Mortal: The Simulation Video Game

[mediocrepoet]

 

[Hag]

OK. Explain how a session of Mortal would go and give a rundown of the rule set.

Right. Finally!

1. Five characteristics - Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intellect, Sense
2. Each characteristic governs a skill tree, by comparison, Diablo
3. Each skill improves as you use it, up to a 100% mastery of said skill, by comparison, Morrowind, Oblivion
4. Skill checks - 4d6, Hit checks - 4d6
5. Each weapon has an appropriate *d6 of damage
6. Armour has durability points and soaks up all of the damage received/soaks up half of the damage/soaks nothing
7. Flanking and backstabbing exist/There are no tiles or hexagons present, you cannot stand on top of another character

This an abridged of Gameplay: Combat. The TTRPG was created with a video game in mind and so, naturally, it works different than a TTRPG designed for Pen and Paper.

The session runs this way, the Players are at an inn. They can do anything. Mortal was designed with all of the things possible in other TTRPGs, like eating, hunting, blacksmithing, and so on to be in the spotlight. Doesn't mean that the core of other TTRPGs, combat and adventure is not in the spotlight.

Sense is charisma + sanity. Stress exists as a percentage beside health and endurance. Endurance doubles as mana.

Suppose my character is overweight and above average at cooking but terrible at fighting, while having an otherwise good strength and endurance. Can you give what would be his characteristic set ?
What is the health pool ?

If my character wants to bake a complicated cake (say, a Paris-Brest with added praliné and frosting) on a campfire in the middle of a forest, what checks should he passes ? What difficulties values ? Can he just try until he succeed ?

 

[Gahbreeil]

Suppose my character is overweight and above average at cooking but terrible at fighting, while having an otherwise good strength and endurance. Can you give what would be his characteristic set ?
What is the health pool ?

If my character wants to bake a complicated cake (say, a Paris-Brest with added praliné and frosting) on a campfire in the middle of a forest, what checks should he passes ? What difficulties values ? Can he just try until he succeed ?

Explaining by the design document, characters can be overweight. And yes, the character you've defined is a possible character. Characteristics upgrade like skills. You've leveled up strength by mining, you will have an easier time fighting. You're a sprinter? You will have an easier time casting sorceries because of having more control over your flesh.

I guess it would be:

1. Strength - 8
2. Agility - 6
3. Endurance - 12
4. Intellect - 12
5. Sense - 8

This is a character who is average, 8, yet has a stronger endurance and intellect because of being a cook. His agility is lesser because of his obesity.

Your character would have to skill check survival and cooking to make the campfire and cook. A cake would require an oven, of course. You cannot try until you succeed in some cases. In crafting, you lose the materials upon a failure. In fighting, a loss is a miss. In troubadouring, you play the song wrong or right based on the skill check at start. And so on.


Summarising, I need to add in cook as an occupation because I completely forgot about it.

EDIT: Hold the presses!

"Characteristics and Skills: Strength, Agility, Endurance and Intellect as well as Sense, these are the Characteristics of a Character. The Skills are based on movement, combat and dialogue as well as work and the Array of Actions and are divided into the usable Skills and the passive Skills. Stealth, climbing, physical endurance, melee and ranged combat, haggling, work related Skills, lying and sorcery to name a few.

Knowledge points are spent on a passive Skill as all Skills are essentially passive in order to spend knowledge on usable Skills which belong to a passive Skill or a few.

Sense is a variation on sanity and wit in speech merged into one. It is the valid reasoning of social behaviour and norms, even the world past intellect which constitutes knowledge and natural predispositions. Sanity takes it's toll through gaining stress in combat, work and life. In diplomacy and deceit all is possible through exactly wit and cunning which are sense.

Skills are connected to the possible occupations or work, in the end there are thirty three. The Strength Skills cover Blacksmithing that includes production of metal trade goods, nails, horseshoes, hinges, locks, perhaps even coated rooftiles as well as Melee combat, Farming, Mining and even manipulation of objects as well as a set of special skills named Heroic Strength.

All Characteristics include the same amount of skills. This leaves three Unique Skills that do not fit into any of the Characteristics.

Knowledge Points: Emerging victorious over a group of bandits, succesfully crafting an item or finishing work on something allows a Character to gain some SAEIS Knowledge Points. Knowledge is divided into the five groups based on how it was earned as well as general knowledge and is automatically distributed into the appropriate statistic. When accessing the journal the player can obtain new Skills and improve those already learned."​

As you can see, I don't remember the design document that well. Knowledge, or XP, goes into a characteristic and then you spend it on whichever skill you want to based on the notes I've written.​

 

[True Ukrainian]

OK. Explain how a session of Mortal would go and give a rundown of the rule set.

