WIP Storyline / Design

[balliztik1]

I've been brainstorming some ideas for a game, recently. I just thought I'd throw this out there for everyone to see and give feedback. This isn't necessarily going to become an Eclipse game, and if it does, it's long down the road.

The storyline was originally written with a Dungeons and Dragons campaign in mind. As I began to flesh out my ideas, I realized I'd need to alter classes, spells, and races to fit my needs. In fact, I had many ideas about what each race and class show do that differed from the 3rd edition ruleset, so I'm trying to devise a new system that encompasses all my ideas. Whether this stay in tabletop RPG format or becomes an MMO has yet to be seen.

So, I guess I'll start spewing random things, now. I'll get it all organized if I need, but for now, as I come up with it, I'll put it down.

**Classes**
There are no restrictive classes. There is a class system, but it's very different from a typical RPG. Instead of choosing to be one class and leveling up in that class, you can be every class. As you gain experience in that class, you unlock new abilities. At any time, you can retire that class to pick up another. If you choose to change back, you retain all abilities from that class. Certain classes need to be unlocked before usage.

**Elements**
There are 6 primary elements. These aren't the classical elements like fire, earth, and air, but instead 6 "concepts" around which all characters are built.

* Arcana - This element deals with magic of the mind. It can only be manipulated by those with a strong will. Emphasis of this element is on conversion of energy into various forms, be it protective wards, balls of fire, or bolts of lightning.
* Divinity - This element deals with magic of the gods. Faith and devotion give a person the ability to oppose the natural flow of things. A divine caster can stop poisons, aid an ally, heal a wound, or even bring someone back from the dead.
* Melee - This element deals with up-close combat. Physical power and prowess in battle are used to slay foes. One strong in melee combat will wade into their foes with a single weapon, two weapons, or a weapon and a shield.
* Nature - This element deals with magic of the natural world. A bond with nature allows one to manipulate the world around him. A naturalist has the power to make plants and beasts attack his foes, or harness the curative powers of nature.
* Range - This element deals with combat from a distance. Ranged skill promotes accuracy to bring foes down before they can strike. A ranger is known for his speedy and agile movements, and his deadly precision.
* Skill - This element deals with various feats of training. A skilled person uses their training to bypass a situation without combat. A skilled individual may be a diplomat, an excellent craftsman, or a dexterous rogue.

These elements would be combined to make your class. A player can gain up to three element slots, but starts with zero. Once a slot is gained, feats must be accomplished to obtain the elements for those slots. For example, someone training in melee combat might gain their first melee element through winning a brawling tournament, their second for defeating a Orc chieftain, and their final for besting a master swashbuckler. In this way, all elements are unlockable, thus giving a player freedom to progress as they see fit. Combinations can occur, as well. A player with all three slots as divine might be a priest, one who merely focuses on holy magic. Two divine elements and one melee might make said character a cleric, a competent battler who still focuses on healing and magic. One divine and two melee, then, might make you a paladin, a sure combatant, with divine abilities as backup.

Here's the story so far, as I've written it. I've got a lot more in my head, but it's just a matter of getting all down, now.

@Storyline:

