First, Defining the D20 problems

What's not to like about RPGs?

I attempt to articulate what the existing problems are with D20 specifically and RPGs in general. These are based on my experiences trying to teach and recruit new players.

Geek Factor

There is a certain geek factor associated with Role Playing Games that in my experience is untrue and unfair. Not surprising the stereotypes about non-hygienic, socially inept, devil worshiping, poorly dressed boys or scary adult men persists. I won’t pretend to have any plan to deal with that, except to say that I lead by example. Certainly myself and the people I play with exhibit none of those qualities.

Creating a Character

If a new player manages to overcome the geek factor prejudice and decides to make a go of it, without a mentor they are likely doomed to quit. They are forced to wade through an avalanche of rules, terms, lists, tables, charts, choices resulting in a near endless array of decision points whose implications are completely unknown. In my experience the player already has in mind some type of character they want to be. This is character is probably derived from a book, movie or video game.

Hit Points

This may be the number one complaint I endured, and I am not certain why it happens now and did not happen in the 1970’s. Perhaps its video games or CNN or FOX News or I do not know what. But the problem boils down to this quote from an exasperated teenager: “If I shoot an arrow into my enemies head, he is dead weather he is level 1 or level 10, but in this game my enemy could be buck naked, 10^th level and take shots from my bow all day. That’s just stupid.” I am inclined to agree. As a follow up a great d20 hit points debate went on at a forum I visit.

What do I need to hit?

I believe that 3.5/D20 did a great job with armor class. It is a great improvement over before, but the flip side of armor class is “chance to hit” and that is no small feat to calculate for a novice. You have an adjustment for Strength (check a chart), adjustment for opponent size (check a chart), adjustment for weapon proficiency (check a chart), adjustments for related feats (check a chart) and finally adjustments for the quality of the weapon. Did I miss any? Probably I did but the point is, that all those adjustments are neat, perhaps more accurate, but cumbersome to know, find and use. It is not fun if it takes 10 minutes to know you need to beat a 12 to hit.

Hit Points Again

“So I have 50 hit points, and I keep taking damage in melee. But there are no adjustments to my skills until I reach zero, at which point I collapse and can’t use any of my skills.” Where as this is true, I can not say it ever bothered me personally. I think the thinking is the direct impact of video games, and 3d shooters where you ability degrades as you take damage. The comment makes sense to me but in 3.5/D20 it would be very cumbersome to account for.

Too Many Rules poorly described

The 3.5/D20 system has a lot of rules. The rules are written with excessive verbosity, a weird dual gender mode and they are poorly organized. You often need to be in two or three places in the rules to answer a single question. If you play every week that becomes less of a problem, if you are older and play less often it can get frustrating. Thank you for the internet because one resource is invaluable for making quick use of the rules: HyperText d20 SRD I often remind youngsters that the 3.5/D20 rules are a vast improvement in consistency over the AD&D rules of long ago, but a newbie does not care about yesterday!

In Conclusion

I think the problems are specifically targeted to the required interdependency of rules with regards to race, class, level, feat and skills involved with just creating a character. These complexities are revisited at the first melee. I whole hearted agree with the richness the D20 designers provided, but the complexity is a lot to digest for a newbie.

The long road to wanting a new RPG System

Greetings!

I have a good job, a great marriage and awesome kids. I have been playing RPGs (Role Playing Games) since the late 1970's. I really enjoy the escapism aspect of being someone else in some other place on some other world in some other time. In the early days I played nearly all the old TSR games: Dungeons & Dragons, Top Secret, Traveler, Gama World. They were each good games with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Along came Dungeons and Dragons Version 3 which was a completely revised rules set. In short I hated it. It was too different, indeed it was a whole new game. I respected what they tried to do with making the mechanics of the game consistent. However they kept many of the complexities with respect to classes and race restrictions and so in total I did not use the new system. A short time later Dungeons and Dragons Version 3.5 came about as a major revision. It is a vast improvement and I liked it so much that I started to use it.

Around this I first encountered the D20 system. D20 System is effectively the open source equivalent of Dungeons and Dragons. However the creators are brilliant. They built D20 as a universal game system, not specifically tied to the fantasy (Tolkien) genre. D20 has many modules and variants that let you play in the far future, the wild west or as 007 to name a few. The genius of this concept is clear. Learn 1 system, apply it to your favorite genre and game game game!

When I was younger, with no mortgage, no family and few if any real responsibilities; I didn't have much trouble transitioning between different game rules on the fly. I'm much older now, have far less time and my memory is not what it used to be. Switching between game systems is not really and option anymore. I do not want to always play the Tolkien Fantasy of Dungeons and Dragons either, some times I'd rather be James Bond or Han Solo. D20 universal role playing system attracted me instantly.

The D20 glow wore off quickly. At the same time I decided to switch to D20, I was starting to teach my kids and their friends how to play. What I came to understand was that I had a tremendous legacy of knowledge about RPG systems. This knowledge base meant that I already had an understanding of the concepts common to all rules systems. For me it was a matter of applying new mechanics to already well understood concepts. For my kids who had no such knowledge base, it was a struggle. Kids being kids, they questioned everything. Then one day about a year ago I realized that most all their beefs were fair and well reasoned.

I went to my friends and discussed the D20 issues. It was an even split. Half rejected the very thought of new ideas and half became curious as to how the mechanics could be altered. The ideas bubbled around in a various discussions for several weeks and then we started to construct some rules!

What has surprised me most about the journey this far is how very hard it is to create a Role Playing Game. I will post more next weekend!

"It has always been easier to destroy then to create." - Mr. Spock
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