Cutstuff Forum

Gaming => General Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Hallan Parva on March 09, 2014, 07:53:09 AM

Title: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on March 09, 2014, 07:53:09 AM

hi let's get to work


~Guild Quest~
An Experimental Fantasy RP
aka "some thing from some guy that will eventually die out some day"
hnnnnnggg why can't I make the font size 250 ;_;



As an aside, I like how Freeman's handling his Cutstuff Adventure RPG by saying "things will probably not be optimal at first so I reserve the right to balance while we play". He's basically been tweaking damage values and such as the game moves on. Note that because a lot of the older content planned out is around two or three years old and because I've also been making new content and revising things over the last two months or so, something somewhere is going to be broken and need fixing. Also there's the fact that the totally original do-not-steal damage formula hasn't been properly tested yet. So there's that.

Also there's going to be lots of Skype quotes. LIKE THIS ONE RIGHT HERE

Quote

[1:48:28 AM] SmashMan.EXE: I'm literally taking these old files from forever ago, reading things, going "this is cool this sucks this sucks this is awesome" and rewriting them
[1:48:28 AM] SmashMan.EXE: and also adding in other things because some people are dorks who play non-humans
[1:49:01 AM] SmashMan.EXE: like Freeman and Cutstuff Adventure sorta... except with more stuff :/
[1:49:14 AM] SmashMan.EXE: welcome to Smash Is Bad

Probably the most asked question I've gotten (people on Skype, mainly) is "Smash, how the dongs are things going to work this time? Don't you ever plan things before you announce them?" Yeah, I'm sort of running things from a stone tablet, and yeah I'm sort of pulling material out of my ass when I realize I missed something, but for the most part (http://www.cutstuff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=278396#p278396) I have a really really good idea of what I'm aiming for. Part of the reason I'm doing this is because I thought it would be fun to just say "fuck it let's go" and share my ideas and things with cool people I sort of know, and have fun doing it. Part of the reason is also because as imaginative as I can be, I'm nowhere near perfect, so there might be some really neat ideas that show up and I could be like "wow I would have never thought of that" and then it can just get slapped into place like a shiny new part to the Guild Quest machine. Also part of the reason is because it'll HELP ME GET BACK TO FUCKING WRITING

Quote from: "Lego"

I have generally found to enjoy the writing style that Smash tends to have. It tends to hold a large array of continuity which helps add to the ever expanding universe that seems to always exist. Connections made with other locations he created merges all of his new realities with his old ones which helps build his imaginary realm into a larger universe.

So basically you generous folks are going to run around in the world of my creation and do things in it. Cool. Like in most RPGs, characters can run around on the overworld and do things like talk up the townsfolk, buy items, eat some food, maybe take a nap. Sometimes characters get shoved into battle which is pretty standard as well. Select your abilities, take turns beating the snot out of each other until the other dudes die and you totally don't die, get some Experience, maybe get some neat swag, and move on with whatever it was you were doing. Actually, I'm a filthy liar; the battle system is actually pretty different than the cookie-cutter JRPG norm, but I'll go into depth in a later post.

Quote

[1:06:35 AM] Captain Rugal Bernstein of the Sky Noah: what the heck is a guild quest
[1:06:43 AM] Captain Rugal Bernstein of the Sky Noah: I've slightly heard of it from your ramblings
[1:07:11 AM] ToadeyPlusB: hi I'm typing up a front page for the inevitable thread
[1:08:16 AM] ToadeyPlusB: basically Guild Quest is my go-to original world for fun things with cool people, the sort of "pride and joy" of my works (co-founded by Shina woo)
[1:08:40 AM] ToadeyPlusB: we actually attempted an RP of it before somewhere else, but two of the main players dropped out for reasons and everyone else didn't fricken post aaaaaaaaaaa
[1:08:56 AM] ToadeyPlusB: basically this is "what happens when you punch a forum game with storyline"
[1:09:06 AM] ToadeyPlusB: or, more accurately, "what happens when you punch an RP with game mechanics"
[1:10:22 AM] ToadeyPlusB: Guild Quest is your tried-and-true fantasy JRPG-style adventure featuring quests given to you by The Guild (gasp), led by the two Guild Masters Jasper and Vilrich
[1:10:51 AM] ToadeyPlusB: except supercharged with unexpected dungeon mechanics, crazy characters, unconventional character classes, and Vilrich
[1:11:06 AM] ToadeyPlusB: I wish I could explain Vilrich better but... yeah, he's just sort of "Vilrich"
[1:11:13 AM] ToadeyPlusB: you have to experience Vilrich in order to understand Vilrich

Guild Quest has its set of rules to follow and a lore to abide by, but for the most part it's surprisingly flexible and we could set up a bunch of different adventures, silly or epic or involving mildly irritable flutist lizardfolk. The same could be said about character creation. Basically I didn't like how many systems basically made you think about your final character at the start of the game, due to the way they handled stat bonuses and penalties for classes or races. With Guild Quest, the goal was to encompass several clearly defined class archetypes, but give players some freedom in creating and levelling their character. Instead of a bunch of classes with specific prestige levels or a small pool of sharply contrasting roles, there are five beginner classes that branch off into sixteen champion classes, with many second-level class choices being shared by more than one beginner class. Instead of races or character types that have detailed and specific benefits, there are four general body types that characters can be classified as, with each body type having its own traits to separate different characters, but still being broad enough to encourage creativity for the character without sacrificing backstory or playstyle.