Right. Finally!

1. Five characteristics - Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intellect, Sense
2. Each characteristic governs a skill tree, by comparison, Diablo
3. Each skill improves as you use it, up to a 100% mastery of said skill, by comparison, Morrowind, Oblivion
4. Skill checks - 4d6, Hit checks - 4d6
5. Each weapon has an appropriate *d6 of damage
6. Armour has durability points and soaks up all of the damage received/soaks up half of the damage/soaks nothing
7. Flanking and backstabbing exist/There are no tiles or hexagons present, you cannot stand on top of another character

This an abridged of Gameplay: Combat. The TTRPG was created with a video game in mind and so, naturally, it works different than a TTRPG designed for Pen and Paper.

The session runs this way, the Players are at an inn. They can do anything. Mortal was designed with all of the things possible in other TTRPGs, like eating, hunting, blacksmithing, and so on to be in the spotlight. Doesn't mean that the core of other TTRPGs, combat and adventure is not in the spotlight.

Sense is charisma + sanity. Stress exists as a percentage beside health and endurance. Endurance doubles as mana.

So how does any of that make Mortal the best RPG ever? What's the plot hook for the players?

 

[mediocrepoet]

OK. Explain how a session of Mortal would go and give a rundown of the rule set.

Right. Finally!

1. Five characteristics - Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intellect, Sense
2. Each characteristic governs a skill tree, by comparison, Diablo
3. Each skill improves as you use it, up to a 100% mastery of said skill, by comparison, Morrowind, Oblivion
4. Skill checks - 4d6, Hit checks - 4d6
5. Each weapon has an appropriate *d6 of damage
6. Armour has durability points and soaks up all of the damage received/soaks up half of the damage/soaks nothing
7. Flanking and backstabbing exist/There are no tiles or hexagons present, you cannot stand on top of another character

This an abridged of Gameplay: Combat. The TTRPG was created with a video game in mind and so, naturally, it works different than a TTRPG designed for Pen and Paper.

The session runs this way, the Players are at an inn. They can do anything. Mortal was designed with all of the things possible in other TTRPGs, like eating, hunting, blacksmithing, and so on to be in the spotlight. Doesn't mean that the core of other TTRPGs, combat and adventure is not in the spotlight.

Sense is charisma + sanity. Stress exists as a percentage beside health and endurance. Endurance doubles as mana.

So how does any of that make Mortal the best RPG ever? What's the plot hook for the players?

Have you ever wanted to play a cook who sucks at fighting but is baking a wedding cake in the middle of the woods? Well, now you can!

... you haven't? But...

 

[Gahbreeil]

So how does any of that make Mortal the best RPG ever? What's the plot hook for the players?

Well, Role-Playing Games have TWO definitions.

1. Play out a role as if in a movie or a theatre play.
2. Play out a tactical role in a squad during combat.

Both have their place in Mortal. The game can be considered either.

You mean Storytelling? It's classic Sword & Sorcery, however, novel and you're a wizard instead of a barbarian. Conanwise. Here you go:

Concept of the Plot: Past the Player Character becoming an adventurer, the Plot can be explained as a quest of survival. Besides the gameplay, which is focused on survival because of endurance and stress and so, taking part in the theatre of life and all of it's activities, the Plot as well will require of the Player to survive during challenging events. Whether the Player chooses to be a thief, a guard or a mercenary or simple farmer, even a beggar, will have no effect on the events of the Plot which the Player can take part in or not depending on his or her whim. The PC does take an unwilling part in these events if he or she chooses not to follow the call of adventure as the PC's deeds will be recorded and will have an effect on the world presented within the Simulation.

The setting is a continent scattered with small and large realms as well as a vast no man's land. Within the Plot, a dark power stirs, intent on casting these realms into chaos. One of the thirteen sorcerers present in these realms aims to take control of his death and studies dark sorceries which would prolong his life and even extend it onto the period of time after his passing, be it death by sword or by time. In other words the sorcerer wishes to become undead. This would be the first time such an event would happen upon the world of the setting. Depending on the Player's actions, the sorcerer in question might be slain before he achieves his goal. On the other hand, the sorcerer might be slain afterwards when he begins to amass an army of undead under his control. It is also vital to the plotline that refugees will escape into the no mans land and out of camps prepare to make one last stand against the evil that may appear in the known realms. The other sorcerers will know of this and the Player can either become one of them or their pawn in the Plot or rather it's ending.​

 

[Hag]

Have you ever wanted to play a cook who sucks at fighting but is baking a wedding cake in the middle of the woods? Well, now you can!

