So You Want To/Write an RPG: Difference between revisions

[[Role -Playing Game|Put players on an epic adventure]]. With your Trusty Bag Of Tropes, you could have the player solve [[EndoftheThe End of the World Asas We Know It|world problems]], fight evil and maybe train [[Mons]].

Be sure to check out [[So You Want To/Write a Story|So You Want Toto Write Aa Story]] for advice that holds across genres.

You mess with [[Save Point]]s, and most of the players will hate you at some point or another. But the ease of restarting the game from just before your [[Critical Failure]] is, well, perhaps a little ''too'' easy. Consider that [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s such as ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' don't allow you to save and reset, and people still play ''them'' despite the potential for loss and disaster ("Gah! I just sold my epic sword for 40 silver! ''[[Big No|Nooooooo]]!''"). But also consider that ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' doesn't allow you to be killed, doesn't make you start all over from the beginning of the game, and ''does'' allow you to restart a mission—even ones where a major character got killed.

Another thing you could try is getting infected by [[The Corruption]] while fighting the enemy, going from a noble [[Paladin]] to a slavering Daemonspawn, [[And Then John Was a Zombie|the very thing you're fighting do destroy, something the character has been raised from birth to abhor]]. Abilities granted by [[The Corruption]] could be [[Cast Fromfrom Hit Points]], and tied to a [[Karma Meter]]. Not using it makes the game harder (and the abilities are wicked cool, like [[Animate Dead]] or [[Spawn Broodling]] or some other sub-set of [[Lovecraftian Superpower]], just to make it extra-difficult to resist using), but using it untill you accidentally kill yourself or hit zero Karma leads to a [[Downer Ending]] or [[Nonstandard Game Over]] because the [[Big Bad]] considers [[The Corruption]] to be "A gift, given to my children," and he/ she/ it therefore owns the character, body and soul. Getting a low Karma score brings into play "I-created-you-so-you-can't-touch-me", (which, as far as One knows, has no trope) making the [[Final Boss]] fight very hard. Low Karma score could [[And Your Reward Is Clothes|make a character gain]] [[Evil Is Sexy|a really slikny, revealing version of the Daemonhunter's uniform]], weather with [[Absolute Cleavage]] or [[Walking Shirtless Scene]] (manky, pockmarked grey skin optional), and they could get [[Uh-Oh Eyes]] and [[Spikes of Villainy]] and /or [[Shoulders of Doom]]. You could also have some weapons infected by [[The Corruption]], and make them steal HP whenever you make a successful [[Critical Hit]], and hurt the character when they miss. One could even go so far as to [[Transhuman Treachery|let the player keep going as a Daemonspawn if they bottom out their]] [[Karma Meter]], or a Zombie if their health hits zero.

''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'' took a sudden veer away from the traditional RPG setting with a modern yet fantastic world that worked up from crazy townsfolk to cultists, zombies, bigfoot, aliens, robots, and an underground community of talking monkeys. The hero withdrew funds from an ATM <s>machine</s>, drove around on a bicycle, killed monsters with a baseball bat, and could catch heatstroke from being in the sun too long. He could also get homesick (a serious status ailment that needed to be cured by a quick phone home). The fight with Giygas at the end is also required reading for those wishing to make a memorable [[Final Boss]], as it effectively conveys just how pants-wettingly terrifying a fight with an outright [[Eldritch Abomination]] should be.

You should strongly consider both, and experiment with other genres (and remember that a [[Standard Sci -Fi Setting]] is only slightly better, being the second most common) and non-standard [[Game System|character systems]].

''[[Blue Dragon]''] attempted to be a [[Cliché Storm]], and it was praised for it's traditional setting. It took some of the cliches to new heights, and managed to be original, avoid cliches, but still make the work a [[Cliché Storm]] at the same time. If you're going to use a [[Cliché Storm]], it's worth [[Playing the Player]] in some way, and subverting the tropes, while still using them as the framework for the plot.

[[Category:So You Want To{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]