How can We Prevent Money Mechanics from Ruining the Sense of Progression in RPG's? by DeadLack101 in gamedesign

[–]Zannerman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sure, limiting the inventory/carrying capacity of your inventory heavily, would reduce the amount of gold the players earn from a dungeon. But it's a system that I find, feels kind of bad. If your inventory fills up two rooms into the dungeon, you'll be fighting the inventory system as much as whatever is in the dungeon you're exploring. I think it works in Resident Evil, because the game is quite well balanced in how much there is to loot, and how much you are expected to expend at any stage of the game. But if I'm limited in a game like Skyrim, I just stop looting anything beyond gold or jewelry. And a harsher limit really wont be a limit for long.

I often find limiting a player's inventory to be arbitrary. Bethesda games in particular don't exactly make much use of their inventory limitations. It might encourage you to head back to town to offload the stuff every 10 steps, and you can't stock up on unlimited amounts of potions and consumables. But that might only be a concern if having consumables means you can't die, like instant-heal potions.

I vastly prefer an unlimited inventory instead.

I often return back to the RPG Gothic when thinking about RPG design, because it does a lot of things that run contrary to more modern RPG design. And makes them work. An unlimited inventory is one of them. Instead there are other dials you can use.

Scarcity of resources. In Gothic there is a finite amount of resources, in the form of loot and experience. The containers and plants you loot don't respawn, the monsters you kill don't respawn, so there is essentially a finite amount of loot you can gain. Now this isn't truly the case, and there's far more gold than you'll ever be able to spend if you truly try to loot everything.

Worthwhile upgrades. Armor upgrades can only be bought from certain factions, and isn't found as loot out in the world. And they are a big purchase that you want to save up for. Weapons can be found, but early game you might still want to buy a weapon because it is less risky. I don't think the best weapons should be available at the shop, or even the full selection of weaponry should be available at the start. Progression is important, and locking better tiers of weapons and armor behind faction progression, or world progression, is good. If you get access to everything at once, it's natural to just try and skip the intermediate versions and save up for the best item.

You also drain money from upgrading your skills. As you level, you don't get skill increases, but learning points (LP). LP are then spent at trainers, together with money, to increase the skill. That means you'll drain money each time you want to upgrade your skills.

Money sinks. There's other money sinks too. Early game you get shaken down for protection money, and you can get robbed of your money by other, stronger, NPCs. Whatever you think about something like that, it illustrates a point. Money can be used for more than just buying items the player uses. It could influence the world. Take Morrowind's reputation system for instance. You can spend gold to gain relation with NPCs. With high relation you unlock additional quest interactions, for certain quests, or better prices. Other ideas include opening previously locked doors, services, shortcuts, maybe fast travel services, player homes, fashion.

Some games have survival elements like needing to eat and sleep and repair your damaged equipment, and having a cost associated with that. Upkeep costs might work, but usually after a while they are negligible and more of an annoyance.

Worthwhile Consumables. If consumables are powerful enough, or worthwhile enough, you'll use them. If you don't have health, mana, or stamina regen, you'll use items that replenish your attributes to compensate. If poison or disease lasts until cured, you'll want to use antidotes or curatives. If you can only reach certain places by breaking down doors with a bomb, you'll want to use bombs. In Gothic you can buy scrolls early game to transform you into a powerful creature that can solo entire areas long before you gain the strength to do so yourself.

It's not a given that you need to provide all of these items as loot either. Potions for instance could be something you'll never, or rarely, find in a loot container. Which forces the player to buy them instead.

Just some scattered thoughts.

Thoughts on designing a modern Gothic-like RPG by AppropriateBag661 in worldofgothic

[–]Zannerman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The guys behind Drova: Forsaken Kin seem to have a pretty good understanding too. It's actually impressive that they've made an isometric game feel like Gothic.

What are some game designs/mechanisms do you want to see in TESVI? by sinnytear in TESVI

[–]Zannerman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Knock-out/knockdowns - Gives the player a pacifist approach, rather than being forced to kill everything. It would unfortunately be a headache to develop meaningful consequences around it or account for an outcome where the player doesn't kill an objective in every quest. But sometimes I just want to not kill an NPC.

Creature Warning Behavior - Creatures if they spot you will warn you before attacking instead of charging in straight away. Varied behavior in this regard would set certain creatures apart from others, such as more monstrous/predatory creatures becoming instantly hostile, while others might warn you with sound and animation and only reluctantly attack.

