Items in fantasy RPGs

[Saint_Proverbius]

Dressing fancy should have reaction penalties among some people like, say, a group of poor people resentful of the rich.

There are no communists in Fantasy settings to promote class warfare. You only think this way because communists run Canada.

 

[DarkSign]

What the hell? There was definitely a class structure in feudal England and if you dont think there was jealousy and warfare between them...well, er, I disagree.

The only point you might be able to make was that the classes didnt mix much. Serfs and Nobles hardly interacted.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Even in a game, I don't see why a noble would need to interact with a serf. Take a look at George R.R. Martin's books, for example. How often do the nobles (e.g. most of the main characters) interact with peasants and serfs? Almost never, and when they do, they're either choking the information out of the uppity peasant who doesn't want to communicate by having their guards beat it out of them. In class society, peasants *know* their place. They do NOT act uppity. This was how things were for thousands of years.

It's one thing for the main character to be interacting with a group of rebels, but I just don't see a Lord Joe entering peasant houses to talk to them. What's the fucking point? Gathering information sounds like a ridiculous explanation, too, considering that most serfs are a bunch of uneducated farmers with superstitious beliefs and little to offer in terms of knowledge. In the case of VD's game, they'd be the plebs.

In the case of rebels, they'd be more likely to deal with someone with money, power and influence over some idiot dressed in shabby rags. What's he gonna offer them if not just another swordarm? Their leaders are certainly not likely to listen to him. After all, opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one. What would make the rebel leaders want to listen to you, a peasant dressed up in rags, over any other shabbily dressed peasant? Now, if you approached them in shining armor or noble clothes, they'd want to listen to what you have to say.

 

[Fresh]

snip

Someones avatar just got an extreme makeover?

 

[PennyAnte]

He's had that AV before. It predates the one you're used to.

 

[Vault Dweller]

One idea that might be neat are various giveaway objects....Basically, other stuff to bribe with besides money. Maybe it could be used beyond that, I'm not sure.

Maybe it would be cool to be able to bribe with anything you have - that cool sword you used all your l33t skills to create might be worth more to a soldier than some given amount of gold.

We have that. That's ONE of the applications of Etiquette - presenting gifts and asking for favors afterwards. So, if you have a cool and rare sword you can sell it and use the money or you can give it as a gift but get something out of it.

So I guess I'd rather answer the question by considering: what would I enjoy doing in this virtual playground? Then I'd ask what items and skills I should use to enable them for the player.

I posted a char screen in another thread, you may take a look and see the available skills.

Is there a web site or anything yet? So I can stop digging up threads for info?

Not yet - too busy. I'll ask Saint for the forum for this game to keep all the threads together.

 

[Vault Dweller]

As PennyAnte says, soldiers like weapons more. Loremasters could pay more for artifacts. Educated noblemen pay more for books than illiterate peasants and so on.

I've thought of that but decided that that wouldn't work very well. The way I see it that would only force players to hunt for specialty shops to get the max value for their junk. Different towns have different prices for merchant characters, but prices are the same within a town.

Which reminds me, does Age of Decadence have FO-style bartering or the simple money-driven trading seen in most RPGs? It seems to me like bartering would work better in a setting with a splintered Empire that likely can't back up its currency anymore.

Yeah, I guess, but I took the easy way out since the currency is gold and everyone likes gold and likes to collect gold just in case. So, you sell your stuff for gold and then buy new stuff, BUT there is a banking system and that should make things way more interesting.

And that reminds me in turn, will Imperial money be worthless to certain people (outside of or on the fringes of the Empire), or will coins be valuable to everyone anyways simply for the gold/silver they're made of?

Gold is accepted everywhere, but carrying gold with you is dangerous. You can deposit your money at the local branch of your trusty Merchant Guild and get a paper voucher thingy instead (name and patent pending), but not every trader accepts those.

 

[Fresh]

He's had that AV before. It predates the one you're used to.

