I've got an idea, but it's still pretty basic at the moment.

Instead of there being just one person directing a long adventure, there will be several people overlooking smaller 'jobs'. While the majority of them would be minor adventures for a single group, there could be important requests that will allow multiple teams to take it on at the same time. The hub for these could be an inn, which will be the Adventurer's Inn. Also, since I'm not very familiar with D&D's, I was considering thinking up a new system for this.

Any questions, comments, suggestions?

Tentative intérêst.

It would be easier to familiarize yourself with D&D than it would be to build a new tabletop system that has some semblance of balance. Anyway, I'm interested, I'll be keeping an eye on this.

Though I will definitely try to learn D&D, I figured I might as well put something out in the case that it's actually salvageable.
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The characters will start fairly similar, with somewhat low stats. However, depending on their race and class, their stats will grow at different rates.



You roll 7d6 and assign each result as you wish to a stat(excluding HP and MP). Every level, you roll 1d6 for each stat. If the result is 6, increase the stat by +3. 4 & 5, +2. 3 & 2, +1. If you roll a 1, there is no increase.



This is what I've got so far, so if you've got any comments or criticisms about it, feel free to say so. It kind of feels a bit complex, but I'm not sure how to simplify it, if it is.

Might as well weigh in on this.

The system to upgrade ability scores gives the player absolutely no control, and in that regard is unrealistic. With this system, an unlucky character who was trying to be a warrior might never gain a point in body, despite constantly swinging a sword, though his mind might get really good. Realistically, if someone is doing physical work all the time, it's going to benefit their body. From a game design perspective, there's no good reason to have stat progression be this randomized. In a group, you could wind up with a lucky player who gets big upgrades every level and an unlucky player who rolls nothing but ones. It takes away the player's sense of agency, and makes it feel like they have no control and it's purely a gamble.

Randomly generated stats are very, very bad from a balance perspective. Many systems offer some method of point-buy, where players can put their points where they want. This stops anyone from getting stuck with a shitty character through no fault of their own, and also allows them to better create the characters they had in mind.

The combat system doesn't seem to involve armor in any way, which is a bit of a problem. The penalties to hit based on range also don't make sense with many ranged weapons—it's easier to hit a target with a bow / crossbow / gun if they have a bit of distance, if they're at point blank range then they can effectively move around you faster than they could at longer range, and trying to use a two-handed range weapon in melee is a difficult thing at the best of times.

Honestly, before trying to build a system of your own, you should learn and understand some existing systems. Games like D&D and GURPS and Pathfinder have already gone through all sorts of iterations, some of which are similar to some of the things you've suggested here, and they've gotten rid of many of those mechanics in order to replace them with much better ones.

I have to say I agree with the above. Learn every system you can and go through many drafts while thinking about it from a gameplay and balance standpoint.

I think the concept is cool, but I don't know if building your own system is really a good idea or even a requirement when there are so many already complete, balanced systems available to you.

For what its worth, I like your multiple GM approach to the storytelling. That seems like a gem of an idea. Combat and stats though? Yeah, I'd tend to agree with Primal's input. Playing truly random characters is almost inevitably an issue for roleplayers. I think you'd do better to invest some time into learning D&D, and adapting a specialized campaign around that.

For what its worth, 5e has a free starter set:

http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/trpg-resources

Its a really easy system to use, and even if you don't want to actually use it, their character creation is simple, and very refined. An enterprising roleplayer could mine it for all sorts of ideas.

I see what you all mean with the flaws, so I guess it'd be a lot easier to just use the D&D system for this.

Moving on, an important thing that needs to be addressed is how the job system will work. Will the reward for a job be split equally, or will each member receive the listed amount? The former will probably be more balanced(More members means less reward, but easier), but the latter would reenforce teamwork(More members makes it easier without reducing the reward). The amount could be determined simply by the job creator's will, or it could be a ranking system(Each "tier" will have a reward range, which will generally correspond with its difficulty).

I like the latter. But the first one would be more balanced.

I like to balance rewards in my campaigns around the characters, and not just a flat amount. It makes sense to me that in a encounter dealing with traps and thievery, the thief's skills would be called more to the fore, and that they would receive a proportionally higher cut of the take. In universe is also makes more sense to me. It does have potential to create in game tension between characters, but that can also be a good thing, in measured quantities.

One problem I've had with reward systems is that my players are far, far too miserly. Simply put, my players would sooner starve to death than spend one cent of gold on food. It creates some problems for getting them to spend their gold, and not just hoard it to ridiculous levels.

If you think there'll be problems with people not spending their money, we could supply "services" at the inn. Obviously, item stores will be among them. There could be healers that can cure ailments or revive players, a lottery, and possibly tournaments.

One thing to keep in mind if you're not giving out flat rewards is that you then need to make sure that you present everyone with an equal chance to earn rewards. For example, while it's cool that the thief gets xp by picking locks, there also needs to be arcane challenges for the spellcasters to deal with, combat at close and far range for warriors and archers, and so on. Giving out flat rewards allows for more flexible adventure design, since the challenges encountered can be tailored to what would be strong from a story standpoint, rather than what will give everyone a fair chance to progress. I'm not saying don't give out individual rewards / xp, just that there are pros and cons.

Also, I've never had an issue with groups not spending money, so that problem is likely one that that specific group deals with. If anything, groups that I'm in seem more prone to spend all their money—in one campaign, a barbarian made such a routine of blowing his ENTIRE cut of the treasure from adventures on booze at the inn that through his carousing he single-handedly financed substantial renovations and upgrades to the inn, put more money into the local economy, the upgraded inn began to attract more travelers and merchants needing a place to stay (which further helped the town's economy) and basically the small sleepy little town started to become a sizable and quite prosperous trading town.

All because he would routinely go out, make a small fortune beating up dragons or the like, and then buy rounds for everyone at the bar until he was broke.

Also, I've never had an issue with groups not spending money, so that problem is likely one that that specific group deals with. If anything, groups that I'm in seem more prone to spend all their money—in one campaign, a barbarian made such a routine of blowing his ENTIRE cut of the treasure from adventures on booze at the inn that through his carousing he single-handedly financed substantial renovations and upgrades to the inn, put more money into the local economy, the upgraded inn began to attract more travelers and merchants needing a place to stay (which further helped the town's economy) and basically the small sleepy little town started to become a sizable and quite prosperous trading town.

All because he would routinely go out, make a small fortune beating up dragons or the like, and then buy rounds for everyone at the bar until he was broke.

Well, that's hilarious and something I must do.