Since there are lots of authors here, I'll ask a question: How do you find a basis to start your balancing work from?
So I'm writing an RPG, and I've got a skeleton of the basic mechanics down. Figure I'll try it with a D&D type setting first, since that will be easy to get player for and shows a lot of the bits of the system (magic, races, etc).
But that means I need to make spell lists. How do I work out a good starting point for how much damage each spell does? #GameDesignRPG
Or how do I work out if Stone Shape or Summon Mount is a harder spell to cast? How do I work out the appropriate power of 'soft' resources that are useful but don't have numbers attached?
I'm also thinking of a tick based initiative. As in, swinging a dagger costs you 2 ticks, whereas swinging a longsword costs you three. You can act again that number of ticks later.
Which means I need to balance both damage and speed, and I'm not sure how to get that started. I'm thinking a spreadsheet of average damage over 10 rounds, with bigger weapons having an edge, say 1.2 times the damage on average. #RPG #GameDesign
Since getting to act again sooner is a big advantage, there should be a tradeoff, in less total damage over time. Plus it seems most games favour light, fast, weapons over big slow ones. (Rogues with sneak dice deal more damage then a plate wearing fighter, in video games light weapons usually have higher DPS, etc) #rpg #gameDesign
One of my design goals is that a traditional sword and board fighter should be a valid option. Since I basically NEVER see that in D&D. It is all glaive this and two handed sword that.
Also give people a reason to use spears. When was the last time you saw someone use a spear? #RPG #gamedesign
@Canageek I have little to add in terms of the design, but I am playing a druid with a spear in a #DungeonWorld game right now. Because DW is so narrative oriented, I seem to get a lot of advantages (and some disadvantages) by using a spear. It has reach. I can throw it. For some reason, it's also considered to be appropriate for "close/melee" use, which seems a little inaccurate and it should probably be considered difficult to use once that guy with the sword gets in close.
@ink_slinger I'm thinking I might have spears able to do both, but they just do less damage then a sword at close range. So a 1H sword does d8, a spear does d6. So you can use it close or far (since you can use it as a quarterstaff at close range), but it will never be quite as good as a close ranger fighter will be when up close.
@Canageek Ah, the quarter staff thing...that makes sense as a way to use the spear at close range. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes perfect sense.
@ink_slinger I'm not sure how viable that is? Most of the spears I saw in Krakow were about my height or a taller. (I was at one of the largest collections of middle ages weapons in the world, but they didn't allow pictures.)
But a quarterstaff should have your hands at the 1st and 3rd quarters, so also taller then you. So I don't know.
I'm not aiming for historical accuracy: I have GURPS for that.
@ink_slinger One of my big problems with 'narrative balance' is then you get a charismatic player able to do more with the same stats as a less charismatic player, as they can talk the DM into letting them get away with more.
@Canageek That hasn't been a problem in my experience, but I haven't played many narrative games. At least in Dungeon World, there are still dice and rules limiting successes and such...it's just follows from the narrative first.
I can see how that would be a risk with certain players/DMs, though. The narrative equivalent of min-maxing, in a way?
@ink_slinger Except the player might not even realize they are doing it, but yeah.
Sort of the problem of the barfight with the chandeliers. If a naturally charismatic player asks, it seems reasonable so it is allowed. If a non-charismatic player asks, it seems less reasonable. So if you expect players to be swinging on chandeliers a lot you should have defined rules so that the playing field is fair.
@Canageek Another disadvantage of the spear is that, after throwing it, I might have to spend my next move recovering it, forcing me to get in close to the same enemy I was trying to keep my distance from.