Amateur Rules Lawyer
That would be a nice change of pace. But since she’s the Chosen One, she needs a skill or power that her son and his friends don’t have, ideally one that still fits her role as Team Mom, and that puts her in a unique position to defeat whatever threat is in the prophecy.
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
I was thinking that the game would tie into the power of motherhood and how it ties into how mothers affect others. I was thinking maybe she could be chosen to be the Great Saint of a banned religion in the land. The Great Saint would be a being with great powers I was thinking in this setting an empire that has ruled for centuries has banned the religion and underground groups are secretly practicing it. It could be the job to defeat the empire and bring back the religion into practice. The Great Saint would be someone who is called to do great things in the world and has a unique power (like the real saints) bestowed upon them.
Amateur Rules Lawyer
Maybe, since she has the power to affect others, the mother is the White Mage, and the empire uses dark magic or undead that are naturally vulnerable to her powers. Her unique powers might be the ability to cleanse people of the taint of dark magic, and perhaps she can also learn spells from other forms of magic when all other casters are a Master of One Magic.
Just be careful when handling the religious aspects; unless the empire forces people into an obvious Religion of Evil, some players will have misgivings if your main characters treat any nonbelievers as evil by default.
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
It would be an awesome idea to have her be a White Mage. As you said she would be a threat, because the empire is built on a Religion of Evil which practices black magic. I do probably think it would be better to have the Religion of Evil route. The banned religion would be shown as the the Saintly Church in contrast. Maybe have the religion be based around the White Mage archetype. And no one has seen white mage type figures for years, due to being banned but the mother becomes the first open one when she opposes the empire. Heck, she could even be a White Magician Girl and have even some powerful offensive moves.
Also her son in contrast with her would be a stereotypical sword-wielding hero. The mother and son would live in the Empire and have seen what the empire is willing to do in order to further conquest. The backstory with the mother's husband/son's father is that he was drafted into the army and forced to undergo fusing with the Black Magic that the empire mandates. There are sometimes when people get too much dark magic and become corrupted, which can cause to go out of control and lose themselves which at that point they have be put down or used as monsters to set upon enemy forces . And that was the fate of the father/husband. And when the empire comes demanded any available man to be drafted the mother puts her foot down and refuses to give her government what it wants. Her son decides to run away from home so he doesn't get in trouble, but then in the middle of the night she sees his mother is coming with him because she can't bear to see her precious boy by himself and they go off together and that's where the story shall begin.
Edited by firewriter on Feb 21st 2021 at 12:15:01 PM
Amateur Rules Lawyer
Since the mother is a healer, and the son is a tank, maybe the son’s mentor figure should be a DPS to round out the trio? Then you have the son’s love interest(s); I think it would make sense if they also complement the son’s combat role, perhaps by wielding other weapons in the Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors. You’ll want more characters, which can be connected to the plot and world-building; if you have a cool character concept off the top of your head, change the plot or world slightly so they fit, and if you have a plot thread to fulfill or faction to introduce, you might make a character tailored to fill that role.
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
I envision the mentor as a Minotaur Beastman who refused to be drafted into the empire's ranks and is now secretly nursing a community of believers behind caverns of a waterfall. Yeah, I do see him as damage type of class user. I envision the empire having great prejudice against non-human races. I do think races deemed demi-human get slightly better treatment than those deemed monster races. Demi humans would include dwarves, elves, gnomes, hobbit-stand ins, pixies, merefolk, plant folk, and giants. Monster races would include beastmen, orcs/ogres, goblins, trolls, lizard folk, snake folk, wing folk, and kobolds.
Also I imagine the love interest of the son would be the daughter of the Emepror of the country. So, she would basically have the princess runaway from home due to believing what her father is doing is wrong and getting more and more interested in the history of the old religion.
Amateur Rules Lawyer
Then the love interest would probably be a Lady of Black Magic, given The Empire relies so heavily on that type of magic. A few ideas for other characters:
The princess's bodyguard, who goes with her because it's the best way to keep her safe under the circumstances. May betray the heroes when there's a good opportunity to send the princess back to her father.