Please don't mock my fantasy. Only in a game will I be able to cook a decent cake every time without something fucking up.

 

[True Ukrainian]

So there's a dark power rising in a fantasy world. Like most fantasy RPGs. Still not seeing how this makes Mortal the best RPG of all time.

 

[Gahbreeil]

So there's a dark power rising in a fantasy world. Like most fantasy RPGs. Still not seeing how this makes Mortal the best RPG of all time.

You're saying the setting isn't novel enough?

Setting text.

Setting: The setting is essentially a flat world that exists as a double-sided diamond due to mountains and what lies beneath the ground. It's existence is within a cosmic space and is bound by an atmosphere similar to that of Earth. It is a world large enough to have a twenty four hour day within a nine day week and twelve months long year. Only the Moon exists giving more light during the day than during the night on an eternal journey around the double-sided diamond. This means everything in the world is quite pale, yet the days are still colourful while the nights are dark.

It is a place inhabited by humans, animals and beasts and it is the continent known only as the setting, with the Ocean surrounding the pangaean continent.

Humanity is slightly vampiric because of their ancestry as in the past humanity of the world did not know how to farm or forage succesfully and so hunted, wandering the continent. In a few generations humanity adapted to forage as well and eventually became settled and started to cultivate the land. Eating the raw meat of animals and beasts and drinking blood affected the race forever. This means that the Characters enjoy long lives and are stronger and more agile than their real life counterparts yet are cursed to become ghosts who roam the land, more often than not invisible to the living.

Gothic architecture is the main principle of constructions within Mortal. Even the wooden buildings in the villages are constructed with this architectural style in mind. This shines upon all other craft in the world as well.​

 

[True Ukrainian]

It really isn't. Like I and others have said before, if you're serious about this project, you should be making a VN if you don't know how to code. Or you can use the CYOA engine that Heart of Ice was ported into. It tracks stats, items and skills.

 

[Gahbreeil]

It really isn't. Like I and others have said before, if you're serious about this project, you should be making a VN if you don't know how to code. Or you can use the CYOA engine that Heart of Ice was ported into. It tracks stats, items and skills.

Where is this Choose Your Own Adventure engine? Show me and I'll make one.

 

[True Ukrainian]

https://textadventures.co.uk

Quest engine.

 

[Gahbreeil]

This Quest engine is rather awesome.

I've written the prologue to a grand adventure of C&C, Lore and Dialogue that will allow the player to choose the Knight, Wizard, Thief classes at the beginning. Three books as one!

 

[Kev Inkline]

'sup, Fluent?

 

[MarathonGuy1337]

But the only person here who thinks your RPG is the best RPG of all time is you.

Read it? Try to understand the concept?

Why the album?

I am at a loss this thread is nuts

 

[MarathonGuy1337]

Suppose my character is overweight and above average at cooking but terrible at fighting, while having an otherwise good strength and endurance. Can you give what would be his characteristic set ?
What is the health pool ?

If my character wants to bake a complicated cake (say, a Paris-Brest with added praliné and frosting) on a campfire in the middle of a forest, what checks should he passes ? What difficulties values ? Can he just try until he succeed ?

Explaining by the design document, characters can be overweight. And yes, the character you've defined is a possible character. Characteristics upgrade like skills. You've leveled up strength by mining, you will have an easier time fighting. You're a sprinter? You will have an easier time casting sorceries because of having more control over your flesh.

I guess it would be:

1. Strength - 8
2. Agility - 6
3. Endurance - 12
4. Intellect - 12
5. Sense - 8

This is a character who is average, 8, yet has a stronger endurance and intellect because of being a cook. His agility is lesser because of his obesity.

Your character would have to skill check survival and cooking to make the campfire and cook. A cake would require an oven, of course. You cannot try until you succeed in some cases. In crafting, you lose the materials upon a failure. In fighting, a loss is a miss. In troubadouring, you play the song wrong or right based on the skill check at start. And so on.


Summarising, I need to add in cook as an occupation because I completely forgot about it.

EDIT: Hold the presses!

"Characteristics and Skills: Strength, Agility, Endurance and Intellect as well as Sense, these are the Characteristics of a Character. The Skills are based on movement, combat and dialogue as well as work and the Array of Actions and are divided into the usable Skills and the passive Skills. Stealth, climbing, physical endurance, melee and ranged combat, haggling, work related Skills, lying and sorcery to name a few.

