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愤怒的国王与圣杯 King Angry and the Holy Grail (https://theangrygm.com/king-angry-and-the-holy-grail/)
作者：愤怒的GMThe Angry GM (https://theangrygm.com/)
发布时间：September 26, 2018
(https://krseoul.imgtbl.com/i/2024/06/03/665d2bf6abdff.png)
因水平有限，使用ChatGPT4.0o翻译。
仅供个人参考，无法保证准确性，不能作为具有普适性的、面向大众的译文使用。
若想更准确了解原作者及文章的用意，请阅读原文 (https://theangrygm.com/king-angry-and-the-holy-grail//)。
寻找传说中的宝藏不仅仅是奇幻游戏的主要内容，它们是游戏的根基。如果奇幻游戏是文明的话——考虑到在线游戏社区的表现，奇幻游戏绝对是远离文明的——如果奇幻游戏是文明，那么寻找传说中的宝藏就相当于乌尔城，或者更确切地说，是黄金国埃尔多拉多。而在黄金国的金库里——位于不老泉水广场旁边——你会找到金羊毛、圣杯、尼克松录音带中丢失的十八分钟、D.B.库珀丢失的赎金、吉米·霍法的尸体和万物大统一理论。
我们热爱寻找传说中的宝藏。它们能带来精彩的故事和冒险。但这并不是这篇文章的主题。
哈！被我骗到了吧！
不。这篇文章是关于我个人寻找桌面角色扮演游戏圣杯的开端。这是一个许多玩家、游戏设计师和像我这样的业余游戏设计爱好者多年来一直在追寻的难以捉摸的宝藏。许多玩家都在追求这个宝藏——尤其是玩家们——但很多玩家根本不相信它的存在——尤其是游戏主持人（GMs）。我们曾多次见到它的影子，但总是发现它们是骗局和赝品，令人失望的垃圾。每天都有一个满怀希望的寻宝者因虚假的线索和伪造品而变得心灰意冷，最终放弃了希望。
这篇文章是关于在奇幻桌面角色扮演游戏中寻找一个有效的制作系统的旅程的开始。我们将一起踏上这段旅程。因为——像许多在我之前的人一样——我认为我有线索。我认为我有地图。我认为我知道它在哪里以及如何到达。
现在，我倾向于做出大承诺。而且我最终会兑现大多数承诺。但这通常比我预期的要花费更多时间和工作。我以前也谈过这个问题。我承认这是个问题。我非常擅长提出创意、计划、安排、实施和测试并进行微调。但当涉及到完成和打磨时？可以说，我是短跑选手，而不是马拉松选手。尽管如此，我最终还是会完成事情的。即使有时我没有完全完成，我也会走大部分路，让人们填补细节。有一天，我会有雇员，他们会被付钱来完成我开始的工作。哈。
关键是，我不承诺为D&D提供一个完全完成、打磨、可出版的系统。因为那会太大而且会占用太多时间。这并不是说这不可能发生。但很可能，这会成为某个其他项目的一部分，而不是被拼接到D&D中。至少在概念上是这样。在一个系统中思考如何解决问题会使得在另一个系统的基础上构建解决方案变得更容易。你懂我的意思吧？
但我确实想花一些时间来研究一个好的奇幻RPG制作系统应该是什么样子的。具体来说，就是D&D。我不是说概念上的。我是说机械上的。规则应该是什么样子的？我可能不会为D&D中的每一个可制作物品或每一个可能的成分进行转换，但我希望能接近于规则，使得只需填充细节和稍作调整即可。简而言之，我不知道这需要多长时间或最终形式是什么样子。但我有一个大致方向和目标。
为什么我要做这件事？坦白说，因为有需求。我经常收到电子邮件，询问关于制作系统的事，或者问我是否看过某人在Drive-Thru RPG上出售的PDF，或者是否愿意看看某人的草稿。我听到很多关于制作系统的事情。这似乎是很多人希望在D&D中看到的一个功能。它极具争议，也充满了很多怨恨。
所以，我现在要说的是：如果你对在D&D中加入制作系统的想法不感兴趣，或者觉得它没用，那很好。不要读这篇文章或后续文章，也不要实施任何制作系统。但我不需要听到你的意见。我知道有些人对这个选项不感兴趣。你们已经得到了满足。因为D&D和Pathfinder现有的那点微不足道的制作规则实在太差了，几乎可以忽略不计。你不需要制作系统的需求已经得到了满足。闭嘴。
如果你认为一个好的制作系统不可能实现，因为迄今为止的每一个执行都像一堆冒烟的一级蝙蝠粪（罕见），那也很好。我也不需要听到这个。我已经知道世界上有两种人：一种是告诉别人什么是不可能的人，另一种是忙于完成事情而不听别人说什么的人。简而言之，如果你认为这不可能做到，就坐到一边，不要做。只是别挡我的路，因为我正忙着做。
评论是给有用的人的，有用的意见，而不是给那些抱怨别人为自己的游戏发明其他选项的人，或者认为一切已经完成了的人。
好了，基本规则说完了。让我们谈谈制作系统。
原文：Quests for legendary treasure aren’t just a staple of fantasy gaming, they’re the roots. The foundation. If fantasy gaming was civilization – and, if the online gaming community is any indication, fantasy gaming is anything BUT civilized – if fantasy gaming was civilization, quests for legendary treasure would be the City of Ur. Or, rather, El Dorado, the City of Gold. And in the vaults of the City of the Gold – located off the Fountain of Youth Plaza – you’d find the Golden Fleece, the Holy Grail, the Missing Eighteen Minutes of the Nixon Tapes, D. B. Cooper’s lost ransom, Jimmy Hoffa’s body, and a Grand Unified Theory of Everything.
We LOVE quests for legendary treasure. They make great stories and great adventures. Which is NOT what this article is about.
Ha! Gotcha!
