The Revised Ten Commandments

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This is an attempt to bring the good things from the previous ten commandments and update them for the modern game. A lot of the points were good but miss the mark. This is an attempt to tidy some of those up. This is an open document and I hope it will get edited often to become a framework we can all try to exist within.

  1. A GM should generally adjudicate for the enjoyment of the majority.
    • This does not mean just the GM's friends, the players in a specific game, or just new players etc. This means everyone.
    • Particularly with items, GM's can forget that the cute/tough item they give out will affect other GM's and players and this should be considered when the item is created.
  2. Experience shall be awarded according to the method described in the document entitled "Experience Point Awards" or in a fashion that gives similar amounts.
    • Experience is there so that we can advance and develop the character at a reasonable rate.
    • The maximums or minimums should not be given out regularly but instead should be a reflection of how well the game was played by the player.
  3. Monetary and Item rewards should be balanced to the level of the game.
    • While inflation has changed the amounts, restricting treasure and items is a good aim. Target limits should be around:
      • 3-5,000/character for a low,
      • 5-10,000/character for a medium,
      • 10-20,000 for a high.
  4. Any item that is valued at greater than 50,000sp is probably too extreme for the game and rewriting it should be considered.
    • The idea that 50,000 is the maximum valuation allowed was a nice idea but did not make the point that items that are too tough should be avoided because it creates an inflationary cycle with respect to damage and damage avoidance.
    • This of course does not apply to things like land, property, titles etc.
  5. Items of post-renaissance technology will fail to work or decay into uselessness. They simply detract from the believability of the world that GM's are trying to build.
    • GM's should not be worried about saying no to players and having such items break or decay.
  6. Time on all planes should pass at the same rate as Alusia.
    • Free training time and the like must be carefully considered before awarding to players. The 1 day = 1 day restriction is one of few absolute limitations in our campaign.
      The planes where this is possible should not be able to be abused and used to gain additional time.
  7. Additional statistics and ranks should not be given out without thought.
    • It should be remembered that statistics and ranks are additional experience and care should be taken that the values of free experience are not excessive.
  8. No shaped item is indestructible — there will always be a way to destroy it.
    • Without some way for items to be broken then the volumes of items will simply increase continuously making the game more and more item driven.
  9. The more powerful an item the greater the flaws it should contain.
    • Fragility, weight, magical downsides, all of these should be considered as an item is created. Particularly in regards to rule 1.
    • And, remembering that another person will have to read the write-up, so it should be easy to read and understand. Write-ups that are difficult to understand make the administration of the game much more difficult.
  10. Try not to imbalance game constructs.
    • Mages are unable to wear ferrous armour for a reason, this is a game balancing thing between fighers and mages.
    • Consider that a character that has no weaknesses has no need to adventure with other characters. Weaknesses provide an excellent rationalisation for players to form groups, i.e. to shore up their areas of vulnerability. In addition, characters that are or are becoming good at everything are boring, or are becoming boring.
  11. Players should avoid their characters dealing with each other or using items they as GMs have created.