Quote

[2:42:42 AM] SmashMan.EXE: I think I managed to fit everything ever into four body types
[2:42:44 AM] SmashMan.EXE: gj me
[2:43:02 AM] Korby: i enjoy that the "races" are just body types
[2:43:16 AM] SmashMan.EXE: well they sort of are
[2:43:20 AM] Korby: it's a unique mechanic and doesn't make me stressed out over what i want to be when i grow up
[2:43:45 AM] SmashMan.EXE: bodies have some slight stat shenanners to make you feel special
[2:43:59 AM] SmashMan.EXE: or if you're a Spirit have fun playing Battle Network lol
[2:44:26 AM] SmashMan.EXE: but it's nothing drastic like OH MAN I'M AN ELF ELVES ARE SOOOO MUCH SMARTER THAN HUMANS I JUST HAVE SLIGHTLY LOWER PHYSICAL ATTACK IS ALL
[2:44:36 AM] SmashMan.EXE: because personally I think that's stupid
[2:44:53 AM] SmashMan.EXE: unless you're a Spirit in which case how's that damage multiplier taste lol

If it feels like I'm being vague as hell, it's sort of because that's on purpose. Cold Fusion and Korby already know what I'm plotting, but I'm intentionally leaving out specifics for two reasons. First off, I'll probably end up forgetting something vital anyway and someone's going to ask me a question that I totally failed to answer and I'll look like a total noob. Second off, I'm partially testing my defined grid of classes, weapons, and body types. I mentioned this earlier (http://cutstuff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=278462#p278462) in the Spamthread G.O.D. thread, but I'm curious to see if I've managed to adequately covered all the bases of RPG character conventions, even with a system as free-form and loosely defined as the one currently fueling Guild Quest. I really don't think I left anything out but I can't be too sure just yet!

Quote

[1:49:48 AM] Korby: do you specifically have to specialize in a weapon if you pick a class
[1:50:08 AM] Korby: like will i lose my wizardy powers if i'm not flailing a stick or book
[1:52:41 AM] SmashMan.EXE: what do you mean
[1:55:25 AM] Korby: do i have to use a staff/tome if i pick a wizard or could i be different and equip, as an example, an axe
[1:55:30 AM] Korby: same goes for everyone, really
[1:58:10 AM] SmashMan.EXE: class weapons just means you're better at using those types of weapons
[1:58:46 AM] SmashMan.EXE: specifically, you can use higher-tier weapons of that class
[1:59:07 AM] SmashMan.EXE: if your class is really bad at a certain weapon type, you might get attack penalties
[1:59:16 AM] SmashMan.EXE: but yeah you can totally put an axe on a wizzrobe
[1:59:21 AM] Korby: neat
[1:59:34 AM] Korby: i totally have an idea for what i want to go for then

That's pretty much it for introductions. Go ahead and comment about... well, anything, really. Or don't, it might be a while before posts decide to roll in. If I go over a core gameplay mechanic (like the battle system!) in a future update, I'll go ahead and link to it in this space down here.

Thanks for reading, and here's hoping for a successful RP for once.

Also, as a closing note: MODS I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE THE HELL TO PUT THIS so please don't get mad at me if I did it wrong

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Ceridran on March 09, 2014, 02:40:29 PM

Yeah, I would sign up immediately, had that been open.

It's too bad past Ceridran hasn't prepared anything.
Time to do that.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Jatea on March 12, 2014, 03:39:49 AM

ok so basically Smash originally wanted to see if his Guild Quest system thing was thorough enough to handle nearly everything (http://cutstuff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=278462#p278462)

so he was going to ask Cold Fusion to make a character so he could filter it through the system

but then he gave the task to the rest of us
and then he invited everyone on the forums to do the same

and then everybody was confused because Smash is keeping everything kinda hush-hush

but yeah I think all the guy wants is creation of characters
that are fun, well-written, and fleshed out

and then I threw together a thing on the morning of daylight saving time
finished it later
and now it resides in the character catalog

Argus, the Silver Picket Man (http://www.cutstuff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6279&start=100#p278543)

also functions as a bump because I also want to see where this goes

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on March 12, 2014, 04:59:01 AM

So from various Skype and 8BDM server conversations I've successfully managed to confuse nearly everyone.
That's cool and all, but how about I actually talk about some specifics? Sound good? Okay let's go for it.

Quote from: "Ceridran"

We're playing this via forums, right? I remember seeing that thing that was on a livestream where someone was doing a thing using some kind of engine thing and it was kind of a tabletop boardgame thing and everyone was using skype but that's just frustrating to get together for (...)

I honestly thought this much would've been clear, but yeah things are most likely going to be shoved in Cutstuff's general direction. The stream in question was done by Coldy and his college buddies, and while they were probably having the time of their lives, I can agree that -- to an outsider's view, at least -- things seemed a bit uncoordinated and dragged on for a while.

However, I'd still love to run through part of the game in a Skype call, if only because Skype calls are amazing and usually end with good quotes, okay ideas, and lots of bad jokes. If there were to be a group (most likely Korby's because he seems down with it) that would want to do that, I'd still end up archiving everything twice so people who weren't there understand what happened; first as a text log summarizing the party's actions, and second as an audiocast because some people really enjoy listening to us lean against the edge of sanity.



okay enough of that let's talk about battles

(click to show/hide)

Probably the most important concept is that both equipment and combat heavy rely on a system of Stars. Nearly everything a character can do is ranked a certain number of Stars, and has a number of times it can be done before needing to recharge. I guess you could think of everything as "skills" or "cards", to help simplify things a little. Even a default attack is a rated skill and takes up a slot in a character's loadout. Though there are eight slots for skills to be equipped, the limit in both space and Stars requires a bit of thought on what to bring to each adventure, instead of just abusing your best attacks over and over like in a regular RPG.

