Thomas' Game Project thread (possible RP system as well)

I'm slowly crystallizing the system so far, and I guess that I'm finally getting somewhere. Currently I discussed the idea with a few people in the gaming industry and I can actually start the attempt of showing my idea to game producers if I have a certain set ready. That is basically:

- Concept Art of characters, areas, monsters and items/weapons.
- The storyline/plot in a ready format, at least a first few "game chapters" of ready text to introduce.
- Overall description of combat mechanics and "how the game will be played".

In short, the "idea" in a format possible to introduce the whole concept. So yeah.... and I am finally getting somewhere now. A lot of skill set scrapings it took me, but now... Master Gear combined with the Extera idea might be a future game.



So why do I post about it here?
Well, I know Book likes to read every single new thing that appears on the forum. Since he's busy like that, it'll be more clear if I just write down my ideas here so I'll know he is "updated" on my ideas without making it too hard for him. I'll be updating this place with my list of ideas as they are created, but anyone is free to comment on it.

XD And man have you got that right. You posted this today, and lo and behold I read it. XD

And the others can give feedback, if they're still interested. RP or no RP, support on the system remains, and I'm up for that anytime.

Mental Note:

Current Protagonists:
1) Thomas Windar - Wind human, main weapon is dual chained swords "Aisa&Aira", commands the power of wind to shape razor twisters in battle, his starting Extera is ScarfBoy. *Concept Art picture is in the making*
2) Curia Chasea - Water human, main weapon is 6 remote blades, commands the power of water in form of waves that push away enemies, his starting Extera is Ocera. *thinking whether I should keep Curia as a Trap joke, or a Flat joke character*
3) Simon Angire - Fire human, main weapon is flame gloves&boots, commands the power of fire to enhance his fist oriented combat style into explosive punches and kicks, his starting Extera is Magorem.
4) ??? - Lightning human, main weapon is the multi-gun-holding support mechanoid "Pandora", she commands Lightning to charge her more powerful guns in combat, her starting Extera is Illuminator. *Still thinking on the name, but I'm sure it will be a girl*
5) ??? - Earth human, no concept for now.
6) Aisan Darksky - Shadow human, main weapon is the Dark Sword "Twin Destiny" which is twice as big as him, commands Darkness in combat in the form of explosions of rage and illusions, his Extera is Mirai, the ghost sealed in the Dark Sword.
7) ??? - Light human, no concept for now.


Vital background information:

The world consists of the "inner world" where humans live. There 7 gates to the "elemental worlds" spread across the land. The power of the gates fills humans with mana, but corrupts them, changing how they look and what power they use.

Second Names are always a fusion of an elemental name and something. For example, Angire is "Anger + Fire" connected. The harder it is to spot the element in the name, the lower is the person's social standing. Those high on the social ladder, rich families or ones that are exceptionally renowned, have an elemental name first, before something added to it. (So instead of forming a name from "Something + Element", they have "Element + Something"). Those on top of the social ladder, usually have an elemental name fully visible. (Like "Wind-ar"...)

The second name rules only apply to bigger cities. Nobody notices that among normal people, since nobody cares about the hidden meanings in their names.



That is all for now....

Mental Note:

The Party.

A party consists of up to 4 people, chosen before departing on the mission. In-battle, the total Combination stat is added and can be used during the player turn to execute commands. You can carry only up to 20 commands with you, excluding Special Attacks like Summons or Team Attacks. It can be 5 commands per team member or even all 20 taken by just one of them. At the cost of half of your Combo during the turn, you can shift to a different skill set. You only can have 3 skill sets carried into battle.

Depending on who was chosen into your party, the cut-scenes during important events change, including different routes for the main plot and access to different powers or even side quests. For example, choosing Thomas and Curia for a certain amount of missions and the final mission will cause a funny extra ending cut-scene. Finishing all Elemental World-related missions with Aisan in the party will transform Mirai into a new Extera. And so on. Some extra power ups for characters will block certain other power ups for the same characters though.



Special Mode.

During combat, all characters charge their SP gauges depending on how well the player performs with the character. Each character has an SP mode of sorts that varies greatly, so players have to decide who they pack the SP into.

During combat, the player can choose to either use Auto-mode that executes a set attack chain one-by-one OR manually input commands during battle. If he puts manually, he can juggle the opponent. The combo meter resets each time the opponent falls to the ground. While auto-mode always waits for the fall, manual input allows juggle to reach a higher final combo. If the attack sequence ends, the final combo count is divided between the attacking characters depending on their contribution.

Repeating an attack after itself will cause it to deplete the combo count instead of increasing it. SP will drop to 0 after the battle ends.


