Obsidian's (rumoured) next kickstarter, what would you want to see?

[PrimeJunta]

I would love an alt-timeline dieselpunk turn-based RPG.

 

Inspiration: Century Rain.

 

Other than that, I'm good with pretty much anything other than genericwesternfantasyswordsandwizardsohmy or genericspaceoperablastersnadspacemarinesohmy. Nothing wrong with those as such, except that they're way overdone.

[PrimeJunta]

Put another way, actually, I'd probably back any single-player cRPG Obsidian would produce. If 20 clams is the base price for the electronic version of the game, here's how much each of the options on top are worth to me (ones not listed are 0):

 

Original IP – 20

Turn-based – 10

Cyberpunk – 5

Dieselpunk – 20

Steampunk – 10

Alternate timeline – 30

Saint Christopher of Avellone as Creative Lead – 50

Josh Sawyer as Lead Designer – 25

George Ziets or Eric Fenstermaker as Lead Writer – 25 each

...other stuff I haven't thought of, about 50 maybe

 

You can tally up what that would add up to. I can imagine throwing a few hundred at something that is an exact, perfect fit to my somewhat weird tastes, but I'm not sure what that would even be.

[Malcador]

While I won't buy "anything" that Obsidian makes, I'll certainly give them the benefit of the doubt. Personally, I would love to see something Cyberpunk by them, as it would seem to fit their writing approach quite well, but I feal Cdprojekt has ruined Cyberpunk for quite a while now... Even it it's not like the field is crowded, Deus Ex... Syndicate... vs. all the fantasy garbage.

 

They ruined it before the game or any details at all have come out (or at least I've missed some) ?

 

Still, would be nice to see them try the genre, it is under-used.  If they do a game, they should take DX:HR's dialogue system where you verbally spar with an opponent.

[decado]

 

Also I am so unbelievably tired of Star Wars.  

 

On that note, if Obsidian were to make a Star Trek RPG, I think I would die from awesomness poisoning.

 

Obsidian's hallmarks are complex morality, and the dark aspects of authority, and sin.

 

How exactly does that dovetail with the Star Trek universe?

 

Apply even 1% of Obsidian's cynicism and the Federation would fall apart like gin-soaked cake.

 

You can do all of those things in Star Trek.  Jesus Christ have you even watched the show? DS9?  I don't understand why people get the impression that Star Trek is all goodness and light.  And even if it were, that does not leave out things like "complex morality and the dark aspects of authority."  TNG had some of the best commentaries on things like terrorism, secrecy, government oversight, intrusion, fascism, racism, and democracy ever done on TV up to that point.   My God, why did I even bother responding to this post?  What is wrong with me?

[Blarghagh]

Have a standard Tolkienesque fantasy world, let them tech up to steampunk, then apocalypse the hell out of it.

 

Everyone's happy.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

We just had Shadowrun Returns, and have CDPR's Cyberpunk whatever to look forward to. In a similar vein, Wasteland 2's almost out, and Fallout 4 is in the making. And we'll have a new Mass Effect game sometime.

 

I really don't get how people could want even more cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic/space opera stuff. Hell, I'm bored with them even now.

 

(Warhammer 40k-ish cybergoth, or Hammer Horror/steampunk mashup, or anything clockpunk or biopunk would be welcome. If they add China Miéville-esque weird fantasy stuff to the mix, I'll be overjoyed.)

[Nepenthe]

 

 

While I won't buy "anything" that Obsidian makes, I'll certainly give them the benefit of the doubt. Personally, I would love to see something Cyberpunk by them, as it would seem to fit their writing approach quite well, but I feal Cdprojekt has ruined Cyberpunk for quite a while now... Even it it's not like the field is crowded, Deus Ex... Syndicate... vs. all the fantasy garbage.

They ruined it before the game or any details at all have come out (or at least I've missed some) ?

Their fanboys will. Whether the game is good or bad is immaterial.

[Keyrock]

Yeah, I don't get why everyone wants sci-fi so bad, it's almost as played out as generic Tolkien-esque fantasy.  There are so many cool settings that have barely been touched by RPGs:

 

Arabian Nights

Hindu Mythology (Mahabharata and Ramayana)

Native American Mythology

Wuxia

Wild West (Either steampunk-esque or more historical)

Cthulhu Mythos

Modern Conspiracy (Masons, Illuminati, New World Order, etc.)

Prohibition Era Gangsters

 

That's just a few off the top of my head, there are tons of other potential settings that have barely been touched by RPGs, if at all.  Why do people insist on going back to the same genres that we've already visited again and again and again and again?

 

If it HAS TO BE sci-fi, for the love of all that is holy, please let it be hard sci-fi and not another space opera.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Keyrock

[Undecaf]

A Naked Lunch RPG wherein you are to interpret what's real and what's not while trotting the streets of the Interzone and spying for whoever it is you think you are spying; where the dedicated Morte-character is an insectoid typewriter.

