Monday, September 27, 2010

Weird Adventures: A Touch of Class

art by Shipeng Li
After some consideration, and advice from others, I think I’ve decided on the classes for my upcoming Weird Adventures campaign. I’m  to keep the basic classes simple and use occupations/concepts similar to Akratic Wizardry’s backgrounds to “pulp-ify” them.

Here are the classes I have in mind, with the classic D&D classes they'll be based on:

Tough Guy (Fighter): The muscle.  Those who make their living through force of arms.

Man of Faith (Cleric): Miracle-workers--“The Gifted” I’ve mentioned before. Individuals who derive magical like abilities from their faith alone and don’t cast traditional spells.  Unlike the traditional cleric,the Man of Faith is not necessarily part of a church hierarchy.

Magic Man (Magic-User): These are scholars, experts in the magical arts. Some are thaumaturgists, who approach magic as a science, while others use their learning in the furtherance of their religious order--though the way these two groups cast spells is identical. Also included here are the mystics, who are more intuitive than “scientific” spell-casters.

Ace of Agility (Thief): Individuals who stand apart because of their nimbleness and skill. Some are indeed thieves in inclination and vocation, but others are circus acrobats, escape artists, or even film actors adept at physical comedy.

The above are given “male” names but that should in no way be construed to mean their strictly male.  A tough guy can just as easily be a “tough gal.”

Soon, I’ll present the occupations which will put a lot a flesh on the class bones and allow for pulp stand-bys like the private eye, or the two-fisted scientist.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like a good framework. Looking forward to seeing how you build on it.

But where would almost purely social archetypes like the femme fatale and the corrupt politician fit in?

Unknown said...

I like it as well. "Ace of Agility" seem like a bit of a mouthful, though. Can't think of anything better and "Ace of Agility" isn't all that bad. It would probably get shortened to "Ace" in play.

Trey said...

@seaofstarrpg - Like D&D, these are adventuring archetypes--they're not meant to represent the full gamut of possible occupations. The two you mention, in particular, would be more likely adversaries.

Having said that, I still haven't completely ruled out adding a class with charisma as its primary attribute, which could be used to cover those two.

@Risus - I agonized over that name. Like you, I'm not completely pleased with it, but I haven't been able to come up with anything better.