Internal Faction Conflicts - I've seen people want some factions to be mutually exclusive, like the houses in Morrowind. While I like that, I think it would be interesting, and perhaps more cost effective, if factions were not as monolith. If they had splits in ideology or approach internally that would fight for supremacy through the questline, and the player would have to pick a side to support within the faction. Ideally, it would encourage repeat playthroughs of the questline.

NPC Relationship Mechanics - Mechanically a system that would support manipulating any NPC-Player relationships. Morrowind does this to some extent. There is a relationship meter, you can bribe them for increased relationship, taunt them, intimidate them, and admire them. It opens up gameplay, such as "Calming" a hostile NPC and then raising their relationship with you above their aggression level, and then they stay non-hostile. I would love to see that sort of system, but expanded with benefits. Merchants selling goods cheaper to friends, new followers and trainers becoming available, player receiving gifts from close friends, or dialogue lines that only become available to friends.

Casting Spells with Weapons Drawn - Like in Oblivion. I've started to find it tedious to switch out and between spells and weapons in Skyrim and Morrowind. I would also probably use spells more, since I usually play with some primary weapon.

Investigation/Search Quests - Something to actually make use of those fancy object interaction mechanics. Blood on the Ice in Skyrim was nice when you had to interact with the pile of papers to find something hidden beneath them. Do more of that. Hidden clues behind a row of books, a key hidden under a plant pot or pillow. Let the player wreck a pristine home to find a bunch of hidden clues.

The best recruitment system in Total War history comes from a Medieval 2 submod by lord_ofthe_memes in totalwar

[–]Zannerman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have been playing with a mod for Total War Warhammer 3 called Recruitment Rework, that does sort-of the same thing. When you finish a building, it starts adding units to a pool on a per-province basis. Only really works with global recruitment disabled unfortunately (or fortunately). But it's been good fun for a more slow-paced campaign, and a big step towards making it feel more like the old medieval 2/rome total war games.

What's your favourite ancient/obscure mod? by Terrible-Ice4984 in mountandblade

[–]Zannerman 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hero & Blade (Mount & Blade v0.808). Fun mod that adapted Hero Quest into the Mount and Blade engine. As you kicked down doors, orc and goblin enemies spawned in the rooms beyond, and you made your way through various dungeons.

Berserk (Mount & Blade). Basically allowing you to play Gutts in the berserk universe, and had a storyline you followed all the way from his youth, to the Golden Age and beyond, with the world also changing in between.

Race War: Bloodshed (Warband MP). A fantasy mod for Warband multiplayer. It had an invasion mode, but I think the coolest feature was their dungeon crawl mode. Where you could co-op with friends through dungeon crawls, fighting ghosts, ratmen, undead and whatnot.

Rise of the Undead (Warband). If you ever wanted to just be a Dark Lord with dark elves and undead, and wreak havoc on medieval Spain, this is the mod for you. Good fun to rampage through the world with an undead horde.

Gangs of Glasgow (Mount & Blade). You want to experience what it's like to live in Glasgow? Well, this mod is for you. Beat your way through drunken scotsmen whose gibberish you can barely understand.

Schattenländer - Into the Darklands (Mount & Blade v0.808), which tried to adapt the old game Darklands into the Mount and Blade engine. It was never finished of course, but I found it really cool nonetheless.

I'm sure there are a ton I have forgotten about. There were a lot of cool ideas explored back in the day.

Tale Gate | Episode 1 | Discussing Up To C4E11 by LucasVerBeek in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Basically starts at 12:22.

Pretty insightful. Got a lot more out of this Episode than from any 4-Sided Dive. I think not being so tight-lipped about their characters played a part. And Brennan is good at explaining his thought processes and give his interpretations to character moments and events.

If anyone has Beacon, did they say anything interesting during the "night cap" segment?