No. This article is about the beginning of my own, personal search for the Holy Grail of table-top role-playing gaming. An elusive treasure that many gamers and game designers and armchair amateur game design enthusiasts like me have been pursuing for years. It’s a treasure that many gamers are after – especially players – but that many gamers don’t even believe exists – especially GMs. It’s a treasure that we’ve caught glimpses of many times, but they always turn out to be hoaxes and forgeries. Unsatisfying crap. And every day, another hopeful treasure hunter becomes embittered with the false leads and fakes and, exhausted by the search, just gives up hope.
This article is about the quest for a crafting system in a fantasy, table-top role-playing game. One that works. And this article is the start of a journey we’re going to take together. Because – like so many people who have come before me – I think I have a lead. I think I have a map. I think I know where it is and how to get there.
Now, I tend to make big promises. And I eventually deliver on most of them. But it usually takes a lot longer than I expected to fulfil them and involve a lot more work. I’ve talked about that before. I admit it’s a problem. I’m really good at coming up with ideas and planning and scheduling and even implementing and testing and tweaking. But when it comes to finishing and polishing? Let’s just say I’m a sprinter, not a marathon runner. Now, that said, I do also finish things eventually. And even when I don’t, I get most of the way there and leave people to fill in the details. Someday, I’ll have employees who will be paid to finish what I start. Ha.
The point is, I’m not promising a completely finished, polished, publishable system for D&D. That’s because it’d be too damned big and take up too much damned time. That’s not to say it won’t happen. But likely, it’d be the sort of thing that’d end up inside SOME OTHER project than hacked into D&D. At least conceptually. Thinking through how to solve a problem in one system makes it easier to build the solution into the foundation of another system. You get what I’m saying, right?
But I do want to take some time to work out what a good crafting system for a fantasy RPG would look like. Specifically, D&D. And I don’t mean conceptually. I mean mechanically. What would the rules look like? I might not do a conversion for every craftable item in D&D or every possible ingredient, but I’d like to get close enough to rules that it’d be just a matter of filling in the details and tweaking a little. In short, I don’t know how long this will take or what the final form will be. But I do have an idea of where it has to go and what it has to look like.
Why am I doing this? Frankly, because there’s a demand. I get e-mails all the time asking about crafting systems or asking whether I’ve seen so-and-so’s PDF for sale on Drive-Thru RPG or whether I’d look over someone’s draft or whatever. I hear A LOT about crafting systems. And it seems to be a feature that a lot of people want to see in D&D. It’s all divisive as hell and there’s a lot of bitterness too.
