Elthos RPG Rules Key Mechanics

 Elthos RPG Key Mechanics

• General Resolution Matrix (GRM): The GRM is the core mechanic of the Elthos RPG system, used to determine success or failure for all actions in the game, including combat, skill use, and mystic powers. It involves comparing an Attack Level (AL) or Skill Level (SL) against an Armor Class (AC) or Difficulty Level (DL). You always have a chance to succeed and a chance to fail, no matter the odds.

• Chance to Succeed (CTS): The CTS is a numerical value on the GRM that represents the target number a player needs to roll or exceed on a single six-sided die (1d6) to succeed at an action. The CTS is calculated by adding the difference between the AC and AL (or DL and SL) to a fixed GRM Root value of 4. A roll of 1 is always considered a failure, even if the CTS is 1, and a roll of 6 is always a success.

• Character Generation: Character generation involves several steps:

  • Selecting a Character Race: Each race has typical Level, Requisite minimums and maximums for Strength, Wisdom, and Dexterity, Movement Points, and special attributes.
  • Generating Character Requisites: Requisites, representing Strength, Wisdom, and Dexterity, are generated through Random Roll, Assignment, or Allocation, influencing a Character's abilities and potential.
  • Selecting an Adventure Class: Classes have specific Requisite requirements and influence the skills a character can learn.
  • Selecting a Character Level: Characters begin at 1st level (0 Experience Points) and advance through successful adventures, gaining new skills and abilities.
  • Rolling for Character Heritage: Heritage, determined by a 1d6 roll multiplied by 100, represents starting money and reflects a Character’s parent's social standing.
  • Learning Skills and Mystic Powers: Characters learn skills and mystic powers by spending Skill Learning Points (SLP) and Mystic Learning Points (MLP), which are awarded at each new level.
  • Selecting Character Armors: Armor provides an Armor Class Modifier (ACM) and may have a Dexterity Modifier (DXM), Damage Absorption (DAB), a Movement Modifier (MOV), and a cost.
  • Calculating Armor Class (AC): AC is calculated using the Total Armor Class Modifier, Total Armor's Dexterity Modifier, Modified Dexterity with Armor, and the Revised Dexterity Bonus.
  • Selecting Character Weapons: Weapons are categorized as Light, Medium, or Heavy, each with a Damage Bonus, Attack Level Modifier, and cost, influencing their effectiveness in combat.
  • Calculating Weapon Attack Levels: Weapon Attack Levels are calculated based on Character Level, Dexterity Bonus, the Weapon's Attack Level Modifier, and whether the weapon skill is considered Primary, Elective, or Unlearned for that Character.
  • Selecting Character Equipment.
  • Determining Character Life Points & Mystic Points: Life Points are based on Strength and Character Level, while Mystic Points depend on Wisdom and Character Level, both potentially modified by a Base Health Bonus at 1st level.
  • Determining Mystic Attack Level & Mystic Armor Class: Both Mystic Attack Level (MAL) and Mystic Armor Class (MAC) are calculated by adding the Character Level to the Wisdom Bonus.
  • Naming & Placing Characters: Players name their Characters and, in collaboration with the GM, develop a brief history and starting location within the game world.

• Combat: Combat can be played Narratively or Tactically:

  • Narrative Combat: The GM describes the combat situation and environment, with players and enemies resolving actions using the GRM.
  • Tactical Combat: Utilizes Combat Maps to visualize character positions, ranges, and tactical options, requiring movement rules and more complex calculations.
  • Combat Experience: Awarded when an opponent or group of opponents is defeated. Experience Points are calculated based on the vanquished opponents' Levels divided by the victors' Levels, multiplied by an Experience Gain Multiplier (EGM), with each party member receiving an equal share.

• Skills:

  • Skill Experience: Characters earn Experience Points (XP) for successful skill use, with the amount varying based on skill type (Primary, Elective, Unlearned) and Difficulty Level.
  • Primary Skill: Used at one Level above the current Character Level. They earn “Prime Experience” when used successfully.
  • Elective Skill: Start at Skill Level 2 and go up one Skill Level for every Level the Character advances.
  • Unlearned Skill: Always used at 1st Level.
  • Difficulty Level: The Difficulty Level for a skill is determined by its Difficulty Level Type, which can be Combat, GM Fiat, Helpers, Requisite Based, or Player Gambit.

• Death & Damage:

  • Life Points (LP): Represent physical health; damage from attacks is deducted from LP. Falling to 0 or below LP results in incapacitation, with varying degrees of severity.
  • Mystic Points (MP): Represent mental and spiritual energy. Mystic attacks typically target MP, potentially leading to mental and magical impairment.
  • Recuperation: Both LP and MP regenerate at a rate of +10% per Character Level per night of sleep.
  • Channeling: Characters can transfer MP to LP (and vice-versa) at a rate of +1 LP per 3 MP (or +1 MP per 3 LP) in emergencies.

• Mystic Powers:

  • Spells and Miracles: Mystic powers are categorized as Spells or Miracles, with each power having a Level that dictates its MP cost and learning requirements.
  • Mystic Combat: Uses MAL vs. MAC, with successful attacks usually inflicting Mystic Point damage.
  • Mystic Items: Mana Gems, Artifacts, and Relics are objects that hold and can enhance mystic power.
  • Mystic Power Crafting: GMs can create new Spells and Miracles by determining the values for Effect, Cast Time, Geometry, Duration, and Range.

Elthos RPG Comparison with other RPG Systems

Elthos RPG Comparison with other popular Tabletop RPG Systems in terms of rules efficiency

Core Mechanic:

Elthos uses a single d6 roll against a Chance to Succeed (CTS) for all actions. This is simpler than many other systems:

- D&D uses a d20 + modifiers vs. target number

- GURPS uses 3d6 roll under

- World of Darkness uses d10 dice pools

The Elthos system is quite efficient, as it uses a single die and a straightforward calculation.

Character Creation:

Elthos has a structured character creation process that's somewhat similar to other traditional RPGs. It's more detailed than some narrative-focused games (like FATE or Powered by the Apocalypse games) but less complex than systems like GURPS or Shadowrun.

Skills and Advancement:

The skill system in Elthos, with Primary, Elective, and Unlearned skills, offers a middle ground between very detailed skill systems (like GURPS or BRP) and broader approaches (like D&D 5e's proficiency system).

Combat:

Elthos offers both narrative and tactical combat options, which is a flexible approach. Many systems focus on one or the other. The combat system seems less complex than games like D&D or Pathfinder, which have many specific combat actions and rules.

Magic System:

The Mystic Powers system in Elthos appears to be more flexible and potentially simpler than the rigid spell lists in games like D&D. It's closer to systems like Mage: The Ascension or Ars Magica in its approach to magic creation.

Experience and Advancement:

Elthos uses a level-based system with experience points, similar to D&D, but with a more granular approach to skill improvement. This is more detailed than some systems but less complex than purely skill-based advancement systems.

Conclusion:

Overall, Elthos appears to strike a balance between simplicity and depth. It's more streamlined than highly complex systems like GURPS or Rolemaster, but offers more granularity than very rules-light systems like Lasers & Feelings or Risus.

The use of a single d6 for all rolls is particularly efficient, reducing the need for multiple dice types. The General Resolution Matrix (GRM) provides a consistent framework for resolving actions, which can help speed up play once players are familiar with it.

The system was designed to offer enough depth for satisfying character development and tactical play, while keeping the core mechanics relatively simple. This balance could make it more efficient than some popular systems, especially for groups that prefer a middle ground between narrative focus and detailed simulation.

 

What is a Homebrew RPG?

There I was enjoying a nice warm cup of java the other morning when the topic of Homebrew came up in conversation, as it often does. Some people were saying that they homebrewed their game by altering the rules of a popular RPG. After spewing some java out my nose, I let out an anguished cry. How can that be what you mean by Homebrew?! I asked incredulously. I was offered a few quips in reply, but nothing that was said assuaged my feeling that this really was not the right word for what they meant. So I'd like to clarify what I mean when I say "Homebrew" in relation to RPGs.