> _**The Creator**_
> Once, when the universe was a bleak nothingness, there existed only one being. This being was the Creator, the god of everything that was, is, and will be. The Creator, once it realized its great power, spent many eons compressing energy into solidified forms, creating the night sky as it is seen today. Hundreds of thousands of stars were created in this fashion before the Creator grew uninterested in them. It wanted something more. Stars just burned off their energy are were reborn anew. Nothing outside that cycle ever occurred. The Creator set in motion a plan for the creation of a world. This god, having infinite wisdom and time, created two beings from himself. One was made of pure light. It was a benevolent being that embodied all the peaceful, good thoughts in the universe. Its name was Dolaan. The other being was made of pure darkness. It was an evil being that was formed from all the malicious thoughts of the Creator. Its name was Doluun. These two beings were set against each other. The Creator served as a mediator. For every seed of good, there would be a seed of evil. For every kind, gentle race put upon the surface of the world, there would be added a monstrous race as well. The Creator waited and watched. It believed that Dolaan and Doluun's rivalry would beget progress through competition. The test was underway.
>
> _**The Creation of the World**_
> Dolaan and Doluun worked together to forge the world from nothingness. They created a roughly spherical mass of various types of stones, metals, and other materials that would later be found, named, and categorized. On the surface, Dolaan crafted continents and oceans. Underneath the surface, Doluun made huge caverns, driving the land up from below, simultaneously creating all the mountains of the land. Dolaan, taking its knowledge from the Creator, crafted a star, Dolaarun, the sun. Doluun, not wanting to be bested, created Doluunar, the moon. They positioned these great masses then set the world into a slow spin, assuring that an equal amount of exposure would occur all across the land. This created the cycle of day and night. Once all the land had been sufficiently altered, Dolaan and Doluun tried their hand at their first creations, plants. Dolaan first created the great forests, sprawling and teeming with life. Doluun populated his underworld with special plants that did not need light - mushrooms, mosses and the like. Dolaan created flowers that sprouted from the earth, while Doluun created plants that grew within the soil. For every leaf that Dolaan shaped, Doluun had crafted a root. It seemed a harmonious balance, and the Creator was most pleased with the results.
>
> _**The First Age**_
> Just as The Creator had made Doluun and Dolaan, so too were the inhabitants of the world made from their predecessors.
>
> _**The Elves**_
> The Elves were the first to walk the land above. Dolaan gave unto them the forests, which they named "L'lenthe". They were the Protectors of the Forest - "Deru", in the Elven tongue (though this name did not come for many years, until the language had developed, of course). They mastered the natural world. Their homes weren't made out of lumber, but instead, out of the trees themselves. The Deru harnessed a power to shape the world around them without harming it, as they were the Protectors, after all. They chose to live in small settlements in the forest. They would find a cluster of approximately a dozen trees, building high, high into the canopy, which was not rare to find in excess of several hundred feet. Dolaan never planned on placing such small creatures in his forests. He imagined giants roving, pushing aside the branches of the tallest trees to move throughout. It was The Creator who suggested making the lifeforms small, so as to promote a long age of exploration and curiosity - and the Deru filled that niche wonderfully. Few scraped six feet in height, and all had slight, albeit lean builds. They had a sense of wanderlust and curiosity about their home. Their sharp eyes and keen, pointed ears led them deep into the mystical woods to discover its many secrets. They were the first to discover the many plants, and developed the science of alchemy. Dolaan crafted each Deru to be unique. They would culminate in his psyche for years, then released into the world. All Elves are adults when they pass into the physical realm, and they do not reproduce, as Dolaan is the sole source of their existence. He revealed to them the secrets of the gods, and they worship Dolaan and Doluun, as well as all their creations.
>
> **_Druidism_**
> The Deru's art of blending raw magic and the natural world was known as druidism. To truly understand how to protect their world, they had to know how it worked. Their lust for knowledge and understanding led them to form a bond with nature. Instead of living _in_ nature, they lived _with_ nature, in harmony with it. They influenced the world around them. In some cases, they even taught nature how to protect itself.
>
> _**The Orcs**_
> In contrast, the Orcs were the first to inhabit the lightless, subterranean world known as Dol Umbra, "Cavern of the Gods". They were made the rulers of all the lightless places of the world. Every cave, pit, and dungeon was their domain. They developed a connection with their world, much like with the Deru, but in a more destructive manner. The Orcs learned the secrets of the earth. They could upheave the ground with a flex of their will. They could conjure fire. They could spread the diseases of the strangest toxins without so much as being harmed. The Orcs were brutish creatures. They stood, for the most part, over 6 feet tall. Their skin had never seen the light, and as such, was pale and sickly grey or green. Their black eyes could cut through the thickest darkness. They were hardy, built with layers of muscles that allowed them to shift the largest rocks with ease. They loved violence. Each and every one competed with their neighbors and members of other tribes for superiority. Bloodlust fueled their actions, and they were the first to implement tools of war. Crude spears and axes drove deep into their own brothers, ending their lives. Orcs, however, were in abundance. Doluun gave them the ability to reproduce amongst themselves. Soon, every dark corner housed an Orcish tribe. Doluun's creations were very self-serving, however, and he did not reveal to them the secrets of life and the gods. As such, they worship ideals. Their religion is one of fear and strength. The strongest Orc, to them, was their god, and his will was their own.

[Anna Comnena]

I like the classes idea, multi-classing is always a fun game dynamic. :)

The Elements need a lot of work though; they have a lot of overlap, both with the class idea, and conceptual overlap between individual elements. Also their scope seems to vary quite a lot; like Range is pretty limited in scope compared to Divinity, and "Skills" is so over-encompasing it can hold most of the other elements!