So, let me say this right now: if you’re not interested in the idea of a crafting system in D&D or don’t think it’d be useful, great. Don’t read this article or any of the follow-ups and don’t implement one. But I don’t need to hear that. I know there are people who AREN’T interested in that option. And you’re already taken care of. Because the anemic crafting rules that already exist in D&D and Pathfinder are such utter crap that they might as well not exist. Your need for not crafting is already served. Shut up.
And if you think that a good crafting system can’t be done because every execution thus far has been a steaming pile of Grade A Bat Guano (Uncommon), great also. I don’t need to hear that either. I already know the world is divided into two types of people: the ones who tell everyone what’s impossible and the ones who are too busy accomplishing things to listen. In short, if you think it can’t be done, go sit in the corner and don’t do it. Just get out of my way because I’m busy doing it.
Comments are for useful people with useful opinions, not for people who piss and moan about other people inventing other options for their own games and for people who think everything that can be done has already been done.
Okay. Ground rules out of the way. Let’s talk about crafting.
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为什么制作系统总是出问题？
很少有桌面角色扮演游戏能够实现良好的制作规则。事实上，我几乎想不出有哪款游戏能很好地处理制作系统。这有点奇怪，因为制作在奇幻冒险游戏中是一个自然契合的元素。而如今，几乎每款电子游戏都塞进了制作系统。甚至有些电子游戏完全就是制作游戏。有整个类型的游戏都是关于制作的。而对于喜欢这种游戏的人来说，有一些非常出色的系统。那么为什么桌面角色扮演游戏就不能做到呢？
现在，我不能代表所有的RPG游戏发言。即使我能代表很多，但我不打算这么做。相反，我会限制自己只讨论D&D及其衍生作品。而问题在于——让制作系统起作用的主要问题是——它是“事后规则”堆中的一部分。也就是说，如果你阅读D&D主要版本的发展过程，你会发现设计师总是推迟某些规则，说“我们先搞清核心系统如何运作，然后再处理其他东西。”例如，多职业规则和魔法物品。几乎所有不是角色生成或战斗的内容。
不过，仔细想想，我可以理解为什么制作最终成为事后才考虑的东西。因为制作系统对某些玩家有吸引力，但并不是所有人都感兴趣。不同于战斗——这是D&D体验的核心部分——不是所有人都愿意参与制作规则。但D&D在处理核心、非核心和可选游戏元素的问题上也有困扰，我可以为此另写一篇文章。他们声称游戏的核心玩法模式是“战斗、探索和角色扮演”。这到底是什么意思？！这一说法到底指导了哪些设计决策？你在游戏机制中怎么能看到这一点？探索机制到底是什么？灵感机制真的和战斗一样重要吗？真的？
回到制作系统。我不是说制作系统应该成为核心玩法的一部分。它应该是可选的。应该让玩家根据自己的喜好选择是否参与制作。但它不能是事后才考虑的东西。因为制作会影响游戏的核心，对吧？我意思是，你可以仔细平衡各种机械元素，决定角色每天能使用多少法术、他们的伤害输出、治疗能力等等，但如果你构建一个可选规则，让玩家能够打破这一切，那就大错特错了。
从广义上讲，制作只是获取和定制装备的一种方式。因此，至少制作系统必须与装备系统相结合。而装备系统包括魔法物品系统，对吧？这也连接到宝藏系统，对吧？我的意思是，宝藏只是获取和定制装备的另一种方式，对吧？这一切都是相互关联的。
这就是问题所在。D&D有一个非常仔细平衡和控制的系统，用于根据内在能力和技能来构建和定制角色。也就是说，职业能力有一个进程。但在装备方面定制角色的平衡和控制系统却非常差劲，几乎不存在。如我之前所讨论的，魔法物品的进程只有一个模糊的提示，普通装备根本没有进程。除了原始数值和少数非常小的关键词外，没有什么能区分一种武器与另一种武器，或者一种盔甲与另一种盔甲。而一旦超越了提供数值加成的魔法物品，一切就变得混乱不堪。
更奇怪的是，游戏中已经存在一个非常仔细构建的非数值能力的进程。好吧，至少有一个进程。我不认为它是仔细构建的。但它确实存在。那就是法术。一块飞毯相当于一个群体飞行法术。如果需要7级角色才能对整个队伍施放飞行法术，那么飞毯应该是一个7级的魔法物品。如果是这样，那么7级工匠应该能够制作它。
老实说，D&D的真正问题在于，游戏中只有一个内置的进程。你获得经验值，提升职业等级，并获得新能力。其他所有进程都为了简化而逐渐被移除。你唯一的定制选项就是你的职业构建。尤其是现在，专长在游戏中占的比重如此之小。当然，这使得游戏更容易接触。但也更简单和受限。它强化了你必须拥有某些原型才能拥有某些能力的理念。例如，如果你没有一个神术角色，你就得不到治疗。没有法术角色，就没有元素伤害。
所以，问题不仅仅是制作是事后才考虑的东西。它是事后考虑中的事后考虑。
这还导致了其他问题。例如，现在每个职业都有一大堆魔法或超自然能力和奇怪的资源管理机制等等？那正是因为某些职业——魔法职业——本质上更具多样性和可定制性——因此更有趣。法师永远比战士有趣，因为法师每隔一级就能从数十种新能力中选择。他们从未想到装备——和技能——应该对战士和盗贼来说，就像法术对法师一样。它们是他们定制角色并不仅仅获得更多数值，而是获得新能力的方式。4E尝试做了很多这方面的工作，但被该系统的所有问题所掩盖了。
归根结底，D&D中的制作系统失败的原因在于它们需要依附于一个不存在的核心游戏部分。
原文：
Why Crafting Always Goes So Wrong？
Very few table-top RPGs have managed to implement good crafting rules. In fact, I really can’t think of a game that I would say handled crafting well. And that’s kind of weird. Because crafting is a natural fit for fantasy adventure games. And, these days, crafting systems get crammed into pretty much every video game. Hell, there are some video games that are nothing but crafting. There’re entire genres that are nothing but crafting. And, for the people who like that kind of thing, there are some really great systems out there. So why can’t table-top RPGs do it?
