7 replies to this topic

[DickNixonArisen]

I am older now and not as spellbound by the idea of young amnesiacs saving the world; I think I'm ready for more self-interested characters, or characters motivated by smaller-scale altruism; even evil or simply selfish main characters who don't necessarily learn better by the end. I DM dungeons and dragons, and there's always this point where you think "Well, why WOULD they want to go to the place I want to go to?". Sometimes they Don't.

The whole Han Solo thing is popular, you know, Locke says he's just a treasure hunter but he joins the rebellion and it's revealed that he's trying to save his half-dead girlfriend, etc, etc.

I mean real flaws. I guess mass effect has some pretty good characterizations...

I am basically talking about giving up cosmic implications. Saving the world or universe. I don't want to do that anymore.

[Random Terrain]

You could always go on a quest to rescue out-of-date bread from a grocery store before it gets moldy.

[Reaperman]

It has always been a problem for me to immerse myself in the world of the goody-goody hero. It's kept me from completing/enjoying a high percentage of 'omg bezt RPG evar' games. (Chrono Trigger comes immediately to mind)

I'll personally take the standard amnesiac-based plot over anything from the Dudley Do-Right school of game design any day. Just once, I'd really like a sea/air/space pirate RPG of some kind. One where 'loot' isn't just a menu option somewhere, but one where I can hear the cries of the innocent as I slaughter their families (or worse). ...but that's just me.

I guess I'm a fan of the open-ended western RPG, but most aren't really open-ended. They have a 'screwing around' area and a 'real plot here' space, which usually involves being nice to some folks for no reason.

Oh, and if you're looking for recommendations, Dreamweb is a favorite of mine. It's a very challenging point and click adventure where you play a serial killer. It got very poor reviews, but I give it an A+. It's one of the few games I've played that does murder correctly.

Edited by Reaperman, Mon Mar 7, 2011 12:07 PM.

[Rex Dart]

Time to get a library card; they ain't making these as RPGs

Edited by Rex Dart, Mon Mar 7, 2011 1:50 PM.

[DickNixonArisen]

Yeah... I don't really want super-evil either (just another side of the same coin, maybe?)... just something different. Something with non-staggering implications.

Like right now in D&D the party is investigating a missing shipment of filtration charcoal; stolen as part of an illicit campaign on the part of one merchant-guild family to financially wreck a competing brewery. If the party fails to discover the truth... control of alcohol productions in the dales will shift drastically towards the east side of the river!


OOOOHHHH NOOOO


and yet it's fun

[Reaperman]

Ah, so kind of like sidequest material, but with a lot more depth. I could enjoy that
...when I'm not being evil.

A good detective adventure might be nice that way.

A lot of games try to start out small, but never fully resolve that initial conflict, instead tossing players into larger and larger messes.

Edited by Reaperman, Mon Mar 7, 2011 3:02 PM.

[DickNixonArisen]

Factionalism could be a good motivation, too, like a game where you can join various gangs or political parties or whatever and promote their agendas. Didn't fallout: new vegas do that?

It would fit equally well into a modern setting, fantasy or sci-fi world.

[A_Locomotive]

DickNixonArisen, on Tue Mar 8, 2011 3:01 AM, said:

Factionalism could be a good motivation, too, like a game where you can join various gangs or political parties or whatever and promote their agendas. Didn't fallout: new vegas do that?

It would fit equally well into a modern setting, fantasy or sci-fi world.

The second Deus Ex game did that as well if I remember correctly.