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1st Post, RPGaDay, and if it aint broke is it worth fixing?

So here after weeks of trying to get this blog off the ground, I have finally picked a name and started posting. This blog will contain my thoughts on tabletop rpgs, board games, and other games.  I am thinking I will include write ups of game sessions and even reviews of new products I try.  

At the beginning here I am also going to be writing with questions for you the reader as I work on my RPG I working on using the Awful Good Games Dice Pool rule set. The game is currently being called "Enchanted Kingdoms" and has 6 new/reworked classes and 16 "Bloodlines" or "Heritages" which takes the place of races.  It will include a ready to play campaign setting. I am going to have a few named kingdoms and towns but want to leave it open and vague enough that players and DMs have a lot of freedom. I will continue to discuss the game here as I work towards getting it onto Kickstarter in order to drum up the funds a professional art company. Shooting for some time between November and February, but we will see...

I was planning to use the RPG-a-day challenge to help me start posting every day for a little while. Even though I have missed the last 7 days of the challenge I will still try and use those to drive me towards a habit of posting and I will make up the missed ones as I go. Probably.

Today's RPG-a-Day is "what is a good RPG to play for 2 hour sessions or less?"  I am going to fudge this a little and give a few games.  Honestly any game can be played for only 2 hours if you have a good group.  You probably want some specifics though.  The one that kind of pushes the envelope on if it counts is Super Dungeon Explore.  An average game with set up is about 2 hours, and I am expecting their "Legends" RPG rules to be about the same. It has been my experience that games based on the Apocalypse/Dungeon World rule set work well for shorter sessions because of how flexible and fast their rules tend to be. Awful Good Games new Dungeons and Delvers "Black Book" containing streamlined d20 based rules also have worked well for our 2 hour sessions. 

Lastly let’s talk about a game that is not good for 2 hour sessions. It is my favorite edition of D&D 4th edition. I really love 4th edition, maybe I can talk about what I like about it on another day, but all of the moving parts on both sides of DM screen, especially in combat, make it ill-suited for short games.
Ok so after all that rambling I am going to end on the question I alluded to in the title of this post.  If it isn't broken is it worth the time and effort to fix it? I will probably come back to this question spotlighting other rules or mechanics but today I am thinking of the Attributes or Stats a game uses.  More specifically the number and names for those stats.  This comes up as I am trying to decide what to call attributes in the Enchanted Kingdoms game.  Many games nowadays run with the same six: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.  Dice pool is intended to be a more simplified and approachable system that in the early stages had distilled those stats into Might, Agility, Intellect, and Grace.  However during development they decided they wanted 3 casting stats to help differentiate the different classes and it was changed to Might, Agility, Intellect, Spirit, and Charm. Also Grace is kind of confusing as it could mean the more physical grace as opposed to personality social grace. Personally I really like the simplified 4 stats but am not sure what to call them.  It would be simplest to go back to the most common stats and use Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma. But I did like the differentiating effect of having the renamed stats.  I even went so far as coming up with more eloquent versions Like Vigor, Elegance, Brilliance, and Allure. But then I remembered this version of the game was supposed to be able to also be played by a younger audience.  Now I am leaning towards Might, Grace, Intellect, and Charm.  But it could still be easier to use the more common Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma.  So what do you think? Which do you personally like better of those two?


Might
Grace
Intellect
Charm

Or

Strength
Dexterity
Intelligence
Charisma

And what are your thoughts on changing the names of stats in general?
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Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 8, 2017 at 7:13 PM

    Congratulations for starting a blog Adam.

    My opinion on the stats is that while obviously anything can work, by now people are very familiar with the D&D abilities, so differentiating should be done with care.

    I would Do

    Might Because it is more than just strength if you have no Constitution
    Dexterity/Agility Because Grace is too much associated with beauty
    Intellect/Mental Vague enough to cover a variety of mental applications
    Charm Works just fine for covering the usually complex social interactions

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adam AlbrightAugust 8, 2017 at 9:42 PM

      Thank you for your response David. I wondered about grace as is evident from the part hahaha.

      Delete

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