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Settings (time/place) you would like to see in an RPG

Lord Chambers

Erudite
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
1,018
What settings would you like an RPG's story to unfold in? Mine is based in history, but fiction is just as good.

I think the result of this setting would be similar to the dynamic between magic and technology in Arcanum, so it's not wildly original, but I would like to see an RPG set during the Meiji Era of Japan, the period where it changed from a feudal society of shoguns, daimyos, and samurai to an industrialized, Western, world power in the matter of a few decades. The wiki is fairly technical and doesn't capture the amazing speed of this revolution Japan underwent. Traditionally revolutions are fought for by the underprivlledged against those that resist them, the power holders. But in Japan, national spirit led many people to give up their comfortable roles as power holders and help bring in an entirely new way of life. Someone who was one day a followers of bushido the next day might be looking for a day in the new society. It's astounding. I'm looking at a piece of wood-block art depicting a train. The caption captures some of the marvel: "The 'iron horse' in Japan: early Meiji wood-block artists were fascinated by the new railways, as most Japanese were intrigued with the artifacts of the modern West that flooded into their country."

This setting is pregnant with possibilities for choice & consequence. Do you follow the old ways, which are probably really cool and involved using a katana, or go forth with the new way, riding trains around and wearing trousers? Even if the setting were taken out of historical context, the concept of people who spent their early adulthood as peasant farmers and by late adult hood were trying to figure out how to ride a train is ripe.

Obivously it'd take a non-traditional plot. It's difficult to imagine a party of adventurers going forth and collecting loot as they save the world from a returning evil in this modern setting. Then again, maybe your band of samurai level up by adopting western customs, allowing them to fit into the political scene with greater ease? Maybe then, when enough power is consolidated, you "beat" the game by steering the country away from a costly military conflict with the West. Sounds like quite the diplomatic game. Maybe no combat at all. Or Maybe the game is more action-oriented, and your goal is to simply overthrow the new modernity-seeking regime like the samurai in The Last Samurai. Maybe the balance between tradition and modernity takes on the role of good and evil in a fantasy setting, and if you become too western in your quest, you start to lose sight of the point. Do you balance or become an expert in one culture? What are the benefits and costs to your character(s)?

Not much can beat samurai and ninjas mixed in with technology. Except maybe pirates mixed with magic.
 

Andyman Messiah

Mr. Ed-ucated
Joined
Jan 27, 2004
Messages
9,933
Location
Narnia
Obviously I'd kill for more Arcanum.

I'll have to second the Roman setting, but it wouldn't mean so much where it all took place. Rome's and all the other 'known' places are fine, really.
 

Zomg

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Messages
6,984
That Meiji idea would be fantastic.

The French Revolution, maybe dovetailed into the Napoleonic Era, would be great. Lots of intrigue, danger, factionalization, etc. Or maybe modern sub-Saharan Africa, same reason.
 

dongle

Scholar
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
838
bryce777 said:
I would like to see something right around the fall of the roman empire, but you in a far off colony somewhere.
England, say? That'd be right around the time of King Arthur. That's really what he's known for; picking up the pieces left by Rome and uniting the island. Be up to the dev how much of the legends to work into it vs reality. Would be a fun time-period to play even if it were reality based, before the dark ages crept in. Not a lot is known about that time, compared to Rome and the high middle ages, so you'd have some design freedom. You could also have Vikings hordes running about ruining everything. Possible plot branches there.
 

bryce777

Erudite
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
4,225
Location
In my country the system operates YOU
dongle said:
bryce777 said:
I would like to see something right around the fall of the roman empire, but you in a far off colony somewhere.
England, say? That'd be right around the time of King Arthur. That's really what he's known for; picking up the pieces left by Rome and uniting the island. Be up to the dev how much of the legends to work into it vs reality. Would be a fun time-period to play even if it were reality based, before the dark ages crept in. Not a lot is known about that time, compared to Rome and the high middle ages, so you'd have some design freedom. You could also have Vikings hordes running about ruining everything. Possible plot branches there.