I started GMing in 1978 with my first World, and first rules system, both going by the name of Elthos RPG. The rules I created after a skim-reading of "Men & Magic", the first volume of the original three (and highly magical) D&D booklets. My rules system had a couple of design goals. One was to eliminate the odd zig-zag math used by OD&D. I wanted even charts with easy to remember values. The second goal was to centralize (what later became known as) Conflict Resolution. I created one centralized chart that pits Difficulty Level vs Skill Level for all possible skills. In this way I wanted to avoid the need for endless additional charts for all of the doodads I might want to add to Elthos over time. The goal was to create a Homebrew system that I could rely on to only change in ways that make sense for me as the GM, and to avoid being tethered to rules systems that would inevitably alter the nature of the world itself. Thus I would be able to maintain my world for a long time exactly the way I envision it, and my world's history would not be subject to the whims of TSR's rules editions over time.

These two design decisions resulted in a system that has served me well for 40+ years.

The second leg of Homebrew is the Setting. My world is my own creation. Sure, of course I borrow ideas from many sources, historical and literary, but there is no tether that is tied to any of them. As such my world's only cannon is it's own history. The reason I wanted it this way is to keep my players from being "in the know" about things in the world that would be much more entertaining as surprises, than facts they encountered elsewhere. To me this is much more fun for everyone.

So for me, the word "Homebrew" suggests a creation from more or less whole cloth by the Gamemaster. Filled with surprises and idiosyncrasies that make sense to their creators, and are not beholden or tied to some corporate behemoth. It is the freedom and versatility of Homebrew that attracts my ardor. I think from a creativity perspective Homebrew is definitely the way to go.

As for what I think the correct word for what was mentioned by my buddy online the other morning is "House Rule". Homebrew and House Rule are two different things. There is some overlap, of course, but they are really quite distinct in my mind.

What do you think? Am I right about this? What's your definition of Homebrew?

Elthos RPG - Mystic Powers

Today I want to talk briefly about the design of the Elthos RPG Mystic Power System because I think it may have some features that people don't know about, but might like. There's two aspects of importance here.  One is for the GM, and the other is for the Players.

I'll start with the Players.  First off there's two kinds of Mystic Powers: Spells and Invocations.  They both use Mystic Energy, measured in Points (Mystic Points) to cast or invoke.  So, the mechanical difference between the two is negligible, and the distinction is more for world organization than a distinct mechanical effect.  Spells are used by Magic Users, while Invocations are used by Clerics.  In the philosophical sense the Mystic Power is fueled and shaped in the first case by the Magician's personal Ego, where the Mystic is channeling their own Mystic Energy into the Spell and shaping it into the form they desire.  In the latter case, however, the Cleric is using their Mystic Energy to call upon their Elkron (the name by which Elthosian Deities are known), and if successful the Elkron themselves are being Invoked and it is their Power and their Will that is fueling and shaping the Mystic Energy.  So because of this, with some GM adjudication involved, and in some rare cases, the Clerical invocations can produce much greater variation in effect than what the typical Spell might produce... because the Elkron, depending on their Alignment, mood, and the circumstances, might cause the results to be larger (or smaller) and / or different than expected.  So Spells are more like scientific formulas that have a specific and known effect within a specific range of power.  Invocations, while usually conforming to expectations, don't necessarily do so.  This is especially the case when Fumbles or Critical Successes are involved.

Mechanically, Players get to flex their Mystic Powers.  They can do this by adding additional Mystic Energy than the normal cost of the Spell or Invocation.  They can then augment whatever properties of the power make sense given the power's nature, such as increasing it's Range, Duration, Damage or their Mystic Attack Level.  For example, a Fire Bolt is defined as follows:

Name	Fire Bolt
Cast-Time Units	Melee
Duration Units	Instant
Effect Units	Level 1 (1d6)
Geometry Units	Line / Bolt / Person
Range Units	Feet
Category	Combat
Type	Spell
Mystic Power Level	1
Alignment	Neutral
Description	Bolt of fire from hands or eyes that does 1d6 fire Damage to one opponent within Range. Bonus MP can be added to give a +1 Mystic Attack Level / MP, and/or +10' / MP Range, and/or +1 Damage / MP.

Fire Bolt costs 1 MP by default 1 MP to cast.  Like all Mystic Powers the default Range is 60'. If the Spell Chanter wants to extend its Range, an additional MP can be added to extend it to 70'.  If 2 MP are added the Range can be extended to 80'.  Or if more damage is desired additional MP can be added to increase the Damage Bonus.  Any combination of effects can be extended by adding Mystic Points, up to the limit that the Spell Chanter can cast into a single Spell (the limit is 2 x the Character Level). So a 4th Level Spell Chanter can cast a Spell with a Maximum of 8 Mystic Points.  In this case they could add 7 MP to their Fire Bolt, allowing, perhaps, +3 Damage, +20' Range, and +2 Attack Level. In other words, Characters can flex their Mystic Powers according to the properties of the Power.  Invocations, of course, work the same way... and behave like Spells, with the caveat that on Critical Hits and Fumbles they may do far greater unexpected effects than Spells are likely to do because the Elkron who is actually causing the effect has a vast amount of Mystic Energy they can potentially draw from, and possibly unanticipated motives for changing the effects accordingly.

For Gamemasters, building new Spells and Invocations is also something the system helps with by defining the the set of properties that make up all spells.  Those properties are listed above in the left hand column of the chart.  By defining these properties the Gamemaster can create any kind of Spell or Invocation with relative ease.  Doing things in this way also provides an relatively easy to way to compare Mystic Powers to assess what the relative Power Level should be.

In the case of the Fire Bolt above, its 1d6 Damage, simple Geometry, and short Range (measured in Feet, rather than Yards, Miles, or other distances), and other limited properties help to identify it as a Power Level 1 Spell.

So the nicety is that the definition of Powers helps the GM to ensure that the Powers are defined with appropriate Power Levels, which determines both how much they cost to learn in Mystic Learning Points (which are gained each Character Level) and how much they MP cost to Cast or Invoke.

Now the Big Idea here is that GMs will be creating their own Spells and Invocations for their own unique Worlds, and not using a specified Cannon of "Official" Mystic Powers delivered by Elthos RPG.  What Elthos does is provide a short list of example Powers from which the GMs are encouraged to extrapolate upon in order to fill out their own amazing Worlds.  In addition, the Mythos Machine allows GMs to Share their creations with other GMs on the system through the World Things Trading Post... a system that allows GMs to browse Powers, along with all other kinds of Things (weapons, armors, equipment, races, classes, etc) and "Import" the ones they like into their own Worlds.

And there you have it.  A brief description of how Mystic Powers work in the Elthos RPG.

https://elthos.com
#Elthos #Gamemaster #RPGTools #MagicSystem

Elthos RPG - The World's Ultimate Fantasy Heart-Breaker

Someone on G+ recently mentioned that they encountered Elthos a while back and thought it is "the world's ultimate Fantasy Heart-breaker".  While not entirely surprising, given the very long haul this project has taken, I nevertheless find it amusing.  I have to wonder if it's true.  After all... it could be.  Perhaps I can take pride in that somehow?  After all, being the "ultimate" anything is distinctive.  Hmmm...

As to whether or not it happens to be true... How would I know? I'm just the poor shlub who's been tinkering away this for the past 40 years.  And I'm pretty sure I will continue to tool away at it, quite happily, for the next 40 years.  More if I can manage it. Elthos is my art form, and as such, it's something I work on because I enjoy it.

As you may know, the Mythos Machine is a major piece of the Elthos Project.  Aside from the simple enjoyment I get from tinkering with the code, I tool away at it because I would like to fulfill my vision ... The main driver in this regard is my own sense of satisfaction in knowing I thought up something that seemed useful for the world of RPGs, and then went ahead and persevered with it until I achieved it. I'm a pretty stubborn person, and this kind of project seems suitable for my temperament. I started the project in 1978 with the creation of my homebrew Elthos RPG Rules, and in 1994 I conceived of a computer application to help me crunch the numbers for game prep and so taught myself databasing and programming.  Between then and now I've been chipping away at this concept in my off hours as my Once and Great Hobby Project.