[Nonek]

Film noir, Dead Money for New Vegas showcased what they could do in that medium, i'd definitely love to see more.

Something very weird and original. Perhaps like Torn, a disjointed theatre of conflict, spread across many worlds and environments. With no sure rules or limits, maybe something dreamlike and subliminal, that can shift and shape itself to the viewers imaginings for better or worse.

[Gumbercules]

Yeah, I don't get why everyone wants sci-fi so bad, it's almost as played out as generic Tolkien-esque fantasy.  There are so many cool settings that have barely been touched by RPGs:

 

Arabian Nights

Hindu Mythology (Mahabharata and Ramayana)

Native American Mythology

Wuxia

Wild West (Either steampunk-esque or more historical)

Cthulhu Mythos

Modern Conspiracy (Masons, Illuminati, New World Order, etc.)

Prohibition Era Gangsters

 

That's just a few off the top of my head, there are tons of other potential settings that have barely been touched by RPGs, if at all.  Why do people insist on going back to the same genres that we've already visited again and again and again and again?

 

If it HAS TO BE sci-fi, for the love of all that is holy, please let it be hard sci-fi and not another space opera.

 

I can't think of any isometric party-based sci-fi RPGs off the top of my head. If we expand it to include third person RPGs there's Mass Effect and KOTOR, and there's a bunch of sci-fi games in other gameplay genres like shooters or strategy games, but really there's no sci-fi equivalent of the Infinity Engine games. Plus there's tons of stuff you can do with sci-fi, especially if you move away from space opera. It should be at least theoretically much more open than traditional fantasy. You often see fantasy returning to elves, dwarves, orcs, etc., but sci-fi properties at least always have to invent new aliens even if they borrow ideas from other properties.

 

All of the settings that you listed sound great and I would back any one of them. I do think however, that since Obsidian pretty much chose the safest possible genre for their first Kickstarter game, it might appeal to them to gradually Kickstart less safe choices until they have a few stable IPs. So a good progression might be trad. fantasy -> sci-fi -> something less traditional.

[Ganrich]

Film Noir would be cool. They could mix in a horror aspect, and come out with something like The Dresden Files meets Cthulhu. I would fund that all day long.

[Keyrock]

 

Yeah, I don't get why everyone wants sci-fi so bad, it's almost as played out as generic Tolkien-esque fantasy.  There are so many cool settings that have barely been touched by RPGs:

 

Arabian Nights

Hindu Mythology (Mahabharata and Ramayana)

Native American Mythology

Wuxia

Wild West (Either steampunk-esque or more historical)

Cthulhu Mythos

Modern Conspiracy (Masons, Illuminati, New World Order, etc.)

Prohibition Era Gangsters

 

That's just a few off the top of my head, there are tons of other potential settings that have barely been touched by RPGs, if at all.  Why do people insist on going back to the same genres that we've already visited again and again and again and again?

 

If it HAS TO BE sci-fi, for the love of all that is holy, please let it be hard sci-fi and not another space opera.

 

I can't think of any isometric party-based sci-fi RPGs off the top of my head. If we expand it to include third person RPGs there's Mass Effect and KOTOR, and there's a bunch of sci-fi games in other gameplay genres like shooters or strategy games, but really there's no sci-fi equivalent of the Infinity Engine games. Plus there's tons of stuff you can do with sci-fi, especially if you move away from space opera. It should be at least theoretically much more open than traditional fantasy. You often see fantasy returning to elves, dwarves, orcs, etc., but sci-fi properties at least always have to invent new aliens even if they borrow ideas from other properties.

 

All of the settings that you listed sound great and I would back any one of them. I do think however, that since Obsidian pretty much chose the safest possible genre for their first Kickstarter game, it might appeal to them to gradually Kickstart less safe choices until they have a few stable IPs. So a good progression might be trad. fantasy -> sci-fi -> something less traditional.

 

You definitely have a valid point.  Obsidian does have to consider just how much support/funding they would be able to get with said setting.  While I would bust a nut over a Wuxia RPG or an Al Capone type gangsters and cops RPG, maybe the average potential backer out there wouldn't get as excited over them.

[Blarghagh]

We just had Shadowrun Returns, and have CDPR's Cyberpunk whatever to look forward to. In a similar vein, Wasteland 2's almost out, and Fallout 4 is in the making. And we'll have a new Mass Effect game sometime.

 

I really don't get how people could want even more cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic/space opera stuff. Hell, I'm bored with them even now.

 

(Warhammer 40k-ish cybergoth, or Hammer Horror/steampunk mashup, or anything clockpunk or biopunk would be welcome. If they add China Miéville-esque weird fantasy stuff to the mix, I'll be overjoyed.)

