Baron
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2010
- Messages
- 2,887
The following is an idea I'm kicking around for a mod project. Thought I better post something constructive instead of just the melee in /gd/
Class restricted Quest mini-games
I love RPGs with replayability. While I'm including a great deal of D&D Alignment branching of dialogue this only effects the story and character. Class specific options can provide a completely different gamestyle. The game uses the 4 classic Classes, and my goal is that the gameplay is changed so that...
- The Warrior PC will be impulsive, reckless, and will problem solve primarily with a cudgel. A Man/Woman/or Other of Action.
- The Thief's gamestyle will be cautious, investigative, devious. Theft and spying can destroy an enemy NPC's ambitions just as easily as killing them off.
- The Priest will be diplomatic, machiavellian, incense mobs and apply political pressure to existing factions.
- The Mage will be unorthodox, discovering creative solutions via books or divinations. And then Meteor Swarm someone's pate.
All Class mini-game/Quests would occasionally have solutions that could only be achieved by committing deeds that fall within a particular Alignment. This system benefits Neutrals who may be tempted to bend their moral code to get a desired outcome, and Evil PCs who obviously have no dilemma breaking any legal or social mores, even being nice to someone if it leads to what they want. The idea is one of many that penalises Good PCs who require discipline and sacrifice to follow this path, and leading the majority of players to Neutrality by default, instead of games where Players remain Good merely by refraining from asking for more reward. Law and Chaos alignments are also affected, with NPC and factional repercussions for deviating from them.
As a solo modder I'm unlikely to develop fullly programmed mini-games, so I've been looking at easy in-game solutions using dialogue or item use. Note, these would primarily be for key points in the story for more memorable scenes (due to the workload of creating them all.) For the rest of the game all Classes are free to kick, bludgeon and fireball their way through the game and its inhabitants.
---------------------------
1) Warriors - mini-games not really applicable; they're largely catered for in the hacking up people mini-game with the occasional boss monster. The Warrior has additional combat as a result of confrontational dialogue and kicking in people's front doors and thereby summoning guards.
- May include a 'Lead an army' option (or merely joining it if low Charisma). Recruitment would involve Diplomacy, or the standard 'I challenge thee to duel, with morning stars-' The war resolved via a succession of combat maps, interspersed with NPCs with whom to give or receive orders and battle updates. The rule here would be to reward Warriors who chose non-combat stats.
----------------------------
2) Thieves
- A system where Thieves find dialogue activated puzzle doors reminiscent of Monkey Island sword training. They would need to learn solutions based on clues from various NPC Master Thieves - a true thief apprenticeship. The PC requires specific inventory tools and a knowledge of how to open the doors. The amount of dialogue options would be based on the PC's Intelligence (low Intelligence PCs would have to choose between more), and Wisdom would insert additional lines - Low Wisdom would include seemingly safe (but unwise) suggestions such as those that made noise or jammed the door. High Wisdom would add lines such as listening, or clues that convinced the Thief to just leave the door alone. A wrong selection must result in critical penalties, such as guards, poison, or potentially lethal damage to ensure tension and reward deduction.
- Other activities would involve Scouting, although no mini-game devised for that yet.
----------------------------
3) Priests
- Priests begin despised, the kind you turn away from your door with blasphemy. Much like on Earth they follow a Disease god. They can become very powerful through their political power, and achieve this by-
a) Converting heathen communities: Exploring and talking with key community NPCs. Success is Intelligence based checks (say No to dump stats!) and choosing arguments appropriate to the NPCs. Wisdom will again provide options that could anger or please the NPC. Still largely to be determined, but essentially the PC should befriend the community, understand the local customs, and then exploit their fears. Some villages could be persuaded of the power of the Priest's god. Others may require to have their menfolk slain.
b) Benefactors: or, getting your tentacles into a wealthy patron. As above, but this provides financial power to the Priest's cause.
The goal of Priests is to exercise their political power in the capital city, and to stave off assassination.
- As mentioned in another thread [link?], the use of political influence should be judicious. The PC will build up favour or leverage, and can only use so much. Political leverage is the mini-game.
- Priests can also Disease enemy armies that threaten their land. This involves devout prayer and, obviously, dropping a dead goat into the enemy's water bore.
----------------------------
4) Mages
- The goal is to research rituals and cast mighty spells, and would be the most creative path designed for the intelligent problem solving player who didn't mind the additional reading and experimentation. Effects could involve summoning demons for answers, elementals for destruction, teleporting across deserts, turning rival Boss NPCs into swine and enchanting their armies with a Ravenous Hunger.
- Evil magic would be abundant with a wealth of macabre, power crazed villainy.
- Good magical outcomes would be quite limited to quite subtle effects requiring careful application, akin to triggering a line of Dominos.
These quests would probably require considerable scripting of spell effects and annoying cutscene construction, plus the time taken to create the puzzles of the spell rituals themselves (spell incantations, cauldron ingredients, etc).
Have you got any ideas for enjoyable mini-games that would bring PC Classes to life and significantly alter the gamestyle... with a minimal amount of programming work?
Class restricted Quest mini-games
I love RPGs with replayability. While I'm including a great deal of D&D Alignment branching of dialogue this only effects the story and character. Class specific options can provide a completely different gamestyle. The game uses the 4 classic Classes, and my goal is that the gameplay is changed so that...
