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Rampant Games - Class-based vs Skill-based

by Dhruin, 2009-12-09 20:54:03

The Rampant Coyote's latest post looks at class-based vs skill-based character development and the difficulties in getting the latter right.  I feel he misses some obvious examples for the different systems but, as usual, it's an interesting question:

When I "graduated" from Dungeons & Dragons to other dice-and-paper RPGs back in my teens, I became a big fan of skill-based systems. It was The One True Way of RPGs. I dismissed class-based, level-based games as merely quaint but entertaining relics of a bygone era to me. It took a few years before I came back around in my thinking and learned to re-appreciate the strengths of class-based games. I like both styles pretty equally nowadays.

But with computer RPGs, I lean towards class-based systems. This isn't a matter of preference, but practicality. I would love to play some more, well-done skill-based CRPGs, and my hat is off to those developers bold enough to build them. But it's tough to do well. Very tough.

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