I realise I'm probably going to regret even making the topic given the nature of the internet, but I've been having ideas again now that I managed to get a properly working inventory up and running which really is the hardest part of doing an RPG code wise. To amuse myself I've been looking specifically at skill points and how they work as well as the 'skilling up' process. I always find myself drawn to the RPGs that are about skill points rather than levels purely because of the sheer variety they offer in terms of gameplay and it's not as limiting as class based gameplay. Although I think that class based gameplay can be fun if it's designed correctly.
I've been mainly looking at Morrowind for the moment, I tried looking at Fallout, but it's filled with normie shit thanks to youtube. I don't know if I should check out stuff like Ultima Online perhaps and older RPGs because that was from a time when gamers were allowed to be autistic with the maths on paper without having to hide everything behind code.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2GNNLz1pUU
This is the sort of thing I've been looking at, I'm just interested in learning the maths properly and checking out different systems. Obviously Fallout's SPECIAL stats are fairly iconic, but in the end their formulae isn't that out there. I'm not looking for sperging about skills generally, but specific mathematical formulae. In the video for example it details how much the experience points rate increases based on what type of skill you've put in a misc./minor/major category.
Well this illustrates a difference between computer vs paper systems. "By doing" is inherently MECHANICALLY implementable in a computer based system (although a GM can approximate that by awarding skill improvements; but acts of GMing by fiat are their own discussion).
In a paper system "skills centric" is contrasted with "feats centric". A feat is a prescriptive action your character can take, whereas skills are typically a narrative mechanism. The player states their intent, the gamemaster evaluates the difficulty of that intent, and then a test is performed to see if the character has the skill to overcome the difficulty of achieving their intentions.
EVERY computer based system will lean into feats because evaluation of the complexity of achieving a narrative objective is not something a computer can do. It's in the realm of GM fiat.