- The Warrior PC will be impulsive, reckless, and will problem solve primarily with a cudgel. A Man/Woman/or Other of Action.
- The Thief's gamestyle will be cautious, investigative, devious. Theft and spying can destroy an enemy NPC's ambitions just as easily as killing them off.
- The Priest will be diplomatic, machiavellian, incense mobs and apply political pressure to existing factions.
- The Mage will be unorthodox, discovering creative solutions via books or divinations. And then Meteor Swarm someone's pate.
All Class mini-game/Quests would occasionally have solutions that could only be achieved by committing deeds that fall within a particular Alignment. This system benefits Neutrals who may be tempted to bend their moral code to get a desired outcome, and Evil PCs who obviously have no dilemma breaking any legal or social mores, even being nice to someone if it leads to what they want. The idea is one of many that penalises Good PCs who require discipline and sacrifice to follow this path, and leading the majority of players to Neutrality by default, instead of games where Players remain Good merely by refraining from asking for more reward. Law and Chaos alignments are also affected, with NPC and factional repercussions for deviating from them.
As a solo modder I'm unlikely to develop fullly programmed mini-games, so I've been looking at easy in-game solutions using dialogue or item use. Note, these would primarily be for key points in the story for more memorable scenes (due to the workload of creating them all.) For the rest of the game all Classes are free to kick, bludgeon and fireball their way through the game and its inhabitants.
---------------------------
1) Warriors - mini-games not really applicable; they're largely catered for in the hacking up people mini-game with the occasional boss monster. The Warrior has additional combat as a result of confrontational dialogue and kicking in people's front doors and thereby summoning guards.
- May include a 'Lead an army' option (or merely joining it if low Charisma). Recruitment would involve Diplomacy, or the standard 'I challenge thee to duel, with morning stars-' The war resolved via a succession of combat maps, interspersed with NPCs with whom to give or receive orders and battle updates. The rule here would be to reward Warriors who chose non-combat stats.
----------------------------
2) Thieves
- A system where Thieves find dialogue activated puzzle doors reminiscent of Monkey Island sword training. They would need to learn solutions based on clues from various NPC Master Thieves - a true thief apprenticeship. The PC requires specific inventory tools and a knowledge of how to open the doors. The amount of dialogue options would be based on the PC's Intelligence (low Intelligence PCs would have to choose between more), and Wisdom would insert additional lines - Low Wisdom would include seemingly safe (but unwise) suggestions such as those that made noise or jammed the door. High Wisdom would add lines such as listening, or clues that convinced the Thief to just leave the door alone. A wrong selection must result in critical penalties, such as guards, poison, or potentially lethal damage to ensure tension and reward deduction.
By randomly associating the correct answer to a thief tool you can avoid the Player from knowing the answer from a previous playthrough. Star Trekian pseudo-babble solutions avoid logical guessing (they should learn from masters, but risking luck is certainly okay). ie."It's a heavy iron bound door with an open latch portal. The heavy stone gargoyle above the doorway seems to stare at you."
[Reach through the slot and feel for a bolt]
[Pull the gargoyle's horns]
[Peer through the portal and shout "Helloooo?!"]
- These doorways provide the Thief to a variety of quest solutions; wealth, sleeping Bosses in need of garroting, blackmail information, caches of weapons. The goal is to make the Thief feel like a Thief, and not as a support Fighter.[Use the circular woodsman's saw]
[Apply chicken grease into the keyhole]
- Other activities would involve Scouting, although no mini-game devised for that yet.
----------------------------
3) Priests
- Priests begin despised, the kind you turn away from your door with blasphemy. Much like on Earth they follow a Disease god. They can become very powerful through their political power, and achieve this by-
a) Converting heathen communities: Exploring and talking with key community NPCs. Success is Intelligence based checks (say No to dump stats!) and choosing arguments appropriate to the NPCs. Wisdom will again provide options that could anger or please the NPC. Still largely to be determined, but essentially the PC should befriend the community, understand the local customs, and then exploit their fears. Some villages could be persuaded of the power of the Priest's god. Others may require to have their menfolk slain.
b) Benefactors: or, getting your tentacles into a wealthy patron. As above, but this provides financial power to the Priest's cause.
The goal of Priests is to exercise their political power in the capital city, and to stave off assassination.
- As mentioned in another thread [link?], the use of political influence should be judicious. The PC will build up favour or leverage, and can only use so much. Political leverage is the mini-game.
- Priests can also Disease enemy armies that threaten their land. This involves devout prayer and, obviously, dropping a dead goat into the enemy's water bore.
----------------------------
4) Mages
- The goal is to research rituals and cast mighty spells, and would be the most creative path designed for the intelligent problem solving player who didn't mind the additional reading and experimentation. Effects could involve summoning demons for answers, elementals for destruction, teleporting across deserts, turning rival Boss NPCs into swine and enchanting their armies with a Ravenous Hunger.
- Evil magic would be abundant with a wealth of macabre, power crazed villainy.
- Good magical outcomes would be quite limited to quite subtle effects requiring careful application, akin to triggering a line of Dominos.
These quests would probably require considerable scripting of spell effects and annoying cutscene construction, plus the time taken to create the puzzles of the spell rituals themselves (spell incantations, cauldron ingredients, etc).
Have you got any ideas for enjoyable mini-games that would bring PC Classes to life and significantly alter the gamestyle... with a minimal amount of programming work?