Help with game system setting

Hey there,

I'm making an RPG game system with its own rules and stuff. It's going to have races and jobs/classes. I'm not extending myself about that, as it is not complete yet.

My main problem here right now is the setting. As I think there are too many games set in fantastic-epic-middle-age, I want to try something new. I've thought about Ancient Greece, every class representing a different god worshiper. But races are important in the game because their stats escalate diferently and I'd mostly lose them.

How could I work it arround? I've thought about an epic-fantasy Ancient Greece with orcs and elves and stuff, but it could came out kind of wrong. Also, I could manage different races as minotaurs and so, but I feel them pretty meh.

So, I would appreciate any idea so much, guys.

Thanks!

How about satyrs, blemmyes, monopods, panotti, dog-men, troglodytes, centaurs, and yes, minotaurs. There are plenty of mythical races from antiquity...I'm sure I'm forgetting a whole bunch.

Monopods!

Why thematically does it have to be races? Could those variables not be determined by something else in a character's history, such as their Job or Training or Background?

This is so creepy, man... Hahaha thanks, I will check them out!
It does not really have to be races. Characters will have two active classes/jobs at the same time, and this will report them stats/level, as usual. But I wanted them to have another customizable variable to give them also different stats.

So, as I initially though of it about an average epic-fantasy game, orcs and gnomes and elves and such fit perfectly. Then, I changed the setting and it got kind of weird. The classes are already kind of related to their training, and background doesn't convince me, as I want it to be more standarized to generate leveling tables and bonuses, to play further games with other characters, maybe.

Thanks for the ideas.

How fantastical are you looking to go? Personally I think including standard fantasy races like elves and orcs, etc. would make it feel not at all like Ancient Greece. It would feel like another fantasy heartbreaker.

From a historical and mythical perspective, obviously most people in Greek history are human. :P There are satyrs, and various nymphs, and things that are humanoid, but they generally have pretty fantastic powers that you may not want to make accessible to players.

So one option would be to break the singular human race into "Prototypical" categories of man. The Scholar has an Intelligence bonus. The Athlete has a Strength bonus. The Politician has a Charisma bonus. And so on. Obviously you may not be using those Stats, but I'm just trying to illustrate my point. Point being: you can call it something other than Race, but yet still have it fill the same mechanical role as Race does in your standard Fantasy Heartbreaker.

Make sense?

How about this:
• Rich Howard's Variant Human

I'm not necessarily looking for a strict Ancient Greece game, I'm just looking for the feel of not playing another D&D or another Pathfinder or another whatsoever. It can have magic. In fact, there will be.
The stats will be overly simplified, it will be a fast-paced game with just 2 stats over which other dice throws and damages and so one will be calculated. The category of man based on his profession doesn't fit here, as jobs will be changeable and don't want the characters to stick to one archetype only (in fact, they won't be able to).
Okay, this brainstorming is helping me a lot to put some things together. I'm strongly opting for some kind of utopic Greece with bot classic races and human variants, just like Skyrim does, as it normalized elves, catfolk, lizards, different humans "nacionalities"... This way, I could use the flexibility of a fantasy universe that is not attached to History, and also be familiar with gods and stuff, with no need for the player to "study the lore" before playing.

Nice!! Thank you so much, guys!! I will probably post something about it after playing a couple of test games with some friends.

Hey Semplax,

What you described about Ancient Greece was actually done in an MMO called Wakfu. Technically, they call their realm the "human world," ergo they're all "human," but the playable races and classes are synonymous. Their pantheon of 12 gods each shaped a nation off their own desires. So you've got your berserker nation, your mage nation, your druid nation, and so on. Some of them look like plant people, some look demonic, but nope! All humans. You could try something like that, yes, but there are other ways you could spin it.

The problem with doing Greek D&D is that the standard races are very Germanic. Especially elves and dwarves. Orcs are stolen strictly from Tolkien, but he drew inspiration from things like dark elves (dokkalfar), ogres, and demons. The appropriate breakdown for Greece would be mortal, hero, and god. Consider that the Minotaur (Bull of Minos) was not a race, but a single human of ominous birth.

What I'd recommend is you design the purpose of each race or class first, before they have any names or images. Write how they fit into and help compose your world. Don't just say there's a Wizard, say how the Wizard has contributed to historic events. That sort of thing. When you know that about your races, then you can put a name, face, and stats to them.

Hope this helped!

Yep, I've never played Wakfu but played Dofus for years (intermitently). I'll think about it, thanks!

Keep in mind, too, that back in the day city-states were the bulk of what we consider Greece. Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Argos, etc. Perhaps you can have your races played out via city-state affiliation.