Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[NJW2000]

Alright then, i want to try a mechanic here(wizards indeed). If you are interested, please say an amount of Circle 1 spells, Circle 2 spells, Circle 3 Spells and Circle 4 spells. The sum of all chosen amount of all circles must be 5. For example: 3 Circle 1 spels, no Circle 2 spells, 2 Circle 3 spells and no Circle 4 spells.

The circle affects cooldown(renders you unable to cast(including spells other that the cast spell!) for a certain amount of time), type and power of the spell.

Two circle two spells, one circle 3, one circle 4, one circle 5

That right?

[Harry Baldman]

What do people generally like to know when picking races? Which aspects of their cultures should be defined? I got a few races, where I describe their origins and looks a bit but nothing clear regarding their culture.

A race's description should include hooks to build characters from. For this reason a creation myth, being ancient history and most likely a myth, tends to be useless for the creation of a character. You want to put in facts.

For instance, with the dryads you've got the facts that they all spawn from the same great tree, that they seem to have a connection with the personification of nature (without specifying what that might be, how it manifests and how a dryad learns or is taught to use it), and that they're somehow unusual in their physiology. Creating characters is a matter of placing hooks for cool concepts you'd like to see, and there just aren't really very many to work from there.

To generate more hooks, you need to answer more questions. In terms of dryad physiology, for example: how are they unusual or plant-like? Do they photosynthesize? Can you graft bits of different dryads like those of cherry trees? Can you reproduce a dryad via cuttings? Can you tell a dryad's age by counting its rings? If a limb is cut off, does it regenerate in the same place, or do dryads with adventurous lives become decreasingly humanoid as the scarring builds up and new limbs take place of the old? Do they only need water, light and minerals to live? Or are they like humanoid apples, wandering the earth far and wide so that they may die in opportune places, their hearts serving as seeds for new great trees that will germinate in an age many generations from now? You want to put in something that makes people go "that kicks ass, I've got a character idea forming that takes advantage of this".

As for elves, what did they give up? Living for 600 years, being forever beautiful and being an old hand at all kinds of magic makes giving up your humanity sound like a pretty amazing deal. Some explanation for why they're frail, maybe? Do they serve as natural dumps for demonic ooze building up underground, kept alive only by consistent application of divine sorcery? Are they perhaps dissatisfied with this state of affairs and tempted to go out into the world to find a cure for it?

That does bring up another point, which is that these races have a slightly "happily ever after" feel to them where they live in their god-forest without a care in the world, two great super-races of non-humans that do not share your feeble human concerns. Introducing notable problems and issues they may experience is also a good source of character hooks.

[Mr.Zero]

What do people generally like to know when picking races? Which aspects of their cultures should be defined? I got a few races, where I describe their origins and looks a bit but nothing clear regarding their culture.

A race's description should include hooks to build characters from. For this reason a creation myth, being ancient history and most likely a myth, tends to be useless for the creation of a character. You want to put in facts.

For instance, with the dryads you've got the facts that they all spawn from the same great tree, that they seem to have a connection with the personification of nature (without specifying what that might be, how it manifests and how a dryad learns or is taught to use it), and that they're somehow unusual in their physiology. Creating characters is a matter of placing hooks for cool concepts you'd like to see, and there just aren't really very many to work from there.

To generate more hooks, you need to answer more questions. In terms of dryad physiology, for example: how are they unusual or plant-like? Do they photosynthesize? Can you graft bits of different dryads like those of cherry trees? Can you reproduce a dryad via cuttings? Can you tell a dryad's age by counting its rings? If a limb is cut off, does it regenerate in the same place, or do dryads with adventurous lives become decreasingly less humanoid as the scarring builds up and new limbs take place of the old? Do they only need water, light and minerals to live? Or are they like humanoid apples, wandering the earth far and wide so that they may die in opportune places, their hearts serving as seeds for new great trees that will germinate in an age many generations from now? You want to put in something that makes people go "that kicks ass, I've got a character idea forming that takes advantage of this".

As for elves, what did they give up? Living for 600 years, being forever beautiful and being an old hand at all kinds of magic makes giving up your humanity sound like a pretty amazing deal. Some explanation for why they're frail, maybe? Do they serve as natural dumps for demonic ooze building up underground, kept alive only by consistent application of divine sorcery? Are they perhaps dissatisfied with this state of affairs and tempted to go out into the world to find a cure for it?

That does bring up another point, which is that these races have a slightly "happily ever after" feel to them where they live in their god-forest without a care in the world, two great super-races of non-humans that do not share your feeble human concerns. Introducing notable problems and issues they may experience is also a good source of character hooks.

