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I would love to hear from TSI on their progress. Of course I would back a new Kickstarter and would hype my friends about it, yet a Kickstarter is not something to be plunged into without a lot of planning and groundwork. Certainly, there have been worthy project that failed a first KS and then came back and nailed it the second time. It’s definitely doable.
In any case, I’m still looking forward to 7DS. Hope to hear something soon!
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This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Zombra.
So if I have it right, these are the full lists of all basic character descriptors:
Race
Drakyri
Dwarf
Feydri
Half-Shade
High Elf
Imperial
Kralik
Shade ElfClass
Archer
Knight
Legionnaire
Pitfighter
Scout
Soultender
Wizard
Wraith HunterSpecialty
Dabbler
Deadly
Defensive
Earth
Fast
Fire
Nature
Necromancy
Noble
Priestly
Rogue
Storm
Tactical
Tough
WinterMotivation
Acclaim
Compassion
Dominance
Fealty
Freedom
Greed
Honor
Purity
Sanctity
Seeker
Self Preservation
Serenity
Thrill of BattleLooks correct?
Ahh! Thank you so much! Gives some of us nerds something to think about in terms of planning party composition 8)
This addresses all my mentioned concerns and more 😀 Thanks for the reply!
Love the idea of the portraits being derived from customized models! That sounds even better than trying to import custom art to match a concept. Usually you’ll have the ability to make a custom model, but only have a few premade 2d portraits that look nothing like them to choose from (cf. Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity). If you guys pull this off, it will be worthy of several fist-pumps.
Thanks again. Behind you guys all the way on 7DS.
Nice post daveyd. TSI has gone on record, I believe, stating that the Empire is not especially “good”. It’s highly authoritarian for example. Which I think is definitely a cool break from the fairytale Good King, Evil King stuff.
But although I argued against an “evil ending” above, I do think TSI has an interesting opportunity here with the Malloi (their capital-e Evil Gods). In a world in which most people are “normal” (i.e. not Good nor Evil) and just trying to get along, the PCs are technically slaves to the Empire because of the magical oath that they’ve sworn. What if joining (or maybe just temporarily working for) a puppy kicking, baby eating capital-e Evil cult was the only way to break the spell? I think that could make for some very mature and sophisticated storytelling, despite childish black-and-white elements. In fact you couldn’t have that particular sophisticated story without the black-and-white elements.
Sometimes silly simplistic elements aren’t only there to make a story more palatable to children – often they can cast interesting questions into relief in ways that a more realistic story couldn’t. That’s a big part of why I read science fiction – so many thought-provoking questions you just don’t get in day-to-day life.
Yeah, I could see how that could be a good story. Me, I don’t want to go on some personal journey of self-discovery and striving towards freedom. I just want to play a team of badass storm troopers who do their damn job. 😀
Interesting! The whole thing with the oath could turn into a major motivating factor … either to perform the Empress’ will, or to try to weasel out of it. The main snag I see there is that the PCs will likely have different motivations in the first place (Honor, Greed, Acclaim, etc.) … the implication is that they’re from different backgrounds and will have sworn the oath for different reasons. So you may well have one PC who will do anything to break the oath and another PC who loves the Empress and swore willingly. That being the case, you can’t really write a plotline where the party embraces the Malloi for the sake of breaking the oath … Alvin the Archer may be willing to drink from the Black Chalice if it will break the spell, but Simon the Scout might be very happy working for the Empire … so which ending makes sense for this party? The Evil Ending can’t really work unless there’s a powerful motivation for ALL the PCs to go for it, unless you’re planning some kind of crazy party splitting mechanic.
It seems much better to just say, you’ve all sworn the oath, some of your PCs may resent it, but for the purposes of this game you can only make choices that serve the interests of the Empire and there’s no way out of it. As mentioned before, as a GM there is absolutely nothing wrong with setting boundaries for your PCs in this way as long as you let your players know the deal.
Exactly. It’s fine for stories, not so much for games.
Perhaps – but it seems the devs agree with me. 😀
If you want Vancian magic in 7DS, bug them about it.
Thank heavens they aren’t using Vancian magic. That’s a D&D albatross no game should have hanging around its neck. I for one am delighted that they’re not lumbering themselves with the D&D system. Good riddance.
And oh yeah, if you register there, you should know that there are avatar choices available from SSI’s Dragonlance and Buck Rogers games. Wear one of those for instant cred 😀
Yep, it’s a harsh place but honest and often insightful. I would even recommend registering and participating in the discussion over there if you can make the time. You could get a lot of great feedback there that you won’t find here or on your KS page.
EDIT: Dammit, ninja’d by Alchemist. Good work buddy.
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This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by Zombra.
Yeah, I mentioned the same thing a few days ago. Completely agree.
So a Touched walking down the street looks ordinary, though should he leap to a rooftop and send a cloud of arrows into a ravening horde, people may suspect.
Got it! This is some of the wuxia type inspiration I’ve been hearing about. Sounds great; I can completely buy into this. Thanks!
Glad if my thoughts helped 🙂
Another issue to be considered is different XP rates for different party members.
Since it’s already been stated that different characters may be rewarded at different rates for quest resolutions (due to Motivations), it may be worthwhile to examine individual rewards for the rest of the game as well. This is far trickier to balance than “Your party killed 10 goblins, everyone gets 100xp”, but much more interesting.
The question then becomes, when do individual rewards occur, and how do we ensure that every character has significant opportunities to earn individual XP.
I bring this up because, assuming that all XP is not shared, it seems to me that a “Rogue” character (good at picking locks and so forth) is sacrificing his Specialty for the good of the party, so he should get individual XP for locks picked and so forth that the others cannot share. By the same token, though, a Tough or Deadly character devotes his Specialty towards combat, and should receive a greater share of combat XP, perhaps with shares assigned based on damage done, damage received, damage healed, buffs applied, etc. A character who just runs and hides in a corner shouldn’t get as much combat XP (though he should still get some; it’s still dangerous just to be there).
This observation is prompted by the unfortunate decision by Wasteland 2 to split all combat XP evenly, but to give individual XP for noncombat skill users such as locksmiths and computer scientists, meaning that a combat-focused character receives no individual XP and ends up lagging behind the group while the “skill monkeys” shoot farther ahead with every lock picked, since they enjoy full combat XP regardless of how little they contribute to a fight.
Perhaps 7DS will adopt a simple system where all XP is shared equally except for Motivation bonuses on quest resolution, but I believe that this would be a missed opportunity. Individual XP awarded for all (meaningful) actions is a more intimate system that involves the player’s reward triggers more directly.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by