Aspects & Essence
A lifelong project of more than 10 years, Aspects & Essence is my interpretation of what a TTRPG ruleset should be like for a high fantasy setting. Some of its key features include:
● A robust but not overwhelming set of options for character creation and advancement, allowing players to tailor their characters without feeling bogged down by excessive choices.
● A “No one gets left behind” approach that guarantees that most character builds are viable with little to no trap options, ensuring that players feel empowered and effective regardless of their chosen path.
● A Build your Own Class system that mixes in the flavor of class systems with the freedom of classless systems, providing a flexible and personalized experience for players.
● Objective rules for action resolution that minimize favoritism and encourage creative use of abilities and resources within a framework of verisimilitude, fostering a fair and immersive gaming experience.
● A swift method for GMs to create an infinite variety of adversaries for PCs built into the game, simplifying the process of generating complex combat encounters on the fly.
● A Modular approach to system design that supports the seamless expansion of the game with additional options, promoting versatility and adaptability for both players and Game Masters.
In this game, characters are made up of a Combat Aspect (Sacred Weapon, Left), a Style Aspect (Big Kahuna, Right, top) and a Utility Aspect (Yore Magic, Right, down). These, together with some other details such as the character’s Heritage, their Advantage, they out of combat Abilities and Tecniques, create a unique combination and bring life to the individual.
In the main game, there are currently 16 Combat Aspects, 24 Style Aspects, 12 Utility Aspects, 11 Heritages, 24+ Advantages and 24+ Techniques.
Currently, I’m working on the first expansion to the game, “The Heroes of Yesterday and Tomorrow” that will add at +50% to all of those categories.
In the main game, there are currently 16 Combat Aspects, 24 Style Aspects, 12 Utility Aspects, 11 Heritages, 24+ Advantages and 24+ Techniques.
Currently, I’m working on the first expansion to the game, “The Heroes of Yesterday and Tomorrow” that will add at +50% to all of those categories.
For the GMs, on “the other side of the screen”, there is the robust Enemy Creation spreadsheet that allows designers to instantly generate a near infinite amount of enemy combinations based on the addition of simple blocks of abilities and stats. There are 77 Heritages (Humans, Dragons, Elementals, Gargoyles, Skeletons, Harpies, etc), 76 Base Powers (Cleave, Explosion, Granadier, Parkour, etc), 45 Elite and Champion powers for Boss monsters (Lifesteal Aura, Sapper, Vampiric, Assume Control, etc) that, combined with 7 different stat arrays create as many enemies as you’ll need for any kind of game you want to run. You’ll even be able to generate this enemies in the heat of the moment thanks to the automated spreadsheet.
