Project Yorktown is a Tabletop RPG project I have been working on for a while now. Whats the elevator pitch? Its a system that enables the telling of fantastical stories about heroes, villains, monsters and magic through elegant combat and easy to prep encounters. Similar to Dungeons and Dragons, but with more freedom and more meta-options for character creation while keeping preparation easy and dynamic for the game master.
This project is to combine the elements of RPGs that I and my group would enjoy, and then expand upon it, alter it, and remove it so it could act like an independent project. Right now, the focus is on building to playtests and seeing how the system fairs within our own group. Then we can broaden our horizons to more groups and differing playstyles. But what makes this different from D&D or Pathfinder?
Heritage
I am not 100% a fan of the way Heritage, Ancestry or Race has been in D&D. Sure, Orcs are typically strong, Elves are typically intelligence, and Dwarves are typically sturdy but there’s a big word their typically. Characters in these games should stand out from their peers so playing the dumb Elf or weak Orc should be not just possible, but encouraged. But there are other problems with this, particularly in light of the world we live in.
When coming up with this system, the goal was a Human Only campaign where the players travel to a new colony based of British North American colonies. I explored several options for developing a heritage style component, using nationalities particularly that would be synonymous with classic D&D races. But the more I through about it, the more I got concerned that it didn’t feel right. When the classic perception of an Orc is a blood hungry, non thinking brute, its difficult to make that feel human. While these classic embodiments of aspects humanity have their place, I felt that this game should take a different path.
So, what else defines a character before they become an adventurer? Where did they grow up and the tradition that surrounded them. Were they raise around nobles and court life, or by merchants and coin, or by clerics devoted to a religion. This still gives a diverse collection of options with both gameplay and roleplay significance but also is race neutral allowing GMs and players to customise their appearance to suit the campaign setting. Though knowing lots of players and GMs enjoy traditional fantasy races, I will put some suggestions for additional options in the back of the book rather than it being a core part of the fantasy. A sample is below, based on the first draft of the ruleset
Class
Class has been the core of Dungeons and Dragons since its inception back 1974. The concept that unique abilities that create a broad playstyle are put together is a very intuitive for players and easy to design for designers. However, players can want more than just a single choice of playstyle at the beginning of the game. The meta level character development with multiple choices to refine or broaden the playstyle is something I felt has been missing from the most recent edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The choice at level 3 has some unintended consequences. First, it eliminates player meta level choices from 3rd level (some as soon as first or second) unless a Dungeon Master uses feats but these are rare and have to be balanced against an ability score increase. Secondly, designers are far more limited by this system. We’ve seen the progression from classical archetypes to more and more supernatural and fantastical subclasses which are fine for Wizards of the Coasts setting of the Forgotten Realms but might not fit within other peoples fantasies.
So, what is the solution to these two problems in one. Redefining what a class is. Having a broad playstyle is still important for a class, players use that to help figure out how to and what they can play within a system. But, in Project Yorktown classes are defined by a single special ability, unique to that class. Then rather than giving each class specific abilities, we give them options at every level. Spell casters can choose to learn new spells but for all classes they can learn an Aspect. An Aspect is a linear set of abilities that are used to refine or broaden playstyles. Some aspects have one ability, some up to five. In selecting an aspect, you gain the first ability. From there, you can continue to invest in the Aspect to gain further abilities. This leaves classes to deal with the broad overview of the playstyle by using the fundamental progressions and key ability. A sample is below, based on the first draft of the ruleset.