That's what I was thinking.
 

dongle

Scholar
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
838
Locue said:
I'll have to second the Roman setting, but it wouldn't mean so much where it all took place. Rome's and all the other 'known' places are fine, really.
One could do it like a series of areas all across Europe and Africa. Each one would be mediumish sized. You'd be trying to pick up the pieces of a failed society. Depending on what you did to create order or mayhem would get you promoted or deported to the next area. Sorta linear, but it might be cool. New scenery and population every so often.
 

spacemoose

Erudite
Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
9,632
Location
california
Around the 1970s, most people are wiped out by a terrible plague. The plague was developed as a biological weapon with the use of advanced technology(!) Those who survive have some genetic trait that allows them to do so, but also makes them look strange - maybe some growth/external organ. Everyone who's survived is a mutant basically. The world reverts to barbarism. Don't ask how, it just fucking happens ok.

You play an apprentice to a an organization that is concerned with collecting ancient technology and keeping it from the rest of the world. They have their own little city-state and a pseudo-religious doctrine they use to control their population (only the inner circle has full access to their technological riches and is allowed to use it). When they find a place with 'ancient' technnology, they send out a group of agents to carry back to their citadel all that they can carry, and destroy the rest. There would also be factions that are trying to destroy ALL technology, factions that want to return technology to everyone, and maybe even some survivors who know how to make the stuff.

The game would consist of two distinct stages - a restricted apprentice stage, where the player is prevented from leaving the citadel city-state and has no access to technology at all, and the agent stage, when you are inducted into the faction, and get a rifle and start doing missions for the technocrats.

So basically Fallout 3 with a twist.
 

John_Blazze

Augur
Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
128
I would like to see more wastelands in Fallout 3, not raped by bethesda of course , but made by old FO team.
 

Nagling

Educated
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
65
A game inspired by the “wild west” with a small gun hidden up my sleeve and an ace up the other…
 

Bluebottle

Erudite
Patron
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
1,182
Dead State Wasteland 2
I've always wanted to see something similar to the setting of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series. The player would start as a fairly influential member of the first settlers with most of the game 'action' taking the form of trying to influence the political landscape that is formed there. Different opposing factions would emerge from the original settlers and later shipments of settlers that came later on; the Greens who would want to see large scale terraforming, Conservatives who think terraforming is unecessary, Industrialists who believe Mars should just be a resource supply for the Earth, and all manner of Independance factions who each want to see an independant Mars but differ on the style of government the envisage.

Decisions made by the player to attempt to influence the factions would result in a vastly varying landscape and political structure as the game develops.
 

feta

Novice
Joined
Jan 12, 2006
Messages
60
Location
Yulai X-DED
carribean+pirates=love :D

But then again it'd be in an era much described from other games like pirates! and ofc monkey island. A player could subconsiously compare the worlds and choose in favor on Murray even if its a different genre.
 

Chefe

Erudite
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
4,731
Anyplace, anywhere that isn't set in a Middle Earth esque world. I'm all for RPGs taking place in our world, I don't care where. Ancient Greece, Feudal Japan, the Wild West. Anyone of these I would kill to play an RPG in. Kill. KILL! KEEEL!!!'

God, I am so fucking sick of Tolkien fantasy. Fuck DnD. Fuck them up their stupid asses. I want to play an rpg without elves and dwarves (including variants with omigosh different teh original names). Hell, I'd like to play it with no magic at all (or very, very little magic).

Playing a rogue gunslinger in a Western themed RPG... mmmmm.... or you could play a coniving banker, or the noble sheriff, or the Indian hunter wanting to take back his people's land, or the Indian traitor who has adopted the ways of the new Americans...
 

protobob

Liturgist
Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Messages
332
Location
USA
Wild West - super gritty, ala Deadwood
Neanderthals vs. Zombie Bears
Hobo Rail Adventure
 

Faustus

Novice
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
28
I always thought the world of 'Vampire Hunter D' would be a cool setting...
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
To the OP, the closest game I can think of to your Meiji-era idea is Inindo: Way of the Ninja, where you play the last surviving Iga ninja hell-bent on learning the mystical arts of your acenstors and assasinating Oda Nobunaga before he ravages/unites the land. You also have a time limit, can do missions for individual daimyo's and earn their trust, go to different ninja sites and pass a dungeon to learn a new art, and finally participate in the civil war and use it to your advantage (through turn-based war simulations) to finally sneak into Nobunaga's castle.
 

obediah

Erudite
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
5,051
Mistmare was an awesome concept for a setting. Ruined by crap game.

