So, you’re a level 1 gravedigger. And your friend is a level 1 servant. And the most dangerous guy you know is actually a level 2 woodcutter.
Sorry. It’s like that, now.
In the first version of the game, I offered players four character classes to choose from: Guard, Vagabond, Pilgrim and Magician. They each represent fairly clear character archetypes, with good variety within each. They match up to the main heroic archetypes you expect in fantasy adventure games.
Problem: The theme of the game is normal-ish people (normal for a fantasy world) scavenging valuables from dangerous places (like the ruins of Imperial fortresses). And those four classes don’t exactly sound like normal folks. They’re types of adventurers. Heroes. It doesn’t really fit the vibe to start the game as an experienced adventurer.
Solution: You don’t start with a level in any of those “Treasure Hunter Classes”. You’re a normal person (again, normal for a fantasy world) who probably works for a living. So instead, you choose a profession, like tailor or scholar. You start at level 1 in it. Each profession gives you some kind of starting bonus to Health, Morale and/or your saves, as well as some gear. And the gear is usually something interesting, even when it sounds mundane. A smith’s tools let them repair metal weapons and armor during the adventure. A thief’s locksmith tools can be used to pick locks. A scholar’s notebook is used to take notes about dangers (getting bonuses against those dangers later).
Professions are like character classes in that you can progress through the levels and gain new benefits. Smiths and tailors make new gear each time they level up. Cooks can make better food. Apothecaries can brew better potions.
And when you have enough money, you can still pay for training in those cool Treasure Hunter Classes. More than one if you like, Moneybags.
Training and Downtime
Between adventures, the gang goes back to town. Maybe the same town every time, maybe they’re wanderers. But the important part is that they have downtime somewhere safe for a while before their next expedition. This is a time for healing, shopping and, importantly, training.
During each period of downtime, every character is allowed to do ONE training activity: Get trained in a class to gain a level in it, practice their profession, or get trained in a new profession.
They could train in a treasure hunter class: pay the biggest, meanest gal in town to train you as a Guard, or dedicate your wealth and time to a shrine to train as a Pilgrim, or whatever else.
If you don’t have the money (or don’t want to), you can instead practice your profession. This increases your profession’s level by one and gives you new bonuses. Most importantly, it’s free.
And, finally, you can even learn a new profession from a trainer at a steep cost.
Level 5 is the highest level any class or profession goes to: A level 5 smith is a master smith. This means that an experienced treasure hunter is never just one thing: They might be a master tailor who is also a guard and a pilgrim, training to be a musician. And every one of those things gives them something cool for going on adventures.
Why?
Why not just let someone play a magician or a vagabond to start? Why require them to start with just a profession?
The honest answer is that I love the idea of a treasure hunter who is desperately trying to use their mundane skills to succeed in extraordinary situations. Yeah, you can eventually get to the point that you’re an experienced treasure hunter with powerful training. But I’d rather you achieve the status of “powerful sorcerer” as a part of gameplay, as opposed to simply choosing that during character creation.
Also, the professions are fun. A skilled tailor who patches up leather armor on the fly and makes cool (and very useful) clothing for herself and her allies is a fun character to play. A servant who wields an iron pot lid to bash heads and block strikes, who is always lending a hand and hauling big piles of loot is actually pretty cool.
In the Works
I’m going to try to get my rules docs into a readable PDF format for other people to check out. This is not easy and it won’t be done soon. But I’d love to tell people they could just go to my website and see the whole game (so far), rather than saying, “Trust me, it’s cool, it’s just that my google docs are only comprehensible to me.”
Next Time
Next blog post will be all about why it’s good that the game is “breakable”, and what I’ve done to make breaking the game fun.