Design Realmz VoxelRPG intro and design incubation thread.

[Kazimir3701]

This thread serves as a home for the Realmz VoxelRPG project. I'll be posting content from my old platform and linking to other threads here when certain designs get too large for this thread.

Spoiler: What is Realmz?

Realmz is a fantasy RPG: The tropes and mainstays of a classic medieval fantasy are all there. Killing goblins, casting spells, saving the peons, you know the drill.

Realmz is a young world: The game takes place a relatively short time after the end of a previous world. The inhabitants of the world are about as aware of the world's birth as we are of the colonization of america, and remember the previous world about as well as we remember the fall of the Roman Empire.

Realmz is self aware: The inhabitants of the world KNOW that the world is new. They are aware the rules of the world are supernatural in nature, and have an uncanny knack for trying (and failing) to subvert classic tropes. The NPCs know that narrative drama influences outcomes. When a character would normally say something like "it's meant to be", you are more likely to get a shrug and a " the gods have a flair for the dramatic".

Realmz is a (faux-m)mo: Every Realmz client "phones home" with a simplified list of events and character advancements that transpired during a play session. This data is aggregated and used to determine the outcome of any event the local player doesn't participate in. Character data is also aggregated, normalized against the community (to prevent outliers) and sent out to other players. The characters are weighted a second time (this time heavily towards the local player) to create an endless stream of uniquely configured NPCs.

Realmz is as free as possible: From the skill system to the cost, Everything about the Realmz is about freedom. Realmz is designed to have 0 operating costs (thanks to a decentralized system for handling the multiplayer data), while allowing development to continue at any pace I can afford.

Table of Contents:
The World

The NPCs

The Player​

The Loot​

The Skills

The Monsters​

The Events​

The Content​

The Community​

The Rest​

 

[Kazimir3701]

Post Reserved

The World

Nobody has been able to pinpoint the exact birth of this new Realm, but our records place it within the last few generations.
- Iskander, Court Historian

The history of the Realm isn't well defined, mostly because there isn't much of a history to tell. At some point in the past the previous Realm ended, collapsing into the Aether and giving birth to a new Realm. ​

The Realm is an island of sorts, rising from the Aether (the name given to the primordial chaos all thing spring from) in the form of a massive mountain. Instead of growing from the top down like a volcano, it appears to be pulled by a mysterious force at the top of the mountain, being drawn ever upward while the base expands ever outward.

The Mountain: Geologically speaking the whole world is just an extension of this mountain, sloping down as it expands in a large cylinder out into the aether. This area is the portion of the map hand sculpted and containing customized content. As additional content is released, the border is pushed back and the cylinder grows. At the peak is a "Mt Olympus" type of setup, providing the divine impetus to keep the world from sinking back into the Aether.

The Realm: This is the area farthest from the mountain, sloping gently down into open plains and rolling hills. This area is large enough to contain almost any feature found in a traditional world. Oceans, hills, Chasms, the works. At the edge of the Realm is a wall of condensed Aether, forming a barrier between the Realm and the chaos outside.

The Borderlands: Just outside of the Realm is the Borderlands. This area of the Aether is influenced by the Realm's proximity and is relatively stable. Terrain is generally traversable by a skilled explorer and most expeditions return home before leaving this area.

The Aether: Outside of the borderlands is the Aether proper. This area has no rules. Blocks spontaneously animate and attack. Patches of air spontaneously become lakes of lava, Physics breaks down entirely as water flows randomly. Even the most prepared adventurer will eventually succumb to the chaos inherent to this place.

*Approximately 50,000 meters. For reference, a MC world is 255 meters from bottom to top, and Mt. Everest is 8,800 meters. This mountain is almost 200 Minecrafts high!​

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 2: Reserve Harder

The NPCs

Non-Player Characters serve much the same role in Realmz as they do in other RPGs. They are walking infodumps, shops, and a way to make the world feel less static. Unlike other games though, NPCs live Sims-esque lives and form new relationships with each other over time without any intervention by the player. Randomly generated NPCs are representations of other characters that play the game, provided through the ANPC system.

Below is the template that all NPCs follow:​

[Name](Profession)
Primary Attributes:
Brawn: 10
Agility: 10
Vitality: 10
Judgement: 10
Charisma: 10
Luck: 10
Secondary Attribute Modifiers:
[Filled by modules]

Professions determine the modifiers to these stats, while level determines the upper and lower bounds.

NPCs generated by the ANPC system use the same template, but instead of a profession, they use data from ANPC to create unique characters. The NPC is given the stats from the ANPC system, those stats are weighted against the average stats of all characters in the ANPC system, then scaled up or down to match the upper and lower bounds set by the player's level.

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 3: The Reservening

The Player
​

The player character is an approximately 2m tall generic humanoid, appearing to NPCs a mixed race, recognizing their own as part of the mix. In truth, the character is an amalgam of all races, formed without memory or past from the Aether as an agent of change. Unlocking the potential of their unique body allows them to adopt the racial abilities of others, only limited by their training and ability.

Spoiler: Mechanics

Basic humanoid body, no special traits.
Unlike NPCs, PCs are able to mix and match racial abilities.

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 4: Reservation on Ice

The Loot

​

Spoiler: Example of the gear creation process and how it interacts with skills

Crafting skill system:


Crafting is divided mechanically by Stat instead of by discipline. Disciplines still exist for organizational purposes, but have no bearing on how they are learned and applied.


