D&Don't Part 10: The 4th Dimension

It's undeniably true that I have have spent FAR too much time here moaning about the many, many shortcomings of D&D. However, this is the internet. And what sort of internet discussion of D&D would this be without an invective filled tirade regarding 4th edition?

Whilst I've touched on on a few points here and there I've never really taken the time to concentrate properly on the subject, confining myself mostly to whinging about 3.5 without really digging into 4th ed much.

So I guess it's time to do that.

D&Don't Part 9: Terms Of Engagement

Okay, this time the issue that we're talking about is actually a lot more general than being a purely D&D issue. D&D certainly suffers from it, but then so do a lot of games. And curiously this is one of the few areas where D&D has actually taken some positive steps.

Yeah, you heard me. This may be the only time I actually have something good to say about the game, so buckle yourselves in, it could be a bumpy ride.

D&Don't Part 8: A Question Of Competence

You know, I really wish Blogger had a word count function. It would be nice to see how much verbiage it is exactly that I've been dedicating to this ongoing screed against D&D. I certainly didn't plan on it going on for this long. I'm almost getting tired of it. However I did resolve to myself that if I was gonna do this I was gonna do it properly, and thus we must press on.

Today I'd like to talk about the competence of the characters.

Sorcerer Generals Warning

Here's another idea for a magic system variant.

D&Don't Part 7: Misaligned

Following on from my last post on monsters, I'd now like to take a moment to talk about alignment. And since the purpose of this series is simply to complain at length about stuff in D&D I don't like, you know that I'm not going to have anything good to say.

D&Don't Part 6: Nigglings

After having vented at some length over the shortcomings of the magic system in D&D I'm not sure that there's too much left for me to complain about really.

Well, actually that's a lie. The next issue I wish to discuss is one of terminology.

D&Don't Part 5: Nine To Five

Following on from my last post, I'd like to take some time to finish moaning about the awful, awful magic system present in D&D. For all the long, rambling intro I included last time, I didn't really have the room to properly get into my main problem with the Magic system.

The purpose of having a magic system in a game is, after all, to provide a framework to allow spellcaster type characters to actually, you know, cast spells and stuff. The issue I have with D&D is that it doesn't actually do this. Quite the opposite in fact.

D&Don't Part 4: It's (Not) A Kind Of Magic

Okay, we've come to the point in this little series where I'm going to have to discuss the magic system. This is something of a problem, because the main problem I have with D&D, the primary source of all my rage and aggravation, the one irredeemable suppurating turdbag that forever sets me at odds with the game and ultimately prevent me from overlooking any of it other flaws however minor, is the magic system.

D&Don't Part 3: Class Is Dismissed.

I fucking hate class based systems.

There, I said it. If there's one thing I've learnt from my experiences playing D&D in it's various forms it's that classes as a gaming concept need to be lined up, stabbed, beaten, shot, set on fire and then pissed on by an elephant. Not necessarily in that order.

D&Don't Part 2: The Basics

Okay, well let's start at the beginning, and try and work out way through in some sort of coherent order to the major bugbears. +1 Infernal Dire Bugbear Zombies to be precise. The first I'm going to mention is the stats.

Now, what could possibly be wrong with the base stats, aside from my obvious inability to roll highly for any of them?

D&Don't Part 1: An Introduction Of Sorts

I've been think quite a bit about D&D lately. Mainly because lately we've actually been trying to play it. It's odd, for all the various gaming I've done over the years very little of it has been actual D&D of any flavour. Even in terms of of computer based RPGs the only D&D I've really managed was Planescape Torment, and that was only because the fantastic story managed to outweigh the atrocious game mechanics.

See, as far as I can tell, there's only really one major issue with D&D. Put simply, it isn't very good. At all.

It's A Kind Of Magic

I've just had a great idea for how to run a magic system in rpgs.

See, I've long had a problem with magic systems. And I don't just mean the fact that a level 1 mage redefines the definition of both useless and liability in EVERY SYSTEM EVER WRITTEN.

No, the problem is that magic systems simply don't tend to feel very magical. A lot of this is of course due to the fact that rather than exploring the infinite arcane wonders of the cosmos you're always just shopping from a fixed list of spells with absolutely ZERO room for imagination or creativity on the past of the PC. However another issue is the managing of spells itself. Basically you have one of two systems depending on wether you're playing D&D or not.

If you are playing D&D then you get to cast a spell once per day whereupon you instantly forget it completely in what I an only describe as COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT. Or you have mana points. Now, mana points do work okay, and are obviously a big improvement over the D&D system  as the idea isn't obviously retarded. But it's still very precise and scientific. There's no mystery there. Once you've used up your magic points you can't do anything else. At all. You don't even have the option to try, even at great personal risk or anything.

And somehow I've come up with an idea that strikes me as potentially being better than these standard options. I'm sure someone MUST have thought of this already, but I don't recall seeing it anywhere.

Basically, the idea is to have saving throws with a cumulative penalty. So the more you cast the harder it gets until eventually you simply can't do it any more. You know, like actually wearing yourself out or something.

So, for example we'll say we're using a d100 system (because it keeps the math simple). We'll take a fairly simple spell, say magic missile (because the darkness isn't going to attack itself).

And we'll say it has a difficulty of 10 for some reason. That is you need to roll over 10 on a d100 to cast it. The we'll give it a fatigue value of 2, why not? So every time you cast it adds 2 to the difficulty of all subsequent spells. So the first magic missile is 10, the next is 12, then 14, 16 etc etc. Big complicated spells have higher difficulties and fatigue burdens, simpiler ones have lower. If you've got a spell that needs maintaining then make the fatigue bigger. So continuing our example whilst our one shot magic missile has a low fatigue of 2 raising up a zombie minion could have a fatigue of like 15 or something silly, thus representing the mental drain required to maintain and direct the minions.

If you want a system with crunchy muchkin maths then make all the values bigger and give the pcs stats and feats to offset them. Reserves of willpower or arcane strength, masteries of whatever arcane schools are appropriate to the setting. If you want something rules light keep the numbers lower and just use it as gauge. Either way we then get some great fun working out what happens when a mage finally pushes past his limits and it all goes horribly wrong. Or, conversly the mage will always have a chance, no matter how slim, of getting of that one final spell.

Even better you can provide temporary offsets in the form of highly addictive mana potions, and watch as all the wizards try not to become complete crack heads.

Obviously the fatigue can be reset by whatever recharge is appropriate; a good nights rest, arcane meditation, fellatio or whatever.

It just seems like a fairly good idea to me. I'm certainly gonna give it a try in my next game. If nothing else it should help determine what point the idiot spellcaster passes out.