The Chosen One

[thepixiesrock]

Why don't you cry about it.

 

 

 

Cry baby.

[Jorian Drake]

Is this threat of any sense?

[Judge Hades]

Listen Pixiestick, I am...

 

Ah, forget it. My brain isn't functional enough to come up with a retort.

 

BLARG!

[thepixiesrock]

Darn. It happened again.

[Judge Hades]

Blarg?

[Berserk]

conan > belgarion

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have to say that this comparison mad me smile quite a bit. Taking the nauseatingly noble and good hero against a guy who basically stabs/crushes/maims his opponents and ends the day by grabbing the nearest tavern wench for some recuperation, and still manages to be a more complete and interesting character.

 

Howard > Eddings

[Musopticon?]

Howard > Eddings

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Although lots of Conan's character wouldn't be there without "Phoenix in the Sword", most of the stories are just maiming.

Edited January 29, 2006 by Musopticon?

[Llyranor]

What if instead of being assumed that the PC did something evil and must now atone, what if the PC is confronted with aspects of him which simply made different decisions? Say the PC somehow has aspects of him, shades, pieces of his being, which have manifested across a gameworld without his knowledge and did many things, but eventually he finds out about this and has a chance to judge them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That would be hot, like you.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Oh dear, Llyranor. I also have the hots for you

 

Well regarding a previous comment, the suggestion I made isn't like Torment in the sense that it does not assume a fixed protagoist, neither an amnesiac or immortal one. I can't go into details because it's, admitedly, part of the concept behind my and Volourn's module and is still being tested. Suffice to say, it revolves around a player-defined PC who finds himself between two opposing Chosen Ones, and with the potential to also become a Chosen One or to forego it entirely and be his or her own persona.

[Nick_i_am]

Steal time.

[Llyranor]

Yes, but if he becomes the Chosen One, must he choose?

[Cantousent]

My whole idea simplified and restated in four words.  I hate you!  :Eldar's glaring icon:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's an example.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Of course there had to be a JRPG style game with the same idea... only twisted. Ugh.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Yes, but if he becomes the Chosen One, must he choose?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes. And then the choice will be soiled and eroded.

[Berserk]

My whole idea simplified and restated in four words.  I hate you!  :Eldar's glaring icon:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's an example.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Of course there had to be a JRPG style game with the same idea... only twisted. Ugh.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dare you people to get the "Daddy dearest" ending...

[Musopticon?]

[Jorian Drake]

[Llyranor]

Yes, but if he becomes the Chosen One, must he choose?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes. And then the choice will be soiled and eroded.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hehe, about the shades of the protagonist and stuff, me and Nick were playing around a somewhat similar (but not so much, or at all, really) concept a while back.

 

Basically, the PC's background was irrelevant. His hidden past had no part in the story, we didn't care. What mattered was what happened in the story.

 

After some big traumatic incident (not head trauma, just some big life-changing phenomenon or whatever), the PC starts hearing voices. At first it's very vague, very subtle, very rare. Simple things. 'Don't trust her.' 'Don't open this door.' The player can easily make his decisions, base on his instincts or clues or whatever, but the design made it so that, at least initially, the voice was right most of the time. We were trying to create a bond of trust with the voice. Gradually, this would intensity, the voice would appear more often, at more important decision crossroads. Eventually, more voices would appear, they would talk to each other, to you, form personalities. You'd have a whole cast of characters in your head.

 

The setting of the game was based on a war. You were a soldier, sent out to fight some war between opposing colonies. Due to internal strife, though, your government would collapse. The main forces would pull back to the mainland, leaving you and other soldiers stranded on enemy land. You would have to, perhaps, make your way back to your homeland. Taking advantage of the collapsed government, the empire which had the other colony allied with another superpower to invade your mainland. The next scenario would be you defending it. Basically, we were making a situation where everyone was against you. Lots of oppression, war isn't pretty, etc. The voices would be encouraging that feeling.

 

After some other big battle or something, you find yourself lucky and surprised to be alive, most everyone around you is dead, etc. The voices encourage 'you have escape unscathed. Now, you must go to location x. There, everything will be clearer.'

So you go there, looks cryptic, wow. 'You are the Chosen One. You must stop this war.' Our plan was that the proposed ways to stop the war would in fact be unbeneficial to it. Assassinating world leaders, etc. We were messing around with ideas. If you were playing a good char, your plans to save the world would in fact lead to its destruction, or the impression of such. If you weren't, then you were all for world destruction. Or such was your impression. Ultimately, everything you did or planned to do were actually insignificant and futile.

 

You get caught, put on trial. You get evaluated for everything you've done, every action, every decision. Did you follow the voices all along, or resist them from the beginning? Wait, were you committing atrocious acts because you felt like it, or because you trusted the voices? Do you get judged a cold-blooded criminal, or do you end up in the psych ward?

 

Essentially, yeah, we just wanted to make the PC go through the process of early-onset psychosis. In the fantasy setting where voices and Chosen Ones are overused, we thought this would be the ideal setting to fit this in without making it too obvious. Especially because the setting accommodated it, we thought people would more easily 'get in the role' and listen to the voice. 'Makes sense to my character', perhaps. If we helped *one* person understand a little more the issue of mental health, then we would already have won. 'Why do people listen to voices? I wouldn't!' 'People who are crazy are just making it up!'

 

Of course, the main goal was to provide good gameplay. With the concept of voices, we would emphasize the importance of decision-making. 'Attack her while her back is turned, she is planning to ambush you', for example. Do I *trust* this voice? Do I take the risk? Am I potentially harming an innocent?

 

Heh.

[Azarkon]

Sounds like a great concept for a horror game :cool:

[Nick_i_am]

It's still an idea worth persuing, but we will likely find ourselves without the time to do it justice.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I think it's a very good idea you've both had there. Damn good, I'd say.

[Llyranor]

It was all my idea. He was doing scut.

[Nick_i_am]

SOMEONE had to decide how high all the city walls were going to be.

[SteveThaiBinh]

Sounds like a great idea for a non-linear adventure game more, though I guess it could work as an RPG too. You should pitch it to the people who made Fahrenheit.

[Nick_i_am]

...die

[Llyranor]

That's a great idea. We could subtly sneak in cyborgs and necrophilia and it'd be an instant hit.