FizzyShellfish
Watchdog
- Joined
- February 4, 2019
- Messages
- 170
These games are mostly all too long.
One way to address the character building issue (potentially getting "locked out" of abilities by not choosing earlier abilities the right way—without access to a rule book to explain it all) would be to:
1. Keep the system as it is. Wide open, choose everything yourself, mistakes included. For Pathfinder pros and "hardcore players" or those who like to research everything
2. Implement an optional overlay to leveling up. At start, you can choose from a selection of classes where their end-game abilities are described as an overview. So you could choose to end up as an effective Fire-Mage, Fey Archer-Ranger, Beastmaster, Moon Druid (or whatever exotic classes they want to give overviews for, I'm just making these up for examples) and at each level-up time, the game would tell you which abilities/path to take to get to your pre-chosen end result. This could do all your spell choices, and every damn little choice along the way, or let you choose your own stuff. This would also teach by example, so you could see how early choices affect choices several levels down the road. And for your second play through you could choose on your own with more familiarity/confidence.
That way there's a template for N00bs so they don't break their characters or end up with a result they didn't want after playing for 45 hours. And it would still keep all choices wide open for those who prefer that.
This is closer to what tabletop play really is. If you're new to a game, you're likely playing with friends who know the system. And thy'd be there to give you advice, pointers and point out some pros and cons of different choices. That doesn't make it streamlined, or dumbed-down. That's how tabletop works. Giving these kinds of "training wheel" options would be great for a lot of things. Perhaps show how a sneak attack could work once you gain the ability. Show an example of a mage casting a crowd control spell effectively versus just "getting" the spell.
And you wouldn't need examples or character-builds for every single character class. Just some examples. Leave a LOT of stuff there for the more adventurous or "hardcore" (hate the term) players to discover or figure out. But right now we keep having these Either/Or discussions where one side is "streamlined, dumbed-down and immediately obvious" and the other side is "arcane, complex and full of potential pitfalls." I think games like these should strive to bridge those two extremes.
But, all optional. I know it takes resources to do this. But if they really want to emulate tabletop? This kind of help is what is missing, and what nearly every tabletop experience really gives.
One way to address the character building issue (potentially getting "locked out" of abilities by not choosing earlier abilities the right way—without access to a rule book to explain it all) would be to:
1. Keep the system as it is. Wide open, choose everything yourself, mistakes included. For Pathfinder pros and "hardcore players" or those who like to research everything
2. Implement an optional overlay to leveling up. At start, you can choose from a selection of classes where their end-game abilities are described as an overview. So you could choose to end up as an effective Fire-Mage, Fey Archer-Ranger, Beastmaster, Moon Druid (or whatever exotic classes they want to give overviews for, I'm just making these up for examples) and at each level-up time, the game would tell you which abilities/path to take to get to your pre-chosen end result. This could do all your spell choices, and every damn little choice along the way, or let you choose your own stuff. This would also teach by example, so you could see how early choices affect choices several levels down the road. And for your second play through you could choose on your own with more familiarity/confidence.
That way there's a template for N00bs so they don't break their characters or end up with a result they didn't want after playing for 45 hours. And it would still keep all choices wide open for those who prefer that.
This is closer to what tabletop play really is. If you're new to a game, you're likely playing with friends who know the system. And thy'd be there to give you advice, pointers and point out some pros and cons of different choices. That doesn't make it streamlined, or dumbed-down. That's how tabletop works. Giving these kinds of "training wheel" options would be great for a lot of things. Perhaps show how a sneak attack could work once you gain the ability. Show an example of a mage casting a crowd control spell effectively versus just "getting" the spell.
And you wouldn't need examples or character-builds for every single character class. Just some examples. Leave a LOT of stuff there for the more adventurous or "hardcore" (hate the term) players to discover or figure out. But right now we keep having these Either/Or discussions where one side is "streamlined, dumbed-down and immediately obvious" and the other side is "arcane, complex and full of potential pitfalls." I think games like these should strive to bridge those two extremes.
But, all optional. I know it takes resources to do this. But if they really want to emulate tabletop? This kind of help is what is missing, and what nearly every tabletop experience really gives.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2019
- Messages
- 170