On the Character sheet the player can see “Crafting”, with a score representing their weighted score in all types of crafts. Opening this displays the exact level of each craft. Opening a particular Stat shows a list of all the traditional disciplines governed by that Stat. Clicking a discipline shows all known recipes the player can use in that discipline.


Recipes:


Common recipes can be found in books or from NPCs who craft those items.

Uncommon recipes can be found as loot (in the form of spontaneously learning a recipe upon looting materials that you have the stats required to use).

Rare recipes require the deconstruction of an existing rare.

Unique items do not have recipes.


Example sword:

• Common version has no special properties
  
  
• Uncommon version has 1 special property
  
  
• Rare version has 2 special properties
  
  
• Unique version has set properties.
  

Crafting process:


Crafting is a simple point and click process with optional depth in the form of material quality and quantity modifiers. By expending more and better materials, crafting can be carefully tuned.

• Default version uses the minimum number of materials, at the lowest quality and produces an average example of the weapon.
  
  
• An item’s quality is equal to the lowest quality among all materials used. Quality is a % bonus to the properties of the weapon.
  
  
• For each multiple of materials consumed, an additional choice is offered on any properties. This does not increase the number of properties, only the likelihood of getting a particular combination.
  

Mixing disciplines:


All items are potential materials to other crafts.


A player finds a rock. He could grind it into powder with alchemy, carve it into arrowheads, sculpt it into a blade, the list goes on.


So now he has powder/arrowheads/blade. What now? He could further refine it himself with other materials to make a potion/arrow/sword, staying within that discipline, or he could use it as a material in another discipline. The most advanced items are the result of the combination of multiple disciplines enhancing what other games would consider a “finished” product.


Example Sword:


Iron Longsword

Damage: 2-8 Slashing


A blacksmith uses 100% quality iron to craft an uncommon (giving it a random property) sword with excellent numerical stats.


Flawless Iron Longsword

Damage: 4-16 Slashing

(no property chosen)


He uses enough iron to produce 4 of this sword, allowing him to choose among 4 different properties. He goes with Serrated.


Flawless Serrated Iron Longsword

Damage: 4-16 Slashing

Property: Bleed 100%


He then gives the sword to the enchanter, who enhances it further. The enchanter is careless though and uses a 50% quality material, bringing the total quality of the weapon down to 50%


Average Serrated Necrotic Iron Longsword

Damage: 3-12 Slashing

Property: Bleed 50%

Property: Necrosis 50%

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 5: How is this not locking me out yet?

The Skills
​

Skills are sorted by their Governing Attribute, which grants bonuses based on the skill, as well as a lesser bonus to other skills in the overall category (physical or spiritual)



Sample Skill: Short description of the skill.

Prerequisite Skills: (prerequisite skill must be of equal or higher level)

- Scaling Benefit by Level. Usually 1%

- Other Benefits, usually from synergy with abilities from other Attributes.

Spoiler: Brawn Skills:

Sunder: Bonus Damage to objects, including enemy gear.

- 1% chance to deal bonus damage to Objects.


Disarm: Chance to Disarm foe.

Prerequisite: Sunder.

- 1% chance to disarm damaged weapons from foes.

Synergy: This effect counts as a Sunder.


Cleave: Chance to deal overkill melee damage to another foe.

- 1% chance to apply overkill damage to another adjacent enemy.


Follow Through: Chance to deal melee damage to foe when Sundering.

Prerequisite: Sunder, Cleave

- 1% chance to deal 1%(capped at 100) of melee damage when sundering a weapon.



Charger: Chance to deal bonus Melee Damage to targets when sprinting.

- 1% chance to deal bonus damage to targets when sprinting towards them.


Dragoon: Chance to deal Melee Damage to targets from above.

Prerequisite: Charger

- 1% chance to deal automatic Melee damage to a foe when striking while falling.

Synergy: Falling counts as Sprinting for charger.


Shocktrooper: Knock back enemies struck while charging.

Prerequisite: Charger

- 1% chance to knock back a foe hit with a melee attack during a charge.


Hordebreaker: Knock aside groups of foes.

Prerequisites: Charger, Cleave, Shocktrooper

- 1% chance to knock aside enemies while sprinting.

Spoiler: Universal

Universal skills have no governing attribute, instead gaining 1/6th the bonus from all Primary Attributes

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 6: Electric Reservaloo

The Monsters

​

If it's humanoid and sentient, it's probably not a generic monster. Humanoid foes are generated by the same ANPC system as the NPCs, giving them names, character builds, and surprising abilities.

If it sounds like a random loot drop in creature form, it's probably a generic mob.
Example: Savage Tuskboar of Endurance

If it sounds like it earned a name through a deed, it's probably a unique mob.
Example: "Kingslayer"

If it sounds like it was named by a member of its own kind, it's probably an ANPC mob.
Example: an orc named "Gort Hollowtooth"

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 7: The Direct to DVD Sequel

The Events
​

Due to the interactions of ANPCs and the dynamic NPC behavior, Events are scripted, but only in the loosest of terms. NPCs have reactions to events around them and take steps to restore the status quo, making cascading events and general chaos in an area very common, but short lived.

Spoiler: Suspicion and Karma

brb, getting the content from my gdoc

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 8: Written by M.Night Shyamallamadingdong.

The Content​

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 9: The one where everyone dies.

The Community​

 

[Kazimir3701]

Reserved 10: The one where they retcon everything.

The Rest​