I’ve fielded lots of question about Arduin Eternal (AE) over
the course of its development and even more after its release. A common question/complaint has revolved
around the why ELs (experience levels) were removed from the game. The outcry seems to hinge around a couple of
topics, some more legitimate than others.
Previous iterations of Arduin revolved around ELs because,
frankly, the games Arduin grew out of used them. They were a measure of power, of durability
(how long you played), and were a core mechanic in the gaming system. They were the levels of achievement to
measure off and the roadmap of improvement.
The growth from greenhorn to veteran and to legend was measured out in
the slow (or fast) ascension from EL 1 to EL 2, 3, 4, 10, 20, and beyond. It was
effective but too integral at the same time.
It quickly became the focus instead of the game play. EL 5 is better than EL 1 and EL 10 is better
than EL 5 and if EL 10 is greater than EL 20 is grander; only EL 30 could trump
them all and beyond that EL…anyone who has observed or played MMORPGs will
quickly note this fact. The journey of
progression and growth from EL 1 to EL infinity is lost in the footrace to the
top. It’s so evident in so many ways
it’s almost painful.
Also, totally off topic, but look up MMORPG in the urban
dictionary, and read the definitions for MMORPG like: “a treadmill that makes you fatter” and
“…perfect for people who are too slow for Counter-Strike and with no friends or
imagination for role playing” just gets me to laughing…
Back on topic, Arduin Eternal combats the “race to the top” by
removing the use of EL as a core mechanic.
Instead of balancing the game off of a scaling single value, Arduin
Eternal uses the values hidden under the hood of EL. Most EL-driven (or level if that’s more
comfortable) games also use a holistic and mechanical advancement system. Holistic advancements means iterating from EL
1 to EL 2 provides a benefit to all the values hidden within. If EL is an umbrella for saves,
attack/defense bonuses, access to powers/skills/spells/goodies (etc), bonuses
to starting attributes, or other mechanics, then it’s holistic. Compleat Arduin (CA) and the Arduin Adventure
(AA) used this mechanic, for instance.
Don’t be fooled by games that provide pools of resources as
EL are gained. With a few exceptions
these games feature holistic advancement or hybrid holistic advancement. They seem individualized but are not. And don’t be confused by the window
dressing. Individuals of the same level
and similar configuration will have a tight pattern of resources at their
disposal. Two EL 8 Thieves from the CA,
for instance, with equal attributes will have the same amount of resources
mechanically. Use similar grading for
your own favorite system: If you cloned
two people so the attributes were the same, EL was the same, their archetype
was the same (profession, class, etc.) -- do they look alike within close
variance? If so, the game is probably
holistic.
Right. So how is AE
different? Well, let’s see. It uses an individualized advancement
system. Not just one but actually two of
them acting in parallel. One of the
advancement systems is driven by game events and player choices in game. This allows role playing to directly
influence mechanics. If your
hardbitten, crusty warrior spends the evening wining and dining instead of
swinging his sword and shield butting people in the face, he’ likely get better at it. I say likely because it’s not
automatic. Just because you utilized
interpersonal skills in game doesn’t mean they automatically advance but it
does mean you will get the “chance” for them to advance. Advancement systems of this sort are
nominative, meaning that performance of some kind nominates a game mechanic
into the advancement system. Also, in
AE, this advancement is failure possible.
In its basic sense, AE uses a d100 roll against a difficulty of your
current value. If you don’t attain this
threshold you don’t advance. I’ll give
an example.
Our tough warrior spent the evening smoozing, using his
Social skill left and right. This game
action nominates the Social skill for advancement. At the end of the night when the GM asks
people to check for advancement he makes this advancement check. His current skill ranking is 7. His chance of seeing some advancement is high
(93%). Rolling an 8 or higher means
he’ll see some increase. Should he roll
less than this, however, he would not.
So while the skill was nominated, it can fail. As skill ranks increase chances to succeed
decrease. If you charted it, it would be
a bell curve.
The second advancement system is an individualized option
system. Gameplay is rewarded nightly or
by story arc (depends on the GM) with experience (EPS). Usually 1-3 EPS is given, which can be saved
or used by the player to gain secrets, buy advancement bonuses, trade for skill
points and basically tailor your character.
Let’s say our tough warrior didn’t make his advancement roll. He could use his EPS to buy skill ranks and
advance the skill anyway.
“How do I tell how powerful my character is without
levels?!!?” has been a frequent outcry. The ability to say with a certain level of
smugness that you have a 50th level mage or EL 30 Warrior carries with it a
sense of confidence that’s hard to give up.
People know hearing you say it that the character is powerful, unique
and “important”. Even if you juiced them
up to that point, it still gets a reaction out of your audience. The AE equivalent is to say you are genius or
legendary instead. A character with
legendary secrets (not skill) is truly legendary , since it takes the investment
f hundreds of EPS, and consequently games to get there. In my personal group, one player is just now
ascending to legendary status, and that after 332 games and nearly 3 years of
real time. It has been a long, beautiful
road and they are as truly bad ass as
that EL 30 or EL 50 from previous games.
Another outcry has been from GMs, who use ELs to “balance”
an adventure for their players. Granted,
to a point everyone does this, especially for one-shot or convention games
where the players are unknown and your snapshot of time is short to play
in. Outside of the above and perhaps a
few other unique situations, its more akin to wrapping your players in bubble
wrap. I’ve previously released methods
to do the same thing, using EPS as a mapping tool. A little digging should recover it in the blog. I’m not a fan, however, of doing this. I find it unnecessary.