Now, I can’t speak for every RPG out there. And even though I can speak for a lot of them, I’m not going to. Instead, I’m going to limit myself to looking at D&D and its derivatives. And the problem there – the major problem with making crafting work – is that it’s part of a pile of “afterthought rules.” That is, if you read about the developments of the major editions of D&D, there’s certain rules that the designers always seem to put off and say “well, we’ll figure out how the core system works and then we’ll work out the other stuff later.” Mutliclassing, for example. And magic items. Pretty much everything that isn’t character generation or combat.
When you get down to it, though, I can understand why crafting ends up being an afterthought. See, crafting is something that appeals to certain gamers, but not to everyone. Unlike combat – which is a core part of the D&D experience – not everyone is going to want to engage with crafting rules. But then, D&D also has a problem dealing with the issue of core vs. non-core vs. optional gameplay elements and I could write an entire separate freaking article about that. I mean, they stated their core modes of play are “combat, exploration, and role-playing.” What does that even mean?! And how the hell did that guide their design? What decisions about the game did that statement actually drive? And how can you even see that in the mechanics of the game? What the motherloving hell is an exploration mechanic? Is inspiration really as central to the game as combat? REALLY?
Back to crafting. I’m not saying crafting should be part of the core gameplay. It should be optional. It should be something players can engage with if they want to and ignore if they want to. But it can’t be an afterthought. Because crafting affects the core of the game, right? I mean, you can do all the careful mechanical balancing stuff, right and decide exactly how many spells characters have access to on a daily basis and their damage outputs and their healing capacity and all that crap, but if you then build an optional rule that allows players to break all of that, well, you done screwed up. Big time.
In the broadest terms, crafting is just a way of acquiring and customizing equipment. So, at the very least, the crafting system has to tie into the equipment system. And the equipment system includes the magic item system, right? And that also connects to the treasure system, right? I mean, treasure is just another way of acquiring and customizing equipment, right? It’s all connected together.
And that’s the problem. D&D has this very carefully balanced and controlled system for building and customizing characters in terms of inherent powers and abilities. That is, there’s a progression for class abilities. But the balanced and controlled system for customizing characters in terms of equipment is pretty piss poor. It’s almost nonexistent. As I’ve discussed before, there’s only a vague hint of a magic item progression and there’s no progression for mundane equipment. Beyond raw numbers and a few, very minor keywords, there’s nothing to distinguish one weapon from another. Or one piece of armor from another. And once you get beyond magical items that give a numerical bonus, well, it’s a haphazard mess.
