I know that the idea is long dead and gone, and some people will hate me for bringing it up, but I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the concept of Fourthcore. It was an idea by some people trying to use a different design philosophy for the adventures and thus bring about a shift in the resulting playstyle of the game, and I think it is something that I agree with because of what I’ve seen in a lot of adventures in different games, though maybe worked in a slightly different way.
Their key principles are broken down as basically:
- Adventures should be DIFFICULT
- Adventures should be DEADLY
- Magic and treasures should be GREAT
- Everything should be OVER THE TOP
- The world should be BLEAK
- DEATH TRAP DUNGEONS!
- GAMIST