RSSGolden Sun D20
16 Feb 2011 1 Comment
So I kind of have to post something here, right?
So yeah, I was feeling kind of bored (which is really stupid, as I have plenty of things to do (homework, gaming, writing RP stories for D&D, programming, chatting, creating a d20 system for golden sun). So yeah, that last thing…
I am currently (trying) to create a d20 system for a Golden Sun based Dungeon & Dragons (3.5) game. It’s actually quite a lot of work really, and so far I’ve only written out the basic idea’s (what to do with classes/spells and such), without any technical details.
Since it’s based on a (‘fast-paced’) action video game, thing’s aren’t going to be the same as regular D&D 3.5. For this, I basically have to rewrite lots of technical things in the rules, as I plan to keep it action-based. For rewriting the rules, I am actually, maybe silly, using the WoW 2nd revision rulebook. Reason for this is that this book contains most of the core rules and allows me to, step-by-step, rewrite the rules.
The core classes will disappear in favor of basically “Fighter” and “Caster”, just like in the game itself. Besides that, every player will also be aligned a core element, in the game simply Earth, Water, Fire and Air. Based upon the class and element a character is built. Ofcourse, one of the more important aspects of the game, Djinn, won’t be missed. Djinns will really morph the players into various different play styles whenever they want. This is actually going to be more of a problem because Djinns in the game are so versatile with stat points or spells and in a pen-and-paper game, you can’t easily change all these stats.
Because the classes are based on the elements, one of each element is required to be played by a player – meaning you’d need at least four -, it can be easier to implement puzzles like in Golden Sun. Normally in D&D you might be limited by your imagination or skills of the players’ characters, but if you know there’s at least one player that can control fire at will, one can blow winds or one can shake the earth, it could be a lot easier to implement more difficult or techy puzzles, something I found myself to have trouble with at regular D&D (maybe I just suck? 
) either with making them up or getting the player to solve them (thinking of something cool doesn’t mean the party thinks the same).
Combat is also something more .. spectacular. Now, D&D combat is usually the fighter hitting the front and the mage blasting a fireball (within it’s limit of spell slots), while in a video game you’re usually left with Mana and thus plenty to blast with. Now, mana is difficult to recreate in D&D because (again) it requires a lot of paperwork, but for this I was thinking of some other system. Maybe a bit more like 4.0 where you have a number of spells per combat/round instead of slots per day. This way it’s possible to make a more (imaginary) action filled combat where every class, including the fighters and casters, can use spells (in the game referred as “Psynergy”). Of course, spellcasters will be more varied as they will have access to more powerful psynergy and Area of Attack spells, but fighters should be able to ditch out a massive attack with, for example, Ragnarok in the Earth department. Psynergy will get multiple “levels” (like lesser and greater Bear’s Strength), like in the game.
One last important aspect of Golden Sun is “unleashes”, basically a magical effect that happens when making a critical strike (as icy burst or vorpal enchant in regular D&D). Every (magical) weapon will have some kind of unleash, giving it an extra flair in combat. As casters won’t benefit from this as much (they probably won’t go into combat as much as in the game), I’m thinking of adding some “power leech” that will allow them to use the weapon’s unleash for various bonusses during casting.
Sounds like some idea, doesn’t it?
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Jun 01, 2011 @ 07:32:57
This sounds like a really cool idea, do you have anything written down that I can take a look at? Me and a close friend were just talking about this on the phone an hour or so ago on how cool an idea it would be.