"He wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer"
[Disclaimer 1: this is mostly a suggestion although stemming from general observations-feedbacks below, I know I’m committing a sin by posting it, I ask for absolution. I just didn’t want to lose that fleeting idea so I put it in words and just figured i would just share it for fun.]
[Disclaimer 2: I tried to be complete, I didn't try to make it short]
Hello!
So here’s an “idea” that would contribute to 5 alleged issues with Arelith’s design (that's the feedbacky-part):
- Improve low level players and high level players incentives to interact and need each other
- Improve max level adventuring activities and xp-sinks
- Improve reasons to visit low fame high level dungeons (#Minogonplant)
- Improve reasons for players to step out of their comfort zone when it comes to high level adventuring
- Improve the feeling of impact on the world. In a world where everyone and their dog killed 10 Ancient Red Dragons in the past week, the feeling of “heroism” and “making the difference” can be lost pretty fast in the grind, which IS an issue in an DnD game where being an adventurer/hero that makes the difference is kind of the main fantasy. [Note: I fully acknowledge that DM quests mostly contribute to fix that exact problem, but there’s not enough of them to actually impact a substantial amount of players, relying on them can never be the long lasting solution // I also acknowledge that someone really sinking himself in interfaction conflict RP and/or PVP can find that feeling of Heroism, but this thread is about PVE heroism]
I - [Prerequisites] Expand Area-tag system
We have most of them but here’s what we will need:
A [Wilderness] tag: Any place that is mostly wild and about nature
A [Populated] tag (or something like that): Any place that is claimed by a city, a town, a tribe (npc or not), etc
A [Magical] tag: Any place that is very special, extraordinary, or very “magical/wizardly”.
II - [Prerequisites] New System: Bless/curse area
Areas can now be tied to a set of buff or debuff. Comes with a vfx impacting players when entering the area and a message explaining that the area is cursed in an RP way.
Examples:
Cordor’s Northern Outskirts now give -1 AB -1 Damage.
The Malar Grounds now give +3 caster levels to all in it.
Note: The buffs/debuffs could be tied to factions or conditions (alignment), but I didn’t go that route in order to simplify.
III - Quest starter
Every hour, there is 1%+1% per past hour without such an event triggering, that an area in the game world gets “cursed” (see II). Note: the pool of areas is only taken from the MATERIAL PLANE and excludes epic level areas.
When a monster is killed in a cursed area by a player of relevant level (makes a minimum xp of 10+), it has a small chance to loot a strange item that will further the quest (who’s art will depend on the area-tag it was in, see I).
Note: This means that if authorities are warned of the curse, Level 30 armies cannot get to work on their own for now, they need to send appropriate-level fellows to investigate.
So, mister low-mid level just does his normal grind, and loots that item. He can discard it, leave it on the body, or, take it to higher authorities. There can be simultaneously more than 1 such an item in circulation. Loot chance must remain low to avoid a flood though.
That item is a sign/proof/focus of whom is behind the curse. On the item’s description there is a line at the end that tells the presumed origin of the threat (Alt: only diviners with greater divination focus can interpret and read the origin). The origin is randomly generated/picked from a pool of valid origins.
Example: Paush, Abazzur, whatever is the boss of the minogon plant, of the ooze temple, maurs, extraplanar-stuff-i-don't-know-about, etc
Now, the big guns (which took the item), can organize a party and visit whatever uber-threat that triggered the curse, and kill it. It is really meant for the hardest of the hardest dungeons (a pool of 10 different origins would be perfect).
IV - The ritual / curse undoing
Once victorious, the curse isn’t lifted, in the boss-room, the quest-item must now be used, which will start a “ritual sequence” to undo the curse. Alt: Not anyone can start the sequence, An epic Druid (or epic cleric with nature domain) will be needed for wilderness areas, an epic arcanist (or epic cleric with magic domain) for magic areas, or any epic cleric for Populated areas (see "I" for tags).
Upon use, the player is given 3 choices:
Remove curse area: Triggers one fat vfx that symbolizes the item breaking upon use. Each player-character in the boss room loses (100 000 XP / number of players in the room). The curse is lifted on the area.
Remove curse and Bless area: Same logic as the above except breaking the item takes time, the one using it is immobilized (cannot do anything) for 20 rounds, during which custom-made and uber stuff spawns to wipe the party. If they win the fight, then queue the simple version.
Imbue area curse: Triggers one fat vfx that symbolizes the item breaking upon use. The one that used the item loses 50 000 XP. The curse gets one additional effect and all numbers are doubled.
Note: removing a curse removes all "curse-plot" items that were generated so far tied to that curse, in all players inventory.
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Such an (admittedly) huge feature could lead to: self feeding-generated quests with no DM intervention that keep people busy, talking, grouping, plotting, at very high level, renewal of visitors for low-fame dungeons, XP-sink at max level, low-mid level interactions with high levels, high levels that save the day, place for diviners, and some room for traitors to make things worse… annnnnd yes, 1 year of development
Cheers guys, just wanted to share.