During battle, players can load skills to use during that turn, or they can spend the turn to pause and Collect their thoughts. Characters have three limits that change how they play in battle, partially influenced by their Class, Body, and equipment. These three limits (Focus Limit, Single Limit, and Multi Limit) determine how many actions that character can take in a single turn. On a character's status sheet, this information would be presented as Limit: 3, 2/4 -- with 3 being the Focus Limit, 2 the Single Limit, and 4 the Multi Limit. Understanding these values is vital to understanding how your character best performs in combat.

Okay, remember how skills are rated by Stars? Each skill's Stars rating not only affects how many skills can be equipped at once, it also affects how these skills can be used in battle. The three limits brought up earlier reflect the total number of Stars that can be played by a character in a single turn. The Single and Multi Limits are for characters who take more than one action during their turn. In the previous example (Limit 2/4) a character can use up to ???? worth of skills, but no single skill can be worth more than two Stars. This character might choose to use a skill with ?? and two skills with ?, or the character might choose to use two ?? skills, or they might choose to use the same ? skill four times in a single turn. Take note that regardless of how high an individual character's Multi Limit might reach, there is a maximum of five skills per character per turn that is always in effect.

If a character only uses one skill during their turn, they may be able to use skills more powerful than they normally could. This is where the Focus Limit comes into play. The Focus Limit represents the maximum number of Stars that can be played by a character if they only use a single skill. In the earlier example (Limit 3) our character can use a move worth ??? if used by itself, which could not be used if the character chose to activate multiple skills. Note that some skills might have hollow Stars in their rank; for example, ??? means it costs 2 Stars to equip that skill to a character but 3 Stars to use that same skill in battle.

Alright, now for that Collect command. Remember how I also said that each skill could only be used a certain number of times before it needs to recharge? Yeah this is where that's important. If a player runs out of points for their skills, they cannot fight, so what can be done to remedy this situation? Collecting allows a player to set aside their turn to partially recharge all of their equipped skills. When a player Collects, damage they take during that turn is slightly increased (to be exact, the enemy gets a one-Level bonus to their Power). While it may be reckless to do so without proper protection, Collecting can be done for as many turns in a row as the player likes, opening up a chance for a huge comeback! However, if the player is Downed during a turn spent Collecting, their skills won't recharge at all, so don't leave yourself vulnerable!

Well that certainly took long enough. Tune in next time, I'll be covering character types and the class system.



[12:07:21 AM] ToadeyPlusB: formatting the battle post
[12:07:27 AM] ToadeyPlusB: TGOT's post took me a little off-guard for a little
[12:07:33 AM] ToadeyPlusB: >a little for a little
[12:07:39 AM] ToadeyPlusB: gj me 10/10 sentence structure

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Tengu on March 12, 2014, 05:33:38 PM

SIGN ME THE FUCK UP

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Jman on March 12, 2014, 05:37:18 PM

(click to show/hide)

(http://static2.fjcdn.com/comments/I+don+t+care+how+much+diabeetus+is+in+that+I+_89f3d31fe5cede35d1a2e807e3ff8231.jpg)

I'd like in on this

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Colonel ServBot on March 12, 2014, 06:13:16 PM

Well, is there any sign up expiration date or anything? Like, when do we NEED to sign up by? I'm still looking into this, so far, I'm pretty impressed. It's also very interesting. So I might sign up later or not if I can actually get around to reading/ being able to post.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on March 12, 2014, 06:51:58 PM

Normally I'd wait until I finish the character creation post, but there are actual replies this time so I'll go ahead and answer things.

Quote from: "Colonel ServBot"

Well, is there any sign up expiration date or anything? Like, when do we NEED to sign up by? I'm still looking into this, so far, I'm pretty impressed. It's also very interesting. So I might sign up later or not if I can actually get around to reading/ being able to post.

Technically I haven't even started sign-ups yet, but I've already taken note of everyone who said they'd like to be a part of it so I can go around and remind them when I put up the character sheet. This would also be a good time to mention that I only plan on taking on a very small group of players at first (around four to eight), to better focus my efforts on creating a quality RP and giving each character the time and attention they deserve.


The battle post took a while getting up, but only because I had to retype the whole thing twice to get the wording to a point where I believed it would be the most understandable and the least confusing. Character creation should be up sometime tomorrow, if not late tonight.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Gumballtoid on March 12, 2014, 07:12:34 PM

Tell ya what, I'll just get my foot in the door for when sign-ups do show up. I have mild interest in this.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Thunderono on March 12, 2014, 07:14:15 PM

I'm somewhat interested, but I have have only the vaguest of ideas on what the hell's going on here so that's a definite maybe

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Ceridran on March 12, 2014, 08:21:48 PM

I've essentially already signed up beforehand, but hey: just making it clear.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Galactan on March 12, 2014, 09:18:54 PM

Sign me up, too.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Colonel ServBot on March 12, 2014, 09:37:10 PM

I guess I said I'd be interested in playing, but to also make it clear, I guess sign me kind of up.
However I may or may not withdraw later on due to time constraints or not, so far it looks like my schedule is clear. So cool.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Dr. Freeman on March 12, 2014, 09:41:01 PM

For some reason a skype call makes this sound more appealing.
Sign up maybe I don't know

Title: footage of smashbroplusb at work
Post by: Captain Barlowe on March 12, 2014, 10:33:05 PM

[6:32:08 PM] Captain Rugal Bernstein of the Sky Noah: wait smash
[6:32:12 PM] Captain Rugal Bernstein of the Sky Noah: did I already sign up or no
[6:32:24 PM] ToadeyPlusB: I think so ?????
[6:32:28 PM] ToadeyPlusB: I don't remember
[6:32:31 PM] Captain Rugal Bernstein of the Sky Noah: well I didn't post in the topic
[6:32:41 PM] ToadeyPlusB: also I'm working on character stuff woo

well I guess I'll join for fun and profit

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: LlamaHombre on March 12, 2014, 10:35:06 PM

Ign-say pee-uay?

