Osvir

I mentioned "Time passes" and "Aging" earlier, and I forgot to mention a rather important aspect. Well, 2, now that I think about it. 1. World changes. A king who gets dethroned by his corrupted son. Wars that end and wars that begins. The world "ages". And not in a WoW kind of way. But imagine if you were to play the entire WarCraft campaign in one go in one game (conceptually). Or the entire TES series, start in the Arena timeline and if time passes as it does in the Lore, you could see lots of stuff happening. Villages that appear were there were none before etc. etc. Quests appearing and disappearing. In TES you're only 1 character though and they span over several 100 years if I recall correctly. In games like Eternity you got a full party and could potentially recruit new members. After 40-50 in-game years, a couple of your characters dies of age and then you continue the game with new party members in a world that "evolves". Civilisation-esque-ish. 2. AI bosses and enemies who ages and dies of old age or whatnot (An evil Wizard who never managed to fulfill his plans dies of age, or gets taken down or sent to prison or whatnot). Creates a dynamic sense in a way. The Gods would of course be Eternal. Bandit groups who go through hierarchy or betrayal of some form. If you arrive at Town 2 on Day 10 it could be a different type of experience (shop owners, NPC's, Quests, Guards etc.etc.) compared to if you arrive on Day 206. Depending on who you aid (Factions) it could even further mess with the dynamics. Just some added thoughts to the "Time passing" parameter.

@OP: Here ya go chap http://xpadder.com/ EDIT: I didn't read this thread before posting this btw so pretty much what teknoman2 coincedentally said. Yep. Furthermore, I think a controller with a software like Xpadder would only be "fun" in a solo-character-casual type game mode. Having 6 characters+Controller would get frustrating I believe. But 1 Character and Controller? Maybe.

Uh Osvir, you can't click on video on that page. Sensuki already mentioned it was behind a pay wall in the actual thread about that conference. Oh I didn't know it was behind a pay wall. I know about the link stuff, what I was going for was "Won't it eventually be out?".

But...? http://schedule.gdcnext.com/session-id/826865 Vault Recording: Video

Yes it is. It's puzzle pieces, all of the ideas mashed into one large idea becomes one system or formula (at least in my head, and you know, I wrote it). I just like to write the: - - - Bullet-point dealio because it's easier for me to write it out. I'd probably exceed the post limit if I were to type the depth of it down. Bullet-point presentation allows for more interpretation from the reader as well, and if the reader were an Eternity developer they might see or get inspired more rather than potentially be put off by a huge novell. Ideas are like vague "landmarks" obscured by a dim or cloudy horizon. Bullet-points makes it more cloudy, which means that others will see different patterns in the clouds~ metaphor~ @Diamondman/Ironman Save System: Because in the olden times Ironman was only Save & Quit and Load = Delete. But today Ironman has been casualized and is an Auto-Saveman Save System. I simply want the old back, because I personally find it more terrifying and it makes me a better Player. It simulates not having a Save at all except when you quit the game. A simulation of "I finished this game in one go with no saves at all". Why dontcha try it? Start a game of your choice, whatever really. Never save the game until you decide to quit playing, then when you load it, tab out, delete the save and continue playing. See if you play differently when you have an auto-save system behind your back. I'm curious if others experience a different mindset as well. @Adventure Game Obstacles: Correct! That slipped in there as a general idea~ not confined. EDIT: I also want to state that when I wrote this brainstorm list I didn't clean it at all. I just wrote down a lot of stuff, you'll see something like "(Again, Main Character dies)" or similar, I wrote that after I had written the "... and a side-dish option". Notice that the former comes first chronologically in the post. I jumped up and down (scrolled) in the text and added stuff to it. So the post itself might not be a consistent writing, the larger picture is. Take all the ingredients and mash in a bowl and it'd be a creme de la creme execution for hardcore players ;P

