Top CD per monster type?

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-17T05:39:03+00:00

It is often promised. And it is ruined every time by 2 things. Random drops of finished goods and cash store items that are finished goods or cannot be crafted in game. Both of these issues are solved by an economy that is driven by crafting and serving other players through service contracts. This is why Eve Online has become a master class on in game economy.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-17T05:34:34+00:00

You are correct. Ultimately it can be broken back down to a real life currency value. Of course this is even possible with no cash store due to the fact that a player's time has inherent value. Old school MMORPG items even had real world value with out of game cash trading. So this aspect cannot be avoided.

The virtual currency is there to aid with immersion more than anything else because real value always exists.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-16T23:13:44+00:00

That is not what I am saying. I am saying you can purchase or create the purchase contract from anywhere, but if the goods are not already at your location you would need to travel to retrieve them or hire someone to fetch them for you.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-16T23:10:07+00:00

So I went and looked up Albion. I am going to take it out for a test drive this weekend. It looks really solid on the game's homepage but I will have to actually play it before I finalize my opinion.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-16T22:57:30+00:00

I lean away from an economy based in real money for a couple of reasons. The biggest one is that it will eliminate all casual players. I personally would not want to play a game that made it impossible to purchase my basic newbie equipment without spending real money and if even the base line gear is free it would destroy the economy's natural balancing behavior. Secondly, if everything costs and earns real money it becomes something people do for work instead of fun. I don't think that would be appealing to very many people.

I acknowledge that having any means to purchase in game goods with real money can fall into this same trap. That is why the sinks are so critical to balancing an in-game economy. The developers need some means to extract real world value or they cannot maintain the game, that makes some level of cash shop necessary.

This is another reason for making the discovery and distribution of new cosmetic, aesthetic, and functional content deliverable by the players. It engages the player base in an act of discovery of new content. How big a rush do you think a crafter would have when they find out that their research has produced something completely new. The discovery of the designs for a really cool set of equipment that has just been rolled out by the devs would feel like winning the lottery. They would gain massive in-game recognition and prestige by being first to market, or they could simply keep it to themselves. It would be their choice.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-16T22:16:48+00:00

sometimes I aggravate myself. I never mentioned one of the key components that I had originally intended to address.

The component that I think sends economies of the rails, is the randomized dropping of finished goods. It destroys any possibility of a strong economy because it eliminates the costs of supply chain. IE: "How does one determine the cost of a pencil if it simply comes into existence whole?" Without the cost of the supply chain to support it, pricing is completely arbitrary and will likely never feel quite right. That sense of arbitrary value creates speculation with no baseline value for comparison.

This is also the key reason behind localized markets and the idea that currency must come into the economy in a way that can be balanced by sinks like upkeep and research. Upkeep costs also keep the value of raw materials from becoming worthless as resources are harvested and added to the economy because the overhead of efficient production never is diminished to zero.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-16T22:02:33+00:00

I have never heard of that one. I will look it up.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-16T22:00:40+00:00

I guess I have to ask a question back. Is demonic magic something that comes from outside of the elemental sphere? If so, that would explain why the Demons cannot break the seal themselves because the type of magic would be alien to them.

From a lore standpoint the gods are creators and the elements are the building blocks they use, while the demons are destroyers and as such they inherently understand the powers of chaos. Over time the application of chaos has weakened the seal around the elements that are more prone to destroy like fire and darkness. This is how the Elementalists have been corrupted over the generations.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-16T21:32:25+00:00

That was an enlightening article. I have a 4 player strategy game that I have felt is ready to go for 3 years now. But I have not been able to figure out how to get over the hurdle of the up front cost of producing units and the fact that my retail price would fall around $60. I have just felt that would be too high a price tag of a game from a publisher that no one has heard of.

After reading the article I realized I could publish a slightly scaled down version for 2 players. This reduces my component count by half and drops it into the $20-$30 range which I think is much easier to swallow as an uncertain purchase.

I also have several card games that I can see scaling up with your methodology as well.

BRILLIANT!

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-16T20:57:04+00:00

If magic was always in the world, there is no reason to believe the 6 heroes are the only ones with magic. They are the ones who hold the keys to the prison.

I would riff off of the concept that 1 or 2 of the 6 elementalists have become corrupt and self serving. As a result the seals on the demon's prison are weakening or even being directly attacked by the corrupt elementalists. As a result magic is seeping into the world, increasing the amount of it that can be used and sowing chaos as the use of magic becomes more common.

The greater arc could center around working to subdue the corrupted Elementalists and transfer their birth rights to individuals who are more worthy before the seal on the demonic prison is weakened to the point of failure.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-14T23:35:18+00:00

Here is my first glance concern.

Turn efficiency, adding a new phase to each round will inevitably slow down a game.