Is that how that works?

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Isaac940 on March 13, 2014, 04:05:40 PM

This sounds interesting though a few questions do come to mind from reading that quick battle overview post;
-Is positioning important at all? Are battles going to work like an early final fantasy game where the teams just line up and hit each other or is going to be more like in D&D where attacks have ranges and you need to move so that your attack is in range and doesn't have interference from trees/teammates/other enemies/etc.? Or is it one of the ones in between like Suikoden's system (enemies and allies are arranged on a grid. The player grid is 2x3 and has a front and back row while the enemy grid can vary. Certain attacks hit rows, columns, crosses, etc. and the character's weapon determines where they need to be placed in the grid as certain weapons can only attack from the front row and more can only hit the front of an enemy column.)
-Do you sort of Auto-Collect after a battle? You mention that abilities have limited uses but can be recharged with Collect. So if I end a fight with a double attack at 2/4 charges, does it automatically refill or would I need to write out that I need to take an out of battle Collect or something?

-And now onto more general questions, the first of which is that do you still need more characters to try and put through the classes system? I guess I could dig up a few old tabletop characters I have if you still do.
-This is more of a clarification than anything else but I take it you plan on having this play out similar to a tabletop game in that you play how your character would act in the situations they end up in but results of actions tend to be determined through mechanics set out by the system?
-How fast do you expect this to go exactly? What I mean is that I guess barring situations where characters are just talking to each other, we would need the GM (you I guess) to determine events and results so how often would that happen?

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on March 16, 2014, 04:01:18 AM

hi

I would've had this up sooner (you know, like two days ago (http://cutstuff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=278862#p278862)) but Isaac asked some really good questions that made me reevaluate some of the choices I had made thus far, most notably the capacity of average skills. I'll be answering his questions first, then discussing character builds like I said I'd do before.

Quote from: "Isaac940"

(click to show/hide)

Is positioning important at all? Are battles going to work like an early final fantasy game where the teams just line up and hit each other or is going to be more like in D&D where attacks have ranges and you need to move so that your attack is in range and doesn't have interference from trees/teammates/other enemies/etc.? Or is it one of the ones in between like Suikoden's system (enemies and allies are arranged on a grid. The player grid is 2x3 and has a front and back row while the enemy grid can vary. Certain attacks hit rows, columns, crosses, etc. and the character's weapon determines where they need to be placed in the grid as certain weapons can only attack from the front row and more can only hit the front of an enemy column.)
I guess I forgot to mention that part, but an idea I had was that the party would arrange themselves on a 2x3 grid, which affects the damage of moves that hit more than one opponent but would otherwise have little to no impact on what happened. In a sense it's like how in Dr. Freeman's Cutstuff Adventure, the order of the party determines who takes radius damage from bomb attacks. I've never heard of Suikoden before but I like the idea, so it sounds like something I should be checking out!

Do you sort of Auto-Collect after a battle? You mention that abilities have limited uses but can be recharged with Collect. So if I end a fight with a double attack at 2/4 charges, does it automatically refill or would I need to write out that I need to take an out of battle Collect or something?
The original idea was that abilities would have plenty of uses (say, an average ability having 20 uses in a single slot) but that outside of the Collect command, you could only get more uses by resting up or visiting a Soul Crystal, the latter of the two only being present at dungeon midpoints or at the end of dungeons, before the boss. Obviously though, sometimes straight-up game mechanics don't really work that well:

[5:45:26 PM] Korby: in a roleplaying setting, you're expecting people to only use their weapon 8 times in half an hour??
[5:45:33 PM] Korby: "EPIC SWORD DUEL"
[5:45:38 PM] Korby: "wait guys sorry i only have one use left"
[5:45:41 PM] Korby: "guess i'll just go uh
[5:45:44 PM] Korby: sit in the corner"

So yeah, basically the abilities are going to have very limited uses (an average ability having 6 uses or so in a single slot) and things will recharge outside of battle. This also sort of makes Collecting a moot point outside of boss fights, but hey, I can't have people running out of attacks and being unable to do anything at all. That's just silly.

And now onto more general questions, the first of which is that do you still need more characters to try and put through the classes system? I guess I could dig up a few old tabletop characters I have if you still do.
I'd appreciate that, yeah. I'm not going to hold everything up for more characters, but it would be nice.

This is more of a clarification than anything else but I take it you plan on having this play out similar to a tabletop game in that you play how your character would act in the situations they end up in but results of actions tend to be determined through mechanics set out by the system?
winner winner chicken dinner

How fast do you expect this to go exactly? What I mean is that I guess barring situations where characters are just talking to each other, we would need the GM (you I guess) to determine events and results so how often would that happen?
Really the whole tabletop thing is just in place to avoid crazy shit from happening. "alright I'm writing this awesome monologue for my character and then he notices the ninjas mentioned in the last post even though my character shouldn't be able to notice them at all!! and then they DO AN EPIC BACKFLIP while throwing knives at the ninjas WITH THEIR FEET!!" Yeah no, that's really stupid. Then again I guess that's part of the reason I'm being kind of picky on who gets in the initial group, to avoid things like that, but for the most part I have faith in you guys being able to act sensibly and under control.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: xColdxFusionx on March 16, 2014, 04:14:21 AM

GuildQuest is finally actually coming to Cutstuff
Get hyped
[/reallylatepost]

Title: Smash says I was the best Star Man
Post by: Magnet Dood on March 16, 2014, 03:12:17 PM

If you have another spot, I would like to sign up.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Darkpaladin109 on March 28, 2014, 07:48:03 PM

Sounds interesting enough, so sign me up, I guess.
Also bump, I guess. Hopefully, there's nothing wrong with that. :|
This is starting to sound like the Cutstuff version of The Warrens. Not like that's a bad thing, buut let's not talk about that.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Galactan on May 06, 2014, 02:21:39 AM

You've been talking this up on Skype recently, and I've got a few questions because of it.
1. What will you be doing with the characters submitted to this?  Will they become classes, will you overlay classes onto them, or will they be NPCs?
2. Where are the classes coming from?  Are you making them?  Are we making them?  Are the characters submitted becoming them?
3. What exactly are you looking for in a character submitted to this?