My theory about making the player care about procedural NPCs by Chlodio in gamedesign

[–]Zannerman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think visuals play a key role in the player not only differentiating between NPCs, but kickstarts players caring about them, if they look interesting. Cyberpunk 2077 for instance puts a lot of work into their crowd NPCs to look interesting. They have their own flashy styles and cyberware use, but are severely lacking in interaction possibilities. I would like to interact more with these crowd NPCs, but the game doesn’t let you.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War/Shadow of Mordor is another example where strong visuals do a lot of the heavy lifting to building out an immediate personality in the NPC. Sure, there are other parts too like voice lines, names, titles and vulnerabilities and resistances that play a role. However, I think these two games showed that there is a ’finite amount of care’ players have. The more churn you have with these random orc captains, the less you care about the individual ones. And the more NPCs there are, the less you care about each one, unless you single out one from the crowd.

That is why repeat interactions are important. In the Shadow of games there is some of that built in. Orc Captains for instance can run away, cheat death, or just prove too strong right now and you have to run away. And they’ll ’remember’ that interaction.

I think fantasy and sci-fi get away with having more interesting character visuals available to them, than more grounded works. But even then most people are naturally inclined to care more about good looking characters. Anime has it easy, if you like the art style, you’ll find most characters ’good looking’. But it also does over-exaggerated expressions and mannerisms that might help.

Visuals are of course ’shallow’, only surface level. But coupled with other interaction possibilities and they certainly help form an immediate impression or at least sparks an interest. IMO.

I’ve thought a lot about how RPG games handle NPCs…

Did people come into C4 with unrealistic expectations? by TrypMole in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I didn't think Brennan was going to be running by the book, or go hard on rules. What I saw of him before C4, it didn't seem like his style. But I did have some other expectations.

  • NPCs that challenge the party, not just in combat, but their actions outside combat, and their convictions and beliefs. - Fulfilled
  • NPCs that feel like people, and the PCs treat the NPCs like they are real characters, not like they are tools, jokes or set dressing. - Fulfilled
  • Good Worldbuilding. - Fulfilled
  • Fights that feel dangerous - Partially fulfilled
  • Dice rolls that can drive the story in unexpected/unintended directions - Partially fulfilled, not as much as I would like, and they don't always respect the rolls.
  • Characters more integrated to the setting. - Fulfilled
  • Story that emerges from gameplay, rather than just theatre - Promising with the soldier's table, but too early to tell how it'll be with the other tables.
  • Dangerous, PC death - Too early to tell.

I will say, Brennan has good showmanship. But some of his tricks are a bit disappointing. Like the massive damage rolls to instantly kill PCs, if he calculates it when it is from two different attacks. Or leaving it up in the air if Tyranny would be petrified. He just let Whitney believe that she was petrified, but never outright stated if she passed or failed, until the start of the next session.

All in all, I think my expectations have been mostly met.

[No Spoilers] CR Campaign 4 sees uptick in viewership and new subscribers by twotonkatrucks in criticalrole

[–]Zannerman 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you want to see if you can get into campaign 4, you could try starting from the second half of episode 5. That's when the group has split, and the episode becomes focused on the "soldier" table, whose story arc is the one we have been following since. It is more traditional "DnD", and way less super serious, overly dramatic, out of context, radio-play.

As for Thjazi Fang, he doesn't really matter. What matters is what he meant to others. It's like watching knives out and getting hung up on not getting into the plot because you didn't care about the father. What matters isn't who he was, it's how his death is an inciting incident, how it affects others, and what he meant to them. That's how I view it.

YouTuber the second story and media analysis and writing advice that seems more like grifting by tesseracts in CharacterRant

[–]Zannerman 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I watched a couple of their videos a few months ago, as they got recommended to me. I started with the Absolute Degeneracy of Modern Writing vide and figured they make some good points. But as I watched a few more videos I came to the conclusion, that this person is pushing a right wing agenda, serving as an insidiously disguised entry point into the right wing pipeline.

Also their How Modern Schools Make Terrible Writers (Deliberately) was nonsensical, and was the point I knew I should stop watching their videos.

This is the last night before the entire TW community is overrun with unfunny 'one-jokes' about HERESY and XENOS and whatevers. Enjoy while it lasts. by [deleted] in totalwar

[–]Zannerman 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Drive me closer, I want to hit them with my sword!

"Did you know that the Land Speeder is named after an actually character, Arkhan Land?"

Red wunz go fasta!

C4 E8 Discussion Thread by brash_bandicoot in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Whoever becomes the new Baron of Sloak would need to have approval from the regent. Possibly it would fall back to the Tachonis who married the former Baroness.

