Journey: Introduction
This is our system.
Our system, let me show you it.
Introduction
This game is not easy to learn, nor is it easy to master. You will undoubtedly spend a good deal of time devising your first character, and you should go into that endeavour with the understanding that that character may very well not last five minutes at the game table. This - I feel - is a good thing, and if you'll allow me a moment of your time to wax philosophy (I have a degree in philosophy, after all!), I will explain why.
In the modern world, too much of our lives is easy. Too many things are handed to us on silver platters; too many things come to us prechewed and tasteless. If you look at the current (as of this writing) iteration of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game, you will see a game that is easy to learn and easy to play. It is a good design, don't misunderstand; but it is missing something. I could be witty and say that it isn't true to its past, or that it lacks soul; but those statements are subjective or inflammatory. We need something more concrete.
The truth is that the game is too easy. Character creation is easily accomplished in moments; while the threat of character death is there, it requires terrible luck or terrible gamemastering - after all, the possibility of a poorly-made character has been removed. A hero right out of the gates, is what your character is, and you are given all the power and glory associated with that title. Sounds fun, right?
But you haven't earned it. It is a hollow title, meaningless, and the endeavours made in such a game are pointless. Light entertainment, at its best. No thinking required, no difficult decisions to make. Perhaps I am painting the game in an unfair light, but that is how I see it, and having given myself permission to speak freely and wax philosophical, that is what I choose to share with you.
Journey is not these things. It is a dirty, rusty, misshapen thing. It is complex and convoluted, intricate and involved (my editor is giving me bonus points for alliteration!). Your first character, as mentioned, will take some time to create, but you will feel a greater connection. His or her survival will be all that much more important to you, and the fragility of characters is part of design: heroism is truly heroic, in Journey, and when someone calls you by that title, your - and perhaps your character's - sense of worth will be that much greater.
Gaming is not something simply walks into and out of without thought. This is not a game of Monopoly or Risk. This game demands your attention, your vision, your imagination. It demands your heart, your mind, and your soul - but in exchange, it will teach you to reach beyond your bounds, to explore new ideas, to imagine the world as it could be.
Sounds daunting, doesn't it? And well it should; this is no light endeavour you are about to embark upon. If you are seeking cheap thrills or light entertainment, then I suggest you go and pick up a copy of the world's most popular roleplaying game, where you will be handed a character that gives you little reason to worry and requires no emotion, no vision, no heart on your part. You will have fun for a time, almost assuredly... but when you have slain your thousandth orc, perhaps you will be interested in more engaging fare.
When that time comes - if it is either now, or ten years from now - your Journey awaits you.
Abstract
The 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons was an excellent step forward in game design, unifying the game under a single mechanic, introducing the ideas of symmetry to monster and character design, as well as providing new and interesting ways for characters to differentiate themselves. However, the system is not without its flaws: bland and overused magic items, a ridiculous economic system that is tied to core system balance, generally unbalanced mechanics that function well only in a small level span, and the sacrifice of flexibility in monster abilities.
The 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons is another step forward, though perhaps more lateral than forward. It removes Vancian spellcasting, which widens the design space for casters, both mechanically and conceptually; it gives "spells" to non-casters, improving their versatility and allows the player to make interesting tactical decisions; it decreases the power of actual spellcasters, making them balanced against other party members through all levels of play; it tones down the importance of magic items; the monster design system allows the DM to design monsters quickly and without much headache. 4th, however, also has flaws: a major decrease in support for simulationist play, across the board. Design decisions are made from the gamist point of view, and this decision is reflected in all aspects of the system.
Journey, then, is the marriage of these two systems. It combines the symmetry, core mechanics, and simulationist style of 3e with the approaches to casting, monster design, and magic items of 4e. The best of both worlds are joined and bound together by (mostly) system-blind modular components, which further enhance the simulationist feel of the system. The end goal is a system that is internally complex and highly modular, but that provides for fast and easy play. While some components of the system may get mechanically involved, a player does not have to directly interact with these components. For the DM, Journey seeks to emulate 4e in its lightening of restrictions on monster and encounter design, encouraging variety while maintaining an appropriately simulationist feel. "Needless" symmetry is thrown away, but symmetry that strengthens the simulationist style is retained: while monsters and NPCs do not follow the same creation rules as PCs, the mechanics available to them are also available to PCs.
The mechanics in a system inform the player how an average session of the game will operate; if the system is heavy in mechanics for combat, the player will expect to see a fair share of such encounters in any given session. The goal of Journey, insofar as this concept is concerned, is to provide mechanics of enough depth for a variety of encounter types, which allows for a broadening of the scope of encounter design. Having rules and guidelines for social encounters that are as intricate as those used for melee combat informs the player that both of these are acceptable options, and that game direction is such that a character focused on social encounters will not be left behind, as is often the case in other systems.
To summarize: Journey seeks to be mechanically complex "under the hood," while offering to be simple-to-use for the player while retaining a thoroughly simulationist feel, offering enough options and modularity to remain interesting over a wide range of play.
The Core Mechanic
All attributes, skills, and other such features of a character all have a die rating. This rating indicates a character's ability with that aspect of himself: a character with a 1d6+2 Intelligence, for instance, is considerably smarter than the average human, who usually has a 1d4 Intelligence.
All of these things - attributes, skills, anything with a die rating - follows the same scale, which is as follows.
d2 => d4 => d6 => d8 => d10 => d12 => d12+d2 => d12+d4 => d12+d6 => d12+d8 => d12+d10 => 2d12 => 2d12+d2 => 2d12+d4 => ...
The scale increases infinitely, such that it would be possible to have a skill rated at 12d12+d6, as an example - though such a score is improbable, even for a long-running game.
The die rating may also have a modifier, such as d12+6. The modifier may change, but it is not "locked in" to the dice pool: that is, the d12 could be increased to d12+d2, for a total of d12+d2+6.
Whenever an ability refers to increasing something by a step, or decreasing something by two steps, this is the scale being used. If a die rating would be reduced to below d2, use only the modifier whenever that die rating is called upon (so if a feature at d6+4 is reduced four steps, it would go below d2; thus, when the feature is called upon, only the +4 is used, thus resulting in a 4).
