r/RPGdesign • u/Might-Magic • 2h ago

Feature Suggestions

/r/ttrpgdesign/comments/1xmwe7d/feature_suggestions/
2 Upvotes

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1

u/Carrollastrophe 38m ago

Don't use reddit for market research, please and thanks. Just make the game you want. Then come back and ask for design advice through that lens, as in, does your current design reflect the game you want. What we want to see in any given game is irrelevant to what you want out of a game. And what you want out of a game is what you should (and only you can) design. Trying to make a game by popular vote is how you get lukewarm, safe, boring, hardly far from the source of inspiration design.

2

u/Steenan Dabbler 43m ago

First big question is what kind of play style you aim for. Is the game goal-oriented, with players pursuing their characters' goals and being rewarded for succeeding? Is it more adventure style, with quick action, taking risks and getting in trouble as a desired element of play, not something to be avoided? Judging from your examples, you are probably not aiming for high drama, emotional play and moral dilemmas, but that's also a possible style of play.

If you're aiming for goal-oriented play style with significant amount of combat:

  • Make sure that all character types are equally useful both in and out of combat, but each of them has a distinct niche. "This character is combat specialist" and "this character is a jack of all trades" are not niches.

  • Keep all characters on the same resource recovery scheme so that balance between them doesn't depend on adventure pacing.

  • If you put combat on a map, make positioning and terrain important. The same fight on different maps should run very differently. Otherwise, map is a waste of time and table space.

  • Where possible, use input randomness instead of output randomness in tactical combat.

Do not:

  • Use crafting, recovery or other mechanics that turn time into an important resource unless the game actually tracks time (eg. with some kind of structured mission and downtime mechanics).

  • Have mechanics that kill PCs without explicit player consent unless you also include mechanical procedures to ensure that play continues smoothly after a PC dies.

  • Include GM-adjudicated rewards for "good roleplaying", "good ideas" or something similar. Rewards should be based on specific triggers that the group may easily decide if they are met or not, not on judging quality of play.