It is a homage to an older style type of "gameplay". I am reluctant to say "gameplay" in this regard really, what I am going for is the experience. It is a personal experience though, and it was the excitement of playing Might & Magic 1 with a pen & paper on the side. I wrote down all the spells myself because I didn't want to google it, drew maps and it was a profound experience in my opinion. I also wrote down all the quests. People didn't seem too un-fond of drawing entire maps themselves for old school dungeon crawlers. Legend of Grimrock even has the option for it. But that's for the map, and I am trying to address journal+spell descriptions too. But what I also try to squeeze in here is clue or detective-work from Adventure Games (Myst, Riven, Monkey Island etc. etc. from the top of my head), which people aren't reluctant to use either, in those genres. Find items, talk to people, figure out what to do instead of getting it "handed" to you in a "Updated My Journal" kind of way. The idea is to take that element from Adventure Games and put it on the hardest difficulty. I believe that taking elements from entirely different genres could benefit the Difficulty level, and more importantly, the experience.

These are some brainstormed ideas in reply to another thread, I understand that Eternity is well underway production. See this more as inspiration for future IP's or future Eternity's. I touch a lot of subjects in a single thread here, the idea is consistent and as a whole simply different puzzle pieces to a larger picture. I call it Diamondman Mode (previously known as "HellMetal Mode" or "Strongman Mode", and reluctantly "Old-Meets-New Mode"), which I find appropriate. This is an idea to get the game as difficult, but manageable, as possible. Rogue-like-ish, and in my opinion an interesting system~formula. - Permadeath (With limited ressurrection in-game side-stories, choices or whatnot, until "Ressurrection Spell" mod or "Temple Mod" etc. etc.) - Diamondman Save System. Start Game. Play Game. Can't Save. Save & Quit. Load Save, Save gets Deleted. Play Game. Save & Quit. Etc. etc. Choice: Use Ironman Save System instead if the game is known to crash on your hardware. - Difficult Economy - Difficult-est AI that act in teamwork and AI micro-manage. -- Stand-outs. Your Fighter stands just waiting for the other AI Fighter is waiting for you to make a move, meanwhile the AI Archers or similar move out. Difficult enough for the Player to hit space, scratch their hopeful and potential beard and practically play a Chess turn. Make a move, and the AI reacts. Turn-Based Reactivity but Realtime with Pause. -- Stand-out Example: So I face a group of 3: --- Enemy has 1 Fighter, 1 Ranger, 1 Priest, All Level 5 --- I have 1 Fighter, 1 Rogue, All Level 8 1. Pause. 2. Move Fighter forward. Stealth Rogue. 3. Unpause. 4. Fighter moves forward, Enemy Fighter backs. 5. Ranger moves to the side, in reaction. 6. Priest stays behind Fighter. 7. Pause. Instead, had I chosen to simply stay the initial position, the Enemy Fighter would have (in this case) stood his ground and not advanced until feasible. Chances are that they would advance instantly, as they would only see 1 Fighter (Rogue Stealthed), 3 vs 1. But because you Stealthed when combat was engaged, the AI would know that the Rogue is there (they just wouldn't be able to see it). So the AI Fighter would still stand his ground, and the Ranger might even stick closer to the Fighter. - Everything above about "Stand-Outs": AI Reactivity to the situation, from their perspective. Tactical Statistic Management (Health, Stamina, [Food & Water?]) - Resting limited to once every 16th in-game hour, Sleep less and your Stamina suffers ([stamina Sickness]) -- 1. Wilderness Resting (World Map). Worst Stamina Gain. No Resting Bonus+Potential Random Encounters -- 2. Camp Resting (Locations). Camp Bonus. Costs resources to light a fire. -- 3. Inn