I was talking with John Payne from Sycarion Diversions about system simplification. Many games build complex systems, then offer means to simplify the rules. John suggested that perhaps games should build simple systems, then offer options to make them more complex. I can’t help but agree. I aim to make the …
Characters change over time. In many games they become “more of what they were” — a better fighter, a more knowledgeable wizard, and so on. Some games allow you to change this, and become something else. In Dungeons & Dragons 3.x and in Pathfinder, this is done using the multiclassing …
One of the drivers behind Echelon is that “fighters don’t get nice stuff” in Dungeons & Dragons 3.x. That is to say, spell casters get all the really nice stuff, non-casters tend to get stuff that isn’t relatively not-nice “because they are mundane characters”. This video is a fight scene …
I have a dream… Not a very profound one, but hopefully a practical one. November is National Game Development Month, and it looks like I have next week off. I want to see if I can get Echelon to the table. Reviewing my current roadmap from several months ago, such as …
I realized not too long ago that perhaps we’re headed the wrong way with capstone talents. Most talents have something of a natural order and progression to them. As you practice and develop a combat style, you learn more specialized techniques related to the combat style. As you study a …
I recently bought Adventure Fantasy Game, an OSR game by Paolo (tsojcanth of Lost Pages — how’s that for an inversion?). When he sent me the PDF we ended up striking up a conversation that drifted into Echelon and he asked me where I want to go with it. Ultimately …
Over in the forum, GreyKnight commented about keystone talents and asked me a couple of questions I don’t have ready answers for. I found the question especially insightful, because it highlights something that has niggled at me off and on for a while now. If a cornerstone talent is “what …
I was asked a question. This is sometimes a good idea, sometimes a bad idea.
When I get asked things, I tend to answer.
Ray Case at google+ had some questions about keystone talents. +Keith J Davies has thrown me for a loop with his echelonD20 ruleset – his keystone idea won’t get out of my head! I am struggling with what makes a cornerstone versus what makes a capstone. Even while I am …
A while ago (January 1, so almost four months now) I considered an Echelon Intro Box Set. I evidently don’t have enough to do with my copious free time (do I really need to mark that as sarcasm?), so on top of all the other stuff I’m doing, I’m thinking …
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