As far as I remember your advice has always been good. Anyhow here's the slightly reworked part, to see if i'm going in the good direction. Bolded are the new parts

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Elfs & Dryads
The appearance of the elfs starts with the tale of a lesser goddess. The goddess of nature,life and earth, Gaeia. Whilst gods usually don't meddle with mortal affairs as long as it doesn’t endanger them, Gaeia loved to interact with the world. She did so in subtle ways taking on the appearance of humans, plants or other creatures. She started loving the world for how it once again bloomed with life and how peace once again ruled the land after the war caused by men and demon.

After the war, many areas were left desecrated by the continuous fighting but over time they recovered. All but one area. Those lands were quickly named by the survivors as “The tainted lands”. Desolate lands, with infertile lands, blazingly hot sun and sparse supplies of water made it inhospitable to all but the toughest of life.
While the fighting may have stopped, the war left behind many artifacts. One of these, buried deep beneath the tainted lands, sprung into life and started affecting its surroundings.
The ground started cracking,  spewing forth black ooze which gave life to demon plants. That which touched the ooze was corrupted by it, deformed by it and gained demon-like traits. Unbeknownst to the races, the lands grew more corrupted every year until Gaeia intervened.

Gaeia knew that if this were to continue, that eventually demons would find their way here once again. Sparking the next and final war, in which the races would not emerge victorious given their current state.

As a young goddess, her love for this world made her do what many gods considered as inconceivable. Some pleaded that she should let it go, for the ignorance of the mortals should be punished by their destruction. Gaeia took no heed to their plea’s and used herself to seal away the source of the black goo, returning the fertility back to the lands. At the very heart of the tainted lands, a tree grew. One so big that it towered above the clouds in height and bordered large cities in width. Around it, a lush forest grew. Giving home to many creatures which lost theirs in the war.

With the rebirth of the tainted lands, also 2 new races came to be. The Dryads came first then the elves. Gaeia modeled the dryads after the humans as they were the most common race and interaction between the races would be crucial to prevent a catastrophe like this from happening and she would do everything to stop it.

Dryads
The Dryads are an all humanoid female race with characteristics of plants and trees. While all being different, they are all vibrant in different colors and share traits with plants or trees from around the forest. Each dryad has traits from a tree, so a cherry tree dryad would have lovely pink flowers and would bloom once a year, whilst a birch dryad would have a pale skin to simulate the bark.
They all have unnatural hair, in the form of leaves, or branches twisted in different shapes. At night they also shine light in the color of their core from the crevices in the branches, veins of the leaves or freckles on their skin. Their body has a wood like texture but their movement is unimpeded. They don’t wear regular clothing, made from cloth, silk or other materials. A dryad’s clothing is all natural made from leaves, branches and other plants which grows on them. Their clothing is essentially a part of them, but they can shed it without any pain and reattach leaves or branches which will then reform in a certain shape according to the dryads fashion taste.

Their eye color is the same as their core color and since cores can have any color, then so can the eyes.

They have no internal organs, except a core similar to a heart. The core gives off a bright light and is the source of the light which shows at the through their skin. If you destroy the core, you will kill the dryad. The core can also be placed into regular trees which trunk can hold the entire core , in this case the tree will become animate and gain a degree of sentience. Depending on the strenght of the core, a tree can become the dryad it was before again or a simple tree golem.

Dryads are born in pods from the great tree. The times they open at are random, but depending on which time of the day they open. The personality of the dryad is influenced but they are all absolutely loyal to the tree’s command.

At night, the dryad tends to be secretive and mysterious in nature, hard to approach but once you get to know them they are very caring.

At day, the dryad  tends to be  curious, headstrong and bold. Their thirst for adventure and exploring is never ending, as companions they will never let you down.

At dawn, the dryad  tends to be understanding and friendly. They are naturals at conversing with the other races and make for excellent diplomats.

At dusk, the dryad tends to be  intellectually gifted. Preferring puzzles or studies over physical activities. They teach the young dryads or become skilled artisans.

Dryads physically age to an adult state in 14 years and then cease to age until the moment they die. They live up to 700 years. Dryads physiologically mature at the age of 40. Dryads emerge from pods as young teens, both physically and psychologically.

When dryads die, their core shatters and leaves behind a bulb of a tree. This tree then grows to become the tree that the dryad represented. The bulb has enough sustenance to grow until it fully matures, afterwards it will need water and sunlight like a regular one.