By 2000 I had a Visual Basic 6 application that does a LOT of very cool stuff related to world building and character management.  I mean a LOT of wonderful features are packed into that program.  Even more than the Mythos Machine web application does, actually. For example, it has a map painter utility that integrates the combat rules so you can run the entire game pushing characters around on the map and combating them, taking into account weapons and armors, magic, movement, terrain, and every rule I use to run my games. It's pretty damn slick, if I do say so myself.  But as it was a Microsoft VB6 project, it has fundamental flaws and I was concerned about being able to support it if I sent it out into the wild.  So I decided to shelve it, and work on a web application instead, largely because it would have a much easier support model.  It also gave me a chance to start over from scratch with the code base.  That's the Mythos Machine.  I began that in 2006.  Now, 12 years later, I think it's ready for public consumption. It doesn't handle everything the VB application does, but handles most of it.  I will add the other pieces as time, resources and interest dictate.

I should admit that my expectation is not to sweep the RPG market and become rich on the back of Elthos RPG, though. To think that is even possible would be blatantly absurd, of course.  Even if it were hugely, enormously, outrageously successful, we're really talking about a tiny niche hobby, out of which I am trying to provide something of interest to an even tinier subset of GMs who happen to want to create their own Worlds (and would like comprehensive computer support with building and running their game Worlds, but that's a different kettle of fish, in relation to Elthos RPG, which I'm talking about in terms of it's success as a stand alone RPG).  Planning on becoming rich on that prospect would be akin to depending on winning lotto as a career plan. And if that were my goal, then yeah, I'd say I'd be likely to end up in Fantasy Heart-Breaker territory.  But that's not my expectation, so on that level I don't think this outcome is likely. Financial success would be nice, but is hardly necessary. That said, of course I would like people to take a look at what I've created because I honestly think it's worthwhile. But for my own sanity, I don't want to depend on that result, either.  I want to enjoy it for what it is, and leave the rest to fate, or destiny, or luck, or the Tao, or The Gods, or whatever.

“If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

But as far as money is concerned, I derived my entire programming career from this project, having taught myself programming so in order to work on it starting in 1994. I make a very decent living as a programmer/analyst, so I have to include that in my calculations as to how much money Elthos made for me.  Fact is, if it weren't for Elthos, I wouldn't ever have become a programmer ... this plus the fact that I've had a fabulous time Gamemastering Elthos and tinkering away at the Mythos Machine over the years... even without it being successful in the market, I think  I'm already way ahead. And I never borrowed money for the project so I don't owe anyone anything. It is very cheap to run, and I can keep it online at very little cost.  So, I'm not in a rush to make money on this thing.  I just want it to be done with as much excellence as I can put into it.

As I look at it, I've managed to successfully create something pretty awesome while avoiding all of the usual tricks, traps & "Imperial Entanglements" associated with Capitalist System.  Because of that I completely own Elthos. and so I am at perfect liberty to do with it whatever I want. And it does a great job for me. I use it to run my own games, and my friends have had a myriad hours of fun romping around Elthos killing monsters, taking their stuff, and saving (er, sometimes destroying) the world.  And that makes me happy, too.

What would be especially cool, though, is to find in the end that I added something to the world of RPGs that was not just some transient wisp of an idea, but something that really helps lift the hobby, overall, and in the long run. I think Mythos Machine as an innovative piece of RPG software has a shot at that. But that is not my goal for the projec,t either.  It would be a lovely if all goes well, but it's not the reason I work on it, either.  Again, I'd be crazy to assume that my work will be influential in the world of RPGs as there's waaaaaay too many brilliant people contributing far more popular ideas to the hobby than I am.  But still, I don't know too many who have stuck to creating RPG game prep software for their systems quite as doggedly as I have... so there's a chance that 'ere the end Elthos and the Mythos Machine will prove of some value to Gamemasters creating their own Worlds.  In this I do stand some chance of winding up in the Fantasy Heart-Breaker zone, but again, I'm not convinced of that either.  After all, even if no one uses it... I use it.  And to very good effect for my games.  So at the very least, I constructed a software system that helps me run my games.  I think that's pretty kickass, so I don't think I will wind up heartbroken if people don't wind up finding out about it.  Maybe that will turn out to be a cool thing in its own right... the only person in the world who uses a specific software application to run his world?  I don't know ... somehow I see kudos there.

But yeah, of course I hope Gamemasters will look into Elthos and find out how it and the Mythos Machine may be useful to them. And yes, I hope people support it so that I can keep improving it. Why not?

But, what I'm actually shooting for is something just as ridiculously improbable as financial success... probably more so...  I want to help encourage and foster human creativity.  I feel like we are living in a time where creativity and imagination are under direct assault by The Powers That Be.  Free thought is at a low ebb and there's way too many people who are all too willing to give up their own ideas and creative powers to those who claim to be the true arbiters of creative value.  I want to resist that because I think it's rubbish, and the Elthos Project is my way of doing that for myself, and a tool I want to offer others to help them do the same.  The Elthos Mission is all about exercising your own imagination. I know, I know ... you can stop laughing now.  I admit, it is an uphill battle.  But fortunately, the RPG community is bursting at the seams with people who already have the spark of creativity.  I just want to fan the flames and help inspire more of it.  Lots more.

Back when I started the project, I wanted to see if I could find a way to use computers to bring people together, rather than drive them apart and isolate them. I think I came up with this idea after seeing a film called Future Shock in the late 70's. I watched the movie and said to myself, "OMG, screw that. We can definitely do better".  In fact, the Elthos Project is kind of a big jab in the eye of the direction the Big Technologists have taken things over the past 50 years. Frankly, I want the world to go the other direction, and I want to try my best to inspire people to embrace their imaginations, and create fantastic, amazing, powerful, and wondrous Worlds of their own because I believe that it is the power of human creativity and imagination that will allow us to escape the Techno-Prison being rapidly constructed all around us. If I can help to inspire people to think for themselves and use their own minds and hearts and creativity then I will consider the Elthos Project a true success, even if it does nothing for my own personal fortunes. And we won't know if I managed to achieve that for a long time to come, actually. I do suspect I've had some modest success already with this, but I will have to leave that to future historians of RPGs to ultimately decide.  If' I'm lucky, my timing is good, and I can bring enough excellence to my work, then I hope to help people see the value of their own ideas... if I can do that I will have achieved my true objective.

Of course, in the end, since I owe no one anything, and have no need for Elthos to be successful, and have enjoyed the hell out of the thing for 40 years now, I'd have to say, it seems to me to be about as far away from a Fantasy Heart-Breaker as it could possibly be.  And even if I don't achieve my self appointed Prime Directive, at least I will have tried my absolute best.  And that's ok with me.  I feel proud of the fact that I worked towards a goal that I feel is worthy of my time and effort.  Whether or not people acknowledge that or find it useful... I can't control that.  So I leave it to destiny to work out.

So while some people may be thinking that Elthos is the ultimate Fantasy Heart-breaker, my opinion is that it is unlikely, and that the jury is still out on this anyway.  As far as I'm concerned it hasn't been anything other than a wonderful and wondrous hobby project for me all these years, and that I don't feel heart-broken about it. Nor do I think I am likely to, regardless of how things pan out in terms of its marketability the years to come.  It's been a great project, and I am having a tremendous amount of fun with it.  I expect to continue to do so ad infinitum.

Anyway, I just wanted to explain my viewpoint on that because someone recently mentioned that they had that idea that Elthos is "the world's ultimate Fantasy Heart-Breaker".  I found it amusing... but also I want to mention it was a bit confounding. Just the label itself seems intended to be discouraging.  I don't know who came up with that phrase or why, but what's wrong with people trying to put their projects out there in the public domain?  So what if they are not financially successful?  As long as they don't have freaky expectations of getting rich off of RPGs they should be safe from the dread doom of Fantasy Heart-Break.  I feel like I want to reject that label.  I don't like it.  I strikes me as a bit of a cruel thing to say about anyone's project, whether it is successful or not.

