It' looks interesting, that's all I can say really.

Keep it up.

>>316197
Thanks!

Right now I'm hopping between the classes, working on their basic functions and how they erlate to each other. Like how the warrior role is based on OAs and Strikes trigger on [W] powers, every class will have a gimmick in how they work. I've actually made some progress but no single part is ready to post, so here's a little sample of where I'm at right now.


Black Mage - The big thing here is hammering out the [M]agic damage dice mechanic, getting the language right and considering how powers and classes will interact with it is non-trivial. My bigger worry is I'll be tempted to make a new variable for every other class, but proper use of keywords and such should prevent that.

Knight - The reason the warrior doesn't have marks is this class relies upon them. Features will be based on defending, while their command will use Marks directly for addition effects. Think of Power Break and its ilk as a kind of mark effect and you start to get the picture. The flashier knight stuff is reserved for jobs based around the knight, often with a mage multiclass. Dark Knights, Holy Knights, etc.

Monk - A fun one. It's features will have all kinds of counterattacking methods. Uses [W] for it's martial arts and blitzes, but it's command actually replaces the effects of [W] instead of adding to it like the warrior does. And not just for simple damage, but changing the targeting and adding effects and taking advantage of the effects it added in a series of combos. Considering using [M] for blitzes as well, it would mostly work the same way.

Thieves - All about getting that combat advantage. Not just for damage as the Rogue had but also for stealing and other advantages. The features and the Sneak command depends on it. Trying to make stealing during battle make sense even in a non vidya context, with some success so far. Even for things that don't have items or equipment.

White Mages - A bit more of a hassle, even though I have its at-wills halfway done. The issue here is the spells themselves, what with the action economy of pure support powers and if/how they use [M] as a mechanic. HP/MP resource management is another major issue.


Anyways, still piddling along here but hope to have something of substance to post up soon.

>Final Fantasy RPG
Relevant to my interests. I'd best go learn for D&D works then. What advantages does this have over FFRPG (apart from not needing a pile of different dice)?

>>316213
The Returners game? I haven't looked at that in quite some time, so I couldn't give you a point by point comparison. But what I remember was a poorly balanced hodgepodge of mixed up themes and complicated rules. Plenty of effort to imitate the videogame mechanics in a literal sense looking like they were made for computers instead of people. And too many damn percentiles!

...Just had a look at it on the wiki, and it still seems to be the case. Not to say its unplayable, I think the balance is better now and there seems to be less off the wall mechanics, but it falls far short of what it could be.

Now the advantages here? Most of it starts with the fact that the D&D 4e ruleset is simple and well balanced. Not to say it's perfect: some find the mechanics so simple as to be boring, can't stand the narrativist angle that encounter powers bring, and the actual material made for it isn't always as good as it could be. For the first and second points Commands help a lot, since it adds a dimension of what you can do, and forces the other powers to be more about how you do them. As for the third well... I'm working on that, now aren't I?

Beyond that it's meant to be damn flexible, even with considerably less classes than Returns has jobs each will have far more builds available, able to multiclass and qualify for numerous jobs. A red mage can easily be a strong double caster or a martial magician, dragoons will be quite different if you start as a warrior or knight. Or you can go red mage dragoon, that works too.


Ack, better stop now before I keep rambling. You learn how core 4e works (I'm keeping most of those mechanics) and I'll keep writing it up instead of going on about goals. Later!

Been slow going but I've had good progress on the underlying mechanics lately. Here's a bit about commands I particularly like and wanted to share:

Command Type:
Command abilities are divided according to what powers they work with and how they effect them.

Arts:
Special techniques wielded by the user that work as or through their weapon. They replace the value and effect of [W] in qualifying attack powers.
Subtypes:
>Martial (no requirements)
>Punch (requires a free hand)
>[Weapon Type] (requires an appropriate weapon to be wielded)


The effect here is really quite elegant: Monks get their Martial Arts and Punch Arts to effects that fit their style and mirrors their 4e counterpart. Knights get their Sword Arts, and a bunch of other Arts based on weapon skills become available. And it all uses a unified mechanic that fits them quite well, effectively using weapons as the powers implements. You just know that describes the likes of Cyans, Agrias' and Steiners sword skills pretty darn well.

The other command types aren't quite as elegant (or at least not finalized) yet but I'm getting there. All the other powers are based on commands and so can't really be finished until I hammer this mess out.

Ah well, I'm having fun.