Since I'm finally in a position with life evening out(Relatively) I feel like now, is the best time to at least try with something, since I have a lot more time away from work lately too and real days off for a change. I probably will be trying to carry on with the demon thing soon, but I do have some other thoughts. The two main thoughts I did have were: Something like a yakuza/gangster thing where players are part of the same organization going against other rival gangs in a modern era or a few decades earlier than that when gang crime was more closer to it's peak. The other would be for like a travelling mercenary outfit in a more episodic thing that involves arc villains. What exactly to do with that, I'm not too sure yet, it's only an idea. I probably won't start anything until I feel like I'm actually solidly in a position to do things reliably, but it's more of a better time to try than it was before with these things. What mechanics either of those things would employ, I haven't thought of just yet. If none of those, hearing what other people would want to do would help.
I had time to think more on where to go with those ideas, and I think I'm getting somewhere. Namely my idea for the mercenary outfit I actually came up with a few things there. Spoiler: Yakuza style game Taking the form of a typical gang hierarchy, players ranks to start would likely be around Kyodai(Basically higher than average footsoldiers) reporting to the chain of command. To pull from wikipediea to cover it: 'Yakuza have a complex organizational structure. There is an overall boss of the syndicate, the kumicho, and directly beneath him are the saiko komon (senior advisor) and so-honbucho (headquarters chief). The second in the chain of command is the wakagashira, who governs several gangs in a region with the help of a fuku-honbucho who is himself responsible for several gangs. The regional gangs themselves are governed by their local boss, the shateigashira. Each member's connection is ranked by the hierarchy of sakazuki (sake sharing). Kumicho are at the top, and control various saikō-komon (最高顧問, senior advisors). The saikō-komon control their own turfs in different areas or cities. They have their own underlings, including other underbosses, advisors, accountants and enforcers." I didn't want to fill too many slots early on, if I went with this idea. This takes a somewhat fictionalized role where female roles a bit more prominent than they would actually be, obviously. Thing such as secretaries, moles, doctors, and other affiliated types would be options for pcs. I'm still thinking more on the details of where to run with this for now. Spoiler: the mercenary thing I do have some actual ideas for mechanics a bit different from before. Emotions: Your character's mental state will actually play a larger role in how well they can do and cope with certain things or actions. While the emotional spectrum is wide, the general aspects used would be: Anger: A enraged or provoked character is prone to not making the best possible decisions at the time or thinking things through before they do them. In battle, they both give and receive more damage from sources in a reckless state Outside of battle, it can manifest in any number of ways but can hurt their ability to focus on complex tasks until the issue is resolved. Anger can also be used to drive someone towards a goal depending on the situation, such as aspiring to become a more popular bard just out of spite, but it's still dangerous in the form of almost becoming an obsession. When doing things that directly spite the target of their anger, they may gain bonuses, but feel restless if if they feel people are taking too long and getting in the way of their pursuit to resolve it. More severe states include: Berserk: Where in such a state, they completely forgo distinguishing friend from foe. Whoever's unfortunate enough to get caught in the way takes substantially more damage and a person in a Berserk state will ignore and not be slowed down by most wounds until it outright kills or incapacities them. Fear: General panic, anxiety, and all those things. It can make it harder to interact with someone when scared of rejection or intimidated by their position, and even make people flee or freeze up in battle. The upside is those prone to fear have a good sense of self preservation and those with a flight instinct can almost always find their way out of danger. Caution also has a benefit to completing complex tasks outside of battle, by ensuring they are done carefully. More Severe states include: Despair: Basically a mental shutdown that demotivates the person from doing anything or believing they will really succeed. Convincing themselves things are futile, they can a -10 penalty to any roll until it's resolved. Desperate: A beast is at it's most dangerous when cornered. When put to their breaking point, even a timid animal can still blare it's fangs. If put in such a situation where they feel like they have no way out, there's a 3/4 of chance they'll become desperate instead of despairing. When they do, their next three offensive or escape attempts, automatically succeed. Sadness: Unsure. Joy: Being in a good mood has lot's of benefits, though given the typical stress of the mercenary life this isn't always easy to keep. A +5 to most rolls outside of combat, while it seems like this would be all good. Too much fun has it's risks in being overconfident and ecstatic, risking bad mistakes to difficult tasks when they go too crazy or over indulging. Arousal: Unsure. Bond Levels: Lists characters that the