Guild Quest ~ discussion [OOC, signups, "devlog", etc]

[Ceridran]

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

[Myroc]

But of course.

[Shina-K]

Oh sweet, this thread is a thing here.

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

[Jatea]

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

might as well have something else to do

[Galactan]

Sure, I'll sign up.

[Gumballtoid]

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

[Thunderono]

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

[Hallan Parva]

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.

[xColdxFusionx]

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.

[Hallan Parva]

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