Oh, whaddya know.

 

[Human Shield]

but carrying gold with you is dangerous

It is called saving and reloading, the most powerful spell EVAR!

If gold doesn't have weight, players will just save before travel and fights and reload if they loss.

 

[Vault Dweller]

True, but that would apply to every sitution, every battle, every roll. If that's how they want to play the game then that's their choice and some mechanics wouldn't apply to that. People who play differently would have a different experience. There are ways to deal with bandits, so travelling doesn't automatically mean that you will lose all your money, period.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I think that reloading and saving are two of the largest immersion breakers. I irritate myself when I play Sims 2 University and ... reload, because I fucked up somehow. I shouldn't do that. I should just keep playing, because it completely ruins the immersion for me. The same's with RPGs. Unlike The Sims 2, there's a big drawback not reloading. In Sims 2, you just 'deal with it' and go through the game, like life, but there's really no incentive to do that in an RPG. How do you plan on fixing that, VD?

 

[PennyAnte]

Or CAN you even fix that?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Sims 2, you just 'deal with it' and go through the game, like life, but there's really no incentive to do that in an RPG. How do you plan on fixing that, VD?

By giving players a reason to keep playing even if something negative had happened.

First, most combat is non-lethal, a-la Gothic. Second, a bad situation may lead to something else that wouldn't come up otherwise: from a new quest to a new info to some bonus points. Let's say you've had a random encounter while travelling. 5 bandits stopped you, you tried to fight and lost. Before you have a chance to hit that reload button, window comes up informing you that you've received 5 points to your Dodge for fighting against multiple opponents for so long (different scenarios depending on what you did) AND that you've overheard where the bandits were going to next. So, you've already got something, and if you hit that button that something would be gone for good. That's the idea anyway.

 

[Saran]

^ Now thats damn impressive, is it scripted (I.E: Your on your way to X from Y and that activates event Z) or random?

 

[Vault Dweller]

^ Now thats damn impressive, is it scripted (I.E: Your on your way to X from Y and that activates event Z) or random?

I hate all random things, so it's scripted. For example, one travelling sequence has 8 scripted events based on various things (leaving the town when was told not to, high prestige value - good target for bandits, any contracts on your head, your standing with factions, association with certian events, potential quest-related, etc)

I made a post long time ago about the options and events in CRPGs.
http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1664

 

[Saran]

Great, one of the best things about scripted events is that you can write up a decent backstory to the event, rather than hundreds of repetitive quests about finding stolen rings and gems and cows for Count B'stard/Merchant Mike/Farmer Cletus.

 

[Mangler]

Wern't we talking about items?

how about a radioactive sword? glows green at night, so you don't have to carry a torch.
(hey Alchemists must love Radium or something)

Also what about Greek Fire, Heavy winch-action Crossbows, Longbows, and Sword breaker/grabber knifes (allows user to disarm most sword users).

Sopoforic tipped Dart launchers; for those kidnappers or thiefs who like to keep their targets alive so they can rob 'em again. (Blowdart or Spring loaded)

Funny Money...for when you don't seem to have the correct change, and don't care.
(some merchants will realise that however, and take steps to stop counterfiters)

Also what about Ore smelting and making Alloys. Steel, Bronze/Brass, ect...

 

[Vault Dweller]

how about a radioactive sword?

Shouldn't it come with some rad-x?

Also what about Greek Fire, Heavy winch-action Crossbows, Longbows, and Sword breaker/grabber knifes (allows user to disarm most sword users).

We have the first 3, as for the disarming, that's Parry's bonus effect (if the skill is high enough)

Funny Money...for when you don't seem to have the correct change, and don't care.
(some merchants will realise that however, and take steps to stop counterfiters)

Such an option exists. The currency is gold, but the promisory notes could be faked by a skilled character.

Also what about Ore smelting and making Alloys. Steel, Bronze/Brass, ect...

That's in. It's a part of crafting, see that char screen.