Foundations & Pillars (2024)

Throughout the past year, I've covered a variety of topics (in greater or lesser detail) relating to the game system; today I'm going to go over as many as I can come up with, and talk about where things are, and how they'll all need to come together.

On the DM side...
There are a few basic components:

• Monster Manual: the basic mechanics of monsters, the different types of monsters, general encounter-building advice, and some sample monsters
• Campaign Builder: the guidelines and mechanics for building out an entire campaign, either randomly or via a more curated approach, as well as handing out XP/leveling
• Non-combat encounters: the rules surrounding exploration, subterfuge, and social encounters -- including any exceptions to the general rules around skills (such as opposed checks rather than straight DC10)

In terms of general mechanics, the types of dice rolls and bonuses have been sharpened to a fine point. The conditions/status effects have been laid out and codified. I think part of the process of finalizing the designs will include making sure that the dice bonuses and status effects are utilized properly and adequately throughout the text. One thing that I need to iron out pertaining to positional conditions is whether to handle things like high ground, elevation, altitude, and hovering/levitation separately, or just amalgamate them together.

In terms of combat, the action economy and actions in combat need to be edited and updated, but the framework is essentially there; with the character classes now complete, the largest chunk of the combat mechanics are done. The class categories and their various progressions (as well as the general character progressions) have been hammered out, and the skill mechanics have been solidly in place for a while now. Feats need to be built out a bit, to include more combat-focused options in addition to skill and power source feats. Some of the classes were sort of hastily reworked, and so the proposed implementation of daily/encounter powers didn't really materialize for most of them; this might be something that can be redressed as things go on.

One other thing that will need to be hammered out (in terms of general rules) are things like keywords. Forms, concentration abilities, summoned creatures, and restoration abilities are just some examples of mechanics that have worked off of keywords in the past. These all need to be updated, and built into other mechanics (such as "boss" enemies being able to turn off abilities with certain keywords.) Stealth and surprise (and how those interact with initiative) as well as the interception and tumbling mechanics all need to be formalized, but the basics have already been laid out.

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Overall, the challenge I've found with designing the rules is how everything seems to feed into everything else. For example, if you knuckle-down and focus on hammering out character mechanics, sometimes you go back to monster design and realize you need to rethink things in light of new character stuff that has been implemented -- so every part of the design is (effectively) constantly evolving. Trying to find the right point to lock things down can feel like a game of whack-a-mole, at times. I think going forward, it'll be key to focus on fleshing out things that are not complete, rather than retooling things that are already considered to be "finished."