But who knows... it may turn out to be true in the end. Maybe I'm just fooling myself, and the work I'm putting into this project will be ignored by the community, it will have no success in the market, and I will eventually find myself heartbroken because of that.  Still though, I won't know that for a good long time, I suppose by then there's a good chance I'll be senile enough to really be enjoying myself in the World of Elthos!  Haha.  And in the meantime, I'm having fun and expect to continue doing so for a good long time.

I do hope you will take the time to look at Elthos RPG and the Mythos Machine. and decide for yourself if it is worthwhile, and potentially useful to you.  Enjoy.  :)

:)

My Take On Great RPG Design

I respectfully disagree with the concept of game design that says "the world has to be created so that it's fun for the players". Nope. Don't agree. I know that sounds totally counter intuitive. However, the best world's I've ever played in were not designed with that in mind at all. They were designed from the point of view of the NPCs who existed in the world before the PCs ever showed up. They created the civilization, the cities and towns, the dungeons, the culture, the artifacts, the tricks and traps, and everything else for their own pleasure, and for their own purposes. When the PCs showed up we were challenged by the world in ways that would be antithetical to the game design being proposed, and it would have been a lot less fun for us. The world was a deadly place, and we often got slaughtered. But in most cases it was due to bad luck, which we accept because it's a game of dice and bad luck happens, or bad decisions, which we accept because we all make bad decisions sometimes. In either case, the victories we had were earned, and they were usually the result of good decisions and/or good luck. We enjoyed the world immensely. And no, it was not in the least bit designed for our pleasure. It was definitely out to kill us (euphemistically speaking). In other words, the world's logic was based on the goals, desires and resources of the NPCs who created the conditions. If traps were deadly, it's because the NPCs who created them were not stupid. The traps were intended to be deadly to keep people like us out. But we were resourceful, persistent, and determined. As anguish-inducing as our defeats may have been, our victories were glorious. And that's what made it a great world, and the GM, David Kahn (RIP) such a great GM.

My own World  works on this principal as well.  Sometimes my players are miffed by the fact that their missions are not as successful as they had wanted.  But in most cases the reason for it is that they made poor choices, or had bad luck, and usually both.  In other cases they work through the challenges and achieve their desired victory.  But one thing I've noticed, the players who don't give up and say "that's not fair" are the ones who actually enjoy the game most.

https://elthos.com

Tolkienian Magic

I was on Imzy today browsing around and OculusWriter asked a question which got me thinking...

"Discovering how magic systems work can be the most geek-worthy part of reading fantasy stories. Do you enjoy one detailed magic system, or many interlocking ones? Let's spark some awesome! Share your favorite magic system moments!"

Here's my reply:

---

My preference is for Tolkienian Magic ... as discussed here ...http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/lordoftherings/magic/principles.html

While I have yet to work out exactly how I wish to implement this in my World via The Mythos Machine (http://elthos.com) I do plan to do so sometime within the next ... oh ... eon or so. Hopefully. At any rate, that's the style I would like my system to embody for at least one of my Worlds.

The hard part is divorcing from the standard, which is this kind of awful focus on Weaponized Spells, such as Fire Ball and Lightning Bolt. Really overt Kill-Magic. Nothing could be less magical, in my mind, than a "Magic User" standing there and casting a Fire Ball from his fingers. Magic should be cloaked, mysterious, unfathomable, even while adhering to it's own occult laws.

How to get there from here is my challenge. I accept. Just don't expect me to work it out quickly. I don't do anything quickly, it seems. Ah well... I must learn to accept this and keep plodding. Maybe my totem animal is the tortoise.

---

Of course one of the biggest problems with implementing Tolkienian Magic is that Wizards are extremely rare, and are in fact celestial avatars named Istari, and manifest in the world for the specific purpose of fulfilling Illuvitar's Almighty Vision. There are only five of them in Arda. So ... that kind of puts a damper on the whole "I wanna play a magic user!" kind of thing, if I develop my system based on Tolkien's vision of Magic. For Tolkien's Arda it makes perfect sense, and goes a long way to making magic balance in his world.

The problem with the standard RPG model is that were a world like that to actually exist, it would very likely get torn apart by competing magical forces and factions, and would rapidly devolve into chaos and insanity. Read OD&D's magic list and think. What would our world be like if during the medieval era something like 20% of people had access to this list of spells? And magic items? In my mind I see a world of fire and ice, and endless intrigues and destruction untold. My guess is that if you toss in mythical monsters, and powerful evil forces... yeah... I kind of think we'd not have a world for long. It would be overrun by monsters, and the last straw to seal the deal would be human pride, greed and lust of power. So as I see it, magic as D&D posits it is only workable because GMs curtail what the evil forces of the world would actually do with it. Otherwise, we'd not have a game for very long. And that's the only reason magic of this sort works in RPGs.

So the first thing to tackle would be to figure out how to have a world of very rare magic, and very rare magic users, and not unbalance the game to the point where the players feel like they can't have all the fun they want. After all, at least 20% of my players want to play Magic Users.

So ... how to get there from here ... It's a puzzler. But this would be the first step at least in the process of working out how to turn Tolkienian Magic into an RPG system. So catch me in an eon or two and I think I'll have worked it out by then, possibly. In the meantime, any thoughts you may have are quite welcome! :)

A Few Thoughts on Mini-System RPGs

I'm going to cobble this together as a Blog Post for the record because I think it's an interesting point regarding Mini-Systems.   Originally this was intended to be a response to a blog post, but Google+ posted it as a new thread to my public stream.  Mmm... okay.   So here's the google+ post for reference:

https://plus.google.com/109710694905703914607/posts/G3jHBWDJ6EL

 

The responses were interesting.  I want to encapsulate and paraphrase the main points here.

 

Naturally, it is an each to his own hobby.  

 

That said, what I like about my Elthos RPG Mini-System is speed of play.  

 

Bannister commented that he doesn't like Low Stats Systems ... "I can't fathom a character in a distilled system that can match anything except generic Hero Archetypes...  most players don't like to use it for character creation. too bland."

 

As far as it limiting players ability to define their characters, we've found to opposite to be true here.  My players enjoy the flexibility of loosely defined non-critical attributes, and role play their characters based on their personality and goals, rather than attributes and class.  The speed of play aspect is of such a benefit that I feel that the advantages far out-weight the disadvantages.  But again, each to his own.  I would say this is not the game for those who are very focused on technical rules of the game, but rather for those who enjoy a certain amount of gamism, but also, and possibly a little bit more, enjoy the story aspect.  The system leaves a lot to the creativity of the players by keeping the rules flexible and simple.  When questions arise, the GM adjudicates.  That's the nature of it, and it works well for my group.  Nothing at all against your group or your style of play, of course.  It's all good, as long as people are having fun.

 

Nuff said.  Just wanted to record this for future reference, least it get lost in the Great Google+ Miasma, since I think its' an interesting point.  

Some Rumminations On the Never Ending Revisions of D&D

I have been following this thread on Google+: Original Post ... One of the later comments by Vincent Florio caught my eye:

"The newer the editions AKA "the more crap they pile into the books, and the less imagination is needed.. its all presented for you... no need to think. If its not written, it can't happen." Editions."

Which got me thinking ...

This trend started, I suppose, with AD&D, and continued at pace with a steady stream of new editions, total rewrites, and world-crushing changes every few years.

But for Pete's sake - Why?  Because, I suppose, that was TSRs business model, and WotC/Hasbro have simply kept the thing going in the original and most obvious direction. Nothing new under the sun here. If your business model is "we sell rules books for a game" then you're going to have to update, change, re-write, and new-ify your rules every so often, or you will go out of business. So every few years you're going to have to tacitly admit "The old rules from last version totally suck! But our NEW Rules are teh Awesome!" Over and over again. Of course.  It's obvious.

D&D rules went from a relatively light weight game with three small (but highly magical) booklets, to a heavy weight game with many books, tons of rules and tons of (needless) complexity. They then realized how sucky all that was and came up with the next edition, which promised to be much better, except it wasn't. It just was sucky in different ways. Why? Because it's too complicated. So the next edition had to be produced. This one also sucked, but in totally different ways than the previous two. Each time it seems they fixed some things, and broke other things. And each version, of course, has some people who learned that Edition first, and so for them it's "home", and they like it. And that's a good thing. It's kept the hobby alive. And I'm glad for that. It's a fun hobby and I think it's fabulous. I like it to thrive. So don't get me wrong - though I'm complaining about it, I also am glad it happened. 