 

I don't mean to offend you here, but cybergoth? Clockpunk? These things strike me as "look at me being a connoisseur with all the labels I have". Warhammer is space opera with horror undertones. Cybergoth? Really?

[Keyrock]

Film Noir would be cool. They could mix in a horror aspect, and come out with something like The Dresden Files meets Cthulhu. I would fund that all day long.

I'm right there with you.  

 

Really any type of modern-ish game set in basically the real world but with a secret underground world (not necessarily literally underground), whether that be vampires and monsters and magic, or aliens and human/alien hybrids, or cabals like the Illuminati or New World Order, or some combination thereof would be pretty sweet.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Keyrock

[Enoch]

The thematic setting most yearning for an RPG is Interplanetary Blaxploitation. 

 

Start with a Flash-Gordon-style take on the technology, culture, and geopolitical situation of the Solar System, and add '70s Blaxploitation themes, characters, music, and art design.  Playable classes include Bad Mutha-Shut-Yo-Mouth, Voodoo Mamajama, and Cosmic Prophet (see avatar).

 

Solid. Gold. 

[denizsi]

Preferably 3D Isometric Hard Science Fiction Horror.

 

But Obsidian would first need to break it shackles and grow out of combat-dependent design paradigm and I doubt they have the least interest in doing so. Games that hinge on combat is their comfort zone, as it is for the majority of the industry.

Edited December 16, 2013 by denizsi

[aluminiumtrioxid]

 

We just had Shadowrun Returns, and have CDPR's Cyberpunk whatever to look forward to. In a similar vein, Wasteland 2's almost out, and Fallout 4 is in the making. And we'll have a new Mass Effect game sometime.

 

I really don't get how people could want even more cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic/space opera stuff. Hell, I'm bored with them even now.

 

(Warhammer 40k-ish cybergoth, or Hammer Horror/steampunk mashup, or anything clockpunk or biopunk would be welcome. If they add China Miéville-esque weird fantasy stuff to the mix, I'll be overjoyed.)

 

I don't mean to offend you here, but cybergoth? Clockpunk? These things strike me as "look at me being a connoisseur with all the labels I have". Warhammer is space opera with horror undertones. Cybergoth? Really?

 

 

While describing W40K as "space opera with horror undertones" strikes me as oversimplification (Of course, if you're not familiar with the setting beyond the Dawn of War/Space Marine/whatever games, your viewpoint is understandable - it doesn't make it any less wrong, however.)

 

"Cybergoth" is a fairly self-explanatory term, and I really don't think it's more obscure than, say, dieselpunk (which, for some reason, appeared in the poll, while the lot broader "horror" label didn't *grumble grumble*).

"Clockpunk" also exists, and its appeal (for me) stems mainly from its aesthetics, and the fact that it's close enough to steampunk that it can scratch the "we want an Arcanum sequel" itch of the fanbase, while being a step away from the "zomg steampunk EVERYTHING" trend of late (which has significantly reduced my interest in anything steam-related for the next few decades).

[Ganrich]

The thematic setting most yearning for an RPG is Interplanetary Blaxploitation.

 

Start with a Flash-Gordon-style take on the technology, culture, and geopolitical situation of the Solar System, and add '70s Blaxploitation themes, characters, music, and art design. Playable classes include Bad Mutha-Shut-Yo-Mouth, Voodoo Mamajama, and Cosmic Prophet (see avatar).

 

Solid. Gold.

[Keyrock]

 

The thematic setting most yearning for an RPG is Interplanetary Blaxploitation.

 

Start with a Flash-Gordon-style take on the technology, culture, and geopolitical situation of the Solar System, and add '70s Blaxploitation themes, characters, music, and art design. Playable classes include Bad Mutha-Shut-Yo-Mouth, Voodoo Mamajama, and Cosmic Prophet (see avatar).

 

Solid. Gold.

 

Holy ****!  Is that just a joke trailer or is this a real (super low budget) movie?  Oh man it's got sexy storm troopers AND awesome tag lines like "Get between him and his woman and space ain't black enough to hide you from him."  

 

I'm fully in support of absolutely anything Lando Calrissian focused. 

Edited December 16, 2013 by Keyrock

[PrimeJunta]

Yeesh. A bunch of lily-white Orange County hipsters making a blaxploitation space opera? Bad idea.

[ikarinokami]

A Tim Cain helmed follow-up to the temple of elemtenal evil.

 

Using the pathfinder rules and Golorian setting, with turned based combat.

[Blarghagh]

 

 

We just had Shadowrun Returns, and have CDPR's Cyberpunk whatever to look forward to. In a similar vein, Wasteland 2's almost out, and Fallout 4 is in the making. And we'll have a new Mass Effect game sometime.