character has a bond with. Not just anybody the character meets is someone they can form a spark of a bond with. Allies who fight often enough together often develop deep bonds by default. Generally, all mercenaries in the company have at least a lv.1 bond shared with the people they fight with. A frequent merchant they see often enough or a regular drinking companion while they're in cities after tours would be other examples. Benefits would vary depending on the connection and what the roles are, though as some examples of the basic use between two mercenaries. Merchants might offer bigger discounts, healers could potentially be able to use their magic to heal the bonded person to greater effect, and bonding with a especially capable of warlock could even allow for the character to use spells they don't actually have. Still a rough idea so, how strong or weak these uses are, I don't know yet. Spoiler: Bond Level Abilities One- The initial spark of forming a genuine bond with someone. The budding of companionship and lends itself to growth. No immediate benefits at this level. Two- A more solidified bond after tasting a fair amount of combat with each other, the character can automatically go into rage if the allied character is down until all enemies are defeated or other influences prevent this. Three- Synergizing very well in battle with each other, characters who share a bond at this stage have a chance to perform a follow up attack when the other character gives an opening to an enemy. Four- These characters have each other's trust and confidence in each other to get the job done and receive +5 to rolls when using tactics instructed or directed by the other in battle. Five- They know their companions really well and just what to do when they get in a mood. They can cheer up a ally currently despairing or calm them from a rage, even supernaturally inflicted ones, without needing to roll for success. This is situational however, and might not always work depending on the severity of the cause of the problem. Six- Fireforged friends and that bond runs deep. The player can reroll to resist any attempt at influence that would otherwise compel them to turn or knowingly undermine their ally. Seven- Even taking on traits of their bonded companion a little, they can utilize their partners highest skill or stat, to role for +10 success, if it's not a skill shared or specialized by the player. If mutually shared, it's a +5 boost. Eight- They know their companions perfectly well. The bonded pair will see through any attempts of illusion or confusion regarding the other, on an instinctual level. Trickery attempts regarding the bonded pair automatically fail. Nine- Once per battle, If an ally would fall in battle, the bonded partner can opt to shield the other themselves and sustain the hit. The bonded partner who sustains the hit will take regular damage, if it would down them too, they will always survive at last breath. Ten- Almost like telepathy, their unity in battle and outside of it becomes almost the same as breathing. Their benefit from their teamwork shines at a +15 to just having each other in battle, and gain a +20 to using the other's highest skill outside of battle. If the skill is shared mutually, it's an automatic success. I’m still not too sure how good or bad those would actually work yet though. It’s mainly only a thought.
I'm definitely down for the yakuza game, but I'd be happy to join in the merc one, too. What I really like is the bond system - that's really nice, and I might steal it for my own games in future.
I'm not sure if that's the possible format for it, but I feel like it might be interesting to try. It might not necessarily be purely friendship based. Knights are expected to be loyal to their lords to some capacity by default, but only a handful are probably actually personally close to their king or queen. Parental and sibling figures likely might start at a higher base. Though higher starting bonds aren't necessarily better, since that still means losing out on any early level benefits and is going to be generally slower to develop without investing a lot of time compared to making new ones. I still need to think of how to best balance all that out. It's likely not going to be a thing that be entirely evened out, but I still think it's a decent enough idea that's worth doing. They aren't really intended as hardline rules. A pyschopathic player character can still probably feign friendships for a few early levels of bonds(But this might stagnate pretty bad or risk breaking when people realize they don't mean it.) Though two outright villainous characters who don't hide their actual natures from each other wouldn't have much trouble getting along or establishing trust in their own way. It's still possible for polarly opposite viewed characters to connect. Still I think maybe something along those lines, might make sticking with npcs or other characters have more of an incentive past just killing or enslaving other characters. It's probably still possible to bond with a slave girl, but it's likely to prove...challenging, though do-able. Other than just an experimental dynamic, I thought it might be something that actually can help with pacing issues so players can always feel like they're at least accomplishing something in their downtime between missions, and gives some benefits and incentive to taking time to grow relationships instead of just needing to go after the next objective on the list. So even if players are lagging behind somewhere because of events, they're still accomplishing something.
