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Basic idea of this is to remove most of the typical progression system and related grind/rewards in an mmo structured game.

Instead, moving it over to a system where you reach the top of your progression very fast, but continue playing in order to change/modify how you play, or find the ways to play you're interested in.

To accomplish this, players fill out with options early, to fill up their open slots. But constantly have to replace something else to advance something after that point. Basically a continually modification of build.

This leads to the change in reward/grind, removing all kinds of “gear progression” and “level progression” that are so typical in mmorpg's, with having all gear being the same with only slight quality variations that can be bought from the start if you save up, the economical aspect isn't severe.

A couple of basic quests should let a player get normal quality armor of weapons of some available type they can use. Looting bandits will give you gear you can actually use.

Similarly, removing the whole leveling progression, no longer need to reward xp for kills and other arbitrary stuff. Instead things should be trainable by just using them. Which might be a bit vague, and require some guide-lines, but is essentially up to each GM to handle.

A player will basically start with certain resources from the get go, and these resources are the “points” to put into character options. But the character starting blank won't have much to fill this with. So the “Progression system” is to find, learn, train, and combine all these character options, and make them work somehow.

Sample starting stats:

• Techniques 0/3
• Traits 0/3
• Skills 0/50

By combining a certain type of armor and weapon, with techniques that work for that weapon, a couple of traits that will compliment this, and a few skills that fit the arc-type, with the rest of the skills put into whatever feels right for the character, you'd end up with a “build”.

Finding and learning some of the traits and techniques could be quests in themselves, finding master smiths or craftmen to make HQ versions of the weapons/armor you want, or just spending a lot of time out in the forst to learn and master the hunting skill.

Possible options:

• more trait/tech slots, and make them up-grade-able
• Magic, no thoughts on how to implement, could stick it on wands.

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Typical MMORPG rewards:

• XP
• Gold
• Reputation
• Currencies
• Skills (Tech, Trait, Skill, Spell, Etc)
• Gear/Item
• Quest
• Privileges

The plan is to remove what I'd deem “rote need-less rewards” and thus open up for forcing players/GM's into being more creative with rewards, rather than just hoarding gold continually.

In short, this is targeting XP/Gold for the most part.

Largely by removing the need for “progression systems” from these two rewards, essentially by removing the “power-up” aspect, I think those two been largely neutered. Gold still useful in limited amounts for every-day life, XP been changed around quite a bit and doesn't have the same relevance. (See the changes to the Progression System).

The kind of rewards I had in mind when starting this idea was:

• Skills (Tech, Trait, Skill, Spell, Etc)
• Gear/Item
• Quest
• Privileges

Examples:

• You're playing as a swordsman that is trying to hone his skills, and heard about someone with a rare sword technique you'd like to learn. Both to find the person, do a quest for him to prove your worth, and possibly use it to defeat a ferocious monster, could all be quests and motivation.
• Gear is still a bit unclear for this system, but everything from: fighting off bandits to loot their normal gear to get equipped, doing a long quest ot travel over a mountain with letters to earn a quality armor from a known armor-smith.
• Depending on the quality, quests themselves can be a reward. A well fleshed out and written quest is often the kind of things players remembers afterwards.
• This can take many forms like: Done a favor for the barkeep and he tells you that rooms are free (but not drinks!), having helped a temple out they might offer discount on healing, having fought alongside a towns defense against a horde the military sees you as honor members and treat you as such, the Baron that you saved from a plot treats you as equals and is willing to introduce you as a noble toward other aristocrats.

Other types of rewards I didn't really have in mind, but are often used in MMO's and the like:

• Reputation
• Currencies

“Reputation Grind” tend to be what I'd consider the negative side of “Privileges”, and personally I plan to stick with the later. I'm sure there are good ways to implement “Reputation” as well, but I'm going to simplify it and just make it a way to do several quests to gain “Privileges” instead.

“Currencies” is sort of a catch-all for how MMO's tend to include a multitude of different coin-age, tokens, currencies, map/mode/story/etc specific currencies. The main purpose is typically to force players to participate in new “content” to earn these, to spend on the new “rewards”, instead of just using existing stockpiled currencies to buy out everything from the start. In short, time gate.

As such I'd want to avoid it as much as possible, but realize it can have some good uses if strongly moderated. After all, if a tribe will listen to you if you recover their tribal heirloom weapon, that is a sort of very basic currency to earn their trust. Just something I want to avoid going overboard with.

• armor
• weapons
• techniques
• traits
• skills
• stats (?)

system of changing things out rather than replacing or adding

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All armors should be more or less balanced around a few defensive stats, The main difference should be focus on each type of defense.

• Full plate: hard to get through
• Chain: All rounded
• Gambeson: Light, lets you move faster

Each weapon type should have own stats to separate play-styles, they might require training (skills/traits?). Also different weapons should have different techniques, thought several could be shared between similar weapons.

Stats might include: Hit, Damage, Damage types, Critical chances, speed/number of attacks, etc.

Basically weapon skills, allows to use different types of attacks and tricks with specific weapons. This should be a limited list, so you have to pick and choose.

Sample Techniques: (blade)

• Poison Strike (SA, X DoT/Poison, Duration = CD)
• Evading Strike (SA, strike, step X)
• Parry (use ATK roll instead of defense, if higher no dmg, strike)

More or less abilities that doesn't fall into either Techniques because they're not bound to a weapon, nor skills since they are combat related. Uncertain how to handle yet. There should be a certain limit on traits as well. And should probably be selected from a list, or forgotten to learn new one. Probably best to just handle like DDDA and let you collect but equip X.

Sample Traits/types:

• +1 Technique
• +1 Stat
• Spellcasting bonus/trait

In short, non combat skills, this should be a broad term/list, that reflects the many things people can do in the world, including inventing new skills, as long as they don't overlap with existing, and have no combat value.

There should be a total amount of skill points that has to be used to train up new skills, skills should get better when using them frequent. And you should always be able to forget another skill point to use for upgrading something else.

There should be enough skill points that you don't need to focus everything you got into a single theme to max it, so you always have a bunch of points spare for basic character/roleplay skills.

Essentially a set skill list shouldn't be necessary, having a decent list to select from would be good though. Considering there should be no combat bonuses related to skills, there should be no problem inventing and creating new skills as needed, including letting players make their own.

• If implementing into G5, then skills should rank from 0,1,2,3 to match the max static bonus. And have a variable stat modifier.

• HQ
• NQ
• LQ

Since I don't want item levels, enchantment levels, rarity or any of the other typical gear progression, I should add a basic quality system. No idea of the stats yet, but LQ should be cheap as heck but worse, NQ should be the average, and HQ should be very expensive but have a slight bonus.

Needs stats before more work.

Anyways to start with, I'll just stick to NQ, and ignore the rest until later.

Not sure if stats fit into a system like this or not. But if assuming I'm use G5 as base then it does. Not sure how to add or implement.

• Static but minor impact system
• Adjustable through traits
• Adjustable through training