Echelon, being derived primarily from the Revised System Reference Document, uses a d20-based task resolution system. Pretty much all character-related actions that can pass or fail have the decision made with a single die roll: d20 + modifiers >= Difficulty Class (DC) This is about as simple as it gets, really. …
Rounds per level, minutes per level, hours per level… or some random number of rounds, minutes, or hours, or a combination… This gets to be a pain to manage. I can’t be bothered to count things too carefully, especially when most of the time the duration doesn’t run out while …
Range can be abstracted. I discussed it recently in Weapon Speed in D&D at KJD-IMC, but it can be abstracted slightly more than that. Range honestly amounts to “too far away”, “just right”, and “too close”. “Too far away” means you can’t affect your target, or can only do so at a …
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 …
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