This was not the only possible business model for TSR/WotC/Hasbro, by the way... but it's the one they chose, and the one everyone lives with.  My beef with it is that it could have been better than this.

On the positive side had they chosen a more efficient business model there may not have been room for the Godzillions of Indie RPGs coming out all the time. There might not have been a need for them.  So that's another good thing that came out of the mess.

Ah? What would the alternative business model have looked like? Ok. I think I have an idea... It could have focused first and foremost on working out an actual rules system that is clean, elegant, flexible, modular and efficient.  Step 2 would have been to produce modules that could be plugged into anyone's world, free of timelines, and any kind of backstory roots so that each GM could use the module for it's ideas and characters, and flexibly modify it's backstory to fit into their own world. But of course, I don't think they considered it. Meanwhile, the modules market died off quite some time ago.  It seemed robust at first, but then for some reason people stopped buying D&D Modules.  I'm not quite sure why, but I asked around, and the answers I got went something like "I couldn't easily figure out how to fit it into my World... so I started making my own adventures and that worked fine for me after I got the hang of it."   Hmmm... interesting.  Does that mean there's no market for Modules?  I suspect there is a market for them.  If they are done right.  That's just a hunch, though, and I'm far from certain about that.  I might experiment around with the idea and see if there's anything to my theory.

Anyway, I think that this was Gary Gygax's vision for the future of RPGs but I suspect it got derailed by the business forces that assumed control of TSR and kicked him off the board. So after that they didn't quite run the thing into the ground, but more like they ran it into the misty fens and it's been slowly grinding away there ever since.  Revision after revision of something-fixed-something-broke.  Or something like that. That's my take on it, anyway. Frankly, I never really got that into the various Editions of D&D because I had taken a different Gamesmastering path from the outset.

Homebrewers from the days of old foresaw all of this and avoided it by following Gygax's advice from the introduction of 'Men & Magic'.

"These rules are as complete as possible within the limitations imposed by the space of three booklets. That is, they cover the major aspects of fantasy campaigns but still remain flexible. As with any other set of miniatures rules they are guidelines to follow in designing your own fantastic-medieval campaign. They provide the framework around which you will build a game of simplicity or tremendous complexity your time and imagination are about the only limiting factors." - Gary Gygax, Men & Magic, p. 1

We interpreted this to mean that we should take the first three D&D books as a template and build our own systems from there.  "Grown your own".  So we did.

I remember discussing the future of RPGs with one of my fellow GMs back in 1978 and we concluded that the TSR business model would inevitably lead to exactly what happened. We shrugged and said "We have our own worlds and our own systems to run them. Tether us not to thy never-ending revisions, oh TSR! We deny thee!" and that was that.  We were staunchly Anti-TSR.  Happily GMing our homebrews ever after.

Naturally, I encourage GMs to do likewise. And it certainly seems that many do. Which is why the Indie RPG scene is so robust, I think. As for the rest - hey, you know what? If you have fun and enjoy it, then you're doing it right. There is no such thing as "BadWrongFun" in my opinion. Just remember, though, if you ever wind up feeling stuck ... there's plenty of alternatives out there.  And Grow Your Own is one of them.  Just go back to Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and Wilderness Adventures and fix the bugs your own way.  The possibilities of a simple and elegant solution to RPG rules are myriad, and probably infinite.   Try it.  You might just find you really enjoy creating your own rules.  I did.  It was fun.  And I'm kinda a fan of what I put together.  It certainly works for me.  And my players have over the years given me plenty of reason to believe that my system works wonders.  So ... I encourage my fellow GMs to try it.  Grow Your Own.  It's great.

As for Vincent's point, I agree... it certainly does seem that they are progressively removing the need for people to use their own imagination, and attempting to provide us with a system that allows us not to have to think.   It's a failed proposition, of course, and counter to all that is good about RPGs, but that almost seems besides the point.  It fits their business model, which now has advanced to a new level of retardation.  Not only is it imperative that they change the rules, but they seem to also have  concluded that they must dummy down the rules in order to expand their customer base outward to those who have no imagination to begin with.  What we might call "The Ignorant Masses".  I suspect that WotC has decided that those people absolutely need a rules system to tell them exactly what to do, how to do it, what to think, and how to imagine everything.   Of course they haven't gone quite that far, and so there's room for creativity in the game... but there's a trend at work here, and I think Vincent put his finger on the pulse of the thing.   WotC/Hasbro seems to have come to the conclusion that they should be making a pencil and paper tabletop video game, because that will expand their customer base.  LOLRZ.

On the other hand, WotC might not agree that this is what they are doing.  I wouldn't be surprised if the designers of D&D E5 are highly convinced that it really is a great new system that solves the problems of all the previous Editions.   But then again I also wouldn't be surprised if they're not sitting in the back room groaning about the Pointy Haired Boss and how many bone-headed things they were forced to do to keep Upper-Upper-Upper Management happy.   I'd certainly be curious to be a fly on the wall over there at D&D HQ and actually find out what they're really thinking.   But from my point of observation it does seem like things went off the rails long ago, and that's pretty much why.  In the same way that the rules of a game are determinant of how the Players will behave, the business model of a company is determinant of how its products will evolve.   And this business model was just plain BadWrongFun.

Thoughts on Professional Gamesmastering

I'm interested in exploring the concept of Professional Gamesmastering.  I'd like to start by saying that I've done it myself several times, and it's been both a fantastic experience, and to some degree profitable.  You can read my notes on it here:  http://elthos.com/ProGM/ProGM.aspx

I'd be curious to hear what others think of the concept, and if anyone else has managed to make money Gamesmastering.

Where I'm going with this is ... I think the future holds in store for us the opportunity for a much more dynamic form of entertainment than simply going to the movies or playing video games.  The problem with these activities is that they are essentially passive.   Yes, even playing a video game is passive in the sense that you're not really creating something, but are following along in the groove of someone else's creation.   I'm thinking of first person RPGs like World of Warcraft.   In that style of game you are in someone else's world.   Yes, you can run around and do stuff in that world, but you can't really help to create it, nor can you really affect it very much by your actions.  That kind of gaming, while obviously far more active than a movie, is still passive in comparison to your average run-in-the-mill tabletop RPG.   In those games you participate in the creation of the actual history of the world.  You are, as it were, a main character in that story.  And that's a lot of what makes it so great.

In the future I believe we will have the tools, and I'm working on one aspect of that with the Elthos RPG system, that will allow for a much more dynamic form of interactive gaming.  Roll20 has brought us into a collaborative virtual gaming space and that's a big step in the direction I'm pointing to.  The next step, I believe, will be an online utility that parallels Roll20 and allows Gamesmasters to create their Worlds online, and play out campaigns in that world.   The Elthos Gamesmaster's Toolbox and World Weaver's Studio is designed to make Creating Worlds, and Gamesmastering them much easier by providing Gamesmastering functions that handle the number crunching and record keeping, leaving the Gamesmaster free to do the more creative work involved with story and world development.

Finally, I envision a further phase in which these worlds are tied to graphics engines that allow the Players and GMs to go fully into their Virtual Worlds en mass, and play in ways that games like WOW don't quite allow (yet).  With Live Gamesmasters who not only run the major NPCs (and mostly act like Admins in an IRC Chat Channel), but allow them to manage a large number of groups of players in their Worlds - all with the same virtues of tabletop RPGs, but with the added advantages of stability (ie - not losing track of stuff), accuracy (the computer does the number crunching), transparency (the computer could allow people to determine who did what when, and what the odds were / are), and enjoyment of mind blowing visualizations of people's worlds.