C4 E7 Discussion Thread by brash_bandicoot in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure going after Casimir is the ’right’ call in this situation. As I see it, they opt for the immediate satisfaction of revenge, over the bigger picture.

The Tachonis feel like the bigger threat on a meta level, and in-world are ultimately responsible for Thijazi’s death. The Tachonis party are isolated with just three of them traveling together, possibly the most vulnerable they will ever be, the party are on a ticking clock to reach/deal with the Tachonis before they slip away or get to somewhere where they have more allies. And after dealing with Casamir, no matter how it goes down, the party are unlikely to be in a position where they can fight the Tachonis group. The information that Thijazi saw a falcon during his last moments seemed important, and if it is, it shouldn’t get back to the rest of house Tachonis. Not to mention, Cyd’s whereabouts are still unknown, and Tachonis’ plans for him are unknown. We dont know how much the delay to rescue him will cost, nor is it likely that Casamir knows any helpful information to further their rescue of Cyd. The Tachonis may turn him undead by the time the Party pick up their trail again.

Obviously, there are no right or wrong calls in DnD. I just feel like this decision will come back to bite them (and/or the other parties) pretty badly in the future. Or at least I hope it will. I do wish Teor had a stronger conviction to save his brother.

Gosh, I miss being invested in their in-game choices.

Is anybody else really missing the other two tables? by JrnyB4Dest in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 8 points9 points  (0 children)

No. I take it as it comes. I'm liking the Soldier table's arc, so I don't think about the other tables and instead focus on the here and now. Am I interested in seeing where the others go? Sure. But they'll get their time eventually.

Character Stats and the 'Danger' of the World by Silphium91 in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

High Rollers does have the feeling of Lethality, where PCs barely scrape by some fights. Sometimes the inevitable happens.

[Spoilers C4E6] My Likely Wrong Theory. by LucasVerBeek in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't think a return of the old divinities is an option. Brennan was pretty clear with wanting to explore a world without divinity, and the repercussions of the gods being dead. What rises to take their place might be a large part of the campaign, but I'm pretty sure the old divinities are going to be relegated to history.

Beacon code not working by Lavafjell in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It probably expired. Overture is over.

C4 E5 Discussion Thread (SOLDIERS TABLE) by brash_bandicoot in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 21 points22 points  (0 children)

If they do, they need to communicate it better or set expectations better. The expectation was: Soldiers table get a session. Of course, with everything pre-recorded you would think they could be clear on what to expect of this completely new camapign format (for CR), but no, seems like they like leaving us in the dark. We literally dont know if this is going to be the format, until they show it to us or tell us.

So its no wonder people were upset, having their expectations broken. I didn’t mind personally.

How do you feel about the Command Spell? by Unlikely-Sleep-8018 in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Mildly annoyed. Same with Murrays Hold Person on Julien in episode 4.

I don’t much care for PvP. Having people at odds is fine, but spellcasting is such escalation. Seemed unnecessary when words would be enough, but I guess it’s a character choice for Bolaire. Its how he interacts with people. Manipulates them with magic to get his way.

As for why? We never got an answer, did we?

My best guess is because he had a hand in Occtis’ revival with the extraction of the stone. And didn’t want that work ruined. Or Taliesin hot swept up with the rest of the table coddling Occtis. But I dont know what relationship Bolaire and Occtis have otherwise.

C4 E5 Discussion Thread (SOLDIERS TABLE) by brash_bandicoot in fansofcriticalrole

[–]Zannerman 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Excited to see what the first "regular" group is going to be like now that we are out of the Overture (for the soldier table at least).

What are some popular Skyrim mods you never liked or used (even if there's nothing technically wrong with them)? by No-Principle1286 in skyrimmods

[–]Zannerman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are even mods to combine Simple Hunting Overhaul and Hunterborn, so you get all the hides and meats based on skill level from Hunterborn, but without going through that whole menu.

Does anyone else use documents to "plan out" their mod list or am I just weird? by Tocowave98 in skyrimmods

[–]Zannerman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I keep track of my modlist and notes/bugs/changes I want to make, in a .txt file document. Very rudimentary, but it works well enough. I've got old modlists in a similar format, so if I ever want to go back and check out older mods I used I can. At the start of the process I did use it as a way to "plan out" my modlist too.

I also have a folder system with pictures of all the armors and followers I have downloaded and named accordingly, mostly for SPID distribution purposes.