I don't feel like sharing perhaps my greatest idea ever, with the stuck up snobs at dndonline, mythweaver's, or 4chan's /tg/. All of whom have banned me in the passed and shown no respect or dignity for me as a human being. And I know I'm only there now because they haven't become aware yet that Jim Profit is lurking in the woodworks. I should be able to play Dungeons&Dragons in peace and not have to constantly be deprived or look for another forum, because they want to be douchebags. I'm digressing from my point, but this actually has somewhat a relation the the campaign setting.
It's a perfect example of the campaign. Everyone knows about the class tier system of 3.5, and some have tried their hand in doing it for prestige classes, and hopefully races/templates too... But honestly, there's just so much going on in 3.5, it's impossible to cover it all. Fourth Edition doesn't have quite as many books, and less that are required to relatively play what you want, seeing as it centers on combat. Yes, that's a shame. I WANT people to roleplay, but it also can prove beneficiary for this campaign when their builds become objective.
As such, I want to create a tier system for the following things for fourth edition.
Racial Tiers.
Class Tiers.
Path Tiers.
While Fourth Edition has done a decent job of reducing the problems of previous editions by getting rid of hit dice, the compulsion for random stats, and prestige classing in the normal sense, Fourth Edition has also opened up the door for even MORE tier problems in it's own way by actually making self construction less narrow. The fact is, they're naturally going to pay attention to basic classes like fighter and cleric, over obscure ones like avenger and warden. The end result is less for them, and more for the base classes. Which in turn creates a "class war". I will actively encourage my players too act as either radicals, anarchists, reactionaries, or anyone else in what is essentially a slapstick D&D version of pre-Soviet Russia or pre-Nazi Germany. When people were disenfranchised and sick of poverty, willing to accept any sort of change. Will it be good change or bad change? That depends on alignment. But indeed, I expect players to desire change, and I want it to be sort of a social experiment, and see how they react to different things. Like the better social treatment certain tiers receive. If you're a hafling, everyone assumes you're a 3.5 kender, and hates you, treats you like ****... but everyone likes a human! And there will be mechanical separations too. Suddenly just reward a bottom tier because "he needs it, affirmative action", or sometimes reward an upper tier because "he's too big to fail, you'd all die without him". There is no doubt in my mind some will demand socialism for "the poor", socialism for "the rich", for no one, and for everyone. That is the point of this. To explore that in a safe world of Dungeons&Dragons, where it doesn't actually effect people's lives, and you can learn more about yourself and those around you. Think of this as less of a immersion into a story, and more of playing World of Warcraft. Where there IS a story, but it's superficial and shallow. You can break the fourth wall, you can meta-game, just don't be a dick about it.
What I need from you fellow readers, is to help me come up with a tier system. As of right now, I only have access to the following books... Players handbook 1 and 2, Monster Manual, Forgotten Realms Setting, Arcane and Martial Power. Which is enough to run a campaign. But I'll obviously need to get more if I wish to expand and truly capture the tier essence, as well... I'm not fluent enough in Fourth Edition to really determine which class would be better then others. Though I see some obvious ones like warlock and rogue lacking, where as barbarian and avenger are awesome strikers. I want your opinion on how the tier system should look. As we also need categories of tier so that players have to roll a dice before character creation to determine their lot in life. I was thinking there'd be four tiers.
The Bourgeois (The ones who actually have influence on anything)
The Petite Bourgeois (Sometimes called "middle class", those who are well off, but not really in the control grid)
The Proletariat (Your average person)
The Peasant (The REALLY bad off)
I'd plan this four system tier to limit what advancements they could take, what classes, and what races. I don't know yet if I want to make it one strict d4, or 3d4s so they can pick say, a tier one race, tier three class, and tier four class path. Mostly I'm just worried about class and race, the bread and butter of D&D. We don't need a tier for every single feat, power, etc. That's too difficult to keep track of. I want this to actually be PLAYABLE, not like doing taxes. So if we go with just race and class. I'll probably have them roll 2d4 and pick a race and class from their respective roll.
As added fluff, I also thought about provoking the idea of vanguard parties into the game... This was a satirical peice I wrote about how in politics, you can literally draw people in by slapping together different nouns, and acting like you're somehow completely different from the main principle. Like how communists fight over stupid crap, the "libertarian" vs "neo-conservative" argument. Etc. As such, I told people they could take any two of these words, combine them, and form them into their political ideology. Or in this case, alignment. Any alignment issue will instead be solved by using one or more of these words, and the enemies will effect randomly determined word variables from the list below.
