Callaxes
Arbiter
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2007
- Messages
- 1,676
I think that each race should impact the player through it's tradition and culture. There's a reason why eastern Asian people strongly believed in the concept of a noble death. Why muslims all pray 3 times a day, why the dacians were suicidal and why 90% of greek men were homosexual.
King of Dragon Pass did this very well. You had to customize your clan's past and could earn magic points by respecting that past. Example: your ancestors forced outsiders into slavery, this meant that if you did the same when the opportunity came, you would be awarded with magic. So in other words you were rewarded for roleplaying.
Now let's say that a certain race originally came from an arid desert and the only way they could find water was by preforming blood rituals and using herbal drugs. Five centuries later their civilization split and most of them became mercenaries. They later made themselves a valuable reputation for supporting slavery and became the most loyal servants of an old empire which rewarded them by giving a third of it's conquered lands. Two hundred years later, the empire fell, due to weak leadership and corruption. This race later waged a deadly war with a nation of sea monsters which even today still lasts, these sea monsters are their mortal enemy. During the restauration of the 2nd empire, this race ruled against a monotheistic religion, the shaman cult, the laws and principles of king Edward and even fought against the burghese traders (they strongly support the concept of noble blood). Six hundred years later they were the first to participate to the religious reformation fueled by the philosophical teachings of Augustus Ritter that started in the south and eventually split the empire in two.
From this history we can draw the following rules
1. To pay homage to your race's survival, you must preform the same blood rituals that your ancestors did twice a year. Also, because of this, your race has developed an immunity to drugs, earning almost none of the bad side effects.
2. Selling yourself has a mercenary is considered an honor. You also approve slavery.
3. Only the strongest of the strongest of people can benefit from your loyalty and service, serving a weak leader is considered an insult to your ancestors.
4. Ever since the first empire's demise, your people fought against weak leadership and corruption as if it was a plague.
5. You HATE sea monsters.
6. You do not support the concept of One God, although more then half of the continent does, because of that you must spit or curse the idea whenever an outsider brings it up during dialog.
7. You HATE shamans.
8. You HATE the laws of King Edward, your race does not believe in equality between social classes, you HATE the burghese society, to you, they are nothing sort of perversion.
9. Augustus Ritter is the most honorable outlander in your history, whenever he is brought up in dialog, you must praise and defend his name. His reformation (similar to Martin Luther's reformation) is the only change that your race has ever embraced with passion.
Following these rules should reward the player with... something (I'll let you decide what the player should receive for honoring his ancestors). Now here's where it gets interesting. Not everyone always follows tradition, I for one do not believe in slavery although my character was raised to believe in it. Should I be penalized? No! Unlike King of Dragon Pass were such an event would make me lose magic, I should be rewarded with the opposite of what respecting tradition offers me.
Just like in Arcanum were the world is split between magic and technology. In this world it should be split between conservation and change. Each of them gives you a different type of bonus, but it can't be mixed (there's no neutral part). So there's at least 2 reasons to replay the same character. Once to respect tradition. The second time to go against it.
King of Dragon Pass did this very well. You had to customize your clan's past and could earn magic points by respecting that past. Example: your ancestors forced outsiders into slavery, this meant that if you did the same when the opportunity came, you would be awarded with magic. So in other words you were rewarded for roleplaying.
Now let's say that a certain race originally came from an arid desert and the only way they could find water was by preforming blood rituals and using herbal drugs. Five centuries later their civilization split and most of them became mercenaries. They later made themselves a valuable reputation for supporting slavery and became the most loyal servants of an old empire which rewarded them by giving a third of it's conquered lands. Two hundred years later, the empire fell, due to weak leadership and corruption. This race later waged a deadly war with a nation of sea monsters which even today still lasts, these sea monsters are their mortal enemy. During the restauration of the 2nd empire, this race ruled against a monotheistic religion, the shaman cult, the laws and principles of king Edward and even fought against the burghese traders (they strongly support the concept of noble blood). Six hundred years later they were the first to participate to the religious reformation fueled by the philosophical teachings of Augustus Ritter that started in the south and eventually split the empire in two.
From this history we can draw the following rules
1. To pay homage to your race's survival, you must preform the same blood rituals that your ancestors did twice a year. Also, because of this, your race has developed an immunity to drugs, earning almost none of the bad side effects.
2. Selling yourself has a mercenary is considered an honor. You also approve slavery.
3. Only the strongest of the strongest of people can benefit from your loyalty and service, serving a weak leader is considered an insult to your ancestors.
4. Ever since the first empire's demise, your people fought against weak leadership and corruption as if it was a plague.
5. You HATE sea monsters.
6. You do not support the concept of One God, although more then half of the continent does, because of that you must spit or curse the idea whenever an outsider brings it up during dialog.
7. You HATE shamans.
8. You HATE the laws of King Edward, your race does not believe in equality between social classes, you HATE the burghese society, to you, they are nothing sort of perversion.
9. Augustus Ritter is the most honorable outlander in your history, whenever he is brought up in dialog, you must praise and defend his name. His reformation (similar to Martin Luther's reformation) is the only change that your race has ever embraced with passion.
Following these rules should reward the player with... something (I'll let you decide what the player should receive for honoring his ancestors). Now here's where it gets interesting. Not everyone always follows tradition, I for one do not believe in slavery although my character was raised to believe in it. Should I be penalized? No! Unlike King of Dragon Pass were such an event would make me lose magic, I should be rewarded with the opposite of what respecting tradition offers me.
Just like in Arcanum were the world is split between magic and technology. In this world it should be split between conservation and change. Each of them gives you a different type of bonus, but it can't be mixed (there's no neutral part). So there's at least 2 reasons to replay the same character. Once to respect tradition. The second time to go against it.
