@BlitzDungeoneer
My suggestion is just to make a Bleach-
inspired game. How about this: the singular character that the players control wakes up in a monster land - could be Hueco Mundo, could be another universe's Hell, could be a
particularly large and evil castle, whatever suits your fancy - with a sword next to them. The character's job is to find a way back to their home. They may or may not discover a great evil that only they are in a position to stop, depending on how complex you want the story to be.
You give the players options as to what the sword looks like - each of which corresponds to a personality, shikai, bankai etc. that you make in advance - but you do NOT let the the players create their own version of the sword's appearance or any other aspect of the sword. It sounds limiting but it would be a lot more engaging for the players to "grow" with the sword. As they fight their way through the world and they increase in power, so does the sword, and eventually communication develops. The character - and thus, the players - form a close bond with the sword. The fact that they are the only people... at all, further strengthens the bond. An important thing to do is to steer the relationship AWAY from romantic and more into a best friend/sibling/battle buddy relationship because seriously,
it's a sword. You can't get anywhere with a sword. This isn't as interesting - or at least is more difficult for you to
make interesting - when the players already know everything important about the sword in advance.
Enemies should not be there to pass the time. You can make some of them be plot- or narrative-important. If you decide to make the world grimdark, you can make the world barren of any food or drink, the monsters you fight being the only source of both. For extra grimdark, make the monsters
sapient.
"For I was hungry, and I ate you. I was thirsty, and I drank you."The monsters should force the players and the character into a corner, make them get desperate, increase tension - be careful not to burn out the players with this one unless they're an alternative boss battle or a storm before the calm thing if it's not. Don't put one of these battles right before a boss battle. Bosses are supposed to be the "final test" for characters - and thus, players - and it would be perceived as unfair (the bad kind of unfair) if they were forced to fight without even being in decent condition. If you must do this, make sure that they get an insta heal but give the players a little time to get their bearings so you can avoid burnout. A final loadout check or something would suffice and maybe use the battle as acknowledgement that the character is ready for the upcoming challenge. If none of these options are available, you can use filler enemies to show how far the character and the players have come since beginning the journey.
Whelp. That's all I have to say on the subject. I had more to say but while writing this it's gotten a bit late which made me tired so I forgot. Maybe I'll remember in the morning. If you decide to go ahead with a game like this I would very much like to be a part of it as a player.
Author
Topic: Gaming Block (Game Discussion Thread) (Totally Not Roller's Block) (Read 418557 times)