This all will give rise, I hope and believe, to a class of Professional Gamesmasters.  These people will have a combination of necessary skills to entertain large numbers of people with fantastic worlds, and exciting adventures in an online environment that I suspect will be emerging in the next decade or so.   The skills necessary for Professional Gamesmastering involve knowing the tools, as well as all of the current challenges that GMs face, such as social skills, math skills, knowledge of history, of story arcs and character development, and of the ability to improvisationally represent multiple non-player characters as well as monsters (to name a few off the top of my head).  Yes, there's a lot of skills required for the successful Gamesmaster.   But mastering those skills is incredibly rewarding.  And I would love to see a future in which those Gamesmasters who excel in their art are also able to be rewarded financially as well, so that they can take the hobby to the next level and make it into an experience that extends and enhances the entertainment possibilities for society.

Yes, people will still read books.  I know I will.  But I would also really enjoy being able to play the hero of a story that I am helping to create in a fantastic virtual world whose concepts I would never have imagined on my own.   And that, friends, I'd be willing to pay for.  I think many other people would, too.  And that would be the basis for starting to think about Professional Gamesmastering as a serious pursuit.

Would you be interested in a gig as a Professional Gamesmaster if the tools and infrastructure were available to you?   I would.   Would you be interested in participating in the advancement of this concept?  I would.

I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on this!  

Elthos RPG Weapons Skills Selection Update

My play testers have consistently identified areas that need further genericization in order to make a truly generic RPG game system that allows GMs to configure their worlds in whatever way they want. This is of course one of my primary objectives, and I'm grateful to my Play Testers for pointing out areas that need improvement.

One of those areas was the Edit Weapons feature. Previously I had no way to associate weapons directly with skills. However, since having learned skills for weapons usage affects the Attack Level calculations, it was necessary to include some code that associates certain weapons with certain Skills. An example was "Ranged Weapons". When the Character is using a "Missile" Weapon the code would go and look to see if that Character had learned "Ranged Weapons", and if so they got the correct Attack Level calculated. The problem was that this was quite brittle, and requires every GM to have a "Ranged Weapons" skill in their world, or missile weapons would not get calculated correctly. As long as the GM kept "Ranged Weapons" then everything was ok. But what if they want to change the name, or split it into alternative sets of Ranged Weapons, such as "Hand Guns" vs "Bows", which if you think about it, are two completely different skills.

Therefore I modified the site to allow GMs to associate Weapons with whatever "Combat" skills are in their World. Did you add a Combat Skill for "Butterfly Knives"? Ok, so now you can add a Weapon named Butterfly Knives and associate those to the Skill. Thus, when the Character purchases their Butterfly Knives and learns the Skill, he will have the correctly calculated Attack Level.

This was a very solid advance as it allows GMs much greater flexibility to define their Worlds the way they want.

On RPG Systems, Rules and Homebrews

Preface - upon re-reading I have found out a few things about the history of our beloved hobby that I didn't know until quite recently, and happen to have altered some of the views I express in this writing. I expect to continue to do so over time, and so I may edit this with additional notes as new understandings arise.

When I got started with D&D in 1978 we had three little booklets to work off of. 'Men & Magic', 'Monsters & Treasure', and 'Wilderness Adventures'. I still have my copy of those rules. I find in the introduction paragraph our great sage and leader, Gary Gygax included the following note.

"These rules are as complete as possible within the limitations imposed by the space of three booklets. That is, they cover the major aspects of fantasy campaigns but still remain flexible. As with any other set of miniatures rules they are guidelines to follow in designing your own fantastic-medieval campaign. They provide the framework around which you will build a game of simplicity or tremendous complexity your time and imagination are about the only limiting factors."

In that spirit many of us pioneering Gamesmasters in the old days, before AD&D came out, created our own worlds, and our own rules systems. In fact in my town we had a fledgling Gamesmaster's Society and the entry criteria was "Anything but Gygax". We could use the three books as a basis, but every GM was expected to come up with their own version, fixing what we all considered to be fundamental design flaws in the original system. I did likewise, and within a month or two had worked out what I felt was a coherent, and easy to manage, flexible, and elegant solution to what I thought was the most fundamental design flaw of all in original D&D. The flaw was a function, I felt, of the TSR business model. I'll get back to that in a minute.

We had another reason for wanting to create our own rules systems. Early on GMs noticed that some Players had a tendency to want to rules lawyer the games, and second guess the GMs (see note 1 below). So when a monster was sighted, the Rules Lawyer in the group would know all the stats of the thing, and have a good technical idea of how to maximize the party's chances of beating it. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. But we GMs didn't care for it. We felt it kind of ran against where we wanted to go with the game. Which was toward story, not towards mechanics. We wanted the Players to focus on their Characters personalities, motives, and relationships, not their stats. A lot of people later on said that D&D was not designed for story, it was designed for Gaming. Well, I somewhat beg to differ on that. It was the first attempt towards what I will refer to as Story-Gaming. Before that the closest thing we had was Chainmail, which was a medieval military war game that used miniatures, and had very specific combat rules, and was indeed Gameist in nature. But D&D was a first shot at a more Story oriented game. It definitely is Gamist in that it had rules based loosely off of Chainmail, but it's concept was to merge game and story. At least that's how we all took it in those days. As such I would say that D&D was by design intent a Story-Game based on was Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings'.

To return to my earlier point, the fundamental design flaw was the TSR business model.  It ran against the grain of the Story-Game orientation of the original intent.  The business model, of course, was to sell rules books.  And to justify those sales the rules, I knew intuitively, would have to become more complex, and continuously change.  This would, of course, cause us GMs to have to alter our Worlds as the rules systems changed.  Magic?  Totally changed.  But if I had a world where famous Characters had used certain mystic powers to defeat an ancient threat, but those mystic powers were no longer in Rules Version 8.3... what would I do?  I'd freak out, that's what.  I wanted from the beginning a continuous long term campaign that wouldn't be vulnerable to the vagaries, flaws and alterations that would inevitably come down from TSR over the years.  I'm sure that other GMs who I knew felt the same way at the time.

And so what we wanted was a simple, flexible rules system that would allow us to play out RPG Stories. We didn't want it to get in the way. We didn't want it to take over and become the primary focus. In fact, to avoid that effect we not only created our own rules, but we often obscured them away from the players. For many years I hid my rules from my Players. I hid their Character's stats from them, too. Instead of giving them a number for their Character's Strength, I would simply say, "He's stronger than average", "She's wiser than the hoot owl", "He's a clumsy oaf, but has the gift of gab", and so on. Guess what? The players absolutely didn't mind. I explained that I wanted the game to focus on story, and they were cool with that.

It wasn't for many years that I finally let my Players in on the rules. I did so because my interests evolved. I wanted to work on certain aspects of the rules system to iron them out, and balance them. To do that I wanted Player feedback. I explained, "I'm going to share the rules with you guys, and I would like to get your feedback on them in relation to combat tactics and game balance." They were totally cool with that, too. And so for the remainder of my GMing time I've been ironing out, simplifying and balancing them, with my Players help. It's been great. I know use a 1d6 system with one central General Resolution Matrix. Actually, the GRM I came up with back in 1978, but the 1d6 system was something I worked out between 2006 and 2013. (Don't rush me, I'm a slow poke).

After AD&D the industry took the expected turn for the worse in terms of rules complexity and what I think could fairly be called Anti-Modularity.  Every system that came out was more complicated than the last, while purporting to fix the flaws of the previous system.  Instead of tweaking towards simplicity the designers chose to revamp towards complexity.  That's ok.  There's a lot of folks who adore one or more of those systems, and don't mind the periodic World-overhaul involved with changing the systems.  For me, though, and GMs of my ilk, it just didn't quite cut it.  I guess it's because we were there in the beginning, saw the original rules and a launching point for our own systems, and went at it with a gusto.  I've seen a myriad of wonderful variations on original D&D.   Many of them were enormously creative adaptations.  I've even co-opted a few of the ideas I found along the way.   You'll find, for example, a certain resemblance between the numerics of my magic system and that of David Kahn's Telthanar.  ;)  Overall, I'm pro-Homebrew.  While I'm not anti-other-systems, I have a definite preference for the local variety of creativity that comes with designing your own RPG rules system.

The upshot is that I'm interested in what other Homebrew style GMs have done over the past 30 years. If you've created and are running a homebrew system, drop a line. I'd love to hear about it!