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Korby on May 06, 2014, 06:28:30 AM

it's likely that you will play the characters in a selected class out of a list of classes he's already made

in terms of what characters he's looking for, i can't really answer that for obvious reasons, but just try to make them interesting people[read: not cookiecutter cloud clones] and probably not outright villainous

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Galactan on May 07, 2014, 01:30:29 AM

Unless sci fi is strictly prohibited, it sounds like this might be okay.
Sendrel (http://www.cutstuff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6279&start=120#p285240)

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Ceridran on May 07, 2014, 03:16:39 AM

So can I use my Kharidas fellow over there in this when it gets booted up

Because that would be neat

no

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on May 07, 2014, 04:10:15 AM

[9:49:10 PM] Galactan: Hi Smash
[9:50:00 PM] Galactan: I asked some questions on guild quest
[9:50:07 PM] Galactan: then Korby answered them like a cool guy
[9:50:17 PM] SmashMan: I've been trying to ignore the fact someone bumped that thread
[9:50:35 PM] SmashMan: don't force my hand good sir
[9:50:50 PM] Galactan: I then submitted a character
[9:50:54 PM] Galactan: hue


I really didn't want to post here because then people are going to swarm me with "WHERE'S THE CHARACTER CREATION TEMPLATE" or "UPDATE THE FRONT POST I DON'T KNOW WHAT GUILD QUEST EVEN IS" but Galactan has unfortunately asked a good question and I feel compelled to answer him since he actually cares somewhat.

Quote from: "Waruigi"

You've been talking this up on Skype recently (entirely my fault) and I've got a few questions because of it.

1. What will you be doing with the characters submitted to this?  Will they become classes, will you overlay classes onto them, or will they be NPCs?
None of the above. Basically I was asking for people so I could sample run them through the different aspects of character creation: body type / "race", character class, skill bonuses and flaws, and a starting loadout.

2. Where are the classes coming from?  Are you making them?  Are we making them?  Are the characters submitted becoming them?
For the most part, the classes are pretty set-in-stone. There has been one notable change to the roster between the time I first made this thread and the current time of posting (mainly, Trimaster became the much more interesting Hex Mage), but aside from that and some assorted small changes the classes are all predetermined.

3. What exactly are you looking for in a character submitted to this?
To be quite frank, not a whole lot. It's hard to peg down exactly, but Guild Quest has its own quirky flair about things. Characters like Argus the Picket Man are 'too' silly, but then you have things like Sendrel who are super serious. I guess you can describe it as "laid-back fantasy sci-fi"??? Regardless of flavor, I was only really looking for things to run through the character creation parts, so I'm not going to be using these guys for anything until I open up shop in a little while.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on May 15, 2014, 04:27:12 PM

and I'm sure nobody saw this coming

(click to show/hide)

Quote

[11:28:36 AM] Myroc: Why have a class that's specific for swords, then?
[11:28:55 AM] Myroc: You could instead make that class a Weapon Specialist and have its skills apply to the user's weapon of choice.
[11:29:05 AM] Myroc: With different flavors for the skills.
[11:29:31 AM] Myroc: (The skills would be identical mechanically but different cosmetically.)
[11:30:05 AM] SmashMan: I'm adapting most of the tabletop things from Pathfinder to begin with
[11:30:05 AM] SmashMan: and last time I checked their classes were better with certain weapons than others
[11:30:15 AM] Myroc: Well, yeah.
[11:31:14 AM] Myroc: I'm not saying that having a class that specifies in using a specific weapon is a bad thing, but it never hurts to make classes a bit flexible in that regard.
[11:31:49 AM] Myroc: I think a refresher on what the classes are could help me here

[12:43:37 PM] SmashMan: I'm probably going to change a few things to better incorporate the Flail subset
[12:43:37 PM] SmashMan: but this is the most recent list of classes

Blader > Great Knight, Soulblade, Marauder, Ranger
Scholar > Cleric, Stargazer, Soulblade, Hex Mage
Grappler > Marauder, Brawler, Bandit
Melder > Deadshot, Holomancer, Machinist, Chameleon
Thief > Bandit, Ranger, Deadshot, Voidwalker, Chameleon

[12:44:26 PM] Myroc: Let me guess, Base Classes and Advanced Classes?
[12:44:31 PM] SmashMan: yiss
[12:44:42 PM] Myroc: See, that's what I don't like
[12:44:48 PM] Myroc: You have the obvious fighter-type class
[12:44:53 PM] Myroc: Which is good and all
[12:45:00 PM] Myroc: But then you make him focus on swords and only on swords
[12:45:32 PM] Myroc: Which kind annoys me.
[12:46:08 PM] Myroc: What if I want to be a barbarian fighter-type with a huge fuck-off axe? Or a knight-type with a lance or the like.
[12:47:14 PM] Myroc: I still think the better idea would be for that class to pick a preferred weapon on a per-player basis.
[12:47:58 PM] Myroc: The axe-specialist, lance-specialist, sword-specialist would all be functionally identical beyond the different weapons they wield, but you're no longer forced to bring a sword if you want to be the party's fighter.