Dryads are unusually durable, heal faster and are able to regrow lost limbs at a very slow rate. Regular animals do not attack dryads or the companions the dryad is travelling with unless provoked. Their direct connection with Gaeia grants dryads journeyman nature magic.

However dryads are more prone to fire damage and regular healing magic has no effect on them due to their unique physique.

Elves
The elves came second. Naturally the emergence of a new lush environment attracted many which sought to rebuild their lives. Some of the people that ventured out into the ‘Tainted lands’ were surprised to find that they weren’t as desolate as they taught them to be. In the forest they met the dryads. Fascinated by the magical forest and the power of Gaeia, they relinquished themselves partially of their humanity to live with the dryads and follow the teachings of Gaeia.
They did so by drinking the nectar of the great tree. The nectar caused a great degree of nausea and unconsciousness. But during their coma, these people underwent a metamorphosis. Where they gained increased lifespans, attunement with the nature and pointy ears resembling pointy leaves.
The other purpose of the nectar is to connect them to the tree. The tree knows everything that it’s inhabitants know, but they are unaware of this fact. So the tree subtly subverts their idea’s towards it’s own greater goal of preserving the integrity of the forest.

Every newborn elf, gets to drink this nectar as a part of elf tradition. Denying this tradition would put great shame on the parents, and cast them towards the bottom of the hierarchy. As the children would be considered half-elfs, and retain more human traits than normal during their growing up years. The children would be under constant beratement and subjected to racial slurs. Until they finally drink the nectar and become whole according to the pure elfs.

The elves are an all humanoid race, where males and females are both common. They have exceptionally long life spans, pointy ears, natural beauty and attunement with nature. Half-elfs are nearly the same, except that they lack the connection with the tree and thus don’t have access to the same level of nature,light and water magic.

Elves are born like humans. They live up to 600 years. They reach physical maturity at  21 years and retain it until they are 200 years old. Then they physically age at a rate of 1 year for every 10 human years. They reach physiological maturity at the age of 60.

Elves are highly agile, smart and charming. They are very skilled in the use of ranged weaponry  have a good grasp of nature,light or water magic. They all also have good knowledge of wilderness survival and herbalism besides their own area of expertise they practice.

However elves are not very strong, nor enduring and need to heal longer than other races.

[Dermonster]

Huh. I just realized ExKirby hasn't been on since 2014. So nobody can change the thread title.

Drat, my plot to grab post 10k is foiled.

[AoshimaMichio]

What do people generally like to know when picking races? Which aspects of their cultures should be defined? I got a few races, where I describe their origins and looks a bit but nothing clear regarding their culture.

For normal species with humanlike biology, the most important part is cultural norms, I think. Characters come from some culture and that culture has shaped their mind, it is basis to deviate from. What is accepted and what not, what is below their grace and what not. Otherwise it is just humans with slightly different ears (usually). Nothing interesting there.

For those with different biology the biology itself becomes more of importance like HB said. How the biology affects their culture and worldview?

Though I probably just pick what looks coolest.

[H4zardZ1]

Alright then, i want to try a mechanic here(wizards indeed). If you are interested, please say an amount of Circle 1 spells, Circle 2 spells, Circle 3 Spells and Circle 4 spells. The sum of all chosen amount of all circles must be 5. For example: 3 Circle 1 spels, no Circle 2 spells, 2 Circle 3 spells and no Circle 4 spells.

The circle affects cooldown(renders you unable to cast(including spells other that the cast spell!) for a certain amount of time), type and power of the spell.

Two circle two spells, one circle 3, one circle 4, one circle 5

That right?

Hmm... okay then.

Need more players to test.

[10ebbor10]

Huh. I just realized ExKirby hasn't been on since 2014. So nobody can change the thread title.

Drat, my plot to grab post 10k is foiled.

There's one amphibian who can.

[Harry Baldman]

As far as I remember your advice has always been good. Anyhow here's the slightly reworked part, to see if i'm going in the good direction. Bolded are the new parts

If the presence of the tree's influence is undetectable, why would a prospective elf refuse the nectar of the gods? Is it only directly undetectable (the elven collective nevertheless gives off a somewhat creepy impression of singlemindedness, for instance, in the vein of 'oh, we don't need leaders, the will of the people is known to all' or 'you crazy kids and your tantrums, the nectar ceremony will straighten you right out, you should have seen me in my growing years')? Is there perhaps a certain risk of mortality (given that it does seem to mess you up to make you an elf) that some are unwilling to inflict upon their sweet little children? You might also want to give more incentive to pick a half-elf, such as reduced frailty and so forth.