Knowledge points are spent on a passive Skill as all Skills are essentially passive in order to spend knowledge on usable Skills which belong to a passive Skill or a few.

Sense is a variation on sanity and wit in speech merged into one. It is the valid reasoning of social behaviour and norms, even the world past intellect which constitutes knowledge and natural predispositions. Sanity takes it's toll through gaining stress in combat, work and life. In diplomacy and deceit all is possible through exactly wit and cunning which are sense.

Skills are connected to the possible occupations or work, in the end there are thirty three. The Strength Skills cover Blacksmithing that includes production of metal trade goods, nails, horseshoes, hinges, locks, perhaps even coated rooftiles as well as Melee combat, Farming, Mining and even manipulation of objects as well as a set of special skills named Heroic Strength.

All Characteristics include the same amount of skills. This leaves three Unique Skills that do not fit into any of the Characteristics.

Knowledge Points: Emerging victorious over a group of bandits, succesfully crafting an item or finishing work on something allows a Character to gain some SAEIS Knowledge Points. Knowledge is divided into the five groups based on how it was earned as well as general knowledge and is automatically distributed into the appropriate statistic. When accessing the journal the player can obtain new Skills and improve those already learned."​

As you can see, I don't remember the design document that well. Knowledge, or XP, goes into a characteristic and then you spend it on whichever skill you want to based on the notes I've written.​

To be honest the more I read about the idea of Mortal and the overall idea of the project the more its reminding me of Project Zomboid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPbsDmzZ3Oc&ab_channel=IndieStone

In that it sought of wants to be a do anything Sandbox Survival RPG but rather than a Zombie Apocalypse its a sought of High Fantasy setting. But at the same time it wants to have a massive world ending threat like in a Elder Scrolls Game, which require large set pieces. Ultimately the game concept is out of your reach, I mean Zomboid has been in development for over 10 years and has a small indie studio working on it.

I think you need to readdress your games scope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmSBIyT0ih0&ab_channel=GameMaker'sToolkit

This video on Ico might help you as it explores the game design philosophy of Design by Subtraction created by Fumito Ueda and might help you as I can see at the very least @Gahbreeil that you are passionate about the game your trying to make but I think are just misdirected.

 

[Gahbreeil]

I am at a loss this thread is nuts

Full Circle - The expression that I used is, "We have come full circle." which means that starting at point A we have arrived at point A.Explaining by the design document, characters can be overweight. And yes, the character you've defined is a possible character. Characteristics upgrade like skills. You've leveled up strength by mining, you will have an easier time fighting. You're a sprinter? You will have an easier time casting sorceries because of having more control over your flesh.

To be honest the more I read about the idea of Mortal and the overall idea of the project the more its reminding me of Project Zomboid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPbsDmzZ3Oc&ab_channel=IndieStone

In that it sought of wants to be a do anything Sandbox Survival RPG but rather than a Zombie Apocalypse its a sought of High Fantasy setting. But at the same time it wants to have a massive world ending threat like in a Elder Scrolls Game, which require large set pieces. Ultimately the game concept is out of your reach, I mean Zomboid has been in development for over 10 years and has a small indie studio working on it.

I think you need to readdress your games scope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmSBIyT0ih0&ab_channel=GameMaker'sToolkit

This video on Ico might help you as it explores the game design philosophy of Design by Subtraction created by Fumito Ueda and might help you as I can see at the very least @Gahbreeil that you are passionate about the game your trying to make but I think are just misdirected.

I am not misdirected and PZ is a great game although it should not remind you of Mortal which is not an Indie title.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Mortal which is not an Indie title

Did you sell it off to EA already?

 

[Kev Inkline]

Mortal which is not an Indie title

Did you sell it off to EA already?

It's an Indian title, as per where it is outsourced to.

 

[MarathonGuy1337]

I am at a loss this thread is nuts

Full Circle - The expression that I used is, "We have come full circle." which means that starting at point A we have arrived at point A.Explaining by the design document, characters can be overweight. And yes, the character you've defined is a possible character. Characteristics upgrade like skills. You've leveled up strength by mining, you will have an easier time fighting. You're a sprinter? You will have an easier time casting sorceries because of having more control over your flesh.

To be honest the more I read about the idea of Mortal and the overall idea of the project the more its reminding me of Project Zomboid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPbsDmzZ3Oc&ab_channel=IndieStone

In that it sought of wants to be a do anything Sandbox Survival RPG but rather than a Zombie Apocalypse its a sought of High Fantasy setting. But at the same time it wants to have a massive world ending threat like in a Elder Scrolls Game, which require large set pieces. Ultimately the game concept is out of your reach, I mean Zomboid has been in development for over 10 years and has a small indie studio working on it.