[10:12:19 PM] SmashMan: Myroc has me thinking about the universe
[10:12:54 PM] SmashMan: how do you have classes with specific special moves and not have them locked to a certain weapon class or group of weapons
[10:30:49 PM] Korby: depends on the special moves
[10:31:44 PM] Korby: you could always have a generic set of special moves (e.g. mighty swing, hurricane spin, jump strike) and have specific ones for different categories
[10:32:05 PM] Korby: so that the characters have even more customization, and also have similar playstyles
[10:32:20 PM] * SmashMan raises hand
[10:32:23 PM] * SmashMan stops
[10:32:35 PM] SmashMan: god damn it that is -literally- Star Force
[10:32:41 PM] SmashMan: why did I not think of that myself
[10:33:25 PM] SmashMan: I'll have to retool the classes -again- but it'll probably be more than worth it

Long story short, tabletop RPGs are finicky fragile little things, Myroc raised a good point, and once again I changed my mind on something.


SO REMEMBER THIS PART

Quote from: "SmashBroPlusB"

Quote from: "Waruigi"

2. Where are the classes coming from?  Are you making them?  Are we making them?  Are the characters submitted becoming them?
For the most part, the classes are pretty set-in-stone. There has been one notable change to the roster between the time I first made this thread and the current time of posting (mainly, Trimaster became the much more interesting Hex Mage), but aside from that and some assorted small changes the classes are all predetermined.

YEAH WE'RE MOVING THINGS AROUND NOW


In an attempt to both allow a greater degree of character customization and to prevent myself from losing all mental sanity, I'm going to be retooling or otherwise removing the concept of "base classes" and will instead focus on (what were previously called) champion classes. I'm still not going to throw anything up here for the moment, but I'm also putting together a short "rulebook" with information on all the different gameplay mechanics. Every other tabletop RPG I can think of has a rulebook, useful for looking up information about certain stats or how to calculate damage or some other third thing, and I feel like having one would really help clear up some of the confusion around here. Unless anyone objects, the rulebook will be saved as a .odt file (OpenOffice text format).

Thanks for waiting while nothing happens, we appreciate your continued support.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Ceridran on May 15, 2014, 04:43:27 PM

AAA THANK YOU MYROC-- and smash for going along.

See that's what was wrong with many MMORPGS like Maplestory, in that you had that type of class system. Offensive Mages have to wear glass armor and choose between Fire/Poison and Ice/Lightning, but if I want Poison/Lightning while wearing warlock's armor, then too bad.

Let's not get started on the limits of healers..

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on June 29, 2014, 05:53:01 PM

The rulebook is coming along nicely, and I'm slowly approaching the point of where I feel comfortable with opening signups. I'd like to get a general head-count of how many people are seriously interested in a long-term role-playing adventure, so (if you're interested) if you could let me know somehow (in this thread, via Skype or Steam, even a message in-game when I'm playing 8BDM works fine) that would be much appreciated. I'm getting a handle on how I want to organize things, and I'm currently debating whether I want to host this on the forums (e.g. "text RP") or if I want to utilize a third-party client and have designated "game times" (e.g. something like Roll20 or a similar chat service).


In the meantime, have the first main mission posting.

(click to show/hide)

Quote from: "Guild Master Jasper"

Spice of Life
Difficulty: ???

Recently, a lack of random encounters has been observed in the northeastern area surrounding Mekkaden and Klernping. While it is true that an outbreak of monsters can increase enemy hostility levels and therefore lead to village raids and attacks on travelers, an absence of monsters is even more threatening to the area's balance. Without friendly encounters healing and carrying travelers, or enemy encounters providing a steady stream of Experience and M-Bits, the harsh desert sands quickly take their toll on the population. If the situation isn't resolved soon, we could soon be looking at some serious perma-deaths.

Your task is simple. First, find and clear a random encounter in the desert. It doesn't matter what monster it is or how weak it may be; a monster is a monster at this point, and we'll take anything we can get. Once you have sufficient battle data, take it to the Guild Outpost situated in Mekkaden for analysis. Hopefully then we can find out what's causing the monster shortage, and put a stop to it. If you need any assistance or request further instruction, ask to meet with the Guild Master of the Guild Outpost. His name is Marcus Steel, though you may find him earlier by looking for "Mars".

Good luck, and don't disappoint me.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: xColdxFusionx on June 29, 2014, 06:48:55 PM

*raises hand*

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Ceridran on June 29, 2014, 07:37:31 PM

I can't let this one go by without being a part of it.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Myroc on June 29, 2014, 08:30:46 PM

But of course.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Shina-K on June 30, 2014, 03:01:26 AM

Oh sweet, this thread is a thing here.

Now kiddies make sure you keep up with your paperwork.
orJaspermightendsomeone'slife

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Jatea on June 30, 2014, 03:10:43 AM

[1:42:16 PM] A big teddy bear: yo

might as well have something else to do

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Galactan on June 30, 2014, 05:25:13 AM

Sure, I'll sign up.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Gumballtoid on June 30, 2014, 12:28:34 PM

I think I'll get my foot in the door, assuming this doesn't end up like Cutstuff Mafia Dinner Theater.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Thunderono on June 30, 2014, 03:04:05 PM

I was debating on whether or not to join but sure let's go

I'd be interested in seeing an example of a battle though to get a feel of what to expect

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on July 15, 2014, 01:11:08 AM

Alright, so Guild Quest is nearing its first public Build Quest if you catch my drift. Currently looking for someone who would be willing to co-DM one of the party campaigns. Basically, someone to watch over everything and push the party around places. I'll also need you for general game feedback and a possible mechanics test, which is why I'm bothering to ask for people now instead of later. At the moment I am prioritizing finishing up the Body attributes (I swear feats are the most impossible things to balance ever) so character creation can finally be a thing. Afterwards I'll push the first version of the player handbooks and request people to make characters so I can assign them to parties.