Resting (Towns). Inn Bonus. -- 4. Stronghold Resting (Stronghold). Best Stamina Gain. Stronghold Bonus. - Limited Carrying Capacity - Weight Modifying Stats - Time Passes on your Characters (Aging) and can eventually die of old age (Again, Main Character Dies, game goes on. Adventurer's Hall Companions 100% in attempts to beat the game). - Adventurer's Hall Companions cost money, a lot of it. Leaves if not economically maintained. - Option to turn Adventurer's Hall "Off" entirely. Closed for Business. - No Descriptions. Spells or Abilities have no description, the Player would have to do the Spell/Ability, observe it/the effects and then explain it. - No Map/Minimap equivalent (Draw your own in "Paint" software or with physical Pen & Paper) - No "Updated My Journal". Write everything yourself using an In-Game Journal/Notepad. Write down what NPC's talk about, Quests, objects and observations. Whatever. A game diary/experience. Stamina Example: -- Stamina is 100%, as you fights and wander and time passes, you gradually get lower (say, 80%). -- At 80% you are still at full capacity and gains all "bonuses" from Resting. -- At 60% you choose to drink a glass of water or, heck, eat something. Stamina raises to 70%. -- After a while, you hit 25% or less, and you start to see some minor penalties (Been awake too long? Fought too many battles and made bad moves? Remember: If you lose 75% after Resting in an 1 in-game hour, you wouldn't be able to Rest again) -- At 0% in battle, you would obviously pass out and make a better target [Fainted] -- After battle, gain 10% Stamina to survive with for a while. -- "Waiting" or "Meditating" or maybe even "Gathering Energy" could place one of your characters inactive during combat to tick some extra +1% Stamina Points. Let's call it [short Rest]. Basically the character taking a breather. Again, maybe drinks some water. Life Points instead of Health Points: -- Starting with 10/10. -- As you level up, you gain more (13/13 for instance). If you'd lose 1 LP, down at 9/10, gain a level, you'd be at 12/13. -- Life Points can not be healed. A One-Time-Choice Quest perhaps, "Do I want to Heal all LP or do I want to ressurect a fallen companion?" kind of thing. -- A Life Point is something you can lose in a simple mistake in battle. -- A Life Point would also be lost due to [Aging] -- A game could be played without losing a single Life Point if playing through the game fast enough, but it'd be a challenge to do so for sure. ... and a side-dish option - Game does not end when Main Character dies (Only when the full party dies. In a way, like X-COM missions, you can lose 3 guys but still win with 1 guy. I envision a game (not necessarily PE, but maybe inspiration~). The same goes for Icewind Dale, if one of your characters dies (and you are playing without ressurect) you can still beat the game. Why? Because I believe my [Diamondman] concept is so difficult that your main character could and 70%-80% chance of going down (unless playing really slow, resourceful and thoughtful). And World Map Traveling: - Costs Stamina - Realms of Arcania/Fallout/Ultima+Baldur's Gate Traveling System. -- Be a small (scaled to size of the world, or Fallout Incognito wise) "Ultima"-esque figure/icon on a large beautiful canvas. -- Get a horse, add an appropriate icon. Travels faster, in case there are "Events" in the world that you can intercept. -- Xenonauts Radar Concept, but mobile as the party moves. See a Caravan Icon nearby? Intercept or ignore it, potentially even see some Bandit Icons take over the Caravan. Gives the Player Choice "Do I want to engage in this Random Event now or do I want to observe what happens?". -- Can Rest in the Wilds (or "Wait") - Adventure Game Obstacles: "You need the Monocle of Mirrors to open the 'Gate'" And of course, the most important aspect: - Random Hellfire and Reign of Chaos meteors with demons. TL;DR: Braaaaiiinsssstorm

