jimcrowley

[jimcrowley]

PsenBattle wrote:

A “graveyard screen” you can always access is absolutely planned

A great idea, for all the reasons given.

Probably a bit of a stretch but having their ‘graves’ marked on the world map? Or maybe the battles marked on it?

[jimcrowley]

screeg wrote:

Why not keep the game open and everyone play as they like?

I don’t know how successfully I can argue this in a blog thread, but: it’s up to the developer to create a consistent, enjoyable play experience. If the devs attempt to create a game where “everyone plays as they like”, you’re likely to end up with a muddled, unfocused, or at the very least, unbalanced mess.
Creating a game where the player decides who he’s going to start with, how powerful they are, what backgrounds, perks etc. is fundamentally different from what they’ve got now, and 99% of players are going to start with three professional fighters every single time. Overhype has so far developed a challenging, brutal game where the player experiences real consequences. Diluting aspects of that potentially changes BB from a tense, suspenseful experience that people will talk about for years (Dark Souls) to a good tactical combat game that people thought was fun (so what?)
Look at what the devs of Darkest Dungeon are doing. Do you think people would be raving about that game if they could save whenever they want? If they could get a do-over whenever their party was wiped out?

I fully agree with this, particularly if the game is going to stick to the notion that the player is not represented as a brother.

This is not a party based FRPG, where you are likely to retain your created party for the long haul. Here, there is the potential to lose some or all of your men so custom characterisation is not required.

Working on a character generation system is going to take time better spent, IMO, on the areas that the devs have already spoken about.

However, I still think that the player ought to be able to choose the initial three players from the same list that the random picks are made. Why?

Well, a starting captain is more likely to kick off with the best men he can muster at the beginning or the type of men that he prefers to hire. You will still get the negatives along with the positives, so that the underlying theme of the game is not broken.

[jimcrowley]

An even simpler solution would be to allow the player to select either one two or three of the characters from the list. This would allow a reasonable freedom of choice without compromising the original design intention and would obviate the need for any sort of character generation.

As a side issue to this, the introductory narrative refers to ‘you’ and three comrades in arms – making four. So where is the ‘you’ referred to, as you only get three starting brothers?

Also it suggests that the three fought in the shield wall with you, which puts them as soldiers. Clearly, a lot of the potential starters are not soldiers, so the beginning doesn’t really fit the narrative. Maybe that could be changed to ‘have fought with you for the past few months’ instead.

I would prefer the ‘you’ to be one of the three initial brothers, picked randomly or otherwise, rather than being an invisible presence.

[jimcrowley]

Trig wrote:

Of all the ideas tossed around in this brainstorming, I like the fatigue penalty one most.
Having a sword and dagger on your belt wouldn’t slow you down much. Having an orc axe and a crossbow tied to your back probably would…

This does seem to be the simplest and most elegant solution, if the notion of carrying pole-arms and great swords on the back is acceptable.

Another aspect to this is that the single melee skill is applied equally to every melee weapon such that any brother can find and use any weapon and use it with the same skill as any other weapon.

Given that most of the initial brothers are just starting out, they would be lucky to own a single weapon and probably wouldn’t be that skilful with it. Only professional soldiers or knights would have had multi-weapon training and even they would probably favour a specific weapon. Ditto with archery skills.

Perhaps this discrepancy is already covered within the traits and I’m looking forward to the release to see how this works.

[jimcrowley]

Some great ideas evolving here.

I think having only a single bag slot, with a chance to increase to two as the character improves, is spot on.

I would go further, and not allow the larger weapons to be carried in bags at all since, in reality they couldn’t be.

Nothing to do with weight, as they weren’t particularly heavy anyway, just the size. Try fixing a weapon, that is almost as tall as you if not taller, to your body in any way that would be reasonably accessible in combat or even practical while travelling.

So brothers who want to wield the larger weapons, great-sword, billhook, spear would need to have them equipped from the outset. If they then wish to switch to something smaller in combat, then, abstractly they would stick those weapons in the ground or drop them, use the smaller item and then pick up the larger weapon afterwards.

[jimcrowley]

Excellent! This is certainly shaping up to be something very special.

[jimcrowley]

Thanks for the quick response, Rap.

Interesting that you mention a more advanced injury system.

The majority of FRPGs seem to use the simple hit point system; the character is fully effective until the loss of the last HP, when he or she either dies or becomes unconscious. Not overly representative of the effects of getting hit and injured by medieval weapons (or in any time period).

Not sure what your plans run to but it would be good to see combat abilities impaired (hits to arms) and movement curtailed (hits to legs); those being the predominant areas shown to be hit in the 1930’s study in Gotland. Maybe some permanent impairment that would carry over, such that a brother would forever move a bit slower than he did because of a gimped leg, for example.

In any event, your future plans sound like exciting additions to the game going forward and it looks like you already have a battle sister ready to go!

Cheers
Jim

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