As always, thank you for your extended patience and understanding.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: xColdxFusionx on July 23, 2014, 03:11:08 AM

Guildmaster Celeste here, here to say Vilrich is a massive butt and is far behind on paperwork.

If you're reading this, Vilrich, get off your lazy ass and be valuable to the Guild for once in your life.

Title: Re: Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]
Post by: Hallan Parva on August 18, 2014, 06:38:23 AM

jam's done
I can work on this now
woo


this is the part where I stay up talking to Kapus about game mechanics

(click to show/hide)

[1:59:14 AM] ???? ?: all of the lore
[1:59:25 AM] SmashBro: I have a shit-ton of lore
[1:59:29 AM] SmashBro: for nearly everything
[1:59:43 AM] SmashBro: which is why I'm super excited about finally getting around to starting Guild Quest
[1:59:54 AM] ???? ?: what's a guild quest
[1:59:54 AM] SmashBro: all of my lore suddenly crashing down on the collective Cutstuff populace
[2:00:09 AM] SmashBro: uh
[2:00:16 AM] SmashBro: a tabletop RPG I literally made from scratch
[2:00:42 AM] SmashBro: Cold Fusion took so long hosting his Cutstuff Tabletop Night that Myroc offered to start a Pathfinder campaign (it's similar-ish to DnD, I've heard)
[2:00:56 AM] SmashBro: but Myroc couldn't come up with a storyline and then IRL hit his face
[2:01:09 AM] SmashBro: so I was like "okay fuck it I'll just make a game based on Guild Quest"
[2:01:14 AM] ???? ?: I haven't heard of either of these, haha
[2:01:25 AM] SmashBro: Guild Quest being an original storyline thing I used in an RP once
[2:01:28 AM] ???? ?: I'm such a bad community member
[2:01:32 AM] SmashBro: so I started making rules and things
[2:01:46 AM] SmashBro: and Cold Fusion came back from the dead and decided "hey I'm finally hosting Shadowrun game night now"
[2:02:00 AM] SmashBro: so I was like "I'm going to wait until after I play a few sessions of this"
[2:02:05 AM] SmashBro: "learn some tricks of the DM trade"
[2:02:15 AM] SmashBro: turns out Cold Fusion SUCKS ASS when it comes to being DM
[2:02:37 AM] SmashBro: (DnD is Dungeons and Dragons)
[2:03:08 AM] ???? ?: Hmmm
[2:03:16 AM] ???? ?: I've always wanted to do a DnD someday
[2:03:26 AM] ???? ?: and some friends of mine were planning to start one and invite me to it
[2:03:30 AM] ???? ?: but it never got off the ground
[2:04:29 AM] ???? ?: I've never been in one at all


[2:04:39 AM] SmashBro: I'd point you to the Guild Quest thread but I'm super fucking vague about everything there so it probably wouldn't help in the slightest
[2:05:10 AM] SmashBro: but basically I got fed up with stupid shit like point-buy systems and initiative passes and why do I have to roll three sets of eight dice for ONE MOVE
[2:05:58 AM] SmashBro: so the entire concept of Guild Quest is to simplify the most frustrating parts of the tabletop experience, such as character creation, organizing skills and attacks, ammo / mana consumption, and the ever-dreaded dice roll marathons
[2:06:24 AM] ???? ?: Making it more accessible
[2:06:29 AM] SmashBro: while at the same time adding a bit of complexity and change to the one thing tabletops either get perfect or make completely garbage
[2:06:31 AM] SmashBro: THE COMBAT SYSTEM
[2:06:46 AM] SmashBro: seriously, Shadowrun has one of the downright worst battle systems I've ever seen in my life
[2:07:02 AM] SmashBro: the entire rest of the game goes so smoothly
[2:07:07 AM] SmashBro: roll dice, make checks, cast abilities
[2:07:10 AM] SmashBro: then you get in a fight
[2:07:19 AM] SmashBro: 10 minutes to take one turn FOR ONE PLAYER
[2:07:34 AM] ???? ?: sounds gross


[2:07:54 AM] SmashBro: I describe combat as "a weird unholy fusion of Paper Mario and Battle Network"
[2:08:28 AM] SmashBro: basically every character in the game can equip a certain number of weapons, special moves, and passive skills to their person at any given time
[2:08:55 AM] SmashBro: special moves require certain types of weapons to use them (e.g. a fire slash would require the user having a cutting weapon)
[2:09:23 AM] SmashBro: weapons only have basic attacks, so to do anything useful you need to grab special moves that go with the weapons you want to use
[2:09:37 AM] SmashBro: here's the catch: special moves eat up Capacity Points when you use them
[2:09:48 AM] SmashBro: and the only way to increase your Max CP is to equip weapons
[2:10:12 AM] SmashBro: each weapon has a CP value assigned to it, and when you have that weapon in your loadout, you gain that much Max CP
[2:11:04 AM] SmashBro: so if you have Fighter's Sword (+15 CP) and Heavy Knuckle (+10 CP) equipped, your character would have 25 maximum CP with which to cast special attacks
[2:11:22 AM] ???? ?: I haven't played BN but I see the Paper Mario in it


