World of Darkness (Wikipedia)
White Wolf (Wiki)
I was reading through the roles of the World of Darkness and it's systems, I got quite interested in writing up an engine, which uses the game mechanics, not all of it, but the general idea.
World of Darkness gives a pretty solid foundation for a game, by the looks of it, both parts; roleplay and action - are both versatile and each of the specific species has various advantages and disadvantages and ways to cope with them and enjoy yourself being who you are.
What I love most of all is the 10 dice system. Every turn out, from battle to other actions have to be determined by the roll of dice, results being successes, failure or even botches, which normally act as a backlash.
Originally the game is turn-based, but can also be turned into a real-time action. Speaking of which, there are two games, which use the system that I know of, Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption and Vampire the Masuqerade: Bloodlines, they use real-time combat and the various abilities make the game rather interesting.
Other than western vampires, there are kindred from the east as well the Kuei-jin, they work differently in terms of vampirism and it's mechanics, but never the less they are vampires. Other than vampires there are also werewolves, the Garou, soldiers of Gaia, mother earth, as well as Mages and others. Each species has unique powers, perks and cons.
The combat system in itself is rather realistic and in my opinion more satisfying that any other I have encountered so far. Mortals feel truly human and supernatural creatures feel their curse(if they have any). As a mortal you have options to become a ghoul etc, even when you are a vampire you have a large choice what kind.
In a roleplay setting, you can strive for power and wealth and territory. While the Game Masters/Storytellers make the world and environments, the players make the world spin.
In BYOND if it were to be applied as an action/roleplay game with Game Masters/Storytellers regulating, it could be rather interesting.
ID:1318677
Jul 9 2013, 1:29 am
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Jul 9 2013, 4:55 am (Edited on Jul 9 2013, 6:28 am)
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If I were to specify I would say that using the rule set of Vampire the Requiem with Storytelling would be more suitable for BYOND, never the less, the depth of the whole system is admirable.
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I always preferred the system used in Garou, Vampire Masquerade and Mage much more than the new system they have.
I always found that the idea of having a wider range of variables giving you a possibility of success or failure seemed to give a more achievement type of feeling from succeeding. |
Not to mention the fact that one point in stats makes a huge difference, instead of having your stats rise to 999 or other numbers, the value of one point in the system can't be denied.
Including the limitations of a race. Speaking of Garou, as far as I remember based on the Apocalypse edition Garou were slightly op, or so they were said to be. Mages on the other hand relatively human, not supernatural in their being. Where as the Kindred of the East seem the most interesting, as in having a wide range of variations and types of vampirism, which all depend on how the kindred decides to live their unlife. |
I loved the concept and ideas behind Garou.
Bringing that into thought, I found that throughout my time playing the games that just like any game you can have OP Garou, vampires, etc... as it all depends on the player behind the character. I played on game where one vampire killed a pack of garou by themselves, another where a single Garou took out an entire city of Vamps by themselves, and another where a Mage killed everyone in the world. Each had a different tactic that they imployed, the vampire just went balls deep kill mode, the garou worked out a tactic of using sunlight, and the mage made some kind of magical blood infecting poision that caused anything that touched the infected blood to die over time. The stat system was very nice because of how small the numbers were, but like you said just gaining 1 new stat point gave such a sense of accomplishment because just that one point made you 10 times stronger in whatever aspect you were going for. |
I think what gives World of Darkness it's true playability is the fact that if the player can think it, than they can create it through the GM's story telling.
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I've never actually played World of Darkness but this is very similar to what I'm trying to do with Alternate Worlds so I thought I'd chime in.
The only problems I foresee at the moment are the fact that I've completely hidden the stats and categorized them based on a range, so you have Weak, Average, High etc. However the fact that stat progression is so slow and players cannot directly see the amount they have is making me concerned that those who are used to having unnecessarily high stat numbers are going to get bored very quickly. To counter this however I have three different types of stats, but I also have skills which players can learn by gaining skill points which are separate from stat points. This is to try and give the players the feeling that their character is progressing, but also to emphasize the fact that if your character has 100+ in strength then he's probably a Titan. I'm also trying to create multiple gameplay elements: building, crafting, social, combat and progression. Now the only problem with this is that it's so much work, I want to give players the freedom to do a wide variety of things. From developing their own civilization of players and NPCs to culling an overpowered Vampire threat using tactics and cunning. All in all it's one hell of a mission, but I'm hoping that it'll pay off when I have a finished product worth bragging about. Anyway, if you do plan on making a World of Darkness game it'll be interesting to see how much we differ considering how similar the themes are. |
Players don't care what their numbers are, they just want to know they are getting stronger, they want to see the progression. Most want to see the numbers because the game itself has no progression besides that so they want to see the numbers to confirm that they are getting stronger. When in all reality you could show them the number and have them be completely arbitrary.
I keep thinking about making a WoD game, but the amount of art work I need, as I am no artist, continues to draw me away from it. Best of luck with your mission as that is a huge amount of stuff on your plate. |
Thanks, yeah it's going to keep me busy without a doubt.
I've got various tiers of armors, weapons, traits, technology, skills, buildings and abilities implemented. It's just a case of hoping that it'll be enough to keep players busy and also give them the feeling that they're progressing while their attributes take a back seat compared to other features. |