Syseria New Horizons 2023 Sort of Session Zero

It's our sort of session zero, except that it wasn't a meeting, it was just me talking. Normally this would be a dialogue. Players are encouraged to contact me with any questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding what was discussed in this video.

Google forms─Consent & Accessibility

Google Forms─Voting on Games & Genres

Project Marduk is Underway

Well as usual there's a lot going on and not a ton of time to write about it, but here I am. Project Marduk (codename/working title) has begun in earnest. I will now be moving forward with a game design that suits Syseria and runs as the game I want without having to twist D&D inside out until it's unrecognizable.

I'm starting with a few foundational design ideas that I'm hoping will grow into a playable and reasonably balanced system. One of the biggest foundational ideas is a much wider range of power possibilities. Most characters will start very weak, and if they make it to a high enough level of power will become godly powerful. But the loss of verisimilitude in playing D&D as a superhero game is going to be getting some pushback. Most characters will start very very generic as well, and will only start to become unique as they begin to grow in power. All characters will start as one of six generalized classes: Elite Warrior, Warrior, Priest, Rogue, Wizard, or Mage. At the approximate equivelent of level 4 or 5, characters will have some mandatory training and split off into their subs. Elite Warrior can sub into things like Paladin, Samurai, Knight and more. Warrior can sub into Fighter, Soldier, Guard, Merc, and more. Priest can sub into Cleric, Templar, etc. Wizard can sub into... Well... Wizard This one might not have a ton of subs if any. I still want the human spellslinger but haven't figured out much beyond that in this category. Mage subs into Sorc, Warlock, Witch, and maybe a couple others. It's going to be loosely similar to the "starting at level 0" rules that appeared in D&D in the early 80s. However, nobody will start totally fragile either.

Another aspect of modern RPG's I reject (to a degree) is the whole homogeneity as game balance philosophy. It's okay for characters to be unique and do unique things in situations that no other characters can—as long as no one character is fully spotlighted for more than a few minutes at a time. I'm not trying to encourage spotlight hogging.

I am leaning toward doing away with levels—and we'll see how this works in gameplay of course, but removing levels and breaking level advancement into constitutent components that can be "bought," so to speak, with experience points. E.G., Hit Point buy-in, hit bonus, training slots, class features such as weapon specialization, preferred enemy, and all that good stuff. Hit point buy-ins will entail a set gain of HP coming from species (excluding only quickling) and class, no rolling dice on that one.

I want the world, as well as magic and old world technology, to feel like a very real, living, breathing entity. In a perfect world, I believe the spells would be largely templates that can be configured upon casting. I don't know how doable that is within the system, but I might try. Gods are not allowed planetside, and as such incantations must carry up to the ears of the gods in the heavens. The whole idea of silencing or masking your spells will not work.

I'm sure there's more to share but that's about all I can remember and have time to write for now.

Finding The Path

Continuing in our quest for new games as well as getting the ship righted and players started again.