---

Notes:
1. According to Men & Magic Introduction p.4 - If you are a Player, the author (Gygax / Arneson) approves and recommends you read the rules in order to gain "great advantage" during the game that might otherwise evade you. "A quick check of some rule or table may bring hidden treasure or save your game 'life'". Hence at the very beginning it seems Gygax encouraged (without so much as realizing it, perhaps) Rules Lawyering and Munchkinism. This in fact has to have been (I think) an outcome of the TSR business model - sell as many rules books as possible, which necessarily (and unnecessarily) spawned many evils. Naturally, Gygax wants to encourage Players to buy the rules as the expectation was that there would be 20 Players for each Referee, and TSR would rely on rules book sales to generate revenue for the company. Wouldn't you encourage Rules Lawyers, too? I'm sure we all would. Unfortunately. On the other hand things could have gone differently, but that's a topic for another blog post.

Wisdom vs. Intelligence

There are some people in life who are very intelligent, perhaps super-genius-level mental giants... who also happen to be unwise.  Despite all of that amazing brain power, they still make unbelievably foolish decisions.   I know several such people in the real world.  One I'm thinking of was studying to be both a doctor and a lawyer... because she could.  She had the brains to memorize and cogitate all of that stuff.  Amazing.  But then she married a biker who wound up screwing up her life and things went south from there.   Oh well.  She amounted to nothing.   But is still amazingly smart at math and figures and history and geology and all sorts of facts based things.

Conversely there are some people who are wise, but not particularly good at things that involve Big-Brains.  But they make good life decisions, and are happy people, enjoying their less brainy pursuits patiently and without stress or life-disabling anxiety.  They are peaceful souls.

So that brings to mind that in my original Elthos RPG system I used to have two Requisites, one for Intelligence and one for Wisdom, which of course was gleaned from the original D&D rules.  Intelligence was what Spell Chanters want, while Wisdom is what Clerics want.  This too was a bit overly simplified, in the sense that there could also be evil clerics, who also make very very bad life decisions.   You know the type.  Evil, wicked Clerics can do a lot of harm to others as well as themselves, raising undead, sacrificing virgins to nameless deities from the black depths, you know that sort of guy.  So it's actually really not quite right that the Cleric should, as a class, require a high requisite.  Maybe it should be that the Cleric if Good requires high, but if Evil requires low.   So the rule might be better stated as Clerics require an Extreme Wisdom, either high or low.

Now, all of this is kind of a problem for me in my new, revised, and vastly shrunk-down-to-size version of my rules system, named Elthos "One Die System".  It uses, of course you can tell, one six-sided die.  And it also has far fewer requisites... in fact the absolute minimum I could get away with.   Strength (which covers Constitution, and Endurance), Wisdom (which covers Intelligence), and Dexterity (which covers in my old system Agility).  I dispensed with Appearance, Voice and Charisma altogether.   So the ODS has three requisites.   And each of the four classes requires some minimum combination of those, as per usual for traditionalist style RPGs.

But with only one requisite, Wisdom, it makes it a bit of a challenge.  How do I, mechanically, handle the distinction between Clerics and Spell Chanters?   Well, in the ODS I don't.  I just use the same Requisite, and we kind of glide along with that, with the distinction being simply the Player's option when selecting Character class, and the slight difference that Spell Chanters require a minimum of 4 (out of 6), while Clerics require a minimum of 5 Wisdom to be eligible for those classes.   After two years of continuous play testing it has actually never shown up as a problem, nor have the Players expressed any concern about it.

So how much does it matter?   It depends.   If you are playing a Simulationist style game (see GNS Theory), it would probably matter a lot more than if you're playing a Narativist game.   In my case, since I tend toward Narativism over Simulationism, it's ok.   For other GMs it might not be ok.   But for me and my merry band of Players it's been nothing but fun, and so I'm inclined to keep the system the way it is.   With the possible exception of adopting this idea that Evil Clerics must have a low Wisdom, while Good Clerics must have a high Wisdom.

What Good Are RPGs, Anyway?

RPGs as Escapism

Life in the new millennium is fraught with stresses produced by a rapidly changing, often shocking, and at times highly dangerous environment. Stress and danger, however, are not new to modernity. The notion that we would want, and perhaps need, a mental escape from life's stress is not new either, as many have postulated the same through the ages, and pretty much most forms of entertainment are to varying degrees forms of escapism. Added relatively recently to the catalogue of forms of entertainment known to man was the Role Playing Game.  A wonderful invention, indeed.   And clearly, RPGs serve the need for escapism, and this may even be its primary and most useful function.

However, if the RPG is merely a form of escapism then it could be argued that it is no better than doing drugs, rendering one impotent in the real world in proportion to the level of escape achieved. Escapism could be a more than a mere vacation from harsh reality - it could become an unhealthy, and ultimately anti-social, civilization-diminishing addiction. One might even argue that people who spend their time escaping reality will not help to resolve the problems of the real world, and therefore it not only provides no benefit to or enhancement of civilization, but is completely counter productive. Of course, to make that argument is to argue against all forms of escapist entertainment, of which RPGs are merely one.

If escapism is all that they really amount to then it casts a rather gloomy pall over the whole concept of the RPG and I think I might be persuaded to oppose it on principal. However, I am of the opinion that civilization requires alert, energetic and engaged minds to maintain and advance, and that a certain amount of escapism is actually good for people.  It is also interesting to note what Tolkien once said on this subject. 

"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!"

S. Lewis was also fond of humorously remarking that "the usual enemies of escape are ... jailers".  I am of the opinion that escapism is actually a healthy and life-enhancing activity, but like everything else, can be taken too far.  So for this purpose RPGs are pretty darn good.   Escape to a Fantasy World for an afternoon, and enjoy adventures that would otherwise be impossible to you.  It's fun.  And, if not taken to an extreme, good for your mind.

RPG: Some Rationals for Justification

It seems to me that there is fundamentally more to RPGs than mere escapism. And for this reason I should like to argue in favor of considering what use RPGs may have for the advancement of individuals and civilization as a whole, and in so doing deflect some of the spurious claims made against RPGs, and attempt to address some of the legitimate concerns which have surfaced.

The principal rationales that come to my mind that could justify the existence and popularity of RPGs are:

• That it is necessary that some time be spent in mental escape from dull or harsh realities in order to rejuvenate the mind.
• That it is advisable that some portion of the population that is not able to tackle the actual real issues of the world be offered some means of mental escape least they suffer an incapacitating crisis of stress.
• That RPGs are not mere escapism but provide a useful function for the advancement of individual mental capabilities, and thereby civilization in general.

Lets consider each of these in turn.

RPG As Mental Spa

To the first point, it is entirely possible that modern stresses and challenges to the psyche are of such intensity that some form of temporary mental escape may be considered a useful mechanism for the rejuvenation of the mind. One might call into question, however, if RPGs are the best mechanism for this effect, as meditation may be much preferred for this purpose. RPGs, after all, can be quite stressful… it is not like watching a field of flowers grow to have your beloved Character threatened to be mashed by the claws of an outraged and hostile red dragon. So if RPGs themselves can produce stress, albeit of a different nature than “real life”, will they really provide a rejuvenating function? This, doubtless, would depend on the nature of the RPG being played in the same way that some movies produce peaceful and happy feelings, while others leave one in a state of noxious anxiety.

However, let us suppose that some RPGs may result in mental rejuvenation. We might think of such RPG games as something like a spa for the mind; a mental workout, which in the end leaves one refreshed and ready to come back and tackle the problems of the real world with renewed vigor. Those seeking mental rejuvenation would naturally gravitate towards such RPG worlds. Which is not to say that all RPG worlds would provide this effect, but that RPGs in general have the potential to do so. If this is the case then a reasonable argument can be made for the potential, if not actual, usefulness of RPGs along these lines.

RPG As Bread & Circus

The second point, that some portion of the population should and must be offered means of mental escape from life's harsh realities is another possible rational. It may be that mass escapism is a requirement of a healthy society. Thus, for those grinding against a harsh reality in such a way as to cause themselves more harm than good, an alternative is available.  RPGs could be seen as a means by which those who can not directly effect the course of affairs of the world may find an escape from the real-world stress, and for them that may be a valuable service. As such, RPGs may be thought of as merely another form of entertainment, like a TV show, or a movie or a novel.