What about a hard-placed/random (singular) Bear with hard-placed loot such as armor? "Yucky Armor" or, in the case of a Wolf, "Shredded Boot". If you take it to a Blacksmith who then can do some maintanence you'd get some rare or semi-rare equipment which in turn could lead to some drama "That's my son's Armor!" if you wear it whilst running around in towns. See, it can make sense when more context and content has been added to it. Hard-placed loot per-monster/race/class/status? (All Bandits drop Leather Armor for instance) A rat would not drop leather armor, and would probably be considered a bug if it did.

Haha, they should do a Champion Sp...! Errr... I mean "Class" Spotlight ;P NO! I am not suggesting it, just joking around (How would that even work for a Single Player game?). I never considered this, but Christmas is coming up soon. I do wonder what sort of updates are going to pour in. I also hope the Backer site gets up before or short after the 25th of Nov so I can upgrade my Slacker Backer contribution somehow. If they make a gameplay video I'd actually prefer if they do not talk too much about the Classes, but merely showcase pacing. Kind of how Bioware showcased Dragon Age: Inquisition (the one with the screamy girl) I suppose (they didn't talk much about the classes, if any at all, just very very slightly. It was mostly mechanics that stood out, such as the hook, dodge roll, smashing doors/objects down and tactical camera that got emphasized in my opinion. The classes themselves were not talked too much about). I think this was a good way to showcase the game, it's minor flirting with some minor reveals and elements from the game. Let me explore and experience the classes myself, being a Single Player game and all. Heck, Obsidian could even make a gameplay video without even saying any Class name at all, that could also create discussion and speculation "Which Class was that?? :O" or "Can a Chanter semi-tank!? :O" etc. etc.

I'd like to see a sort of Fallout-esque world map traveling system, where you are just a simple "Rogue"-dot (or pixel, like in the Rogue game and in the Fallout games too). Explore the world! Every click is a destination! In Baldur's Gate, IWD, Dragon Age, every location is a "Set", a "Level" kind of like the old Doom games did it. You go from one map to another (except in the RPG's it's a little bit non-linear but still linear). In Fallout you have the richness of going anywhere, even if it doesn't do anything or trigger a random encounter, you can still do it. I can envision it being "slightly" up-hotted, with a horse model (instead of a pixel) when traveling by horse. Or when you are traveling by boat etc. etc. It would be awesome if we could simply gaze and traverse the world of Eternity without big pictures (like IWD & BG) and go wherever we want (within the boundaries). Perhaps even have an On and Off switch that removes the pictures, just for appreciation of the art, lore & the world building regardless. And of course switch it on to appreciate the pictures too, of course. I guess I envision it like a Final Fantasy worldmap but Fallout freedom with some Zelda/Alundra-inspired adventure game obstacles "You must have the Desert Boots to pass through this land" kind of deal-io. In Tales of Destiny there is an instance where you have to pass through snowy lands and it is optimal to equip scarfs (otherwise you take damage over time constantly in the area). You can still pass through the land without the Scarf item, it just gets a lil bit more difficult. Maybe even see some encounters and mobs on the world map traveling from point A to B. Maybe you can see a trading caravan traveling as well near your location, and you chose to not engage in it, and you see some simplified version of bandits attacking it and ruining it. To add in some Ultima-esque world-traveling. I realize I've combined like 4-5 different games in this thread of what I'd like to see in a world traveling system

Unfortunately, no. Swapping sections of the rendered 2D image is trickier than it may seem. But maing variations of the image would not be? For instance: 1 original image (which you showcase) 1 image where everything is the same except a single building (basically a copy+paste picture wherein one building has been modified) Of course, time better spent elsewhere really but I couldn't help but to propose it at the very least. Another method would be to treat buildings like props, similar to how you treat foliage like props, but I bet you already have thrown that idea around and didn't choose to pick it because it is potentially extra work? (hypotethical analysis) Post-Post EDIT: Of course, these ideas are a little bit late into production but I just wanted to throw it out here EDIT EDIT: And then... *floats off into dream land* ... make walls into props, floor, many layers of props and textures and then and then.... mapmaker toolset <3

Unfortunately, no. Swapping sections of the rendered 2D image is trickier than it may seem. But maing variations of the image would not be? For instance: 1 original image (which you showcase) 1 image where everything is the same except a single building (basically a copy+paste picture wherein one building has been modified) Of course, time better spent elsewhere really but I couldn't help but to propose it at the very least. Another method would be to treat buildings like props, similar to how you treat foliage like props, but I bet you already have thrown that idea around and didn't choose to pick it because it is potentially extra work? (hypotethical analysis)

Brilliant stuff! I'm at work so this will be short. I really like this concept :D but I am wondering, is there a chance that... instead of restoring the west building simply into what is shown in the screenshot, could we replace the building with something else? (Stables, Tower/Outpost, Library etc. etc.) choices~ "What do you want to build?"-ish