Green
Labor
Federalist
National
Reform
Communist
Hemp
Democratic
Liberal
Federalist
Conservative
Republican
Workers
Progressive
Populist
Socialist
New
Libertarian
Nazi
National
Green
Labor
I'm getting rid of the old alignment system, in favor of you choose any two of these words, in any order, and that's your alignment. Like how I pegged myself as "progressive communist (though some might argue I'm more of a progressive nationalist), my friend Gary as "liberal nationalist", and my girlfriend Samantha as "federal republican". Some people might welcome this new alignment since it doesn't outright call anyone good or evil, but most probably won't, because people have been hardwired to be afraid of anything that involves a little thought proccess or black humor. The notion of political intrgue, even if it's purely fictional, frightens people. Cause let's all just play pretend that it doesn't happen, even though it happens even in your D&D game when you have an arrogant DM, or a mob of players gangs up on you, and says you're annoying, or certain D&D forums, (not this one... just in my experience most) are ran like totalitarian regimes that would make Mussolini look like Barbie Glamor Princess. But I think the idea is probably one of the better ones I've seen. It's not hard to please me with a premise. I don't like the attempts at trying to create a D&D world that is to be taken seriously, but games centering around real life people thrown in, or are allowed to break the fourth wall and treat it like a cartoon, or "reverse dungeon", "team vs team" games. Games should either be "fun" or challenging to the mind. I don't come across many D&D adventures that really proclaim either. This one is attempting to be both.
I bet this campaign type could really catch on, if we give it some work, and people actually played it, outside the boundaries of crap internet forums. Might try introducing this game at a gaming shop or something. Maybe a craigslist ad. But like I said, it's still in development. I need help with organizing what should be what tier. Especially race and class. There's a lot to consider. Like which class has the least power options, which class doesn't seem to have the most flashy or blatant effectiveness? Which class is multi attribute dependent? (Well, in 4th they kind of all are... But which one more so?) Ironically, some will always be at a disadvantage, because say a half elf's +2 charisma and +2 constitution, would do no good to a dexterity based class. So not all tiers will be cut and dry, when they REALLY get into better tiers when they're combined for synergy. But then, that'll be done on purpose. So people can argue that there is no class war at all, it's all in whiny, welfare queen's heads, and we should all just do our job, and accept our fates. For comedic reasons, I am self inserting myself as a character. There's an inside joke about me being a paladin, so he'll be a paladin. Most likely a gnome. Cause I'm not really "annoying compulsive theif" like halfling, but I AM very much interested in saving money, jewlery, power, and revenge. Short, conniving, and sort of annoying, but in a more cartoon super villain sort of way, with equally ridiculous science theories. "Magnets... how the **** do they work?" Perfect example of how nothing about the gnome compliments a paladin, but then, it could be argued that a paladin is tier 2 and so is gnome race, so all in all he's got a pretty easy life.
As a RPG Setting, It seems Urban Centric however. That is likley ideal for a points of Light Setting.
If you ever need a source of historical news from the period I suggest: The Argus. Its an Austrlaian newspaper (available on line with the Australian Archives. They talk about a lot of this stuff. I read once of a Massacre of jews in Bulgaria (dated 1920s) at the hands of Some Eastern European General Which makes racial hatred a nasty thing that predates the NAZIs.
trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/title/13
It isnt the only archived newspaper.
Anyways after that, you get two issues a day, a basic senario, then 2-5 options you might take. The options are extream, but interesting.
From that your nation is shaped little by little everyday. You have 3 sections, Political Freedoms, Civil Rights, and Economy. They also talk about how big the governent is, the happyness of your people.
So in relation to this, I thought you might be able to at one point have your players in charge of even a small town and have these issues presented to them, giving the feel I think you are looking for. If they spend all the towns money on military they will have upset people and civil revolt, if they spend it on the people they will be battling monsters who can just walk into town.
I would check out the site just to give yourself an idea of how that might work (also it was used at the end of Fable 3, which was not great but used this mecanic well)
As a side note maybe try to talk about betting kicked off other forums to a minimum, if for nother else to shorten your Very long post.