[2:11:36 AM] SmashBro: you can also use more than one move per turn
[2:11:55 AM] SmashBro: each move (including default attacks) costs a certain amount of Capacity Stars
[2:12:22 AM] SmashBro: you can play moves whose total Stars value is less than or equal to your character's Turn Capacity value
[2:13:08 AM] SmashBro: so if a move costs ?? and your dude has 5 Capacity, you can use that move twice in one turn but not three times
[2:13:21 AM] SmashBro: sounds easy enough, right
[2:13:29 AM] SmashBro: BUT THERE'S A CATCH
[2:13:40 AM] SmashBro: some moves also have these things on them, Hollow Stars
[2:14:09 AM] SmashBro: Hollow Stars can "overflow" from a character's Capacity without counting against them, but only if those stars are outside of the Capacity window
[2:14:25 AM] SmashBro: so let's say you have Dragon's Luck (??) and Golden Slash (??)
[2:14:33 AM] SmashBro: your character has 5 Capacity
[2:15:07 AM] SmashBro: you can play Dragon's Luck and then two Golden Slashes becase your attack grid would look like ?[?, ??, ??]
[2:15:38 AM] SmashBro: but you can't play two Golden Slashes and then Dragon's Luck, as the whole thing won't fit inside of the attack grid [??, ??, ?]?
[2:16:26 AM] ???? ?: I was confused for a moment but I get it now
[2:16:43 AM] SmashBro: you also can't play Dragon's Luck more than three times, for the same reason
?[?, ??, ??,] ??
[2:16:53 AM] SmashBro: Hollow Stars inside of the attack grid still count towards that turn's Capacity

[2:17:38 AM] SmashBro: I had a lot of fun designing the battle system to be honest
[2:18:03 AM] ???? ?: Yeah!! I'm sure!


[2:18:22 AM] SmashBro: not to sound intimidating
[2:18:33 AM] SmashBro: but this is just half of the whole combat scene
[2:18:44 AM] SmashBro: there's also a 2x3 grid for both parties, and attacks have ranges to them
[2:19:04 AM] SmashBro: you can move to a different space at the beginning of your turn, or at the end of your turn if you have a special move skill
[2:19:43 AM] SmashBro: units can share spaces during a turn, but automatically get bumped to adjacent spaces if they're still sharing by the end of a turn
[2:19:52 AM] ???? ?: sooo
[2:19:56 AM] ???? ?: sort of FE-esque?
[2:20:02 AM] SmashBro: sort of
[2:20:18 AM] ???? ?: I don't play a lot of strategy games aahhh
[2:20:24 AM] SmashBro: like if Fire Emblem movement/attack mechanics were put into Battle Network's grid
[2:20:41 AM] SmashBro: like okay real talk
[2:20:47 AM] SmashBro: even at Level 1 with the default skill set
[2:20:55 AM] SmashBro: there is a LOT that can be done in battle
[2:22:14 AM] SmashBro: oh yeah, I almost forgot the best part
[2:22:17 AM] SmashBro: stats aren't stupid
[2:22:26 AM] SmashBro: everything's super low numbers, even HP
[2:22:48 AM] SmashBro: an enemy having 40 HP is a legitimately scary threat
[2:23:08 AM] SmashBro: stats outside of HP are also measured in Ranks
[2:23:15 AM] SmashBro: four points in a stat gives that character one Rank
[2:23:28 AM] SmashBro: so having 9 Speed would give them Speed Rank 2
[2:23:30 AM] ???? ?: once again, like Paper Mario
[2:23:37 AM] SmashBro: having 16 Speed equals Speed Rank 4
[2:23:55 AM] SmashBro: Rank is all that matters once you enter battle
[2:24:12 AM] SmashBro: damage formulas are calculated with your offensive stats' Rank instead of the exact number; same thing with damage reduction
[2:24:33 AM] SmashBro: turn order is your Speed Rank x2, plus the result of a six-sided die
[2:25:00 AM] SmashBro: the individual points in stats ARE useful for something besides level-ups, though
[2:26:09 AM] SmashBro: nearly every item in the game that increases a character's stats does so by a multiple of 3 (e.g. Cosmos Charm grants +3 ATN / +3 SPD)
[2:26:47 AM] SmashBro: wearing the Cosmos Charm while you have 12 Attunement wouldn't do anything meaningful; it raises the stat to 15, which is still Attunement Rank 3
[2:27:05 AM] SmashBro: but if you have 13 points of Attunement, you get boosted to 16 ATN (Rank 4)

[2:27:49 AM] SmashBro: is any of this making sense


[2:28:39 AM] ???? ?: So
[2:28:49 AM] ???? ?: You shouldn't really care what your specific numerical stat is
[2:28:52 AM] ???? ?: so much as the actual rank
[2:28:56 AM] SmashBro: pretty much
[2:29:01 AM] ???? ?: yeah that makes sense
[2:29:07 AM] SmashBro: the number is sometimes relevant when it comes to stat-boosting gear
[2:29:09 AM] SmashBro: but besides that yeah
[2:29:15 AM] ???? ?: also puts some specific strategy in choosing your equipment
[2:29:32 AM] SmashBro: that's the whole point yeah
[2:29:37 AM] SmashBro: don't just load up on ultimate spells
[2:29:48 AM] SmashBro: you might want the weaker tome simply because it gives you twice as much CP
[2:30:07 AM] SmashBro: and just focus on playing that tome several times in one turn to equal the damage output of the stronger tome you passed up on
[2:30:45 AM] SmashBro: or you might want the ultimate tome anyway because you're fighting some douche who lowers your Capacity and you need to throw one good shot at them
[2:33:11 AM] ???? ?: Right
[2:34:32 AM] SmashBro: really I just wanted to let people have a reason for using the weaker moves
[2:34:48 AM] SmashBro: a lot of RPGs (and tabletop games) have skills that straight-up replace older ones
[2:34:52 AM] SmashBro: and I don't really care for that
[2:35:16 AM] ???? ?: That's true
[2:35:24 AM] ???? ?: I like that sort of game design philosphy you have