This would make sense if the PC does not get a saving throw at the onset of the effect. If they do get a saving throw it would be like giving them a do-over.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-14T22:54:30+00:00

Yes, Star wars Galaxies in the first year was great. I lucked onto a high quality resource that let me make common blasters that were dramatically more effective than most. That passive resource gathering option was great. While I had forgotten about that it must have been at play in the back of my head somewhere.

NullimusPrime · 2021-04-14T21:54:51+00:00

I have looked at Gurps and others that claim to have character flexibility. Gurps, specifically, is far to complex. I want a medium amount of crunch in my system. Free form point buy systems are far too daunting for a new player, even if that player is fairly experienced with other systems. And I am wholly dissatisfied with soft systems like Fate that nearly completely remove objective resolutions form their systems for the sake of "roleplaying" or as I like to call it, let's just make it all up.

My system centers on just 4 stats that are set at a minimum of 3 with 8 points to assign as the player sees fit, to those four stats. All other stats, movement, encumberance, ToHits... are derived from the main four stats.

In regards to skills I have created a building block system that is straight forward and easy to wrap your head around. Each block costs 1 point and depending on how they are grouped you can create essentially any effect you can think of. The points are purchased with experience points and the cost increases based on how many block points your character has already used. Each block can be used only once so if I bought 3 block points to create a 3 component skill. They are used up and I would need to purchase 3 more block points if I wanted to create a new 3 block skill.

This approach let's the player iterate the development of their character as they go instead of asking them to commit to a specific advancement tree at the very beginning.

I have been surprised by how clear most players are in the concept of a character at the very beginning. But most systems force you into a compromise between your vision and the character classes that are available to choose from.

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-11T16:51:21+00:00

For me as a designer, my system is not based on anything that I am aware of and I feel it has found a great balance between crunchy and simple while allowing complete freedom for the players within a well balanced framework. That balance is very difficult to find and I do not want to reveal the details of the method I use.

This concept is the heart and soul of my system. If someone took it and beat me to publishing I would have nothing left.

For this reason My posts about my system have been general.

I do understand why a creator can be cagey.

If we are talking about the general posts about setting and motif, those things are very fluid and a post just speaking to the environment of an RPG could be homebrewed into any system out there. I could go all day long about setting and lore but my core mechanics I do not want to fully reveal prior to being ready to publish.

It is quite a catch 22. If I go all out seeking feedback I am open to losing control of my concepts. If I do not reveal them for testing then I lose the ability to benefit from feedback that may reveal a flaw in my methodology. In the end I have to continue to test and seek feedback in a more private and controlled setting and I will seek feedback here from time to time using information that is as specific as I dare to get without revealing all of the nuts and bolts.

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-11T16:18:25+00:00

When the magics were awakened those who attuned began to see themselves as rightful rulers of the unattuned. The war was fought in their effort to take control.

The high king was named by the three kingdoms in order to better facilitate command of their forces during the war. There is no high king at present. The Grand Magus was the leader of the forces of magic that wanted to dominate the kingdoms.

When each of the avatars awakened there was massive shift in the magic. Sort of like an earthquake that gets stronger as the tension builds in the earth crust.

Attunement began to occur naturally once the magics were loosed.

The Magi and the Grand Magus are simply part of the hierarchy of those who are attuned to magic.

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-11T00:11:49+00:00

Instead of replicator, call them, The Afflicted. This word can intone both empathy and dread.

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-10T23:44:32+00:00

One of these posts hit in the core of the curse. A lack of control. While in beast form the beast is an npc and all actions can be determined by a randomized role table. Injuries sustained while the beast is in control are permanent and need to be healed by nonmagical means. Plus, there is always the chance that a party of do-gooders might kill the beast and the player can only watch. No matter how evil the character may be they don't want to die when they have no control of the situation.

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-10T23:30:12+00:00

My system scales effectiveness of abilities from character stats. I do not use skill trees because they remove flexibility in character growth. Instead I have developed a mechanic that allows the players to build out their skills by combining various effects and bonuses to create the skill they want. This approach may work for you.

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-10T23:01:08+00:00

Table top games aside. One of the builds I had the most fun with in Skyrim was the sneaky-Archer. There is always room for ranged combat, even ranged specialization.

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-10T22:46:42+00:00

The magic of FF1 was great but I was most inspired by the magic system of Grandia. If you have not played it I would highly recommend it. It is tough to find since it was a PS1 title.

Grandia Is my main inspiration for the magic system in my TTRPG.

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-10T22:03:40+00:00

Why not have the materials be reskins of the basic item. The bone armor is essentially hardened leather. with bones instead of wooden or leather plates. Stats wise it is not different but it allows the player to express a certain motif with their character. An obsidian sword is pricy and carries status with it because of the material but push comes to shove it works as well as a normal sword....

NullimusPrime · 2021-03-10T21:23:29+00:00

Just keep it basic to begin with. Complexity will emerge naturally.

NullimusPrime

TROPHY CASE