Back to Basics (Beta 4)

One of the things I have to continually remind myself of, is that The Next Project is meant to be a distillation of the general D&D playstyle. To this end, it's important to occasionally dial back some of the more grandiose ideas that crop up. I am giving some consideration to doing an "Advanced" version (that would functionally be an expansion of the game) but I think the base game needs to focus on being simple and accessible; the typical newbie probably doesn't need to dive in at the deep end of "great RPGs of the modern era" and thus, I don't think this game needs to fully emulate everything that would entail. To this end, the skill system is going to be kept very freeform, within a simple mechanical framework.

The other thing with coming at it from this angle, is that while it's important to introduce new players to some of the D&D classes that don't quite conform to existing fiction, not every D&D class in the history of the game needs to be represented. In terms of class design, I'm moving away from "filling in the grid." I found with a lot of slots, I was staring at a class name, with no idea of how to represent it mechanically and still make it unique. The other thing is, using Archetypes as a design conceit of the game, you can take class concepts that are relatively minor or don't quite translate to this system, and still have them represented while making them play effectively.

So right now, I am planning on doing 3 slates of classes, with each class having 1-3 archetypes. As currently constituted, each slate will be composed of 1-2 "power sources." Some classes within a slate will lean towards one power source or the other, while some will have an archetype for one power source, and a second archetype for the other power source.

The idea with this is that, if the system is to be monetized at some point, each slate would be its own supplement, that you could build a party out of (similarly to how the Essentials books were laid out, in 4e.) I also have plans for a demo/starter 'party' that would borrow classes from across the slates/supplements, with one archetype for each class; barring major changes, that 'basic' slate would look like this:

• d4: Archer
• d6: Rogue
• d8: Cleric
• d10: Mystic
• d12: Barbarian

With the question of slates figured out, it's just a matter of finishing off the last few classes that need to be written/expanded upon. Then, my attention will turn to developing the DM side of the game.