That's not a bad idea. Though, I reckon it would be something to cater to people who like to collect stuff in games and play it to completion 100%+. Oh and Obsidian would have to market it somehow (kind of how the Dark Souls dev was marketing this idea of some Pendant being special, then it turned out it was just a joke, but it did make people play the game much more in search for the answer to the Pendant). Community wise it becomes a "treasure" and the one to find it gets some "platonic" achievement in the community. The Pendant btw. EDIT: An item that maybe has a 1 in a million chance (or more) of being found/dropped. Lottery in the vanilla... or modified to unlock easier~

Apart from the general excitement of the experience of playing the game, I am excited to play with all hardest difficulty options on from the get-go. Pretty much a blind hardcore game, see how far I can get kind of thing.

The whole talk early in this thread about Excalibur and the significance of the "Knight" (or Squire/Stable-boy, which Arthur was first and foremost I believe) gives me an idea. What if we could forge a sword that someone else gets, an NPC, who then later can become an enemy or a friend. Maybe we forge a sword as a gift for a King or Queen, or maybe just a stable-boy, who then later becomes a powerful man or woman in the game. Choice & consequence kind of thing. Or we could forge a sword, it gets stolen during a rest sequence, then we find rumors about it during our passing. How it switches hands, or it gets further stolen, or NPC's talking about it as a dreadful weapon, or a peace-keeping weapon. All in the soul of the hammer (i.e. What the Player chose to forge it into). EDIT: Of course, the Player should be able to gain these Legendary Weapons as well, but by giving them away they gain more story and perhaps even more buffs/enchantments. You get the weapons later, but they suddenly have more story and more "Legendary" to them.

Correction: The concept is a very simple one, but I doubt that it was "very" easy to implement in the Xenonauts engine (which, according to the devs, is a horrible engine). It is also a tactical interface with RTwP and that RTwP feeling to it, so it isn't just "somewhat" tactical, it is tactical. What I meant to say was "somewhat difficult", it could get cranked up just a little bit on the hardest difficulty. But that might be something to appear post-release in mods (maybe).

If there are ship to ship battles in Eternity I envision it being somewhat "Heroes of Might & Magic"-esque because that's the most effective and simplistic way of doing it. Basically you have a tiny ship icon on the world map screen, and when you encounter an opponent ship you get into a generic "battle map". Not much variety to it, encounter wise it is almost always a different encounter, but the map itself is pretty generic (maybe some different props every now and then). I imagine that something like this could work for Eternity, make 2-3 different ship maps/levels that you can experience/encounter similar to how HoMM deals with it. Add in some environmental effects for variety (night, day, storm, snow, rain etc.etc.). No Assassin's Creed 3 or 4 Ship combat, even if that would be lovely. Best way to explain it: Boarding encounters; "board the enemy ship"-encounters. Another method to do it in a simplistic way is Xenonauts. Their Air-to-Air combat interface and combat is somewhat tactical and implemented in a very simple manner. However, that can get very repetetive in a medieval Ship-to-Ship game I believe if they would occur often. Xenonauts has more material to work with (5-6 Alien UFO's, upgrade your own planes and get more planes etc. etc.).

There could also be some skill triggered NPC and world reaction. Vanity Titles. - I use Pickpocket skill 100 times (total) w/ Rogue - Class Title changes to "Thief". Does not change any stats or skill progression, just narrative reaction. ~ Although a Fighter, Wizard or someone else might be able to use the "Pickpocket" skill as well, only as a Rogue would you get the "Thief" title. ~ A Fighter could instead get "Bandit" or similar. "Scoundrel" maybe. Lots of variations. Important to note that this would be an individual title for an individual party member. So if Aloth would become an Arch-Mage that wouldn't turn your main character into one. And if you'd pickpocket with a Rogue and it becomes a Thief, that wouldn't make anyone else in the party into Thieves. Individual actions for individual characters~ Though, it'd be (to go even deeper) quite intruiging to see if a "Title Combination" could equal some extra in-narrative "Party Reputation". "It is the Band of the Ruthless Savages!! Eeeek!" if you manage to get like 2-3 different titles on 2-3 characters in your party. If you'd go down a different path and you get 2-3 other titles for your party the NPC's might start calling the party "The Holy Saints"~