I think you need to readdress your games scope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmSBIyT0ih0&ab_channel=GameMaker'sToolkit

This video on Ico might help you as it explores the game design philosophy of Design by Subtraction created by Fumito Ueda and might help you as I can see at the very least @Gahbreeil that you are passionate about the game your trying to make but I think are just misdirected.

I am not misdirected and PZ is a great game although it should not remind you of Mortal which is not an Indie title.

Okay first of all Mortal (In its current state) is textbook a Indie Game being developed by a Indie Developers, you are currently the sole developers or as we call it a Independent Developer of a Independent Game not attached or finically supported by a larger publisher or game distributor.


I am saying this as a Indie Developer myself and a massive fan of independent game projects developed by Indie Studios. Currently I would say and I think many here would agree with me that some of the best and most creative games are being made by smaller studios or sole developers, such as Sea of Stars, Space Wreck Darkest Dungeon and Chained Echoes (and that's just RPGs if we add in VN's, Adventure Games and Platformers and even FPS titles Indie developers are kicking major ass)

Also your game reads like a fantasy version of PZ, make a character and use a variety of skills from carpentry to cooking to survive in a hostile world, just replace wave of zombies with goblins, orcs and evil gnomes (JK all Gnomes are Evil)

Their their I'll give you some free advice

Your game can either be A Sandbox Survival Game where the PC is able to go on repetitive quest, gather loot, explore dungeon and use a variety of common and more specialist skills to level up their character in a sought of Roguelike RPG sandbox style of game. This means the audience wants large open ended environments, minimal storylines and likely end up creating their own fun within the confines of the sandbox.

Or Your game can be a Storyline Driven RPG with a fixed narrative and number of quests the player advances in, the player can have states and skills but these would be more focused on skills which provide the player meaningful Role Playing opportunities within the storyline you created, yeah it be great if in Dragon Age Origins I had a cooking skill but would a player genuinely put massively into that skill and loss out of awesome skills and abilities for their spellcasters or fighter in the confines of a ARPG.

By the way your game can realistically achieve one of those two things, your not going to make the Skyrim Killer that allows for a wide range of abilities (to be fair whilst Skyrim has cooking skills and such it is second to the action based skills and abilities as it is a ARPG in nature)

You just got to take your idea and focus it into a singular direction, if you think on this rather than just rage post back about how I don't get it and the other people who have in many instances given solid feedback to you your not going to make a game anyone wants. Would I want to play a Fantasy Sandbox Roguelike Game hell yeah that sounds awesome, would I want to play a linear Fantasy RPG sure I would, were all RPG fans where on a RPG forum but we want it to be good and the games design to showcase intentionality not a bunch of separate ideas that just got thrown together.




Also check out thatFain or Aaron Young who are both gamedev youtubers and has been developing a game for awhile and you'll see what I mean by intentionality. These are indie game developers and they are demonstrating what it means to design with intentionality your GDD is a far cry from this.

 

[AlterAstolfo]

Oh wow... finally read this threat after all this time. I even made an account to post this.

OP, you got to learn programming. Hell visual scripting would be a solid first effort like me. Or just don't be an arse and find a programmer who gets on with you and maybe they'll built the code for your game.

But you got to stop spending your days posting on a forum. About what your going to do.

We all can do something.

Its the act of doing the work which is important buddy.

 

[Great Deceiver]

mediocrepoet you weren't kidding LOL

 

[Gahbreeil]

Did you sell it off to EA already?

This! Help me out and give me a solid contact with some bigshot and we'll be done here.

Its the act of doing the work which is important buddy.

Okay first of all Mortal (In its current state) is textbook a Indie Game being developed by a Indie Developers, you are currently the sole developers or as we call it a Independent Developer of a Independent Game not attached or finically supported by a larger publisher or game distributor.

It was not meant to be developed by an Indie developer... It is a flagship project for a dev the sort of Bethesda.

Why would I cut my own wings and make an Indie title when making my own dream project?

Who do you take me for? Raziel?

 

[True Ukrainian]

Bro, Bethesda isn't going to invest in your unproven project led by a head who has no commercial game development experience. And if Bethesda backs the project, they will demand ownership of all the IP.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

This! Help me out and give me a solid contact with some bigshot and we'll be done here.

Why don't you talk to the dwarf fortress dudes