Conversely, one could dispute this by arguing that if everyone did fully participate in the solving of the issues of our time that we could achieve even greater heights of civilization. In this case, escapism, we would argue, would merely be a means by which the masses could be lulled into complacency and denuded of moral and social vigor. The RPG might be considered a form of mental opium, and the argument for its use, like that of the Bread & Circus of Rome, could be construed as a means by which those in power could seek to keep the masses from actively participating in the real world. While this indeed would be deplorable, it would be no more so than any other form of modern entertainment. In fact, were we to accept this argument, we would have to consider the RPG as merely an extension of already existing forms of Bread & Circus in every form of entertainment we have ever had as a civilization.   That seems absurd, and so I think this argument fails the "reasonable people would agree" test.

However, one could imagine Virtual-Reality Massive Online Role-Playing Games (VR-MORG)s of the not too distant future, which may become so “realistic” and graphically addictive that millions play them in order to escape an otherwise dull or grim reality. A world ruled by techno-elites in which the VR-MORG version of RPGs could be used to produce socio-political lethargy in the masses. Perhaps we are already beginning to see this effect in the players of MORGs already present online. The imagination staggers and quails before a vision of millions upon millions of glassy-eyed VR-MORG addicts wearing their Sense-Around Helmets, completely sedated by a virtual fantasy landscape outside of which they are subjected to the humiliation of utter and hopeless defeat in the real world.   The ultimate in divide and conquer.  There was, actually, a Star-Gate episode I saw that posited this exact scenario.

I think we should all glare in horror at this possibility. Yet it is one possibility that must be noted, accounted for, and summarily terminated before it can take root. Nor does it mean that just because such a possiblity exists that we should eliminate RPGs, as some pessemistic far-thinkers might conclude.  Would it not be preferable to seek to find their benefits and encourage them toward better more life-affirming implementations?  By advancing superior alternatives and conceptions, we could prevent the RPG from evolving in the dread direction.  Naturally, it will be up to game designers of the future to determine how to make RPGs life and civilization affirming, rather than the opposite.

RPG As Mind Enhancing Pursuit

Conversely, this brings us to the third point. What positive gain might be had from the RPG, and how might the RPG be used to advance civilization rather than undermine and destroy it? Before I explore that possibility let’s step back for a few moments and review what the RPG is in essence.

I would argue that children who play Cops and Robbers, or Cowboys and Indians (and presumably in the middle ages, Knights and Knaves, and in ancient times Warriors and Savages, etc), are in fact role-playing, without the name, and without the organization that usually attends a modern, formal RPG. The act of pretending to be, and performing with ones childhood playmates like a Cowboy is in and of itself role-playing. What the RPG does, that Cowboys and Indians does not, is assign specific rules to encounters, provides an adjudication method that resolves the actions, and is more complex in that it also calls for, relative to the imaginary play of children, a certain amount of knowledge, organization, and skill.

Furthermore, I would suggest that games, first and foremost, from a broad sociological perspective, are tools for learning. Even in the animal kingdom we see that games constitute an essential learning tool. Cubs play at hunting, and learn from those experiences. Children play at being Cops and Robbers and learn from those experiences. What children learn by playing Cops and Robbers? Physical skills, social interaction skills, moral lessons, tactics, team play, problem solving, and of course, how to use their imaginations. All of which provides substantial benefits to the individuals and society as a whole.  It is perfectly natural, and we as mammals have been doing exactly this kind of role-playing-for-learning for millions of years. 

But moreover, and foremost, games, and RPGs in particular, enhance the imagination, without which it would be impossible to create new innovations and perpetuate the advance of civilization. By immersing players in imaginary settings and providing them with adventurous problems to solve, RPGs can be used as a tool to teach organizational, social, and moral lessons. Or rather, the very act of playing a well constructed RPG would by its nature teach such lessons. Depending on the quality of the RPG it can combine a great number of games into a cohesive and comprehensive fabric.

RPGs As Morality Play

Furthermore, I would say that utilizing the role-playing aspect of RPGs, it is possible to teach various kinds of moral lessons. These kinds of lessons may best be derived from experimentation in different modes of moral behavior, which may not be within the realm of social acceptance, but would nevertheless be very instructive to the player. The most interesting capability of RPGs in this regard is the use of the (often maligned) Alignment System. The Alignment System, for those unfamiliar with the concept, posits two axis of moral reality, the Good vs. Evil Axis crossed by the Law vs. Chaos Axis. In this case, players are challenged to think along various pathways that might not be typical for them, and it gives them a chance to see what kinds of consequences are attributable to various kinds of moral behaviors.  That knowledge can be invaluable in life.  And it can be learned via a game much more safely than through life experience.

For example, a child might attempt to play a Lawful Good character, only to learn that the desire to be Lawful Good is not the same thing as achieving it, and that in fact it requires much more perseverance and determination than they supposed, but still discover that in the end it is worth the effort. Conversely, someone might play a Chaotic Evil character only to discover that in the end crime indeed does not pay. And so forth. What makes these lessons possible in the safe environment of play is the RPG game system with its rules, adjudication and consequences.

In this way RPGs can teach and enhance a wide range of skills related to morality, civics, team spirit, planning, organization, strategy, tactics and creative-innovation. It is also well known that RPGs of various kinds foster the desire to learn realms of knowledge such as history, economics, mathematics, literature, philosophy, theosophy, and linguistics, among many others.

In fact, one could reasonably argue that the RPG has the potential to do this as no other game in history because the RPG is the most advanced form of game thus far created, fusing as it does disciplines and methodologies from many other games into one. In this sense, RPGs may prove to be the ideal medium by which to teach exceedingly valuable and complex organizational, social and moral lessons. To the degree RPGs succeed in this area is the degree to which civilization would be enhanced by their presence.

In the great scheme of things, small effects in large numbers aggregate into great effects in total. Such may well prove to be the case with well crafted RPGs. The advantages gained by their players in terms of advanced life skills and mental acumen could distinctly outweigh all of the former systems of game-learning combined, thereby producing an even more advanced individual and civilization than we can readily imagine today. We should hope that such an outcome would be available to us. My contention is that we would benefit to make the effort in that direction, and show tolerance (within reason) for the lesser examples and initial disasters which are bound to afflict any new artistic medium.

RPG As New Art Form

Of course, as said, all of these benefits would be contingent on the successful creation of high quality RPGs. And one can compare this to what is involved with the creation of great literature. There are many poorly written books, but we would not wish for that reason to do without the classics that are truly great literature.  Some RPGs will be bad, many in fact, and produce less than stellar results, and poor quality games. It is inevitable and unavoidable. Some, few perhaps, crafted by genius, will be truly magnificent, artistic achievements, which in time the world would not wish to do without.

RPGs are an entirely new technique of game play. They are not themselves either good or bad. Beautiful and magnificent edifices can be created, and we should encourage it. Thus, the RPG can be seen as a new form of art.  One that can produce marvelous, elegant worlds opening the mind to vistas of the imagination hitherto unknown and teaching lessons which otherwise would be much more laborious, difficult and potentially dangerous or impossible to acquire. The number of benefits civilization might acrue from well crafted RPGs would be difficult to determine in advance, but I think it is clear that there are potentially many benefits possible.

I prefer to consider RPGs as a new and fascinating form of art and game-play with fantastic possibilities and potentialities, which our civilization has only just begun to comprehend. Games are one of the measures by which civilizations may be judged, along with artwork, architecture, literature and other mediums of communication and expression. As such, the RPG represents an advancement of the concept of Game, and is among the most complex, enriching and fantastic Game inventions to grace civilization to date, and in that sense is one of the great achievements of modern world. I advocate that we use RPGs wisely, and encourage them to proliferate and prosper.  Only in this way will all of their myriad possibilities be explored and the Great Worlds brought into being for the benefit of those who are fortunate enough to experience them, and our civilization as a whole.