Often game creation starts with a design concept. Your design concept need not be a jumping-off point, you might have a theme, or a licensed IP, or even just a title you like. But fairly early in a design process, you need to decide what your goals are. Having design goals is not a guarantee you’ll hit them, but the odds are much better when you know what you are aiming for.

As an example: Most ttRPGs that use character classes have the class give characters a set of tools designed to cover specific kinds of problems better than other classes. Rogues are better as sneaking. Warriors are better at fighting. Wizards are better at…. well, in some games, they’re better at everything.

But you could design them differently. You could design classes so they are all designed to be able to tackle any kind of situation, but do so differently. Different tools, different styles, different tactics, but equally useful in all kinds of encounters

So how would you pitch the abilities of classes designed like this? As a thought experiment, I came up with conceptual descriptions for 5 classes for a theoretical RPG “EDWEIRDIAN: STRANGE ADVENTURES FROM 1901 to 1910.”

Aesthlete-Style is your substance. You are never out of place, can can blend in or stand out as needed, drawing and controlling attention as you desire.

Brevet-You can punch above your weight in any circumstance… briefly. You have borrowed authority, borrowed resources, and powered influence. But if you abuse or even use them, they may be removed by their true owners.

Fieldfare-You don’t look like much. You are behind the flashy ones, and just to the right. You have a solid trade, a solid community, and a solid head and your shoulders. You’re not the person making the biggest difference… but you are also hard to get rid of. Your contribution may not be as large, but it’s nearly impossible to stop you from rolling up your sleeves and making a difference, and you make everyone else more effective.

Havelock-You need time to plan your approach. You can prepare to tackle any challenge or hazard, using your own abilities and those or your allies with precision and brilliance… if you know in advance what has to be done. You’re not useless when taken by surprise, but you can’t apply your best effort without some forewarning.

Ripper-You can tear you way through fights, social problems, and barriers, but you can’t do it quietly. You are a spectacular last resort, but you are a LAST resort.

Now, a crucial part of such design is to follow through in adventure design. So if I am writing “BELLE EPOCALYPSE: CITY OF BLINDING LIGHT” as the first adventure for EDWEIRDIAN before the RPG is even finished, I need to remember how the classes are supposed to all be useful in any circumstance and try to set up the flow or the adventure to match. And I should be ready to adjust how that is handled as the RPG rules are refined. And no matter how things go in that first adventure, when I start work on the second, more horror-themed EDWEIRDIAN adventure, GILL DEAD AGE: ATLANTIC RISING, I should refresh my memory on how the game rules are supposed to work to ensure I don’t double down on a rushed, flawed adventure design.

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