What’s really weird is that there’s already a very carefully crafted progression of non-numerical abilities in the game. Well, there’s a progression. I don’t think it was crafted with care. But it’s there. It’s spells. A flying carpet is the equivalent of a mass flying spell. If it takes a 7th-level character to cast a fly spell on the whole party, then a flying carpet should be a seventh level magical item. And if that’s the case, then it should be craftable by a 7th-level artisan.
Honestly, the real problem with D&D is that there’s only one progression built into the game. You gain XP, acquire class levels, and get new powers. All other progressions have been gradually removed in the name of simplicity. Your only option for customization is your class build. Especially now that feats are such a small part of the game. Sure, it’s approachable. But it’s also simple. And restrictive. And it reinforces the idea that you must have certain archetypes to have certain abilities. If you don’t bring a divine character, for example, you don’t get healing. No spell-caster, no elemental damage.
So, it’s not just that crafting is an afterthought. It’s an afterthought of an afterthought.
And it leads to other problems. For example, the fact that literally every class now has a giant slate of magical or supernatural abilities and weird resource management mechanics and stuff? That’s precisely because some classes – magical classes – are inherently more versatile and customizable – and therefore more interesting – than others. The wizard will always be more interesting than the fighter because the wizard gets to choose from dozens of new abilities every other level. It never occurred to them that equipment – and skills – should be to fighters and rogues what spells were to wizards. The way they customize their characters and gain not just more numbers, but new abilities. 4E tried to do a lot of this, but it got buried under all of the problems with that system.
Ultimately, the reason crafting systems fail in D&D is because they need to hang off a core part of gameplay that doesn’t exist.
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为什么要制作系统？
“但是 Angry，”你可能会说，“又怎样呢？D&D 需要另一个进程系统吗？为什么不把所有东西都放进职业进程中？装备进程会让游戏变得更复杂。GM 必须分发装备并保持一切平衡。而且再加上制作？这更加复杂了。而且制作只对参与的玩家有趣。为什么让其他玩家忍受这一切？”
好吧，你的抱怨和牢骚提出了一个不错的问题，不是你实际的观点，你在这里是错的。但你至少问了一个正确的问题：这会给游戏增加什么？
我知道玩家们想要一个制作系统。他们经常告诉我这一点。而我也想要一个制作系统。所以，这是有需求的。但是，如果我们要给游戏添加一个系统，我们需要了解为什么有人会想要它。如果你不是那种想要它的人，这一点尤其重要。否则，你如何提供一个吸引所有人的游戏？
那么，为什么呢？为什么人们想要一个制作系统？为什么人们想要任何东西？因为有某种奖励。奖励主要分为两种：外在奖励和内在奖励。
我们先从内在奖励开始。内在奖励是那些本身就有价值的东西。它们本身具有某种使其可取的固有品质。现在，我们将把制作系统视为一个玩家可以获取或定制角色装备的系统。当我说装备时，我指的是永久性的东西，比如剑和盔甲，以及临时的物品，比如药水和消耗品。但我还要加上一个条件，那就是它必须与角色能力区别开来。这种区别很重要。
看，Pathfinder 解决了制作问题——问题在于 D&D 3.5 和 Pathfinder 中的制作系统复杂、昂贵且回报不足，没人用——Pathfinder 通过创造职业来解决制作问题，这些职业的能力被包装成制作。D&D 也做了一些这样的事情。像炼金术士和工匠这样的职业只是法术列表被称为制作。这并不完全一样。原因在于制作的内在奖励。
制作允许一种超越角色原型选择的定制水平。它是一种不同的角色定制轴。就像技能和专长曾经做的那样。除了许多专长只对某些职业有用，而一般专长并不那么出色。技能与职业和背景捆绑在一起。与背景选择不同，背景选择非常有限，仅作为原型的修饰，而定制的装备是完全独特的。世界上有很多战士，还有很多矮人战士，其中许多是行会工匠。因为这些是原型。这就是重点。但世界上只有一个矮人战士工匠选择了制作这把特定的剑或斧头或其他东西。
从纯粹的创造性表达层面来看，制作的开放性是其吸引力的一部分。选择种族、背景、职业和构建只是回答一系列选项非常有限的多项选择题。但构建自己的定制装备是不同的。哦，当然，选择仍然有限。只有那么多类型的盔甲和武器，以及那么多可以添加的修饰词和能力，但在那里有一个广阔的探索空间，仅仅是选项的数量。如果你有 15 种不同的武器选择，每种武器有两个不同的修饰词插槽，有 20 种不同的修饰词，那就是 6000 种不同的武器变化。如果不能重复修饰词，则为 5700 种。如果你有同样数量的盔甲选择，再加上各种其他装备，你很快就会膨胀到数十万，甚至数百万种可能性。
除了创造性表达方面，还有探索的方面。看，我把所有选项的总数称为一个广阔的“可探索空间”。即使每个选项都列在列表中，你只需混合搭配组件来创建你的武器，仍然有探索的机会。混合搭配不同级别的能力和特殊力量，以及将不同装备组合与不同职业能力结合以产生不同的协同效应？这提供了很多潜力来玩弄、调整和修补。探索系统并找到真正适合你角色的酷炫组合？这是许多玩家喜欢的一种发现形式。
纯粹从内在奖励的角度来看，你满足了那些寻求通过角色表达自我的玩家，以及那些喜欢在游戏中探索并找出最佳方法的玩家。更不用说那些只是想体验工匠或自给自足冒险家的玩家了，因为那是他们追求的幻想。
