Trying something new here...

[F. Scott Banks]

I know, I know.  There isn't much that hasn't been tried in RPG design.  However, I'm experiemnting with a few ideas that, at the very least, aren't mainstream, and I don't want to reinvent the wheel.  For the few ideas that are new that I'm trying to implement, I would appreciate the help of the forge community to flesh them out and make them playable.  

Because my goal is to create a computer RPG, I have to make sure that the core engine works well before putting it out there.  If this were pen and paper, DM's would just fudge the rules that didn't play into their style.  Since I'll ideally be working with many different players that play many different ways, I have to have an engine that supports most of them.

In my RPG, I'm going to let a computer hangle the crunchy bits so don't let the impossibleness of the number-crunching lead you to tell me...well, that the numbers are impossible.  Anyway, here are a few of the ideas I'm trying to work into this game:

* Combat:

I'm shooting for a combat system similar to the old mechwarrior RPG, wherein specific body parts can be targeted, armor damaged in segments, and just about any weapon is dangerous if used correctly.  I'm trying to avoid the uber-items that pop up in so many games where one particular item is superior to all others.

* Health:

Using specific wounds, characters should be able to develop varied skills to heal specific injuries, reverse the effects of poison or disease, and repair magical damage.  Again, I'm trying to avoid the number-crunching hit-point system that turns so many RPG's into complicated math tests.  Ideally, I'd use a simple percentage system to desplay health rather than telling players specifically how much health they have.  Of course, this requires absurdly complicated algorithims but since the players won't see 'em, they probably won't care.

* Classes

Well, basically, nothing new there.  Using a skill-based levelling system, players can develop their characters any way they want.  However, I would like some sort of guage to determine how much time or energy a player has put into their character.

In short, I want to make an RPG that supports both powergamers and social players who, perhaps want nothing more than to raise crops and sell them in market.  I have long argued that whenever you create a game that rewards combat and corpse looting, then your players become largely fighters and treasure hunters.  Now, I'd like to try my hand at creating such a game.

[Harlequin]

Frankly, I'd say play through Fallout 2, play with the combat system there, and tinker from that point.

It satisfies your #1 and #3 pretty much straight off.  (Well, armour isn't damaged in segments, but armour is modeled in a very good, precise manner, which wouldn't be tenable in paper&pen but works really well in this setup.  Better than ablative armour models, IMO.)

Healthwise, Fallout just went with a simple HP system, but there's nothing stopping you from a more complex method.  Honestly, it would be really neat to see an online game which did wounds more like TROS, where one wound matters, and has specific characteristics (TROS has Pain, Shock, and Blood Loss).  And then see "medical" as a focus.  No "First Aid roll heals X points of Pain" or that sort of thing, but some real depth to that, so that doctors become both valued and interesting.

F'rinstance, if you had Pain, Shock, and Blood Loss as your variables, plus a Fatigue number, they might interrelate like this:

- Pain detracts from all your rolls from the time of the wound, and slowly ebbs after combat is done.  Fixing Pain mostly involves drugs, which lower Pain but increase Fatigue.  Knowing how much drug to use is a Medical (or Herbalism, etc) task; anybody can guess, but it's based on hidden numbers. (How much Pain, in numerical values, are you in?  You don't know.)  Too little and the Pain doesn't stop, too much and the Fatigue (with dizziness etc. wrapped up in Fatigue) is worse than the Pain was.
- Shock does two things.  It inflicts a short-duration stat impairment, a la TROS, plus adds to a cumulative chance that once the adrenaline ebbs you'll end up going into life-threatening shock.  Low-intensity shock might require a First Aid roll to even notice; higher intensities, or untreated lower intensities, would require a more difficult roll to treat, and treatment would imply limitations on their behaviour (get them warm and dry and stationary, etc).
- Blood Loss is a time-based addition to the chance of life-threatening shock, as above, and also has its own long-term penalties.  Stopping minor Blood Loss is a First Aid task.  Stopping major blood loss might involve choices (use of a tourniquet raises the spectre of gangrene if done wrong, or sometimes even done right), and would need a much higher skill.
- Specific internal injuries (organ damage) would be trackable, and relevant, needing better medical skills and specific tasks to cure.

Assuming a fantasy setting you'd then want healing magic to be limited in function (stop blood loss, block pain, regrow hand as very distinct acts) and/or rare and difficult, just so as not to steal the healers' thunder entirely.  Make it useful to be all healing mage, or all doctor, or a mix of both; tricky, but doable.

The main thing you'd fall up against is that MMORPGs have their own intrinsic issues, many of which involve death as a "preferable" alternative in certain circumstances.  If healing is difficult, that just gets worse.  And if your system involves wounds being occasional, but nasty, then death, too, might be too frequent.  A difficult balancing act indeed.

All of which is probably part of why Fallout chose not to focus on health/healing and went with HP, even though their engine is pretty detailed elsewhere.  It's a pretty big can o' worms once you open it up...

Though it would be nice to see a game where doctoring people was as interesting as chopping them to bits.

- Eric

[F. Scott Banks]

I have a friend who loves to play the "Cleric" in a party, but most games dissapoint her because it generally relegates her to the role of "party custodian", serving up health like a walking soup kitchen.  The damage model you described is exactly like the one I'm trying to implement, where healing injuries is just as involved as inflicting them.

Also, the complex damage model disallows the "I've got enough HP for one more battle" mindset.  A level 60 fighter may have over a hundred HP but have less than ten percent of his total health.  Any "real" person in this condition would seek medical attention immediately.  By having combat readiness and physical accuity effected by the characters percentage of overall health, we see fewer "sucide runs" or at the very least, suicidal or heroic feats that "mean something."

Finally, as far as death being a preferrable alternative to healing, I have a permadeath system in place.  A soul can only be ressurected so many times before it simply vanishes into the ether.  Players then get the opprotunity to create a new character that could some relation to the old one, a child or protege (this is beneficial if the player is high-ranking at the tme of death or retirement) or a completely new character.  Reputations, a little wealth or equipment, a particular skill that a father might pass on to his son or daughter can all be passed on to the newly created character.  So death becomes less attractive the higher-ranking (and arguably better at healing) you are.  However, permanent death isn't as bad as it seems either.  Having a powerful character die in defense of his country, only to have his son take up the mantle of a fallen hero can be just as exciting as living forever and amassing all the "kewl lewt" in the game.

But, like I said, I'm new at this.  I think that these are good ideas but I could be in for a rude awakening any time now.