In continuing my theme of "Reviving games I abandoned after less then ten pages over the summer", I thought I would try bringing this one back from the grave. I found the idea interesting, not sure why I left it out to dry. Lets start again, right out!
*****
Journeys takes place in a world much different from our own, for the most part at least. Perhaps the most important difference to you is how the people live. Rather than the sprawling countries of our world, this world is inhabited by small or relatively small city-states, which are universally separated by miles and miles of uninhabited land. The culture, people, and even technology vary incredibly from this isolation, making each town feel like its own world. Perhaps one town may be a group of feudal farmers living in huts, while just a few days ride away is an underground bunker focused around a cold fusion reactor. This game is typically modern and occasionally light-scifi, you can find high-tech artificial intelligence or cybernetics or other marvels in the strangest places, though anything higher than modern technology is typically rare and might not even give its owner an advantage over the rest of the planet.
In this game, you play a Wanderer, Traveler, or whatever you care to call yourself. Whatever it is, it is the dangerous task of of transferring from one town to the next, occasionally getting involved when the situation calls for it. Maybe you are a trader, trying to earn a living buying items where they are plentiful and selling them where they are not. Maybe you are a mercenary, looking for work. Or maybe you are just lost, with no home to return to. Whatever the case, you have taken up a Journey and now wander these lands.
Part of the game is the wandering itself, of course. You typically spend days away from civilization, though a particularly unlucky individual could find himself spending months in the dangers of the outdoors. As such, you need to keep yourself alive, which means you need food, water, and shelter. I am not going to make you play out every day, but you will have to find these things or die in the uncaring surroundings. Of course, you also have to maintain your weapons and any other items you use constantly, or you risk them breaking down when you need them most. Keep an eye on your fuel and ammunition as well, the world is dangerous and without them you are just as dead as if you didn't drink.
The other part of the game is interacting with the towns, much like a standard roll playing game. Some are good, places where you can stop for warm food and more bullets, while helping out on a quest to get some extra supplies. Some are evil, actively dangerous to those who enter them. Telling them apart can be a real problem. Generally, Wanderers are common enough in most areas to have services like Inns and gate guards, but rare enough that a Wanderer entering town is still an occasion and they often find free drinks or supplies waiting for them for the price of a good story.
Of course, few choose to "go it alone", most have at least one ally who they can trust with their life. This ally isn't necessarily human or even "truly" alive, the AI on an advanced sniper rifle is just as good an ally as another human is, and a talking cat could be a lot more useful then one might think. They watch your back while you sleep, draw fire so you can get to better cover, or just provide someone to talk to while you are just west of nowhere.
Now that that is done, time to make the character!
Character Sheet: Each item will be explained. Feel free to delete the explanation to put the information requested here.
Name: What your character likes to be called. It doesn't have to be a real name, and can very well change from town to town. At least put what their allies call them.
Inventory: You can start with almost any item you can logically have on you, I suggest a weapon, ammunition for that weapon, a cleaning kit, some food, something to hold water, a fire starter, a tent/shelter/bedding, repair kits, extra cloths for different weather, spare parts for whatever you are traveling on, extra boots, and whatever else you would want to have on you when traveling. Yes, that is a lot of items, no you don't have to list them all, but it would be more fun to. Keep in mind that over or under packing can be dangerous, sure bringing along a cow's worth of meet for just yourself might seem like a great idea, but it slows you down and attracts animals. This is also where you get your weapon, so choose wisely. You can technically bring a M134 minigun with you, but you are going to carry almost a ton of bullets, maintain it almost constantly, and be weighed down incredibly. Some towns might not even have the necessarily supplies for it, or if they do, might be too expensive, especially if you are buying bullets by the thousand. More practical guns, like shotguns or revolvers, need less attention to work reliably and you can carry plenty of bullets, or even make more in most countries using very common resources. A shotgun shell can even be made with paper and nails, if you don't mind the wear on your weapon, lesser damage, and possibility of this blowing up in your face. Melee weapons shouldn't be counted out here, of course! They require less maintenance (But still some) to work effectively, can often be light weight since you don't have to lug around ammunition, and a skilled Wanderer can even reliably deflect bullets! Of course you sacrifice range, intimidation, and the gracefulness of a gun for this, so the choice is yours! I wrote a lot more then I intended here.