SP Modes:
1) Thomas Windar - ???
2) Curia Chasea - ???
3) Simon Angire - Only at Full SP. Free action. Initiates a "Beat'em Up" mode in which Simon attacks random targets with his hand-to-hand style. Button inputs will appear on the screen, if entered correctly, will cause Simon to attack again, if entered wrong, will drain his SP gauge by 10% and switch the command. SP gauge drops quickly during command input and "Beat'em Up" ends once it drops to 0.
6) Aisan Darksky - Can be activated at any time as a free action. When activated, Aisan separates "Twin Destiny" into two swords "No Destiny" and "True Destiny". His attacks drastically change. Every attack he performs drains his SP gauge, however his damage and amount of hits in combo increases. Aisan cannot charge SP while in this mode.



...that is all for now.

XD I can see the inspirations coming from XIII. It's cool that they showed how this can be done without mana...

Flat joke is better.

Another approach to the combat system. I wonder if I'll ever get through the fails.... This time, we take a part of the Dream Chaser system and add it into the mix. Here goes nothing....


So what slight changes we have:

1) Weapon and Armor upgrade remains the same. Every weapon/armor is a "Frame" with "Slots" for upgrade items. Between missions players can tweak their items with upgrade materials that have a name and an "effect" stated.

2) Armor protects from physical damage, Barrier protects from magical damage. Elements are now divided into "physical and magical" ones. So... Fire, Lightning, Light and Darkness are "Magical". Water, Wind and Earth are "Physical" elements. All weapon attacks are also physical, unless their effect states otherwise.

3) Extera learn spells from special places or items, all is under the order of the GM. Extera can now "Fuse" with the user.

4) Instead of a TP system with skill building, we get the "Racial ST" and the "Elemental Runes". Stats received a few mods.




Alright, so onto the Stats and Skills....

Here are the stats:

Dynamic values:

HP - How much damage you can take before you die.
MP - Used for Extera spells.
Armor - How much physical damage has to be dealt before you can be comboed.
Barrier - How much magical damage has to be dealt before you can be comboed.

Static values:

Combination - A value that tells how many attacks can be linked in one turn. It's a small stat like 1 or 3.
Linking - A value that tells how many runes can be stacked together. When using a skill, the amount of runes cannot exceed Linking values. The bigger this stat, the more powerful skills you can use.
Channeling - Determines the regeneration rate of elemental runes. The bigger the value, the more power you can spam.


And now, the elemental Runes. Each character has access to the elemental powers, allowing magic and special skills. To deal elemental damage, you use your runes during an attack to endow it in elemental energy. Your basic damage is equal to your weapon damage, however each rune of elemental energy will increase your damage by another weapon damage value.

For example, our weapon deals 10 P.Damage. If we use 3 Wind runes, our damage will be equal 30 Wind Damage. And that much will be affecting the opponent. Remember that when using elemental attacks, your weapon doesn't add it's own value additionally.

Also each rune, aside from it's elemental damage, can be used to cast a special effect. The rune element will determine what type of effect it can grant. This way you can create skills that do more than just damage. Here is the effect list:

Fire - 2x Weapon Damage, 4x Armor Damage, 4x Barrier Damage,
Water - 2x Weapon Damage gained as MP, Weapon Damage drained from MP, Recover 1 rune of another element
Lightning - +1 Turn of negative Status Effect, 2x Base Power of Negative Status Effect, -1 turn of positive status effect
Earth - Weapon Damage gained as Armor, Weapon Damage gained as Barrier, Redirect enemy damage to another allied target
Wind - Evade 1 rune worth of effect, Grant 1 rune worth of accuracy, +10 to combination
Light - Weapon Damage gained as HP, Heals 1 turn of negative status effect, +1 Turn of positive Status Effect
Darkness - +1 turn of trap effects, -1 turn of summoning time, +1 turn of summon time


So as you see, the amount of elemental runes allows a small amount of possible effects. So, how to poison someone? Or use a trap? It's the EQUIPMENT!!! Your weapons and Extera Spells will cause certain special effects. Using the runes, you can upgrade the effect if you wish to, OR just cause extra elemental damage with them.

An example of rune usage. Let's say your Extera cast "Poison Spirit" on your daggers. For 3 turns your attacks based on the daggers will add 3 turns of poison on the enemy that will decrease his damage output by 25%. Now, if you have 3 Lightning runes, you can extend the enemy poison status to 6 turns, that way causing him more pain. OR you can make the poison take 50% of his power down.
Now if you had Light runes, you could use them so that "Poison Spirit" would last longer. Or use Fire Runes to deal more damage with a spell or your own weapon attack.


