After my previous post I've been playing around with the system of allocating Skill dice to characters. Initially I had favoured the 'Point Buy' system as detailed below, however upon further consideration I've altered this in favour of the more abstract system of 'levels' as favoured by Dungeons & Dragons and the like, allow me to explain why.
The 'Point Buy' system is mechanically more fluid than using levels to simply allocate dice, points can be gained instead of experience and 'spent' for training in skills whenever the character has enough points (and depending upon the preferences of the Games Master; access to the materials and instruction) to advance. This makes more sense realistically than waiting for an arbitrary marker before being able to improve oneself.
On the flip side of the coin levels are useful mechanically for gauging the strength of an opponant and what items are appropriate for characters of a certain level. Furthermore if constructing a class based system it becomes easier to define the roles of characters with classes. Some classes, such as the Paladin for example, traditional possess the abilities of another class but only later in their careers. Under a point buy system it is much more difficult to regulate this without making some abilities prohibitivly expensive, and artificially inflating this price for some characters is almost as much a concession to gameplay over realism as levels themselves.
Levels are by no means a perfect system, their artificial nature offends those players who want a more fluid system in which they can freely gain skills and are not limited by some arbitrary measure. However as my own group consists of people who have grown up on a diet of Dungeons & Dragons and Final Fantasy the level seems like a natural component of any game system.
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With my system i was aiming for class levels but not character levels. so characters would grow in the realistic way u detailed whilst classes, and therefore the gaining of skills would be ordered through levels. Though i do like my own idea i think its not managable enough for our group and our "inexperienced" dm. So i agree with your trail of thought. I think the less numbers the players have to add up the more time they'll have to absorb themselves in the actions and story. of which i have considerable thoughts and hope to make it really interesting. One critasism to the blog though. you need to put at least one random thought in each time. i was looking for your pearl of wisdom that i could systematicaly destroy but it never turned up ;p hehehehe.
be cool
and sorry bout the bad spelling
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