Character Concept: The history, physical description, and whatever else of this character. Mostly for flavor, you could ignore it entirely if you wanted.
Ally: A brief or not so brief description of your ally. You only get one to start! Generally, they come with one impressive skill, and can do anything else at normal to above normal human capacity within reason. For example, you could make an ally who was a mechanic in his home town, and thus is skilled at repairing and maintaining machines. As mentioned, they don't have to be human. Use your imagination if you want. They can be another one of your items if you so desire, from your weapon to transpiration. This description should include their personality (I will have to control their actions sometimes), what they are, and what their skill is. It can also include things like why they follow you, their history with you, etc. You can also give them a weapon, which will presumably be maintained by them from your supplies. If you don't want an ally for whatever reason, look at the camera and growl "I work alone" in your best batman voice. Then put "None".
Transportation: The object that allows the wanderer to wander. This can be any land-based object that is reasonably realistic. Like with items, you must choose wisely. The transportation is where you carry all your items, a larger transportation allows you to carry more. Its speed also allows you to get to new locations faster, away from trouble, and use less supplies to cover more ground. Again, be careful what you take. You could, for example, choose an M1 Abrams tank as you transportation, but it guzzles fuel at an almost impossible rate, is relatively slow over poor terrain, and every town you get close to assumes you are an invading force and responds accordingly. On the other end of the scale, something like an 18 wheeler may sound appealing as well, with the ability to take an impossible amount of supplies, but you will be seen as a great target for any thieves or bandits along the way and still require a lot of maintenance and fuel. The vehicle can be fictional, as long as it is relatively realistic. Land-ships, hovercraft, or whatever else all come with their own drawbacks and concerns. The vehicle doesn't have to consume normal fuel, or fuel at all, depending on what you choose, but will also have its own drawbacks. You could, for example, choose a mountain bike, but would go comparatively slow and doesn't have a lot of room for supplies. You could also choose, for example, a car that runs entirely on solar power or ethanol, but this requires sun/food that you might not have, higher-level technology to upkeep and repair, and generally are slower and weaker then gas-guzzling alternatives. Animals can also be used, as can anything else you can think of. Another wall of text.
Stats and skills: Finally, what your character is capable of. These will have to be changed and tweaked by me later, but for now we will just use generic labels. You get 2 "Poor", 3 "Average", and 2 "Excellent!". Each Stat has skills associated with it. The two types of skills are "Average skills", which most humans can at least do at a basic level, and "Advanced" skills, which require special knowlage or training to do well. I am not going to list them all here, as every activity should be able to fall under one of them. For each stat, you can take one advanced skill, which will be put into brackets after that skill. You can advance an average skill as well, to get a large bonus with it. For example, if your character uses a shotgun and you want him to be particularly skilled with it, under "Firearms" you could put "Excellent!(Shotgun)".
Firearms: Yes, this is a stat, not a skill. This is a dangerous world. Nobody denies this. Firearms are the best way for a wanderer to survive. Firearms stat allows your character to fire, maintain, and repair his gun correctly. It also allows you to recognize enemy weapons, create your own ammunition, throw things, and recognize other people's skills with weapons. This isn't an extensive list, anything having to do with firearms or ranged weaponry fit under this skill. Hunting, self defense, whatever it is you need, Firearms can provide it. Common skills include: Weapon type (ex "Shotgun", "Revolver", "Assault Rifle", "Sniper Rifle" etc), Ammunition Making, and Repair/Modify.
Dodge: Another stat, not skill. The most important part of a fight for a wanderer isn't to kill the opponent, but survive the encounter. As such, "Not getting hit" is pretty important. "Average" and below stats are able to use this against melee weapons fully, they may only "dodge" firearm attacks by jumping for cover. "Excellent!" users, however, may instead take the "Bullets" advance skill, which allows them to actually dodge bullets. This may sound impressive, but there is a heavy penalty, Excellent is not the highest you can go. It is just a starting point. It does give you enough chance to get an attack in yourself, but if your opponent is firing more then one shot you would be better off jumping for cover anyway. Common skills: For Cover, Vehicle Driving, and of course Bullets.
