Step 1 - Basic Structure

You need to come up with what I call a skeleton. Once you come up with a skeleton, you rarely
if ever change it. Doing so can risk the whole thing falling to bits.

This is the GOLDEN RULE of RPGS. DON’T. CHANGE. THE. BONES. If you do, it causes
the whole system to crumble. Only do this with EXTREME CAUTION. It’s like Jenga, but
pulling out all of the bottom in one go. It CAN work, but it’s RISKY.

You can always add more to the bones to keep a feeling of freshness.

If you do need an overhaul, do it in between Books / Volumes with plenty of explanation.

Now, there are many different 'basic structures' that you need to take into account.
● (A) Stats - These can be huge lists, or more 'simple' stats.
● (B) What does each Stat do?
● (C) How are Stats reflected (for LitRPG purposes) in the story?

This is a basic baseline template. Boilerplate. Use it if you want as a starting point.

Health Points - HP
● This is an indicator of a person’s general health, including but not limited to injury,
diseases, and other maladictions.
○ Narratively - you utilize Hit Points to describe damage taken.
■ Example: As Bethany pulled out her pistol, she fired off two shots. But her
gun jammed. Trying to clear the jam, hot brass was ejected onto her skin,
dealing 1 HP damage as it burned her.

Mana Points - MP
● This is an indicator of a person’s inner reservoir of power, used to fuel Class Skills and
Magic.
○ Narratively - you utilize Mana Points to describe when a person uses a Skill,
Magic, or other item (discussed in Step 3).
■ Example: Bethany spent ten MP to infuse her next shot with lightning. She
racked the slide and pulled the trigger, the bullet flying out of the barrel as
it spiraled down the corridor - zapping the three guards it flew past before
impacting the turret at the farthest end of the corridor.

Agility
 ● This is an indicator of a person’s nimbleness, quickness (including running speed),
dexterity, flexibility, and any other descriptor for agile feats; such as throwing, shooting,
or attacking weak points.
○ Narratively - A character with higher Agility may perform a certain action with
more precision than another.
■ Example: Bethany knelt next to the lock. “Damnit!” she said. “I can’t get
the pick in.” Greg knelt next to her, glancing at her stats floating above her
head, and chuckled. “I’m maxed out on my Agility.” He deftly fit the
lockpick into the right position as the door clicked open.

Strength
● This is an indicator of a person’s physique, primarily as it relates to muscle mass.
Including but not limited to melee weapon usage, armor strength requirements, total lift
load, total carry capacity, and other minutiae.
○ Narratively - A character with higher Strength is going to be more muscular,
brawny, bulky, etc.
■ Example: Bethany looked at Greg, pushing him aside gently as she kicked
in the door. Thanks to her high Strength stat, she was able to push aside
the cabinet that was laid in front of the entrance.

Mind
● This is an indicator of a person’s mental willpower, ability to persevere and retain their
psyche, and an overall indicator of their balance of mental well-being.
○ Narratively - A character with higher Mind is going to be able to tolerate
menta/psychic attacks more efficiently.
■ Example: As she walked through the door, Bethany was hit with a horrible
blast of energy that made her collapse, unconscious. Greg pulled her back
- his higher Mind stat keeping him safe from the psychic attack - as he
dragged her to safety.

Step 2 - Figuring out Classes

Most RPGs (Whether Lit or not) have a Class System. You need to decide if you are going to
have Classes, and if so (which I highly recommend having), you’ll need to figure out a method
to use.

I say…look at existing TTRPGs and Video games! For something more JRPG-inspired, check
out Fabula Ultima. For something more Western-inspired, look at Dungeons and Dragons. MMO
Inspired? Check out World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV.
There’s tons of inspiration out there. And honestly, one of the best ways to write a good RPG
system is to look at what successful people are doing with their RPG systems.

For a basic example, I’m going to include 3 classes here. The standard ‘holy trinity’ of Tank,
DPS, and Healer in an MMORPG. The Golden Rule of classes is that there should be little to
no overlap in identity and capability.

● Guardian (Tank)
● Sharpshooter (DPS)
● Priest (Healer)

I could have more tank, dps, or healer classes, but they should be flavored very differently. For
example, a Guardian might use a big shield and a melee weapon, whereas a Crusader might use a
two-handed weapon and self-healing to be a tank. There’s lots of possibilities, and even if they
share the same role, they should be flavored differently.

Now, Classes should come with Skills / Spells (or a combination of both), or other named
Abilities. We’ll get to those in the next sections.

Do Classes increase stats? Are Classes ‘RELIANT’ on certain stats? These types of questions
need to be asked now. Decide - are you going to have Stats tied to certain classes? Or will Stats
be independent from Classes?

In Versewalker (see this site for example) stats are tied to certain classes. Meaning that classes
give certain stats to improve how they do in their assigned roles/jobs.

Sometimes, you may want a Classless System. If doing a Classless System, you will have to
pay more attention and give more weight/depth to Step 5 (Skills/Spells/Abilities, etc.).

Class is an IDENTITY. It helps to define a person. Maybe your M.C. Is a little girl who doesn’t
ever want to be hurt so she takes defensive classes and bumps her armor as high as possible.
Maybe the M.C. is a clutz with extreme healing power but is useless otherwise. Tropes exist for a
reason. The identity of the class is as important as the identity of a side character that sticks to
your MC.