 

I really don't get how people could want even more cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic/space opera stuff. Hell, I'm bored with them even now.

 

(Warhammer 40k-ish cybergoth, or Hammer Horror/steampunk mashup, or anything clockpunk or biopunk would be welcome. If they add China Miéville-esque weird fantasy stuff to the mix, I'll be overjoyed.)

 

I don't mean to offend you here, but cybergoth? Clockpunk? These things strike me as "look at me being a connoisseur with all the labels I have". Warhammer is space opera with horror undertones. Cybergoth? Really?

 

 

While describing W40K as "space opera with horror undertones" strikes me as oversimplification (Of course, if you're not familiar with the setting beyond the Dawn of War/Space Marine/whatever games, your viewpoint is understandable - it doesn't make it any less wrong, however.)

 

"Cybergoth" is a fairly self-explanatory term, and I really don't think it's more obscure than, say, dieselpunk (which, for some reason, appeared in the poll, while the lot broader "horror" label didn't *grumble grumble*).

"Clockpunk" also exists, and its appeal (for me) stems mainly from its aesthetics, and the fact that it's close enough to steampunk that it can scratch the "we want an Arcanum sequel" itch of the fanbase, while being a step away from the "zomg steampunk EVERYTHING" trend of late (which has significantly reduced my interest in anything steam-related for the next few decades).

 

 

I've never played any of the Warhammer 40K video games, I know it from the books. I also know these classifications exist, I just feel very strongly that they shouldn't. It's overcomplicated, compartmentalizing and exclusionary posturing. It's a bunch of rules that go "you can't use your imagination, you have to obey the rules of the setting as set down by this bunch of geeks here" which strikes me as completely missing the point of fiction in the first place. None of these things would have existed if the people making them cared at all about these ridiculous names. It's creatively stifling and pendantic bull designed to keep less "in-the-know" people out of your personal bubble of interest by making it exclusive. "Psh, I don't like fantasy, I like neoclassical tolkienism!"

 

But yeah, that's off-topic and neither here nor there, so nevermind.

Edited December 16, 2013 by TrueNeutral

[aluminiumtrioxid]

 

I've never played any of the Warhammer 40K video games, I know it from the books. I also know these classifications exist, I just feel very strongly that they shouldn't. It's overcomplicated, compartmentalizing and exclusionary posturing. It's a bunch of rules that go "you can't use your imagination, you have to obey the rules of the setting as set down by this bunch of geeks here" which strikes me as completely missing the point of fiction in the first place. None of these things would have existed if the people making them cared at all about these ridiculous names. It's creatively stifling and pendantic bull designed to keep less "in-the-know" people out of your personal bubble of interest by making it exclusive. "Psh, I don't like fantasy, I like neoclassical tolkienism!"

 

 

These are labels. They exist to ease classification, not to tell you that "these are the confines you're allowed to create content within". If you're saying "space opera", and think of Warhammer 40k, while hearing it I think of Star Wars, and a third guy thinks of Mass Effect, it means "space opera" as a label serves its purpose rather badly. On the other hand, "cybergoth" immediately tells you that "this stuff has high-tech stuff in it, and it was probably influenced by gothic aesthetics". "Clockpunk" says "I have clockwork stuff running around" (and not much else, because "-punk" has lately become just a cool suffix entirely devoid of its original meaning). (I don't think these are particularly limiting, by the way.)

 

Also, the whole point of creating (at least semi-)exotic stuff is that it's specifically made for people in-the-know. You don't really have to worry about scaring customers away with arcane terminology, if your game has, say, all-female bug-headed sculptor-people whose male members are just mindless giant ****roaches and communist nomadic bird-people and steam-powered robots, because you've already lost the attention of the wide audiences at "bug-headed female sculptor-people who reproduce by having giant ****roaches hump the back of their necks". And in these cases, actually informative labels are useful. At least, that's what I think *shrug*.

Edited December 16, 2013 by aluminiumtrioxid

[Blarghagh]

Fair enough. Like I said, it's going off-topic, but I think it's telling that the link you gave to explain clockpunk starts with:

 

 

 

Essentially, identical to Steam Punk, but with intricate clockworks replacing steam power as the technology of choice.

 

Which is to say the classification is unneccesary and superfluous. They also do not serve their purpose very well because, as you agreed, most people won't even know what it means except for those in the know.

 

Besides that, they are treated as settings or genres when they are only look & feel classifications. Whereas "science fiction" tells you the type of thing it is, going "no it's not, it's cybergoth" just clouds the issue by pointing out outlying design elements instead of the core of what something is. So to me these classifications are incredibly problematic and limiting - because selling something as a steampunk setting limits you to things with the steampunk aesthetic, whereas telling a fantasy story with steampunk elements, for example, will be much more interesting.