Some demi-humans/monsters from the mentor's community. I imagine that, due to the mentor's tutelage, most of them use physical damage.
One or two people leading the underground groups of the Saintly Church. One of them is probably a rogue type, who deals with the criminal connections necessary to keep the groups connected and supplied.
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
Prodigy of Procrastination
This is a fantastic idea. I'd play that game.
Speaking of the Big Bad, I was wondering whether I should make the head of the Empire a Empress or Emperor. Mostly because if it's a woman then she could be used to contrast with the mother main character. If he's a man, then the princess could seek a mother like figure in the mother character.
Amateur Rules Lawyer
It could go either way really. What personality do you envision for the emperor/empress?
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
What I imagine the Empress/Emperor to be is from the line of rulers who have embraced the Religion of Evil established in the country. The Relgion Of Evil would have been established 100-300 years ago by the ruler who first embraced it and turned the country from a kingdom into an expanding empire. I do think the ruler would have been intending to mold his/her daughter into the image of an heir they want to continue the empire. The Empress/Emperor himself is a product of a long line of embracing the insanity of the dark religion. As a result, it affects their parenting towards the princess.
What I imagine the Empress/Emperor to be is from the line of rulers who have embraced the Religion of Evil established in the country. The Religion of Evil would have been established in the country about 100-300 years ago by the ruler who first embraced it and turned the country from a kingdom into an expanding empire. I do think the ruler would have been intending to mold his/her daughter into the image of an heir they want to continue the empire. The Empress/Emperor himself is a product of a long line of embracing the insanity of the dark religion. As a result, it affects their parenting towards the princess. For the most part, I see them as being very cruel and believe that Might Makes Right. I do see him/her loving their daughter, but at the same time you can see that love is not a healthy kind of love but one that wishes to corrupt their offspring into continuing doing evil stuff or even endangering them because they believe it's what's best for them.
Edit: Id didn't mean to double post.
Edited by firewriter on Feb 23rd 2021 at 8:22:18 AM
Amateur Rules Lawyer
I think an Empress would be better, because you can juxtapose her relationship with her daughter and the protagonist's bond with her son, without creating Unfortunate Implications about the difference between the approaches of mothers and fathers. So, you have a basic plot - now, what about the fighting mechanics?
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
Amateur Rules Lawyer
Good; you don’t need to have the exact system written down yet, but you do want a basic idea of how each character’s abilities will translate to the battlefield.
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
So true. Also turn based is just the most common way of RP Ging.
Amateur Rules Lawyer
Do you have any other ideas for characters so far?
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
- A teenaged female dwarf who has mentored under Tarvos ( the mentor).
- Elven thief who helps fund the group.
-a teenaged Puck (hobbit stand in) bard whose family lineage has kept the songs of the original church alive.
Here are some characters I came up with through your advice.
Edited by firewriter on Feb 25th 2021 at 9:21:05 AM
Amateur Rules Lawyer
The bard and thief might be an idealist/cynic pair who, at the start of the game, often disagree with each other due to their differing ideas of what methods the church should resort to. The female dwarf could be your stereotypical Our Dwarves Are All the Same personality, but I think it might be better if you go in a different direction; give them some traits that fit with your standard dwarves, but also a few that don’t.
Edit: As for gameplay, the bard could have mass buff/debuff effects, the rogue has abilities to debuff enemies and make them especially vulnerable to allies’ attacks, and the dwarf is a tank, but in a different way than the son; perhaps she can regenerate health to make up for the damage she soaks, while the son relies on high defense to reduce attacks to Scratch Damage.
Also, I thought it would be cool if the Final Boss was a Battle in the Center of the Mind between the empress and the protagonist; you would start with only the mother on your team, and the empress’s side includes all the characters the mother made connections with, representing her inner fears and doubts. After each of them is defeated, that character is deployed to your side, with some dialogue representing how they became friends and the mother will never be alone. When they’ve all been dealt with, the empress and a copy of the mother (representing her own self-doubt blocking her potential) appear and can be defeated. Winning that battle allows the mother to cleanse the empress of corruption through the power of her determination and belief in herself.
