Gameplay Development

[Chibi-Teddo]

Well, the discipline system I've set up kind of makes choosing a class complicated... I think 'class' is just going to be a pretty word that describes the overall skill set that the character is planning on going with.  

[Scouter Kai]

Try using the approach to classes i took with the hymn: Class name, and general skills required for that class, then people can add what they specialize in, say your vampire is a lycan hunter or whatnot; he would require higher strength than most vampires, advanced combat skills, and weapons skills. Now you could say he specializes in the use of advanced weaponry, and have him be better at that than most other vamps.

Dunno, just a thought, it kinda didn't turn out as neat as it was in my head xd  

[Chibi-Teddo]

lol xD  

[Ellenoir]

I will refrain from voting, as at this point I have no preference. I'm in the throes of world creation and having a great time. I'll play no matter what setting, and system, we settle on.  

[Ronyo Storm]

I know it’s a bit late, but has anyone seen the battle system for the new space Rp going up on the main SDRP page. Its an interesting system and might be something to look into for this.  

[Chibi-Teddo]

No, but I will take a look now.

EDIT: I just took a look. It's good for cases where you're just duking it out, but that system only works for direct damage. I wanted to take into account the chance of failure. If anyone has any theories on a system we could use, post it up plz. ty for the suggestion, though, ronyo.  

[Scouter Kai]

This is general rules of posting in combat taken from a GM in another online RP i participate in. it's from a sci-fi RP, and i attempted to edit out anything that made it specific to that setting. If i missed anything... Oops. Anyway, these are really good general guidelines for combat.

Quote:

...Players like roleplaying and all, but there's also a thrill and fun in trying to struggle against the odds - if everything was predetermined as the player surviving one way or another any encounters, then, the feeling of risk and of your actions mattering in important situations would be considerably lessened.

The other thing I found out was that bad guys want to win too. Therefore, they generally do their damnably best to, even if it involves kicking you while you are down.

Therefore, seeing the fickle nature of combat most of my arbitrating in regard to determining if something succeeds or not is going to hinge heavily on the roll of a d20 (a twenty-sided die) on fixed numbers to beat made up in my head (generally being 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20) - the higher the score rolled on the die compared to the result to beat, the more effective the action will be as well.

You have no control over the dice, but you do have control over your actions.

Try to limit the content of your posts to something a character would manage to do under 10 seconds to respect fast pacing (long winded speech might not be good at all - telepathy is much faster, though). Try to post only once in reaction to my own posts if at all possible. Also, try to have your text depict one of the following: full-post movement, full-post action, or a combined move-action.

By spending your time moving, dodging and weaving to avoid hits, my difficulty to try and hit you will be higher. Just the same, if you concentrate on just attacking and don't move much, your accuracy will probably go up for it. If you fire many weapons in a post compared to firing just a few, your accuracy will suffer the same way because you are trying to do many things at the same time, firing a moving target is more difficult especially if you are moving yourself.

If you are stuck trying to dodge attack, nothing prevents you from using that time to reload your weapon. Melee attacks will generally be easier to deliver than ranged attacks. Grouping up on one target will make it harder for that target to take into account many attackers and so its chance of evading diminish some...

 

[Chibi-Teddo]

ty kai, I'll start planning out some definite gameplay rules soon. If people would vote on the damned story...  

[Chibi-Teddo]

Inspiration struck me last night right after I got off IRC with Ikken and KW. Here goes:

The system works such that a player who makes a successful attack will be able to make an 'interrupt' as well. The interrupt increases the chance that a spell will be cancelled or an attacker will be too distracted to make their attack. I will probably set up a system that defines what a particular spell, attack, or ability is capable of interrupting.

Next comes the proceeding player's turn. If they are making an attack that would otherwise be interrupted, they must make their concentration check based on the class of ability they are using. If they successfully complete their attack, the defending player makes their defense.

The player being attacked will defend, either with their magical defense or physical defense. These may situationally increase or decrease based on whether or not they are putting all their effort into defending themselves.

The attack must overcome the opposing player's defenses to be successful. Some attacks may still deal reduced damage if they cannot pierce the defense. Once a successful attack is determined, damage is calculated, and an interference may be used if applicable.

Attack Classes:

Ritual Magic ~ Magical attacks that derive from studied magic available to everyone.
Spirit Magic ~ Magical attacks that originate from the soul of the user rather than a learned ability.
Special Abilities ~ Similar to spirit magic, but not always magical in nature. Special abilities are almost always unique, and most commonly passed down by blood.
Physical Attacks ~ Physical attack strength is based on the strength, experience, and agility of the attacker.

Defense Classes:

Magical Defense ~ The means by which the defender may protect themselves from magical abilities, including ritual, spiritual, and some special abilities.
Physical Defense ~ Ability to defend against physical attacks and some special abilities.

Of course, given the fact that learning how to attack with magic also teaches you its weaknesses (the same is true of physical attacks), characters strong in magical or physical attack are also stronger in the corresponding defense ability, while the other is considerably weaker. Lack of balance between these two schools can therefore leave a character very vulnerable to one of them.  

[Chibi-Teddo]

Adhering to these basics, several generalized classes can be determined:

Battle Master ~ A character who has mastered all of the schools of combat.
Warrior ~ Focuses on physical attack.
Ritualist ~ Focuses on ritual magic.
Spiritualist ~ Focuses on spirit magic.
Thaumaturge ~ Master of both schools of magic.
Ritual Blade ~ Combines ritual magic with physical combat.
Spirit Fighter ~ Uses spirit magic to supplement their fighting ability.
Specialist ~ One who spends great focus on their special abilities, enhancing them further.

Defender ~ Dedicates themselves solely to the progression of defensive abilities.


It can be noted that a class is not chosen per-se, but rather is used to describe the path your character has chosen. A spiritualist is free to follow the path of the warrior with no penalty. Doing so would merely eventually change their title to 'spirit fighter'.