Yeah, I do get around sometimes... hehe
Cool. I love our d20 people, but I'm glad to see us broadening beyond our d20 roots.
My personal belief is that there is no such thing as a "perfect" game system. While some may come close, people's tastes are too varied for one system to work well for everybody.
This was taken into account when I designed HARP, and I tried to make it as easy to customize as possible without such customizations disrupting the balance (which I have seen happen any number of times in any number of systems, including Rolemaster).
Definitely -- I'll never run out of room to tinker with rules.
I wasn't aware of the customizability of the system (though I did read the part at the beginning of the magic section about choosing a source of magic). That's cool -- I like that in a system.
Not quite as happy with that as I wanted to be. There are also other portions that I think could be better as well. Hindsight and all that....
As for the Dice Rolling mechanic, you do realize that it is almost identical to the dice rolling mechanic used by d20, don't you? Just using a different scale, and having the open-ended rolls.
Yes, and the problems I have with your mechanic are similar (though not the same) as the problems I have with d20.
As for combat, there are a number of different options you can select from. From a grittier combat system (Hack & Slash), to the Life Points option in the core rules, to a Damage Dice system (created at the request of der_kluge from the EN World forums - and found in HARPer's Bazaar #4) that is reminiscent of how damage in d20 is handled.
I don't think I'd ever want *grittier* combat than HARP already has. I'm a cinematic type, myself.
In the page link that I give down below, you can even find guidelines for using HARP with a d20 rather than percentile (d100) dice. And on another website -- http://www.guildcompanion.com -- you can find an article I wrote for using HARP without levels, and an article by the author of one of the best liked HARP supplements (College of Magics) on using HARP without professions.
The point is, that HARP is made especially so that you can trade out things you do not like for things that you do.
Interesting. I'll have to check out things more in depth than I was originally planning.
Well, check out http://www.harphq.com/webextras.htm for a bunch of official downloads for HARP, including the Character Creation Overview -- http://www.harphq.com/free_downloads/HARP_RevisedCharGenOverview.pdf -- which does include all of the professions.
Kind of an open secret, but a lot of the material missing from HARP Lite can be found on that Web Extras page in other downloads.... hehe...
Cool. I'm not sure that's the best financial decision on your part, but cool.
Thanks.... (now I have to hide until I can stop blushing....) :p
And don't forget about the d20 for HARP deal. If you purchase the soft cover HARP, and then send us $30 worth of products with the d20 logo on it (can be 3.0 or 3.5 - doesn't matter - they just have to be in good condition (i.e. no missing covers or pages torn out, etc.. as they are likely to be used as Game Day give-aways)) we give you back part of what you paid for it. Of course, you can send in the product first (or send in the product with a check for purchase (including shipping costs) along with note placing order when you send in the product). A number of different ways to handle it..
I think I'll end up doing that just for the novelty of it. It may be silly, but then I'm silly, so that's okay. :win: