Fantasy RPG Without the Adventure

Rybo5001 · 2012-07-30T02:31:52

I've been watching these 'Olaf of Skyrim: From Rags to Riches' on youtube; their very funny and interesting to watch. Essentially a man is role playing as Olaf, a homeless nord with no magical or adventuring skills; the player has set himself rules that he can only earn money through lawful legitimate means. He cannot murder or steal, his ambition is to become rich through farming, mining and hunting animals. Another interesting tidbit: he also has to eat three meals a day and sleep at night. So it got me thinking, would a game centred purely on this concept be fun? It'd be like The Sims in a way, you're just a normal person living an ordinary life. You can't do quests, you aren't powerful enough to fight more than deer and you have to make a living in this fantasy world. Maybe you can help heroes who do real quests by smithing them weapons; if you get enough money you could open a bakery or something. You'd get effects happening to you, like if you do not sleep you could pass out, not eating weakens you and you may die; you thirst, maybe have relationships? Random events could also be interesting, so you are affected by the world around you. For example if there are two warring factions, the enemy could come in to slaughter the villagers (including you) but you're too weak to defend yourself from more than a few people. Maybe your wife gets captured and taken away, bandits burst into your home and mug you. I'd also enjoy the idea of an actual economy that could be affected, for example if you sell bread and the nearby farm gets burned down, you lose your wheat supply. But the key point here I'd like to make is to be realistic, getting rich should be really really difficult; and even if you become level 100 with maxed out skills the game should still be difficult; you'll never ever be able to battle a dragon or take on dozens of enemies. And not every skill can be levelled up, if you are a smith you can't suddenly become a good chef or sellsword. What do you think? Could playing the NPC be fun or too restrictive?

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Rybo5001 July 20, 2012 02:29 AM

20 comments, last by Rybo5001 11 years, 8 months ago

aattss3

387

July 25, 2012 04:19 PM

[quote name='Densoro' timestamp='1342760641' post='4961181']
Still, it seems like it'd be very easy to fall into a pattern of "Water the crops, pluck the barley, help at the bakery, go to sleep, repeat." The problem with marketing your game on having an unremarkable adventure is that it'll be...well, unremarkable.

Now there's an idea - be as refreshingly honest as possible with the marketing.

"This game is probably the most boring one you'll keep playing."
"You wouldn't want your livestock to die from neglect, now would you?"
"Congratulations on your purchase, peasant. Now get back to work!"
"Starvation, dysentery, and dying has never been this much fun since Oregon Trail!"
[/quote]

I sort of imagined that in this game you wouldn't actually have to do the boring stuff. In other words, you would go to a menu and select what crops you would grow. I also imagined that you would be able to become something higher if you did it right, but only in a realistic way.

Rybo5001

517

Author

July 30, 2012 02:31 AM

I sort of imagined that in this game you wouldn't actually have to do the boring stuff. In other words, you would go to a menu and select what crops you would grow. I also imagined that you would be able to become something higher if you did it right, but only in a realistic way.

No, the way I conceived this was that you would be doing that. However, the option to hire others to do such tasks for you is available.

Fantasy RPG Without the Adventure

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Fantasy RPG Without the Adventure

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