I got about 25 races in my RPG so far. I may even make this into an RTS once I get my 3D model program working!! Please tell me your suggestions and whatnot! I want to make this game as fun and diverse as it can be. I want the players to be able to also customize their character with a GREAT variety of options to choose from. Criticism will be taken as well.
What races do YOU suggest should be in my game?
Wed, 05/05/2004 - 16:10
Wed, 05/05/2004 - 16:42
#1
What races do YOU suggest should be in my game?
Well, here's a concern.
Variety can be a good thing, but you might paralyze new players there are too many choices, especially if the races aren't clearly distinguishable. Also, if you're inventing new races and not using accepted stereotypical races, it can be hard to come up with a rich and in-depth history for every one of them that allows your players to get how these races might work. If you don't flesh out your races, you run the risk of making a very generic experience, where it feels like the stats are all that distinguishes one race from the next and the names and pictures have been pasted on top of the stats, not that the stats are a result of the unique abilities, characteristics, lifestyle choices, and cultural history of each race.
There's a good discussion of decision making matrices here, along with some other theories in choice-making (look for zaiga's posts). I'm worried that you're presenting your players with a very wide decision tree, but it won't be deep enough to allow interesting choices.
Wed, 05/05/2004 - 17:51
#4
What races do YOU suggest should be in my game?
Have I missed something? I don't even know what kind of game this is supposed to be. Is it a dungeon crawler, or an RPG? Real time strategy? Is this a computer game? As far as what races you want, we don't even know what's there. It's hard to say anything about a game when all we know is that you have 25 races and the GM is limited in power. I'd like to help out but so far the details are very slim.
I agree that without a good backstory, your races will seem bland, and so the overall feel of the game will be bland as well. You also have to make sure every race is equal. Most people tend to make elves the ultimate race, and leaves everyone wondering if there's a reason to pick anything else.
Anyways, some details on the game would be good. Such as what kind of game is it exactly? Are miniatures involved? Does it have a set board or dungeon pieces? How many people play? Is it just going to be an RPG book? How do you propose on making it a real time strategy game? What makes a character? What kind of audience is it targeting? If you've already got a topic that says any of this stuff, just point me that way. It's wholly possible that I just missed it.
Wed, 05/05/2004 - 20:37
#6
What races do YOU suggest should be in my game?
Okay. I would suggest character sheets, since creating a character with so many different options using cards would be a bit cumbersome.
If there's a Player vs Player option, how would this tile dungeon work? I'd say you'd need a board, unless I'm understanding it wrong.
I think it's cool that you guys are making a crawler. The genre is really lacking in games right now, especially in the US.
Thu, 05/06/2004 - 10:03
#8
Re: What races not to have..
Jepson wrote:
I have personally never heard of any RPG where the use of human/animal mutants have been a sucsess.
The idea of playing a cat-man or a wolf-man is much more appealing than the result. (I have tried both myself) My gaming group has taken out these options of all games we play after endless hours of discussion on any eventual pro:s.
Just my experience but hey who am i to have any saing in what works for your target group.
REgards
Jepson
Wow, you've obviously never heard of the furry movement. It's got quite a following, although I think some of it's followers definitely take it to a weird extreme.
-Darke
Thu, 05/06/2004 - 10:10
#9
Re: What races not to have..
Jepson wrote:
I have personally never heard of any RPG where the use of human/animal mutants have been a sucsess.
A few CRPGs, so technically really little more than dungeon crawls but I believe in the same spirit as these guys' game, have done the half human/half animal successfully. Daggerfall and Morrowind come to mind right away.
darke wrote:
It's got quite a following, although I think some of it's followers definitely take it to a weird extreme.
Careful man, this forum is Google-searched. Say "furry" three times and they'll be coming out of the walls to defend their lifestyle choice to the netdeath. They might already be on their way. I've seen it before. Furry invasion is a scary thing.
They always know when someone is talking about them.
Since it seems that this is going to be a more RPG-oriented game, I don't think 25 races is a lot as players should only have to make that decision once, and won't really have to worry about what the other players chose (depending on how the game is played of course, if it requires extreme co-operation or a lot of competition that could become a factor). However, I DO think that adding to many extra levels of choice (skills, classes, feats, talents, disadvantages, right-left-handedness, favorite color, hamburger-chain-preference) could make this into a very complex and deep RPG, and while that is a rewarding thing to play from my experience most roleplayers of that level are already fairly engrossed in a specific game and aren't willing to spend a whole bunch of money on a new game when there are so many shiny supplements for the old, familiar game out there. I think the most marketable area right now would be beginner roleplaying (at a higher level than the boxed "adventure games" which I found positively insulting to the reader's intelligence at points...) as the only product of this level I have seen is "The Beginner's Guide to Roleplaying" which I have never ever seen anywhere but on Amazon. Seems like the board would either have to be vary large, or made of geomorph tiles (an interesting idea: ave tiles of three squares each in a 3 tile x 3 tile square be the "visible" area, and new tiles are added to one side (and removed from the other side) when the players move that direction. This way, large dungeons could be made with as few as maybe 18-27 tiles since only 9 are used at once... Kind of a (edit: ahem) Labyrinth type thing, for those who have played that game.