10-21-2011, 07:03 PM | #41 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
But as far as racial/character templates go I think they could be cool to have. Maybe the reason could be not so much racial as cultural. Maybe because dwarves live in mines underground their culture might be different than humans and so they might tend to have different culturally learned skills than humans. Maybe they would have much more knowledge about underground places and and might have learned how to find veins of precious ores as a normal part of their culture. Their stout powerful bodies might make them tend toward using heavy weapons like axes and hammers and they might tend to have cultural knowledge about being a smith and possible some artificer skills as well. So in this case the "dwarf" template would be the same as a Knight or Wizard template to humans. A dwarf raised in a human environment might have human templates just as a human raised in a dwarf society might have the "dwarf" template. The same kind of template could be used to justify an "elf" template because elves would likely learn from their culture a little bit of magic, some Scout skillls, some swashbuckler skills and some nature skills. I know that GURPS does not like to have racial templates but I would only say that the reason I like them is not because I think that a certain race has to play a certain racial template because they are genetically programmed to be that kind of racial template but because they have a different culture than humans do and this makes the races seem more unique to me. It is cooler to me to have an "elf" template than a Scout/Wizard/Swashbuckler template with pointy ears. |
|
10-21-2011, 07:13 PM | #42 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
However I would not call what your talking about a racial template. More a racial lens. To me racial templates are based off genetics or what passes for it and only include certain limited skills becasue of a racial bonus or becasue its a cultural thing and the writer is trying to keep it simple. A racial/cultural Lens though could be set up for those who grow up in various cultures and include skills and possible modifiers for growing up there. I doubt there is enough demand to write up a book about them and it would vary from campaign to campaign. On the other hand I could see it as an option for future templates, though probably an optional rule/addition since the racial template may already exist. |
|
10-21-2011, 07:15 PM | #43 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
Last edited by b-dog; 10-21-2011 at 07:22 PM. |
|
10-21-2011, 07:25 PM | #44 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
They are. Have you read DF? I know your a regular here but dont follow you enough to know if you have, I know you like Eldritch Horrors and lovecraft.
In DF we have racial templates for quite a few races and professional templates representing various classes. Then we have Lens representing addons to various class templates to represent a multiclass style option. Lets say I were to build a race from the ground up for DF or something. Racial template describes their abilities and stuff based on actual race. Professional or class template describes and makes it simple for a player to pick one of several professions for them. Now currently a few skills or racial talents are tossed into the racial template to help flesh them out. But you could easily build a cultural lens and say if you were raised by Elves pick this, humans pick that and dwarves pick that. Make all the lens say 10 points and just assign appropriate stuff to them. An elf Swashbuckler would then have the elf racial template, the swashbuckler template and if raised in Elfland the elf lens or in a human city the human lens. |
10-21-2011, 07:43 PM | #45 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
In any case I don't want to argue about this because this is just something that I think would be kewl and you do not. EDIT: I also want to add that I play old school style and the game world is humanocentric so other races like elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings and the like are alien to human society so I like their professions/templates to be different from humans. Last edited by b-dog; 10-21-2011 at 07:51 PM. |
|
10-21-2011, 08:08 PM | #46 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
Though it now appears what your talking about is more of a stereotype where an Elf has to be a swashbuckler? That I wouldn't think is very cool. Even in basic D&D the old boxed set after Greyhawk you picked a race then a class from the allowed list. Right now you can add some or all of the profession templates to a racial template and that is pretty darn plug and play. Each template offers you some choices so that every pc can be a little different but it is simplified so its just a little math, pick 1 from that list, 2 from that one, etc. And certain races will be better at certain things becasue of their attributes, talents and other advantages. What I thought you were getting at is adding flavor to each race or where you grew up. Which while a little more work is something I wouldn't mind. And it could tweak the classes a bit as well. However if your thinking every single race has to have a totally different class then that is a LOT more work as you have to build a lot more templates and hope you covered everything. I do not see the appeal there though, a few niche classes or magic systems, like Elves use Tree magic, Dwarves use Rune magic and humans use college magic but if you were raised by another you could learn that instead I like. But if your worlds are fairly cosmopolitan there will eventually be a lot of cross learning, starting with the easy stuff like fighting skills. |
|
10-21-2011, 08:17 PM | #47 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
I thought it was an interesting approach (and one of the more distinctive aspects of original Dungeons & Dragons). The biggest oddity I remembered is that all the races were severely limited by level caps... which didn't make them a particularly appealing choice for folks hoping to keep the same heroes all the way to the Master Rules. EDIT: If someone wanted to recreate this in their own game, they might be able to (say) limit the scout profession to elves only (and just merge the two templates before offering it to the players). Last edited by Steven Marsh; 10-21-2011 at 08:21 PM. |
|
10-21-2011, 08:21 PM | #48 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
|
|
10-21-2011, 08:33 PM | #49 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
|
|
10-21-2011, 08:37 PM | #50 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Pyramid #3/36: Dungeon Fantasy
Quote:
Original D&D then AD&D had race and then class with level caps to "balance" them out. The Basic, Expert and Master sets then all the later versions they have gone though never appealed to me. Still if anyone wants to create special class templates by race I dont see anything stopping them. However I dont see it as a big market either so wont likely many buyers, including me. I play GURPS for the flexibility among other things and would feel railroaded the other way as a PC and too much complexity for me as GM. |
|
Tags |
divine favor, dungeon fantasy, pyramid 3/36, pyramid issues |
|
|