Once upon a time, I played Dungeons
& Dragons. A lot of Dungeons
& Dragons. This was back during Third Edition, and I loved it. It
was a blast. Everything felt new, and shiny, and wondrous, and everything
fantasy should be.
But Third Edition had its flaws.
As time progressed, the cracks in the system become more and more apparent.
Wizards of the Coast released more and more bloat. And eventually, I found
myself houseruling the game heavily.
It started with patching the
broken bits. Then I started expanding the system with new spells, and
equipment, and feats. Eventually, I moved on to making entirely new classes
that offered the sorts of characters I wanted to play. But cracks in the class
system itself began to show.
So it comes as little surprise
that when WotC decided to release Fourth Edition – a system I did not care for –, and all of my friends updated,
I went in search of a new system. This led me to GURPS. I loved the
customizability of it all. Want to play a cybernetic psychic were-rabbit cyborg
mage? Just convince your GM, because you can make it and the rules do support
it. And that’s how I ended up playing GURPS.
Right now, you’re probably wondering
what this all has to do with niche protection. See, GURPS has these things
called templates in Dungeon Fantasy, and I have a love-hate relationship with them.
Templates are essentially classes, but with more flexibility for the players.
They greatly speed up character generation, and they ensure that PCs have
minimum skill and trait levels to be viable in the game at the intended
difficulty level (unless you’re gaming in Felltower). However, in DF as
written, it is encouraged that players use these templates and there are even
suggested mechanics for enforcing them because they, themselves, enforce niche
protection.
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| NOT WHAT I MEANT!!! |
What Is Niche Protection?
Niche protection is the practice
of making sure that every PC has a role to play and that no other PCs step on that role. So using DF
as an example, the barbarian template covers the role of “good at nature”, and
the scout covers “good at ranged combat”. There are a ton of templates, so I
won’t cover them all. The point is, these templates act very much like classes
in Dungeons & Dragons.
So why don’t I just ditch them?
Because there is something to be said with each player having a thing that
their PC excels at. Everyone should share the spotlight and get their moments
of awesome. That can be hard to do when two PCs are similarly awesome at the
same thing. So niche protection is not without its up sides. And that’s what
creates the quandary for me – I want players to be free to surprise me with
their PC designs, but I want to make sure each player gets his Awesome Time.
What to Do about Niche Protection
So let’s begin by taking a quick look at what is good about
niche protection:
- Everyone is good at something
- No one steps on each other’s Moments of Awesome
Now, let’s consider what is bad about niche protection:
- Stifles creativity by restricting choices
- Inherently meta-gamey and thus risks breaking suspension of disbelief
- Erodes what makes GURPS an amazing system
With these things in mind, I am
going to make a couple of suggestions that might blow your mind. They may well
revolutionize how you GM. TALK TO YOUR PLAYERS.
Yup. That’s it.
You don’t need to protect niches
if you just have an open conversation with all of your players. Let everyone
hash out what they want to play, what roles they see their PCs filling, and so
on. If two players want to cover the same role, make sure they are okay sharing
the spotlight. If a role isn’t covered, let the players know there is a hole in
the party’s skill set. You’ll be surprised what good communication can do for a
game table.
Where Does That Leave Templates in DF?
Well, for me, it doesn’t leave
them much of a place. I don’t plan on enforcing niches mechanically in any way.
I do plan on offering competency packages to speed up PC generation, but they
are just that – competencies. Want to be good at breaking into places? Take
this package. Want to be a mountaineer? Take this package. No text to suggest
reasons for taking them. It’s up to the player to figure out why his master
swordsman is also a world master ballet dancer.
Does this mean that players have
complete and total free reign at my table to make whatever psychic blueberry
muffin they want? Nope. I talk about what is appropriate. I provide guidelines
and review all PCs. And I give meaningful feedback on strengths, weaknesses,
and how well they fit the game. In other words, I talk to my players.