Prestige titles I suppose. Something you achieve in the game by doing stuff. In-Narrative "Achievements". Become a Master Thief in the Thief Guild/Faction? Hey, maybe you're clansmen begin to call your character "The Shadow" and NPC villagers whisper about rumors of things disappearing, maybe they too give some sort of "name" to the character based on his/her actions. Though, this is difficult to explain and it's really 2 different sections: Section 1: Nicknames - Gained by getting reputation in the game - Different factions, different villages etc. etc. has different rep. meters Section 2: Class Titles - A Barbarian title turning into a Warmonger title. - Title gained by building the Barbarian down a certain path. For instance, let's take the Barb as an example here again: - Barb Level 1 - Barb Level 2 * Pick-a-Perk, choose between 2 - Barb Level 3 - Barb Level 4 * Pick-a-Perk, choose between 2 - Barb is evolving.... - ... Barb evolved into Warmonger! - Warmong Level 5 - Warmong Level 6 * Pick-a-Perk, choose between 2 (It is still the same Barbarian perks regardless, so you won't benefit anything special except an evolved "title" depending on your previous choices) For instance, let's say I picked only "do as much damage as possible" related perks during leveling up, which is why my title would turn into "Warmonger". But if I had chosen something else like... throwing perks or abilities, or depending on my characters most favored weapon (Spear or Axe) my Barbarian's title could transform into "Spear Thrower" or "Axe Thrower" accordingly, or "War Shaman" or outright "Shaman" or "Wildling" etc. etc. depending on gear, stats, world-reactivity, narrative, factions <- That is wishful thinking, It would still be a Barbarian in its core, but the title could change depending on how the Player builds the class and plays it~ EDIT: TL;DR: Let's say the Barbarian has a total of 10 Class specific Talents, but on one playthrough you'll only be able to have max 4 or 5 of all those skills. Depending on which 4-5 you pick your Barbarian could get a different title.

Skimmed but... What about Class titles? In another thread I brought up an idea of "Multi-Paths" instead of "Multi-Classing". Maybe your Class can change title depending on how you build it? A so called "Class Change", except it wouldn't be a Class Change mechanically, only Class Title Change. I think it'd be nice as it could give some feedback to the Player about their "Class Build" decisions. Example: - I start off with a Fighter - Get to level 5 with a Tank build or become good friends with a Guard Faction - Fighter title becomes Soldier~ Guardian~ or whatever is most appropriate Or a "sub-title". Still a Fighter, but get a secondary title in the bio or underneath the Class title. I didn't play too much of Kingdoms of Amalur, but I did enjoy the Class system. Can PE draw some inspiration from the concept in KoA and do its own thing with it? (= mechanically appropriate to PE)

Of course, I fully agree, face to face is always the best. That does, however, not exclude the option. The technology exists today in a way it hasn't existed before, and I guess I am also looking into the future of technology where I believe it'll become something (possibly) more common and/or more advanced to allow for it to be more seemless. If it is sane or not sane for the a company to do so or not... that depends on the individual hired does it not? If the individual is not up to snuff, then it's a big risk. But if it is actual passionate talent that could do PE (or any game really) good regardless whether the person works at the office or in a "long-distance" environment? Today we have long-distance school, I can study from afar by joining a school which provides me the option to study from home. Is that insane of the school too? School is, after all, a "preparation for working" environment. Long-distance school is harder because all the responsibility is on the individual, but if you perform well you get the same grades as the one who goes to a physical school (or maybe better if you are the passionate kind). I'm not applying for a job at Obsidian I'm just brainstorming ideas, philosophical & technological. I also want PE to be the best it can be, and if the best doesn't exist in Cali for the Contract Writer position, it probably does in some other state or country

