I decided to start posting dev journals here again. I haven't posted the last couple because they had no relevance to Rolemaster players. This one mentions RM a couple times, but the real relevance is that 4th ed development consumes the company time at the moment. Even more so, the THEORY of game design I discuss here is applicable to everyone.
I'm guessing the next couple post will have no cross system application, so this might be the last one I post here for a little bit.
At any rate, here's the latest post:
All right. So the time of D&D 4th edition is upon us. This weekend I managed to see real, honest to God copies. I got to browse and peruse and start to build my opinion of and strategy for 4th edition. There?s really enough information out there that my 4th edition Skunkworks is in full glory now.
So my reactions?
Echoes is designed from the point of view of a man who loves Rolemaster. I?ve played the game for years and you can see its mark on the setting. The Churches, the lack of detect-good style abilities. The races. Echoes fit well with 3.5. It took some changes, but no more than Ravenloft, and 3.5 was designed to be versatile. It took the changes well. I was pleased.
4th edition frightened me.
I?m not talking about when I saw the books. You?ll have to read on for that. It frightened me because of the direction it seemed to move in. I was afraid that it would be much harder to fit into my world. The points of light scared me. The healing and powers scared me. I was afraid that it would be a difficult fit, and all of the adjustments would be painful at best.
But honestly, from a company standpoint, I can?t not try. We?re talking about a nearly level playing field and a potential buying frenzy. I have to be in. I?d be a full not to.
So I saw the books. I played a demo.
First of all, the books put me at ease. I was terrified of Epic, and yet I found only one ability there that stretched credulity in my world, and it was in the hand of the Arch Mage, which, lets face it, we expect to be pretty darn magical. Even the demigod seems to fit well for a character if the GM agrees that he?s played his path to sainthood properly. Of course, this cut a potential product from my line (I was going to do an book of epic destinies that didn?t suck), but it might still be viable. The epic destinies in the PHB are slim pickings. There could be room for more, depending on how all the WotC splat books look.
Second, the very idea of churches seems to have changed. A cleric doesn?t have to be the same religion as his god. A paladin has to start that way, but he doesn?t have to stay that way. They even insinuate that paladins can go renegade and end up with their entire orders chasing them, trying to end the blasphemy. Best yet, when this happens, THEY DON?T LOSE THEIR POWERS.
Some of this probably has to do with the structure of the rules. You strip powers from a 4th edition character and he isn?t even a proper PC anymore. Do you have him just gain fighter powers? The ones the fighter worked so hard to achieve? No, powers in 4th ed are EVERYTHING. You can?t take them away.
But with one or two minor notes, this fit exactly the feel I was going for in Echoes.
I was worried about the martial powers (exploits), but they don?t seem out of control. Some are cinematic, sure, but most of them seem reasonable, even believable in the hands of a real hero.
I?ll get into my notes on specifics when I get the books on Friday, but suffice it to say, I think it?s going to work fabulously.
There?s so much I don?t fully understand yet. I?m pretty sure Demons of Sin will be solo monsters, as will angels. Elemental Wraiths? I don?t know. I think so. They are meant to cover multiple roles, but I haven?t really had a chance to dig into monster theory (I spent very little time in the MM). We?ll see.
We start play testing The Throne of God a week from Saturday. We?ve already played it in that group, so we should be able to skip all the roleplaying and hit everything mechanics-wise one after another. I expect to finish it in one or two nights.
But I also played a demo.
This has a minor spoiler, so I?m going to warn you now. Stop reading if you don?t want to know.
The thing about every game I?ve played in is that the game can?t really surprise me. 3.5? There might be a power I run into in the game I haven?t seen before, but I understand all the rules. I know everything about combat. When somebody hits me with a spell I haven?t seen, I can tell you exactly how to best handle the situation. A wraith hiding in the wall? No problem. You know all you options in combat and you know everyone else?s as well. No surprises.
Same with Rolemaster. Same with HARP. Same with HERO. Rules. I?m a master of the rules. I have to be.
So I?m fighting these kobolds. I?m playing the wizard. I slip into the sweet spot where I can lay down a blast three on three of the little buggers and make them hate life. One drops, the other two are almost bloodied. Not bad for a first level wizard and I can still use a power every round. Ain?t that neat?
Then the kobolds move up to me. Three of them. Now I can?t cast without opportunity attacks, I don?t have a spell that doesn?t provoke them. No worries. I?ll five foot step. They call it shifting now. I?ll shift one square away. Sure, they can do the same on their turn. I won?t cast a spell this round. I?ll use the action to shift a second time.
I shift a square. And the little buggers do too. I shift another, and so do they. Ah hell. How do they do that? I?m still adjacent. They?re stuck to me. Now I?ve made one of them stuck to the rogue too.
I was completely caught off guard. That?s not something you can do in the rules. I read them. How did they do it?
They have a power. Its called dragonshield tactics. Not all of them have it, but those little kobolds have trained especially to shift up to and away from foes in combat.
I?d read the stuff about ?simple rules, many exceptions? before. I hadn?t understood the implications. You see, people can pull tricks on you in combat. Ambushes. Shifting sides. These are all story events. The combat itself is always so regimented that I know the laws of physics. They are VERY simple. You watch movies and see interesting things happen and you think, ?that could never happen in an RPG.? You?re still probably right, but now even the rules can surprise you.
This, BTW, is one of the reasons I?ve always loved Rolemaster. Criticals can be very startling.
Now, I don?t know. When I go into these fights, I have my handful of powers and so do the bad guys. They can do things I don?t expect. They can surprise me. It?s been so long since I?ve been surprised like that in combat, that I didn?t know how to feel. I still have warm fuzzies.
We kicked butt. I shouted orders at the rogue. ?Shift every round.? ?But they?ll follow!? ?Decisions! Force them to make decisions.? I managed to get one of them to move adjacent to our fighter, who had been immobilized but could still fight. This will be one of my favorite battles of all time, and it?s because it was so completely unexpected. I had the rules of the game rise up against me. The RULES. And I won. Some guy in Redmond through me a curve ball and I managed to get a piece of it. It was a small battle, but I can remember very few where, at the end, I?d felt like I?d accomplished so much.
So the thing is, I?ve got to bring this into Echoes. Wind Wraiths should be able to do cool things. A Demon of Deciet needs to have some tricky abilities in addition to his spells. It?s all got to be interesting and neat and crunchy.
I?ve got the Skunkworks working already. I?m throwing you a curve ball.
Make me proud.