当然，这还涉及到外在奖励。这些奖励有价值是因为它们的作用。在这种情况下，自定义装备因为其功能而有价值。燃烧的剑很酷，因为它造成额外的火焰伤害。防毒盔甲很有价值，因为它能抵消毒素。显而易见。
现在，在 D&D 中，这种外在奖励通常仅限于职业能力——这意味着选择职业实际上会将你锁定在所有可能的能力和力量的子集中——或者由 GM 分发的魔法物品。或者随机分配。但是，如果你能够选择自己的自定义装备，你就有权选择自己的能力，而不受职业列表的限制。这意味着你能够更好地为挑战做好准备，弥补职业或种族的某些弱点，或者增强你的优势。
总的来说，让玩家以某种方式构建自定义装备，提供了很大的创造性表达机会，探索的机会，以及为即将到来的挑战做准备的能力。而且，说我疯狂也好，这个列表听起来非常接近我所说的角色扮演游戏的核心吸引力。
原文：
Why Craft Anyway?
“But Angry,” you’re probably saying, “so what? Does D&D need another progression system? Why not just put everything into the class progression? Equipment progression makes the game more complex. The GM would have to dole out equipment and keep everything in balance? And crafting on top of that? That’s even more complex. And crafting is only interesting to the player who’s doing it. Why make the rest of the players sit through that?”
Well, you raise a good point in your pissing and moaning, you whiny naysayer. Not your actual points, mind you. You’re wrong there. But what you’re at least asking the right question: what would it add to the game?
I know people want a crafting system. Well, I know players want a crafting system. They tell me all the time. And I want a crafting system. So, there’s a demand. But, if we’re going to add a system to the game, we do need to understand why anyone would want it. And it’s especially important for you to understand it if you’re not the sort of person who wants it. Otherwise, how will you deliver a game that appeals to anyone who isn’t you?
So why? Why do people want a crafting system? Why do people want anything? Because there’s some kind of reward. And there’s two basic kinds of rewards: extrinsic rewards and intrinsic rewards.
Let’s start with intrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards are those that are valuable for their own sake. They have some inherent quality that makes them desirable, in and of themselves. Now, we’re going to consider a crafting system to be a system whereby a player can acquire or customize their character’s equipment. And, when I say equipment, I’m referring to both permanent stuff like swords and armor, and temporary items like potions and consumables. But, I’m also going to add the caveat that it has to be distinct from your class abilities. And that distinction is important.
See, Pathfinder has gotten around the crafting problem – the problem being the crafting system in D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder are so needlessly complicated, costly, and unrewarding that nobody uses them – Pathfinder has gotten around the crafting problem by just inventing classes whose class abilities are skinned as crafting. D&D did a few of those two. Classes like the Alchemist and the Artificer are just spellcasters whose spell list is called crafting. It’s not quite the same thing. And the reason is because of the intrinsic rewards of crafting.
See, crafting allows for a level of customization that lies outside the choice of a character archetype. It’s a different axis of character customization. Kind of like how skills and feats used to do that. Except that many feats were only useful for certain classes and the generalist feats weren’t that great. And skills are married to class and background. And unlike background choices, which are very limited and simply serve as a modifier to an archetype, customized equipment is completely unique. There are lots of fighters in the world. And lots of dwarven fighters. And many of them are guild artisans. Because those are archetypes. That’s the point. But only one dwarven fighter artisan in the world chose to make this particular sword or axe or whatever.