Lionheart was an awesome concept that was fucked up horribly.

I would love to play a good rpg in the Fading Suns setting.

I'm open to just about any setting that has great urgency and doubt. The fall and/or rebirth of a society are great settings for this. Much better than the "everything is cool, but put together the four pieces of McGuffin before the king foozle get's to 100%". You know that the developers didn't put that option into the game. You'll either win and save the world or get or at most get a picture of a burning castle with a reload button.

Also the opportunity for wonderment is important, but I think this is getting harder all the time. As a kid all a developer had to do was introduce a gun into a fantasy game or the (say it together) "the game takes place on earth in the future DUN DUN DUN". I think Planescape was the last game to do this to me, and I can't remember what the one before that was.
 

Stella Brando

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2005
Messages
8,968
Location
Castle Volkihar
A game set during my high school years in Hamilton, New Zealand, would be pretty neat. Just imagine it - starting homework assignments the night before, talking about the new Sepultura album, secretly never missing a Sailor Moon episode, wondering what sex was like. Endless role-playing possibilities.
 

Solik

Scholar
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
377
I'll probably get flamed for this, but eh.

I'd like to see a fantasy game that doesn't shy on the mythical aspect. It'd be great to have characters that can truly do amazing things. Consider anime -- it's common to have characters that can jump ridiculously high, deflect bullets with swords, move at crazy speeds, run up walls, jump on people's swords and flip over crowds, and punch through walls. Take a world where people are capable of those kinds of feats and make it a quality RPG. The result, I think, would be something a lot more interesting. With fewer limitations on what people are capable of doing, developers could go wild with skillsets, abilities, combat moves, exploration tactics, and more.
 

DorrieB

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Messages
103
Location
Mexico City
Europe in the Golden Century. The three musketeers, d'Artagnan, Rob Roy, and Capitan Alatriste!
 

bryce777

Erudite
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
4,225
Location
In my country the system operates YOU
Solik said:
I'll probably get flamed for this, but eh.

I'd like to see a fantasy game that doesn't shy on the mythical aspect. It'd be great to have characters that can truly do amazing things. Consider anime -- it's common to have characters that can jump ridiculously high, deflect bullets with swords, move at crazy speeds, run up walls, jump on people's swords and flip over crowds, and punch through walls. Take a world where people are capable of those kinds of feats and make it a quality RPG. The result, I think, would be something a lot more interesting. With fewer limitations on what people are capable of doing, developers could go wild with skillsets, abilities, combat moves, exploration tactics, and more.

I always wanted to see a tiny world. With tiny characters, falling 100 times your height or lifting 100 times your weight is not impossible, and there could be an endless supply of monstrous insects to fight.
 

kingcomrade

Kingcomrade
Edgy
Joined
Oct 16, 2005
Messages
26,884
Location
Cognitive Elite HQ
DorrieB said:
Europe in the Golden Century. The three musketeers, d'Artagnan, Rob Roy, and Capitan Alatriste!
I second that, or something resembling it. Napoleonic/New World or Renaissance eras would be fun, too.
I'd also enjoy a sci-fi colony setting, set in our Solar System. (i.e. Mars or a moon of Jupiter or whatever)

I'm kinda sick of elves and dwarves too. And dark elves and wood elves, and sunshine elves and high elves and faerie elves and night elves and morning elves and noon elves and all the 50 other random subspecies of elves that people come up with for no reason.

I'd enjoy some more set in the Planescape setting, or some of the other more interesting D&D settings.
 

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