Anyone who has seen their favorite local gaming shops close or the RPG section of Barnes & Noble steadily dwindling knows firsthand that it's not a good time for RPGs. The truth of the matter is, if you're not Dungeons and Dragons, your product isn't moving, and that's a scary market to be entering after some years away.So I've decided to embrace that and radically shift OVA to the d20 system. Fret not, I'm not abandoning all that made OVA great, just applying it to the shell of the new 4e d20 system. Your favorite Abilities and Weaknesses return, but in slightly edited form. They're now Aspects, and are intrinsically linked to the new Background/Class system.
At character creation, Players pick two archetypes for their character: Background and Class. Background represents the characters' upbringing, personality, and natural adeptness. Class represents training, vocation, and skill. When you gain a level, you get to choose new Aspects based on these choices: At odd levels, one from your Background group, at even one from your Class.
For example, Yuu might have the "Kid" Background and the "Monster Trainer" Class. Aspects from Kid include "Intuitive", "Quick", and "Game-Logic" while those from Monster Trainer include "Sic'em" and "Animal Empathy." Each Background and Class also has built-in negative aspects, eg. "Ageism" and "Competitive." Voluntarily taking other negative Aspects will grant free positive Aspects, and even better, you can pick them from other Backgrounds/Classes.
I've been working on this tirelessly for the past few months, and I'm really excited about it. And the good news is the release date should remain the same. I know it's a lot to digest, but I hope you all will become as excited about this change as I have. Even if you aren't, please comment and let me know!