Where I landed on is if I'm going to be doing anything, it will probably be the idea for a mercenary based game, if not for any other reason that I just find it easier to flesh out, mechanically. Though the idea for yakuza gangsters can be revisited sometime, perhaps, who knows. I'm largely just experimenting with ideas, but likely it will work quite a bit differently than how games are usually played. This is only a mock up of something still very subject to change, and a ways off before I want to commit to doing anything just yet(I still want life to be stable more before getting too obsessed and putting anxiety on again.) This isn't quite the final product. Character Name: Appearance Image/description: Spoiler: birthsign Zodiac: This actually plays a large role in magic and blessings of the gods. Your basic elemental affinities are relatively straightforward. What spells someone may excel at go with the particular god and their sphere of influence. Depending on the aspect they govern, that would influence what kind of spells or blessings they would indirectly push someone of their signs to learn and naturally become good at. A love goddess that has power over the air element, would also push people to studying and naturally picking up spells to influence the mind, and a hunter god of earth would encourage growth in skills to be of use to that and blessings like the immunity to poison. Part of my question of this is whether or not to use a pre existing pantheon like the roman gods or a new fantasy one. The benefits is that something preixsting makes it easy to look up and know, but a fantasy pantheon allows for more interesting variety. There's also the fact that I'm just bad at art for making mystical symbols and the like. So I'm weighing whether or not to model it after the roman gods or use a fictional set of deities In addition to that, you're respective bond levels increase faster with those of compatible signs. Combat stats: This is a bit different from the standard formula. From the people I consulted, the general opinion is a little split...so it's still subject to being a scrapped idea if people think it generally just makes things needlessly complicated. 120 points between 8 stats. 20 is an average score, while 50 is the peak of human performance. Beyond that is supernatural. Skill is unique in that since this is specifically how you fare in combat, it would be defined as skill in a specific weapon style. Bows, Swords, spears, staves, ect. There's no limit to the amount of weapon types someone can have as skill, by they still track individually, meaning you probably wouldn't want more than two at most. Resolve reflects your ability to stay calm and makes you less likely to succumb to panic, and resist indirect magical and mental influencing effects. Reputation is how well known you are, by both your side and your enemies. This can be pretty double edged, but a warrior with a higher reputation has a better time trying to rally allies or cause fear in their enemies just by being there. Bond Levels: If any. How to do this is still a complicated debate. I'm thinking that (with exceptions depending on the relationship) player characters would start at one for each other from being in the same mercenary outfit, but likely not having been personally close, though that's not a hard line rule. I was thinking to allow at least 2 characters at 3(roughly what they'd consider life long friends) and one character at 6(Family they're on good terms with, a mentor, or something along those lines.) Background: It's still really iffy on how good or bad any of these lines of thought are, but I see something slowly solidifying at this point into an idea.
After weighing on it, it would be better to just stick with the Hellenistic gods and their older portrayals. Though having spent a good while, looking into it? While associated with the zodiac, it’s not actually consistent whose supposed to represent what. If anything, the implication seems to be that the roles are assumed, but there isn’t a real record to suggest this(As far as I can find). HOWEVER, the implication of the zodiac being defined in four elements is, so that leaves some assumptions of who would fit where. Going by own interpretation. Fire: Aries: Ares, God of war and violence. Leo: Apollo, Sun god of music and poetry Sagittarius: Hephaestus, god of fire and smithing Earth: Taurus: Hades, god of death Virgo: Demeter, Goddess of harvest and seasons Capricorn: Artemis, goddess of the hunt and fertility Air: Gemini: Aphrodite, god of love and sex Libra: Dionysus, god of wine and debauchery Aquarius: Zeus, god of sky and thunder Water: Cancer: Athena, goddess of war and strategy Scorpio: Hermes, god of thieves, cunning, and luck Pisces: Poseidon, god of sea and earthquakes It may also be possible to take figures from other pantheons and swap them. I’ll need to think more on it.
I'm for Hellenistic gods too, it will make less complicated game, and these guys are well know in Europe and USA.
Yeah, it cuts down on complexity. Though likely using a historical pantheon, they won’t have a active role and given the age, they’ve fallen out of popular worship to relatively newer religions. They’re might still be cults, but they’re rare. I’ll work on a proper region and setting when I can. As for a proper date when I want to try starting, still probably a while away. At the very least, after Christmas and I’m done my online course’s final exam. I’m trying to avoid doing too many things at once, and focus on what I can actually do.
So I made a few region maps. I'm not sure if anyone has a lot of thoughts on which one is better. I don't really have access to those super detailed map makers sadly. Spoiler: region maps
Alright. I'm going to sleep soon(or trying too), then when I get time too, I'll work on writing up a thing for the important mercenary groups and that should be about it. I'm unsure if everyone should be in the same group or given an option to do different ones. Keeping it consistent will be helpful, but I can see how people feel about what ones I can come up with. Despite my usual issues, I’m doing my best, to make the world interesting.
I have no problem with being all players in the same group as long as it didn't require too much interaction betheen them. We all write in different speed and holding down full game because of one player doesn't work out for me.
I'm just unsure of which group people would want to go with then, but I tried to give a fair amount of options. Independents are also a thing if none of that works, though that comes with much less readily available resources and manpower.
The Silver Foxes seems like it would allow for the greatest diversity of individual characters and missions while keeping them all ultimately united under a common cause, IMO.
I already have an idea for a character, and I think the Silver Foxes are the best - or rather only - fit for him, as he is a bit too much of a greedy bastard and does not really fit the other three groups.
I had a feeling that would be the case, which I didn't antically have them, but felt like they'd stick closer to the original point, so we could go with them unless people have objections to that.