Melee: The last pure combat skill. Any form of close quarter combat falls in here, from fists to huge swords. This includes the ability to fight with the weapons, block with the weapons, maintain the weapons, identify weapons, identify skilled opponents, and anything else that involves sword/fist/knife play. As with Dodge, "Average" users may block other melee attacks with this, but can do nothing against bullets or other ranged attacks. "Excellent!" users may, however, take the advanced skill "Bullet Blocking", which allows them to block bullets at high penalty. Again, this isn't as impressive as it sounds, and will likely only let you get close enough to hit them if they are already pretty close, and you will still have problems against high powered or spreading weapons. Your weapon can break, always remember that! Common skills: Weapon (Sword, Knife, Martial Arts etc), Blocking (Melee, Bullets), Improvised Weaponry
Charisma: The ability to sway people to your side. While it may not, at first glance, seem like a particularly useful stat, experienced Wanderers learn fast its real value. Getting any decent price in an unfamiliar town, buying or selling, can often be based on how much the inhabitants like you. It is also used for things such as inspiring soldiers to fight for you, talking your way past a suspicious border guard, or even convincing a group of bandits to give up crime and let you go. Common skills include: Trading, Commanding, Making Friends (Nobility, Guards, Wanderers etc), and Intimidation
Strength: The physical abilities of the Wanderer. Strength is often used with other stats, granting bonuses, but is incredibly useful on its own. Strength is a determining factor on how well your character can resist damage, disease, hunger, thirst, tiredness, and all the other pains a Wanderer gets familiar with. It also grants bonuses to melee weapon damage. You can be granted bonuses to skills that don't normally require strength, exerting yourself but getting a better result. For example, lets say your wanderer came into town and just became friends with its king, just as a revolution is going on outside. He is cornered with his new friend, and decides to try and talk his way out. He reaches deep into his lungs, delivering a booming passionate speech non stop, that ends with him sweating and breathing hard. Yes it is a bit of a stretch, but he still gets a bonus based on his strength for it. Pure-strength skills require only physical exertion, running, lifting things, climbing, and carrying heavy equipment all require strength. Common skills include: Endurance (Water, Food, Rest), Walking (Sprinting, Distance, Pack Mule), and Recovery (Health).
Agility: The fine motor skills of the wanderer, how well he can move small objects. Like Strength, this can give bonuses to other actions, as long as they require a gentle touch. Alone, it is often used to get resources. Fishing, butchering and cleaning animals, repairing cloths, and making many crafts requires agility. It also determines how fast you can run under normal circumstances, though it isn't an amazing difference and the running skills are still covered by strength. Common skills include: Survival (Fishing, Fire Building, Butchering), Crafts (Widdling, Metal Craft, Art etc), Perception (Hunting, Human, Weather)
Repair: The skill of maintaining and building. A wanderer relies on his machines to do their job, or he dies. The second his car breaks down and he can't fix it, he will just have to take what he can carry and move on before he is killed. The repair skill lets you fix items more skillfully, using less supplies and allowing the item to go longer without breaking down. It also allows you to build new things, such as a shelter or traps, using the available items. At "Excellent!" stat level, they are capable of understanding the basics of even high-tech items and can take the "Tech" advancement, allowing them to build, repair, and modify items even if they haven't seen them before, using only their knowlage of how to build things. Common Skills include: Repairing (Vehicles, Homes, etc), Creating (Shelter, Makeshift, Factory, etc), tech, and Medic (Human, Animal, Robotics)(Advanced)
I may add more Stats and skills at a later date, but this is what I decided on for now. We will see how all this goes. Feel free to ask questions. I am already at collage, and start in just a few days, so I may abandon this project or make short posts (which now that I think about it, might be a blessing) if I am not sufficiently entertained.
So let us begin!
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Topic: Journeys: RPG of Wandering RELOADED! (Read 3490 times)