Anyway, that's a good direction to go into. And as AM said, you should probably give more ideas about culture, or at least a description of what living on the Great Tree (I imagine something like a treetop city with several miles of verticality, but the details are eluding me) is like.

[Mr.Zero]

As far as I remember your advice has always been good. Anyhow here's the slightly reworked part, to see if i'm going in the good direction. Bolded are the new parts

If the presence of the tree's influence is undetectable, why would a prospective elf refuse the nectar of the gods? Is it only directly undetectable (the elven collective nevertheless gives off a somewhat creepy impression of singlemindedness, for instance, in the vein of 'oh, we don't need leaders, the will of the people is known to all' or 'you crazy kids and your tantrums, the nectar ceremony will straighten you right out, you should have seen me in my growing years')? Is there perhaps a certain risk of mortality (given that it does seem to mess you up to make you an elf) that some are unwilling to inflict upon their sweet little children? You might also want to give more incentive to pick a half-elf, such as reduced frailty and so forth.

Anyway, that's a good direction to go into. And as AM said, you should probably give more ideas about culture, or at least a description of what living on the Great Tree (I imagine something like a treetop city with several miles of verticality, but the details are eluding me) is like.

Elf children born of elf parents would get it automatically, because of the said influence. But half pairings like Human x elf, elf x beastfolk(Some races, not all) or elf x orc, would produce half-offspring. The elf would suggest to drink, while the other would perhaps deny it for whatever reason. It's not supposed to be a common case, but it is present. They want more people to join the 'community', so they aren't picky if anyone from outside wants to join. Not all races would get the ear thing and frailty thing though, orcs for example would remain mostly the same. Because they are of a different genus altogether and magic works different on them when it comes to transformational things.

[Andres]

I see some problems with elves and half-elves.

First, why would elves want to go adventuring? As far as I can tell there's no reason for them to do so. Maybe have some spark of their humanity remain and in some elves this translates into subconsciously wanting some kind of freedom from the mind-control tree, leading them to leave the forest for a time to satisfy their wanderlust.
Second, why don't half-elves just drink from the god-damn nectar? It gives them better magic with no downsides.
Third, why are they inherently good at archery? It's completely understandable if it was a cultural thing and they grew up learning it, but being born with that ability makes no sense.
Fourth, why wouldn't parents give their babies the cool-aid? There's no reason for them not to and their culture should be enough to make it a normal act, something that's as natural of an act as having dinner.
Fifth, elves and humans being able to interbreed makes sense since they're practically the same species, but orcs are presumably different species altogether, right? Even the life magic that should normally make such a pairing possible doesn't really work since you said magic works differently on them.

[Mr.Zero]

I see some problems with elves and half-elves.

First, why would elves want to go adventuring? As far as I can tell there's no reason for them to do so. Maybe have some spark of their humanity remain and in some elves this translates into subconsciously wanting some kind of freedom from the mind-control tree, leading them to leave the forest for a time to satisfy their wanderlust.
Second, why don't half-elves just drink from the god-damn nectar? It gives them better magic with no downsides.
Third, why are they inherently good at archery? It's completely understandable if it was a cultural thing and they grew up learning it, but being born with that ability makes no sense.
Fourth, why wouldn't parents give their babies the cool-aid? There's no reason for them not to and their culture should be enough to make it a normal act, something that's as natural of an act as having dinner.
Fifth, elves and humans being able to interbreed makes sense since they're practically the same species, but orcs are presumably different species altogether, right? Even the life magic that should normally make such a pairing possible doesn't really work since you said magic works differently on them.

TGT= The Great Tree

Take notice that I did say that it was still a heavy WIP, so there are loose ends everywhere.

• The reason for their wanderlust is that the danger doesn't exist only beneath the tree and TGT knows this. Her goal was and is to prevent the corruption from taking root again, what she did in the plains was purely because of the artifact. It was a temporary band-aid, so to speak. So, if her goal is to stop the corruption, she cannot do this only from within the forest where she resides. TGT has to send out dryads and elves to scour the world under a pretense that they are gathering knowledge to perfect their crafts. Subconsciously it's to destroy corruption. As a bonus, she attempts to recruit people in her community.
• Just to remind half-elfs are a rarity. Not all elfs live in the forest, interspecies couples can live outside the forest. Elves living outside the forest aren't under as strong of a influence as they would be near or in the forest. However, they occasionally do make a pilgrimage to the forest. To continue, the other parent maybe wouldn't consider it to be a great idea to make a journey of a couple thousand miles so that his kid could drink some nectar. It could be an "If he's old enough, he'll make the decision." case.
• It's exactly that? A cultural thing? You won't be playing one of the first elves, which indeed didn't all know archery. They learn to survive in the forest, as a part of that they practice archery amongst other things. If I mentioned somewhere that they are born with it, then my bad, I'll fix it when I find it.
• They do, all elf couples give them the juice. Elf couples living outside the forest, that is the 'source' of half-elf offspring. Since they aren't under a strong influence, they deem it important but not devastating if they don't do it and there's the other parent which has an opinion as well.
• I overspoke there, yeah. Orc x elf is strictly impossible. But human x orc, could happen but that's a different story.