From a level of pure creative expression, the open-endedness of crafting is part of the appeal. Choosing your race, background, class, and build is just answering a series of multiple-choice questions with a very limited number of options. But building your own custom equipment loadout is different. Oh, sure, there’s still only going to be a limited number of choices. There’s only so many different types of armor and weapons and so many modifiers and abilities you can add, but there’s a vast explorable space there in the sheer number of options. If you have 15 different weapon choices and each weapon has, say, two different slots for modifiers, and there’s 20 different modifiers, that’s 6,000 different weapon variations. Or 5,700 if you can’t double up on the modifiers. If you have the same number of armor choices and then add in all sorts of other equipment, you quickly balloon up to hundreds of thousands, even millions, of possibilities.
Beyond the creative expression aspect, there’s also a discovery aspect. See, I referred to the total number of options as a vast “explorable space.” And that’s because, even if every option is spelled out on a list and you just mix and match components to create your weapon, there’s still the opportunity to explore. Mixing and matching combinations of abilities and special powers – at different power levels – and combining different equipment matchups with different class abilities for different synergies? That offers a lot of potential to fool around and tweak and tinker. Exploring the system and finding really cool combinations that work for your character? That’s a form of discovery that a lot of players enjoy.
Purely intrinsically, you satisfy players who are seeking a way to express themselves in their character and the players who like to explore the game mechanically and figure out the best ways to do things. And that’s not even mentioning the players who just want the experience of playing a craftsman or self-sufficient adventurer because that’s the fantasy they are after.
And that, of course, plays into the extrinsic rewards. Those are the rewards that are valuable because of what they do. In this case, custom equipment is rewarding because of whatever it allows you to do. A flaming sword is cool because it does bonus fire damage. Armor that protects against poison is valuable because it nullifies poison. Duh.
Now, normally, in D&D, those sorts of extrinsic rewards are limited to class abilities – which means that choosing a class actually locks you into a subset of all possible abilities and powers – or the magic items that the GM chooses to dole out. Or roles randomly. But if you’re able to select your own custom equipment, you have the power to select your own abilities and to do so without being limited to a class list. That means that you’re better able to prepare for challenges, cover some of the weaknesses in your class or race, or enhance your strengths.
All told, allowing players to somehow build custom equipment offers a great degree of creative expression, a chance for discovery, and the ability to prepare for upcoming challenges. And, call me crazy, that list sounds pretty close to what I might call the core engagement of a role-playing game.]
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但是，这真的是制作系统吗？
到目前为止，我所主张的仅仅是一个定制装备的系统，或者说是一个非常复杂的装备列表。这样就可以了吗？其实，是的。现在我们终于接触到了问题的核心。实际上，真正重要的并不是制作本身。除了那些对“工匠”这个世界内的原型很在意的幻想追求者和表达者之外，角色是否亲自制造装备并不重要。我怀疑很多想要制作系统的人实际上只是想要一个玩家控制的装备定制系统。他们希望他们的装备选择和魔法物品选择有意义。他们希望能真正做出这些选择，并且这些选择在他们的角色原型之外。
问题是，一旦你有了一个定制装备系统，实际上很容易在其上构建一个制作系统。也就是说，角色制造装备而不是购买或发现装备的方法很容易内置到系统中。因为制作装备和购买装备可以完全一样。它们和获得等级是一样的。
看看这样：在冒险过程中，玩家克服挑战并获得经验值（XP）。玩家可以定期“兑换”这些经验值以获得新的角色等级。这个角色等级带来了一些新能力和一些特权。玩家兑换的经验值越多，他们获得的等级越高，获得的能力就越强。实际上，经验值只是获得等级的一种货币。
这和购买装备是一样的。在冒险过程中，你找到金钱。你可以定期“兑换”这些金钱以获得新的或升级的装备。这些装备带来了一些新能力和一些特权。你兑换的金钱越多，获得的能力和特权就越强。装备基本上就是一个与特定职业无关的法术列表，并且它是通过金钱而不是经验值来限制的。
“但是 Angry，”我听到你在抱怨，“那么 GM 就必须回到追踪等级财富和分配准确的金币量的日子。我们怎么处理这些可怕的数学问题呢？”追踪？你追踪经验值吗？还是你只是根据获得的经验值进行分发？“你杀死了一只哥布林，你得到25点经验值。”就这么简单。分发财富为什么会更复杂呢？我永远不明白为什么 GM 会觉得“如果你的冒险每个角色有2000点经验值的怪物，那么确保每个角色有500金币”是个大问题。这不需要比这更复杂。