As you see, there are no more set specials now. That doesn't mean there are no specials attacks though.

Normally to execute an attack you decide whether you are going to use your runes or not and pay the cost, watching not to exceed the Linking value. Now, if you are at an inter-mission place, you can create a "special attack" at your own accord.

To create a special attack, you only need a name, a flavor text how you are going to use that attack, and the effects it will cause. A special attack will ALWAYS act with the setting with it's chosen effects. HOWEVER a Special Attack can link +1 more rune than your Linking stat allows. You can carry only 5 Special Attacks with you though. If your weapon changes and you cannot execute a part of the attack (like, the Special requires poison and you switched to a weapon without it), the Special Attack will NOT be possible to use.



Now, equipment:

You can carry an unlimited amount of weapons with you. You can attack only with one at the same time though.

You can carry only one armor and one force field generator at a time. If you so wish to, you can carry 2 armors and 2 force field generators, however that will completely rid you of either your "Armor" or "Barrier" at the cost of increasing the other stat.

You can carry only one necklace (it increases HP).

You can carry only one pair of ear rings (it increases max MP).

You can carry only two accessories (special effects).



Equipment is usually a frame with a set amount of slots for parts. These parts allow customizing. Gear is one of the ways to increase your stats.




Racial Skill Tree:

Depending on your race, you will receive a small ST. This ST grants special abilities that are unlocked via receiving or buying "Skill Books". By using a Skill Book, you will have access to a certain ability and thus unlock further it's path, allowing you to grow more and more. Some skills will increase your base stats, some will grant an extra effect you can cast with Elemental Runes. Choose wisely.

This will be updated if the system has no "Major Wholes" or "Major Flaws" in it.




Extera:

Exteras have Spells that cost you MP. You gain MP while using items, weapons with special effects causing MP gain OR by using runes. You can sacrifice any rune to gain half your weapon damage in MP, however Water runes grant the most MP. Using an Extera Spell will summon your Extera force into the field. Using a spell costs 1 action.

If you so desire, you can summon your Extera to battle. Every Extera has a summoning time and how long he/she/it can stay afterwards. By using Darkness Runes, you can alter this time. While summoned, Extera will use a spell along with your attacks, so each action you have, you can use both an attack AND an Extera Spell. Of course, you still have to meet the MP cost.

If an Extera is summoned, you can fuse with it. Fusing will take one action. Once fused, the MP you have can be used at will to deal extra damage in your Extera's element on a 1:1 basis or shield you from damage. In that case, you lose as much MP as you wish and reduce your damage received by that amount. Also when fused, your Extera will have a list of effects you can pay to use. Such effects cost you MP and work similar to your Rune Effects. If your MP is reduced to 0, fusion ends and your Extera is unsummoned. When fusing, Summon time plays no role any longer, however upon defusing, your Extera will vanish and you will have to summon it again.

Extera learn special abilities from special items or during quests. You can also hunt for new Extera. Some boss enemies that you meet might be Extera and if you appeal to them during the fight, they might join you. Some Extera require missions to be received, etc.


Also, for creating an exceptionally good fight, you might receive luck points. Luck points can be used in the field to cause "luck-based events" to work out as you wish. If you collect 10 Luck Points, a Wish Granting Spirit can be summoned, and you can call a wish. Be careful though, because the GM will try to twist your wish as much as he can, so be VERY ACCURATE in what you wish. "I want a new weapon" can grant you a rusty dagger. "I want to be rich" can grant you a gold mine, however you would have to dig for the gold yourself for days....





And about the field. Elemental Runes can be used to create effects in the field as well. However I shall update that along with the Racial ST if the "Army" doesn't butt-in to this system again.

Nothing looks broken at first glance.... I'm hopeful for this one because it simplifies a lot without the TP. Do the specific skill trees whenever, SX.

Racial ST is here, but only till Tier 2. The racial ST gives passive abilities as well as new ways of utilizing your elemental runes. For example, at some point the Fire human can use a Fire rune in combat to inflict burn directly, while all other races cannot do so while utilizing fire runes.

To gain a new skill, you need to use a Skill Book or a Skill Scroll. Skill Books grant you an ability of your choice, while Skill Scrolls can only teach one selected ability. You can get all these from quests, defeating bosses or strong enemies. Sometimes in treasure chests or a library.

In order to access next tier skills, you need to master at least half of your previous tier. T1 is unlocked from the start, meaning everyone starts with one racial ability from the start. T2~T6 has 6 skills each, T7 has 4 skills, T8 has 2 skills but both have to be mastered, T9 has the ultimate skill.

Fire:
T1 - All attacks deal 10% more weapon damage.

