Role-Playing Games - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 466

Dungeons & Dragons system, the dexterity attribute determines how likely it is that
a character will be able to pick someone's pocket without detection.
Here is a brief overview of some particular types of characterization attributes that
you may wish to consider:
Race is an unfortunate misnomer, as most games (rightly) do not distinguish
among the conventional human racial classifications (Caucasian, Native American,
South Asian, and so on) except as a cosmetic attribute. In RPGs, race refers to
groups of real and fantasy humanoids such as humans, dwarves, elves, giants, and
so on. A better term would be species , but race is the term established by conven-
tion . Attributes connected with race usually govern the general body type and
appearance of a character; they may also imply limits on the upper bounds of his
strength or other physical attributes. Some games limit particular races' ability to
perform certain types of activities.
Sex naturally determines a character's body type and may determine with
whom the character may form romantic relationships, if the game includes them.
(Many games assume that all their characters are heterosexual; The Sims is an
unusual departure in this regard.) Otherwise, sex is almost always a cosmetic attri-
bute rather than a functional one.
DESIGN RULE No Sex Discrimination!
Do not place restrictions on a character's abilities on the basis of his or her sex, such as
limiting the strength of female characters simply because such limits are commonly
accepted ideas in the real world. If a player wants to play a six-foot-six woman with the
strength of Arnold Schwarzenegger, she should be allowed to. See the sidebar “Should
Sex Be a Functional Attribute or a Cosmetic Attribute?” in Chapter 5 for more discussion.
Character class is a form of specialization that permits the character to perform
certain actions (for instance, the Spellcaster class may perform magic spells), gain
particular skills, and improve certain attributes while limiting the growth of oth-
ers. The object is to encourage, or even require, the player to create specialized
rather than generalized characters. This in turn compels the player to set up a bal-
anced party containing a mixture of character classes, which is an additional
challenge. Effectively, a character's class determines his role in the party. Typical
classes include fighters, spellcasters, thieves (with special stealth abilities), and cler-
ics (with special healing abilities). You can undoubtedly think of others.
While character class is a traditional feature of tabletop RPGs, it is not essential, and it
sometimes produces absurdities, such as a wizard whose class restrictions prevent
him from using a kitchen knife. Not all games use character classes. If you want to
implement classes, it would be better to define them in terms of limits on a character's
ability to improve certain skills rather than absolute prohibitions on certain activities.