Edited by Arcane101 on Feb 27th 2021 at 7:47:07 AM
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
That actually sounds good. A battle of wits with one another would be awesome. And being the one who would cleanse the empress of evil would be even more awesome. I do want the empress to face imprisonment since I don't want her to be off the hook just because he corruption was cleansed.
I do think although the female dwarf is a warrior. I would love to have something done with her which is a little bit more original. She would be beardless, is not greedy, and is not short tempered. I see her being a Religious Bruiser who values the banned religion. She would have a weapon that is connected with the religion and has been passed down through family. The dwarves in this setting would be very Scandinavian influenced and have Scandinavian accents, instead of the stereotypical Irish or Scottish. I think they would be very ritual bathers since in Norse culture they actually emphasized bathing a lot. Also in Dwarf society they would have women only religious leaders because it's based on the fact in Norse society there was only women religious leaders as well. I would have it in this setting the dwarves most valued mineral would be amber instead of gold, because a large import from Norse lands was amber.
Even though Elves are apart of Scandivianian mythology, it would be interesting to make Elves in this setting very Celtic inspired in contrast with the Scandinavian inspired dwarves.
Amateur Rules Lawyer
If the empress believes in the Religion of Evil, perhaps her corruption was the result of using whatever Artifact of Power is a MacGuffin in the story to channel Black Magic to dangerous levels, so while she might not be entirely accountable for the worst things she did toward the end of the game, her actions in the backstory and toward the beginning of the story more than warrant her imprisonment. Since her daughter knows how to wield Black Magic safely, she can confirm when the empress was acting of her own free will.
If amber is highly valued by dwarves, it could have magical properties; perhaps it can act as a Bag of Holding, and the few buildings made out of it are Bigger on the Inside.
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
The Black Magic probably could be like Psycho Power from Street Fighter which grows more and more powerful the more corrupt the user becomes. Purging more and more of their good side out.
https://www.gemsociety.org/article/history-legend-amber-gems-yore/
Also according to this link that I found the Vikings did animal carvings out of amber. And believed it gave that person the strength of that animal. Also amber in many cultures was said to hold magical energy. So maybe the dwarf character could use the carved magical amber to gain the powers of any animal she has or be a Beast Master. This also makes me think that maybe the dwarfs could also be people who known for their poems like the Vikings did as well.
Amateur Rules Lawyer
She could have a Stance System that gives her different buffs after using an ability, as well as a one-shot effect when swapping to a different stance. Each buff corresponds to a different animal that she channels. The concept can also be extended to other characters; for instance, the bard might swap between different melodies that impact which buffs and debuffs they give and the area of effect for them.
Of course I've gone mad with power. Have you ever tried going mad without power?
A stance system would be a cool idea. I could incorporate that part of the game play where everyone gets some stances and you could choose beforehand what kind of stances they could be in.
Edited by firewriter on Mar 3rd 2021 at 7:09:52 AM
You know how mother characters in rpgs are usually dead or just bit characters. I was thinking how about a mother character who not only decides to adventure with her son, but ends being The Chosen One and the protagonist. Her son would be depicted as the stereotypical RPG hero, while she gets fleshed out as someone who previously in her life stuck to home life and decided that the call to adventure might finally be for her.
It could show that sometimes the call to adventure can happen at any age and plays around with the idea of the The Chosen One and maybe the call can happen even if you have an established life in your 40's. Of course, the mother would be Older Than They Look type you see in anime. There would be focus on her husband and even have a romance with the mentor figure, who becomes a father figure to her son.
Also I could see her being a Shipper on Deck for whoever girl in the party that her son has Ship Tease with. She also would be the party's Team Chef and Team Mom, because again she's a stereotypical fantasy mom and she just has to. I could see her really be a source of comfort because I could see a lot of the people in the party being teens are young adults, who are orphans. So, having a mom figure would feel comforting for all for them. I think a big theme in the series would be about the importance of motherhood and how powerful a mother's love is.
Edited by firewriter on Feb 10th 2021 at 7:27:17 AM