T2 - Regenerates 1 Fire rune additionally per turn.
T2 - If an armor break attack destroys an armor, the remaining armor break damage will be dealt as HP damage.
T2 - 2x Damage from Burn effects
T2 - [Field only] Triples stamina during heavy physical work.
T2 - [Field only] Can touch hot objects without negative effects.
T2 - [Field only] Can bend fire in a short range from its source. Uses up 1 Fire rune per use.


Water:
T1 - All attacks absorb 10% their weapon damage in MP.

T2 - Regenerates 1 Water rune additionally per turn.
T2 - Starts every battle with 10% Max MP charged.
T2 - 2x MP gain from Water runes.
T2 - [Field Only] Can swim infinitely long in water.
T2 - [Field Only] Can breath under water. Uses up 1 water rune per turn.
T2 - [Field Only] Resistant to cold temperature.


Lightning:
T1 - +1 turn of dealt negative status effects.

T2 - +1 turn of dealt negative status effects.
T2 - Regenerates 1 Lightning rune additionally per turn.
T2 - Negative status cannot be removed for the first turn of its effect.
T2 - [Field Only] Can supply a small charge of electrical energy to a device to make it work. Costs 1 Lightning rune.
T2 - [Field Only] Impervious to electrocuting.
T2 - [Field Only] +1 small junk part recovered after each fight with a mechanical opponent.


Earth:
T1 - Armor bonus +10%.

T2 - Cuts damage in half when blocking it for an allied target.
T2 - Regenerates 1 Earth rune additionally per turn.
T2 - Retains 1 HP from a fatal hit.
T2 - [Field Only] Can reinforce surrounding objects to make them more durable. Uses up 1 Earth Rune per use.
T2 - [Field Only] Resistant to knock-out blows from surprise attacks.
T2 - [Field Only] Animal monsters are not automatically hostile towards you.


Wind:
T1 - +10 combination.

T2 - Decreases combo cost of additional skill slots by 5.
T2 - Regenerates 1 Wind rune additionally per turn.
T2 - Decreases weapon use combo cost by 5.
T2 - [Field Only] Can use wind runes to decrease falling speed. 1 Wind rune per turn of falling.
T2 - [Field Only] Can use wind runes to walk on vertical surfaces and the ceiling. 1 wind rune per turn.
T2 - [Field Only] Immunity to push back from wind and air blasts.


Light:
T1 - All healing effects are 10% more effective.

T2 - Negates the effect of the first negative status effect received in battle.
T2 - Regenerates 1 Light rune additionally per turn.
T2 - Can convert MP into healing effects on a 1:1 basis.
T2 - [Field Only] 10% discount in shops.
T2 - [Field Only] Can affect someones mood positively by using 1 light rune.
T2 - [Field Only] Vanishes illusions by consuming the same amount of light runes as the cost of creating the illusion.


Darkness:
T1 - Traps last +1 more turn.

T2 - +1 to summoned time of Extera.
T2 - Regenerates 1 Darkness rune additionally per turn.
T2 - Gains access to Corruption Combat Abilities.
T2 - [Field Only] Gains access to Corruption Field Abilities.
T2 - [Field Only] Can create illusions for as many turns as Darkness runes used.
T2 - [Field Only] Can detect traps in the surroundings.

So far so good.

Going at it with Nike (Fire human) and Oscar (Water human)

Alright then, prepare their character sheets then. We'll start with these stats:

HP: 100
MP: 100
Combination: 50
Linking - 2
Channeling - 1


Your supplies:

Elemental Runes: 7 (I'll let you decide which elements you put them into. Remember it's a static value afterwards.)
Skill Books: 2 (You start with your Tier 1 by default. You can pick 2 skills additionally to start with.)

You can decide on any type of weapon with a primary value of 10 damage (you call if its physical or magical or healing). You also have 2 slots within it. Here are the items you can slot into them. Choose 2 for each character:
- Small Grenade Launcher (+10 P.Damage)
- Small Energy Radiator (+10 M.Damage)
- Napalm Bomb (Burn +3 turns if Fire damage is dealt)
- Poison Bottle (Poison +3 turns if damages the target)
- Liquid Oxygen (Freeze +3 turns if Water damage is dealt)
- Wind Crystal (+10 Combination)
- Water Crystal (Can generate 10 MP instead of attacking)
- Power Shells (50% additional weapon damage is dealt in Armor Break damage)
- Energy Disruptor (50% additional weapon damage is dealt in Barrier Break damage)
- Small Regenerator (+10 HP is healed instead of attacking)


Afterwards, ask for an Extera OR pick from the previous ones and we are SET!!!