[NJW2000]

Need more players to test.

Reposting because it got buried.

[Mr.Zero]

Hello guys, back again. This time with a more mechanics related question. It's regarding the use of classes and I would like to have your opinions about them.

I'm a person which likes to have options when it comes to character job progression, some probably share the same opinion. It gives you the ability to mold your character as you see fit without limitations. In a fantasy rtd, If I want to use bows, magic and axes. I get to use all three of them and if I want to expand beyond that, I can choose to do so. So having classes in that regard, would limit my options. While giving options is a good thing, it also increases the complexity drastically and decreases the uniqueness that I can put into it by introducing uniquenesses to some classes.

But from what I noticed, is that people like to optimize or streamline their characters to a specific branch of game play anyway. Ranged weapons users tend to stick to using ranged weapons, though they sometimes make use of a sidearm or magic to fix some of their shortcomings. Melee stick to melee and so on. So by giving classes, it allows me to limit the complexity of character progression while at the same time allowing me to create passive skills, or unique skills to differentiate the classes and define clear strengths and weaknesses.
However this dangerously plays into a mmo concept of DPS,Tank, support. Where a party of players would try to balance out their group instead of focusing on creating their fun and unique character or risking in gimping their group.

I figured I could use either of these systems, if I'd go for classes.

Linear job progression
Your classical mmo progression. Squire -> Knight -> Protector. Clearcut and simple, provides very defined roles with little surprises. Some like this for it's simplicity allowing you to focus on other things and other detest it exactly for this simplicity.

Branching Job progression
A less common system for mmo's, but it introduces variety in mixed classes. Often these classes sacrifice the specialization for variety, so a pure class would be stronger in a specific thing as opposed to having more options. For example a squire progression with dark & holy mixed in.

Base class |

1st progression |

2nd progression |

3rd progression |

		Paladin ->	Hero
Squire ->	Knight ->	Protector ->	Guardian
		Black Knight ->	Overlord

Specialization progression
Same as previously a lesser common system, but this one introduces again more variety. You basically choose an X amount of specializations (In my case I would go for 3, with the chance to earn a 4rth.) and depending on your combination you'd get an class name assigned to yourself.
So Nature + Ranger + Healing, would grant you a druid class. Nature + Ranged + Melee would give you the ranger. Elemental + Melee + Acrobatics would give you a spelldancer class. You get the idea.
The major difference is that there is strictly no stronger progression. There is no pure build. Every combination leads to a unique class which it's ups and downs.

On another note, if classes are present, what do you guys think about race unique classes. Classes which can only be chosen by a certain race and no other. Do you guys think that these are totally unnecessary or warranted if there are some unique characteristics like racial physiology or cultural traits which enable the race to have this class? Or should there be an alternative accessible for all races albeit weaker compared the unique class?

So what are your opinions on these? And which ones do you like to see, when looking for an rtd?

[NJW2000]

I think the last progression option is groovier, dunno how easily it could be done.

Not something I have much experience with, haven't played as many games with class progression.

[Mr.Zero]

I think the last progression option is groovier, dunno how easily it could be done.

Not something I have much experience with, haven't played as many games with class progression.

You basically forgo combat skills, which are often seen like novice sword user, or gun user etc. for set skills or passives. As an example for the ranger. Every specialization has a defining weapon. Keep in mind that this is how I think about this, so it's open to interpretation. I'll pick the example druid class.

Nature = Staves
Healing = Scepters, Foci, talismans
ranged = Ranged non-gun weapons.

So you get weapon proficiency in those 3 weapon classes. The druid class gives you an unique passive tailored to the 3 specializations and the feel of the class. The passive would be something like increased healing while nearby to plants, or using nature magic automatically heals nearby allies, or the ability to create dryad summons, I don't know. Working on the fly with this one, but you get the idea.

In those specializations you'd get skillpoints which you can use to further specialize yourself into the tree. So if you opt for bestial companions you can spec into that, or if you want greater healing, you can spec into that, etc.