Step 3 - Experience / Advancement

You need to have a way to track how characters progress. An easy way is to implement an
Experience System.
Don’t just award Experience for combat, however. Then the MC is going to be expected to act
like a murder-hobo and just kill everything to level up fast. Reward Experience for a variety of
goals/tasks, such as solving puzzles, winning games, or even building relationships/making
allies. Make this explicit to the audience. Otherwise, they may assume that the MC killed
something accidentally (they love their murdering MCs).

Also, figure out your pace of progression. The audience likes seeing numbers go up. So, I
advise using a simple formula and keeping the thresholds relatively close together. Here is a
sample math formula and a table using that formula. (=SUM(5/2)*(A1+2)*(A1-1). If using this
formula, do not reset Experience to 0 after every Level Up.

1 0

2 10

3 25

4 45

5 70

6 100

7 135

8 175

9 220

10 270

If you’re resetting to 0 each time, and having set thresholds (such as always needing 100 XP to
level), make sure you make that clear to the audience. The standard in most RPGs is cumulative,
never-resetting Experience. So establish that post-level up, the Experience resets.

Also, one last thing - is the leveling instant? Can the level-up be ‘stored’? Make those decisions
now, so you can keep the narrative consistent.

Step 4 - What Leveling Up looks like.

This will go hand-in-hand with the Classes above. What does a Level-Up give?
At a minimum, numbers must go up! Whether that is HP, MP, other stats, or lots of stats.

I think a good guideline is ALWAYS have HP / MP (or equivalent, like Anima or Quintessence)
go up on a level up. It makes the characters hardier. It guarantees a ‘numbers go up’ dopamine
hit for the audience.

Also, do level-ups ‘top off’ their HP / MP? Or does it just add the new capacity? Do they have to
sleep to level up? Pray at a shrine? You want to establish a protocol for doing it. And keep that
protocol consistent. Don’t break the protocol. For example, in Versewalker, Felix has to talk to
his Versewalker Core to initiate the level-up process. It’s a requirement. Don’t break your
requirements to level up. The audience expects a consistent, understandable system.

If you want the characters to have agency, do it this way (using the simple examples above).
● Choose a Class
● Gain a Class-Associated Skill/Spell/Ability, or upgrade to an existing Skill/Spell/Ability
● Automatically increase HP and MP by a static amount (so a level 2 character has 20 of
each, level 3, 30 of each, etc.)
● Allow the character to choose a Stat to put +1 point into.

Lastly, and I learned this the hard way, level up at a steady pace. Don’t just have the MC gain a
ton of levels in one go (unless they suddenly earned it for some reason).

Step 5 - Skills / Spells / Abilities, etc.

Most RPGs have Skills, Spells, or some combination. Sometimes they’re tied to Classes,
sometimes they’re “free form”. To make it easy, choose one of the following:

● Class Specific
○ You can only take the Skill / Spell if you are in that specific class category.
■ In Versewalker (see this site for example) I have specific Skills tied to
classes.
● Free Form
○ You can take any Skill / Spell regardless of class category.
■ In Echo’s Evolution (see this site for example) I have no character classes.
Abilities and Spells are free-form.

If doing Class Specific, make sure the Skill matches the flavor of the class. A Mage isn’t going
to have a melee attack with a sword. But a Swordmage? Totally. A Fighter isn’t going to be able
to cast healing spells. But a bandage/combat medic style Skill? Absolutely.
This is also when you have to decide. Just Skills? Just Spells? Both? This is probably the
trickiest choice because you’re pigeonholing yourself. This choice, just like the bones, should
not be changed without good reason.

Sometimes, you may have Skills, Spells, and other Abilities not tied to Classes AT ALL. Either
in part or in whole. Using Versewalker as an example again, Classes grant Class Skills. But
Affinities (basically, schools/categories of magic) are not bound by Classes.

Going Beyond! Advanced Classes

You may decide that at a certain point, the characters need to advance further. This is when you
GO BEYOND. You have to decide what the requirements are. Perhaps a Fighter has to hit level 5
before they can take a level in Paladin or Dread Knight. Are the two classes exclusive? Choosing
Paladin locking out Dread Knight?

This is where you get into more complex thinking. But, the big rule of thumb. Advanced
Classes should always feel super unique, and be powerful - almost unmatched - in their
area of expertise. An Archmage, for example, should be the master of all magics. Whereas a
Pyromancer is only a master of fire - but their control and power with it goes beyond even an
Archmage’s power.

Advanced Classes should feel like a HUGE upgrade/improvement from the basic classes.

They should also have some type of unique requirement. Dragon Knight? Eat a dragon’s heart.
White Mage? Heal someone on the brink of death. Bard? Sing a song to an audience of 100
people or more with applause as the result. Tons of possibilities. It can also be a motivation to the
characters to pursue a goal (unlocking a new Class).

This also brings us to the M.C. ‘special only’ class. This trope exists in a LOT of LitRPGs
because, well, let's face it, MC being unique is fun! So maybe start them off with an Advanced
Class unlocked from the get-go. Or a unique Skill. Or a unique Spell. Something that sets them
apart.

And that’s all I’ve got for you. You can add magic items, crafting, artifact systems, etc. I
may make guides on those later. But for now…goodbye!