I didn't comment on this before for some reason, but this is possibly one of the greatest weapon ideas ever. Take the best freaking tool in the entire toolbox universe (the wrench is amazing! Don't deny it!) and make it into a powerful Fantasy weapon. "The Unrelenting Nippletwister"

Yes, I mean, I don't have much more to say *shrug* your idea seems simple enough (but I'm still gonna dig a lil bit deeper into Morale). Morale Meters does not have to mean "Run awaaaay!" as we can see in Total War games or the IE games (Morale Checks IIRC). In the IE games the Morale Checks are horrible and chasing down enemies is only frustrating. I suppose a better term of what I mean is a "Combat Efficiency Meter" or "Party Effeciency Meter"... or maybe just as simple as a general "Efficiency Meter". So in light of that, it would affect your character's general efficiency. If down at the "Panic Level" it would merely mean your character would perform bad, not that they'd run away. I just think it could aid in the discussion on difficulty (specially on harder difficulties). About "Panic" in context of this conceptual idea: If "Berserk" makes your character stronger and uncontrollable, "Panic" would make your character weaker and uncontrollable. Panic could even have some low-chance critical hits that deal more damage; "Desperate Critical Hit" or something, a "more-than-lucky" shot. Topdecking Mechanics if the link doesn't take you straight to the time, it is 18:08-19:00.

I'm kind of bothways on the invisibility thing. The rules could easily be explained in-game in a sort of immersive manner as well. In a "it makes sense" kind of way a la "If you go up 2 guys against 1 guy you'll work better together, and the 1 guy will probably get his ass handed to him". But then again, could be nice to get some sort of representation of it as well, but how and where? With all the "dice rolls" of hitting and dodging already, where would this thing fit in without cluttering it up? 1 solution could be a "Morale" meter. The lower the "Morale" meter is, the more penalties your character gets. A sort of feedback on your decisions. If you send 1 Wizard to deal with 2 Goblins, you might see the "Morale" meter quickly go down, but if you send him back, it would replenish itself slowly. If you send in 2 Fighters to deal with 1 Goblin, you could instead see the "Morale" meter go up steadily or stick steadily at its capped neutral value. Here's an idea for a sort of "Morale Meter": Good decisions make your guys happy, and bad decisions make your guys sad. This is also why I think it'd be more difficult if a sort of "Morale Meter" is invisible. Because if I send in my Fighter into a fight and I see his Morale is dropping (or he's getting some penalties of some kind), then I could just send him back and send something else at the enemies until I see a "growth" in the "Morale Meter". Similarly, if my Morale Meter is going down, then I know that the Morale Meter of the enemy is going up. Well, in this idea it would~ so there's a potential that something like this would give the Player too much feedback on their decisions. 1. Danger Level (Red): Risk of panic, you might lose control of your character. 2. Penalty Level (Yellow): Your character is in a disadvantegous position and is getting penalties to defensive and offensive rolls (e.g. 2 enemies vs 1 character) 3. Neutral/Normal Level (Blue): Standard, walking around in the world~ 1-on-1 of equal power level. 4. Bonus Level (Green): 2-on-1, you are doing good decisions and in a good position, hence you get a slight advantage to offensive and defensive rolls. 5. You-Are-Playing-Like-A-Boss Level (Pink w/ Sparkling Stars): You are perfection itself and win every fight, well rested always and never take any damage. Welcome to "Da Boss" Level. Your characters are dominating the battlefield. Jokes aside, this could be a Morale level you get if you can keep your party on a roll by making good decisions generally in the game and almost never go down to "Penalty Level". The only thing that should be affected really would be the rolls, not any statistics per say (So your character isn't suddenly stronger, but just gets better rolls). Example: On Neutral Level 3, your characters rolls might be between 1-20 as standard. But on Penalty Level 2, your character might see an increase in 1-15 rolls, and 16-20 rolls become rarer. On Bonus Level 4 you might instead see rolls between 6-20 popping up more often, and 1-5 becomes more rare. So it wouldn't mean that you'd get better "damage" output in any way, but the dice gets "adjusted".