Comfort Zone

The first thing to tackle above and beyond my background in gaming is to discuss the system that I want to use for the Vales, which is the working title for the world that I am going to be chronicling. I have plaid with a wide variety of systems and while I am going to 'claim' to use a system, really I am going to try and identify which system I will have to replace the least amount of mechanics to do what I want it to do. In my opinion, that system is 2.5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons.

There are several reasons why I feel this way:

Attributes - I have always found that D&D's six attribute system provides a good spread while not making one attribute more powerful than others, for the most part. There are still some issues which I will talk about further at a later date.

Character Points - I like character points, I just do. They provide a great deal of specialization above and beyond classes/kits/whatever. 2.5 does character points in a way that is meaningful, but not boarding on Champion's complexity. While I had toyed with using GURPS as a foundations, I feel that the only thing really lacking in 2.5 vs. GURPS is the purchasing defenses and attributes with character points, and I am okay with that. But for skills and special powers/abilities the mechanic of character points out ways the NWPs of 2nd Ed.

Spells - I love playing a magic user. Now in all fairness, my players will complain that I do not make it easy on PC mages, and in all honesty I don't. Perhaps that is because I cling too tightly to what I feel is how mages should be played, and that is something I need to work on. However, I do not feel that I am draconian beyond any reasonable measure. Although I can hear my die hard mage players groaning in the night even as I write this. But I digress. 2nd Edition gave a great mix of spells, few of which are goofy and overpowered. There are tweaks that need to be made, but it does not enter the realm of vanilla casting that is 3.x D&D, and again we move away from Champion's level complexity. However I feel that it is one of my players, Buddha, who summarised it perfectly when he said 'the spell descriptions really make you want to learn and use the spells.' Which I like, and agree with.

Combat Speed - The system is not too heavy and not too light. This may come from years of running it rather than any actual mechanical change. There is also a lot that I want to tweak combat wise (for example Thac0 is right out, no offense to the die hards, but going to a pure d20+bonus compared to a target number is much easier than working in reverse to determine what AC you hit by comparing it to an arbitrary benchmark). However it is also easy to play loose and fast. I HATE miniatures. Hate, hate, hate, hate them. I do not know where my irrational hatred comes from, but it is there. I find them cumbersome and troubling, and doing combat on a hex map/grid is repulsive to me. I tend to run combat almost exclusively orally, however I do scribble down simple maps for players that ask for them. I do not feel that this hinders the use of tactics or positional attacks, as the players ask if they can do it and I give them a thumbs up or down. It just shaves the time in moving minis and resolving combat that way. That and I don't feel like the banker in a game of Monopoly.

Familiarity - Most people know 2nd Ed and 2.5 did not introduce anything revolutionary except for the combat points. If I tell people they are going to take falling damage, most of my players will understand that falling damage is d6 per 10' of the fall without any explanations. This helps eliminate knowledge inequalities that can occur with lesser played systems and makes for faster resolution, i.e. more game time as opposed to 'hang on let me check that' time.

But for all of the positives, there are also some negatives to calling 2.5 home.

Rules Lawyers/Preconceptions - Since this (or 2.0) is the system that the vast majority of my players spent the greatest amount of their game time in, people with know the rules and know what is up. Under this umbrella I also put the collective experiences of my players under every other DM they have ever ran the system with. It is only natural to make these comparisons subconsciously, so they might as well be talked about. This can lead to challenges of calls, which I hate anyways. Tragically my group has a very hard time with the concept that the DM calls the shots regardless of what it says on page whatever. However, we are all basically narcissistic assholes so conflicts are natural. But I already get assaulted with arguments trying to inform me that it would be perfectly common for a character with minimal alchemy skill to know how to make a wish granting potion 'because after all, if you go to Bartending school you don't graduate just knowing how to make a Screwdriver.' Some visiting DMs may think that people like that should be banned from the game, and believe me I have been tempted to, but damn if they aren't a phenomenal role player except for their stubbornness.

'By the book' field - This is somewhat similar to the con above, however it is largely a complaint against the massive amounts of horrible, horrible 'random' tables that fill these books. Be it for wandering monsters, treasure, or what ever else I may need. I dislike them all, but most of my players will know them by heart.

'Been there, done that' field - This phenomenon along with funny-suiting are my two big pet peeves, and I have a few players that are bad about it. But again, having nearly two decades to read over the material over and over and over again, it is very hard to not have the more diligent players from not feeling appropriate concern over a Manticore attack given that they can usually recite their statistics. Which is why I am a fan of DM made monsters, and I have several ideas to shake the players out of their comfort zones. Of course I could always just pull out the level draining mobs, that usually makes players take a combat seriously.

In conclusion, nothing is perfect, and that is okay. But I like 2.5 the best out of what I have thought about that is out there. Will it truly be 2.5 when we play, probably not. But it will be my Frankenstein's monster. I am just trying to give it the finest parts.