现在，一旦你搞定了“购买定制装备”这一点，并且你克服了“如果一只哥布林有10金币，那么四只哥布林有多少金币”的数学问题，你就为制作系统留出了空间。因为制作只是购买装备的一种替代方式。从机制上讲，这是达到同一目标的不同方式。如果购买定制装备相当于支付佣金制作特定物品，那么制作装备则省去了中间商。你会如何在机制上表达这一点呢？
……我暂时不会告诉你。我有一些答案，但它们要等到我下次讨论这个话题时再说。因为这篇文章的目的是为基础打下基础。确定为什么制作系统值得追求以及它可能提供的奖励。在此过程中，我们实际上发现，游戏中真正缺少的并不是制作系统，而是一个更好、更强大的装备系统。我们需要在此基础上构建任何东西。
因为工匠的技能只和他的材料一样好。大概就是这样。
原文:
But, Is It Crafting?
So far, though, all I’ve argued for is some system for customizable equipment. Or just a really complicated equipment list. Wouldn’t that fit the bill? Well, yes. Actually. And now we’re getting to the heart of the matter. It’s not actually the crafting that’s important. That is, except for the fantasy seekers and expressive for whom the in-world archetype of “craftsperson” is important, it doesn’t matter whether the character is the one building the equipment. I suspect that a lot of the people who want a crafting system actually just want a player-controlled equipment customization system. They want their equipment choices and magical item choices to matter. And they want to actually have those choices. And they want those to choices to lie outside the scope of their character archetype.
The thing is, once you have a customizable equipment system, it’s actually very easy to lay a crafting system over it. That is, the method by which characters can create their equipment instead of buying it or finding it is pretty easy to build into the system. Because making equipment and buying equipment can be exactly the same. And they are the same as gaining levels.
Look at it this way: during the course of an adventure, the players overcome challenges and gain XP. The players are able to periodically “trade in” that XP for a new character level. And that character level comes with some new abilities, some perks. The more XP they trade in, the more levels they gain, and the better the abilities they acquire. Effectively, XP is just a currency for acquiring levels.
Well, that’s just what buying equipment is. During your adventures, you find money. Periodically, you “trade in” that money for new or upgraded equipment. And that equipment comes with some new abilities, some perks. The more money you trade in, the more powerful the abilities and perks. Equipment is basically just a spell list that isn’t tied to a specific class. And it’s gated behind gold instead of XP.
“But Angry,” I hear you whining, “then GMs will have to go back to the days of tracking wealth by level and doling out exactly the right amount of gold for levels. How will we do all that terrible, horrible math?” Tracking? Do you TRACK XP? Or do you just hand out XP as it’s earned? “You killed a goblin, you get 25 XP.” It’s as simple as that. Why is handing out wealthy any more complicated? I will never understand why GMs make such a big deal about “if your adventure has 2,000 XP worth of monsters per character, make sure it has 500 GP per character.” It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
Now, once you’ve figured out how to handle the whole “buying custom equipment” thing and you’ve gotten over having to do math like “if one goblin has 10 GP, how much gold do four goblins have,” now you’ve got a space for crafting. Because crafting is simply an alternative to spending gold on equipment. Mechanically, it’s a different way of getting to the same place. If buying custom equipment is the equivalent of paying to commission a particular item, crafting equipment cuts out the middleman. How would you express that, mechanically?
… I’m not going to tell you. Yet. I have some answers, but they have to wait until the next time I revisit this topic. Because the point of this article was just to lay the ground work. To identify why a crafting system is even worth pursuing and what rewards it might offer. And, in doing that, we actually discovered that it isn’t really crafting that’s missing from the game at all. It’s actually a better, more robust equipment system. And we need that before we build anything on top.
Because a craftsman is only as good as his materials. Or something like that.
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施工完成。