[balliztik1]

@Anna:

> I like the classes idea, multi-classing is always a fun game dynamic. :)
>
> The Elements need a lot of work though; they have a lot of overlap, both with the class idea, and conceptual overlap between individual elements. Also their scope seems to vary quite a lot; like Range is pretty limited in scope compared to Divinity, and "Skills" is so over-encompasing it can hold most of the other elements!

True. I had trouble coming up with the text for ranged, as it was very limited in scope. As for "skill", I couldn't think of a good word for it. It's certainly not all-encompassing. It's supposed to be training of non-combat skills as opposed to combat skills. Each element will probably have options to go with it.

I think I just need to revise their naming. I slapped some tags on them quickly. I was thinking "strength" and "dexterity" instead of "melee" and "ranged", but it didn't quite fit what I wanted or felt too awkward. But the new tags feels too restrictive. Regardless, I know what abilities would be part of each element, and it's not as unbalanced as it sounds. I'll work on names later. Where's that thesaurus?

Regarding overlaps, that was intended to happen. I'm loosely basing this off DnD. I didn't like how some classes were essentially watered down versions of others. I wanted a complete set of spells unique to each class. Nature and Divinity, then, are like druid and cleric. Both can heal. I felt that the way DnD encompassed both into "divine" casters, and essentially gave them similar spells was dumb. Someone who heals through a divine manner should not be casting the same spell as someone healing with nature's power. I liked the druid and priest from WoW. Druids and priests could both be healers, though they had different ways of going about it. Unlike a typical MMO, I'm not trying to fill niches with the element system, but instead create a system that encompasses creative character ideas. This is likely not MMO material, anyway. It's just some drafts I'm throwing about. Speaking of which, here goes some random banter about niches:

WoW - You decide what you are before you create your character. If you want to be a healer, but decide you want ranged combat later, that's too bad. You must fill your niche, and are narrow in focus so as to promote min/maxing. Talents help define who you are, but most consider it a waste if you don't pick a certain way.

DnD - You progress according to the game. You can start as a cleric, and take a few levels here and there as you need. If you mess up, or switch too often, your character may be ineffective. A wide variety of options exist, but the limit to how many you can obtain prevents excessive character building.

Dungeon Siege - You are free to decide how to play. You can train any of your stats up as high as you want, and use whichever equipment suits you at the moment. You are limited in talent points, though, so you don't have unlimited options, but you can still max out everything else. You are free to fill a niche in a party or be self-sufficient.

Coming from some DS playing, I felt like DnD kept my character too reliant on the party, and falling too much into an archetype. The goal of the elements is to give customization. Swapping out the elements allows for everyone to have every power they need, but not all at once, so they don't become a powerhouse.

[Anna Comnena]

Yeah well another thing, what exactly is the difference between Arcana phenomena and Divinity phenomena?

Also how you describe combat related elements really is a lot of overlap. You apply the "range" element to martial skills that seem to focus on coordination and agility, and melee combat to brute force. But that isn't very descriptive nor accurate, it depends on the weapons being used. For example, a "melee" user fighting with a sword and shield will fight differently than someone with a rapier and dagger; and with ranged fighting, what about thrown weapons? The skills required to decently throw a tomahawk or javelin might be closer to the skills of melee fighting than range, according to your descriptions.

These are just a few potential holes I see with the "elements" system you have. The idea of having a few elements loaded at a time is neat and adds versatility to your character, but I thought the whole multi-classing aspect you proposed would do that anyway?

[balliztik1]

The multiclassing is based on this element system. Your class is defined by what you can do. In pure "class" sense, you only have a single class, but have the power to alter your abilities. If you want the ability to heal, you add some divinity or some nature, depending on the type of healing you want.

I hadn't considered thrown weapons. Damn! xD I agree that melee and ranged don't actually describe the skills you are focusing on. I can't seem to find a certain name for what they do.

Anyhow, because of how I planned for each element to have sub-elements, maybe it's best to just split even further. I've played some very fun games with high customization through having no classes, but instead abilities that are purchased through skills points. With multiple combinations, though, that would mean giving up "levels", as I had planned to do (=O), and…well IDK what comes after that "and". I'll have to work on it more.

Thanks for pointing these things out. It's certainly helping me get the system to what I want. It's just really hard to give a character full customization, the ability to swap out things as needed, retain balances, and make it viable in an RPG. I might just have to give up the swapping out and opt for "talent resets" like many MMOs have, or bite the bullet and make decisions final. Against my better judgment, it makes for a stable system, which is really what counts. I've seen awful things done by giving too much to the player.