it to the side in lieu of original systems, but they've been a part of this since the days of the wii homebrew channel pics in the OP.

Well, it's a point of discussion.

I know that despite my best efforts the system I made is just an amalgam of the systems I've played.

Just make every weapon deal 1d6 and magic weapons deal 1d8

Bumpity bump

(OP)
>In fantasy RPGs, what are your design philosophies for magic systems? How do you prefer to deal with bookkeping, spell preparation, power level, how common it is, etc?
I like to keep my systems free in the sense of innovation, but have some rules for how resource-costly the magic is. Even though they're still quite breakable, the less actual numbers you have running around the better.

Such as, if I wanted to make a system with a big amount of spells, I would make rules for how to make spells / magic techniques, and then provide a good amount of examples for how to do them. Then give a sliding scale for the examples, meaning that there are also rules for changing the rules, by changing the effects and limits of spells when the setting / skill level is different. Also, leave a little bit of malleability, where it's quick to check how much more difficult / costly doing this spell at a larger scale is.

I'm homebrewing a rpg game of thrones style game adventure on youtube.

I'm still working on the kinks of the system to make it as dynamic and interactive as possible.

youtube.com/watch?v=wMOPI-Cz4c0

>since the days of the wii homebrew channel pics in the OP.
That brings me back.

But yeah, homebrew is almost an essential part of each designer's progress as a designer, because it teaches a lot about fixing the flaws of a system and the pitfalls that any game can fall into.

My problem with getting a game out is the fact that I'm way too aware of this and am constantly fixing my game even when nothing really isn't wrong.

seconding this one

>In fantasy RPGs, what are your design philosophies for magic systems? How do you prefer to deal with bookkeping, spell preparation, power level, how common it is, etc?- 22 posts and 2 image replies shown.

I like the "magic is physically exhausting" trope. I'm using it in my game, but leaving materials and preparations in the game for more important things.

Thus, "everyday" magic is absolutely free, with varying degrees of physical exhaustion - the equivalent of cantrips aren't exhausting at all and are fairly simple, while the others have varying degrees of impact on your character's stamina that can eventually make them pass out over time.
Special spells and rituals, however, require some time to prepare, and some of them require materials or objects in order to be used properly.

You can also store certain spells in a few types of objects - scrolls, tokens, coins, bottles, jewels, etc. to be used later or by non-magical characters (without being as effective as an actively channeled spell by a proper mage).

Bump

I'm considering using "deep magic requires figuring" for my next project. It will end up functionally separating the players into those who want a mental challenge and those who want it simple.

>In fantasy RPGs, what are your design philosophies for magic systems? How do you prefer to deal with bookkeping, spell preparation, power level, how common it is, etc?
In my fantasy campaign setting and system, casters work like rewritable CDs. Their space is limited but they can replace spells given time and training. They're about as strong as non-casters in combat but in different ways; outside of combat they're more versatile but at the cost of fatigue and slightly less consistency than characters using mundane skills. For example, an exceptionally strong character can pick up and throw objects easier and better than a caster using telekinesis, but only the caster can try to catch a flaming barrel mid-air (at least without injuring himself).

How about this?
>Long weapons let you attack people who enter melee with you.
>Quick weapons are slightly more accurate.
>Heavy weapons deal slightly more damage.
>Sharp weapons deal lots of damage on a critical hit.
>Blunt weapons ignore half of your opponent's bonuses to AC from armour.
>Subtle weapons can be concealed and gain the benefits of stealth attacks for Rogues.
>Tricky weapons let you choose two options when you succeed on a Combat Move
>Ranged weapons let you attack far-away enemies

If your weapon can be wielding with one hand, it gets two of these traits. If your weapon can only be wielded with two hands, it gets three of these traits. When you use two one-handed weapons you have -1 to attack rolls. Only one-handed weapons can be Subtle.