The Discipline Thread... And More!

[Shurikane]

A few news from da badass RPG development.

I left you guys with the Discipline Thread several months ago. Back then, the system was at its first tiny little steps. Spell effects had a relative value, weapons were given generalized stats, and characters had little to no specific information. But, now that I have a working system in order, I know how things go and how things are modified, and how spells and skill will affect the characters. Here's a quick rundown of what my ideal RPG end-result would be:

-Ability to buy and wear clothes and jewelry.
-PSO-like method of creating the character, but with more customization: eye form and color, hair color and length, advanced proportions, etc.
-Specific weapons. No Axe +3 or Cool Saber +17. I don't want any of that shit. In my book, every weapon is what it is. Your Knife of Doom will do the exact same damage all everyone else's Knife of Doom. No pluses or minuses or green and red and yellow highlights whatsoever. The wep has its ratings, its special properties, bam. You know what you've got in yer hand. No need to spend your time looking for the Celestial Shield with the highest ratings.
-Specific armor pieces. Self-explanatory...
-Zelda 64-style method of fighting. This means it's like PSO, but at least you can jump, do different moves, and parry. Also, the hit-miss system is pretty much gone. If you swing right into your opponent, you will dish out damage. If your opponene dodges, you miss. I wouldn't have it any other way. And believe you me, I've thought up of ways to dodge!
-NO CARDS. Shit, that's the last thing I want on a game. You won't have any monster cards and attribute cards or whatever. I might include a mini-version of Hearts or Solitaire somewhere as an Easter Egg but that's all the card shit you'll ever get from me!
-Zoned play. Just like Ragnarok Online. You enter a big square field, and there are some openings here and there. This way it's easier to determine the boundary between the easy and the hard levels.

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The real cute thing about the game, methinks, is that it's pretty easy to customize your character. First, you have the creation screen and your clothes. Second, there are races:

-Human
-Mutant
-Android

Humans are the standard. They can do a lot of stuff but they have no specialization. Mutants have sub-races within them, some with heightened endurance, others with more agility, etc. One particular mutant race can evolve according to environmental conditions. So if you tend to work in Snowville, at one point you'll be given the opportunity to develop a resistance to cold, allowing you more efficiency during snowstorms. Finally, Androids have very little magic capabilities, but they can work some damage like there's no tomorrow.

Then come the classes. There are at least two dozen of them. These determine restrictions on weapons and magic, and stat bonuses and penalties. So if you plan on being a samurai, then numero uno: you can't use guns. Numero dos: some less honorable magic spells won't be available to you. Numero tres: you'll have a bit more charisma but at the expense of agility.

Each time you gain a level, you win 100 bonus points. 40 are automatically spent according to which race you are, another 40 according to class, and the last 25 are free for your own tastes. You can get up to level 500. It's gonna take a while.

Furthermore, once you are all equipped and ready, you can buy yourself some Power Modules. Imagine cards in other RPGs, but more technological. Weapons and some armor will have slots, allowing you to input modules and emphasize a particular aspect of your fighting. These modules can be taken on and off at will to adapt to fighting conditions.

Next up: Core Items. These are basic abilities you'll gain as you work your way in the world. If you've played Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, imagine Core Items as the Relics.

Even more: Easter Eggs. Accomplishing quests, special objectives, or just getting to a high level will grant you an Easter Egg. Basically, it's just there for show. Like the picture cards in Soul Calibur. Real cute.

Weapons and armor. Weapons in particular. You have knives, swords, double sabers, spears, long blades, bows, guns, pistols, shotguns, you name it! Furthermore, bows and guns need projectiles to work, and a couple of guns will have extra magazines available, allowing you to reload quickly.

And now that you've got a class, a race and a wep, now's a good time to work on those Skills. Skills are special moves that don't require anything to operate. You activate them just as if you were in a fighting game, as a way to vary your fighting style and maximize the damage you dish out. Also, some skills are needed for some special magic moves. Even better, you can sometimes merge skills and magic for some wicked attacks.

And thus, the magic. This isn't magic per se. In the history of the universe, these are actually standarized psychic practices called Alpha-Powers. These are especially tuned up for maximum efficiency and ease of learning, enough to be mastered once you're 25 years old if you set your mind to it. Here's a list of what's available so far. Concentra disciplines focus on your weapon, Circa disciplines affect your immediate environment, and Leo discipline are for those wacko wide-scaled attacks.

Circa Electricity
Circa Gravity (Personal favorite of mine. Wanna bend the laws of physics? Try this, for some whammy attacks. The weapon that goes bang.)
Circa Help (If your buddy needs a hand, you've got just the thing. Nullify adverse effects, heal, you've got it all.)
Circa Ice
Circa Jewel (Cute one here. Allows you to take advantage of the powers of crystals, like new agers. Or, simply toss your sharp gems around for some slice & dice.)
Circa Light (Light waves, photons, oh my.)
Concentra Bio (Morph into a tentacle monster, grow mini-me fighters, create a growth spurt of carnivorous plants...)
Concentra Electricity
Concentra Fire
Concentra Ice
Concentra Insanity [B](Dizzy up your target, cause a panic, saturate your gun with fake bullets, you can even vomit energetic bursts if you feel like it.)
Concentra Light (Need a laser? We've got a laser for you.)
Concentra Earth
Concentra Machine (Fans of Tetsuo Shima will love this one. Shoot circular saws out of your waist, grow a turboprop shield, transform your arm into a pumper capable of shooting boiling tungsten, or shoot cybernetics out of your hands.)
Concentra Weight (Make your 2-pound sword feel like a 200-pound sledgehammer to your opponent. Pain.)
Concentra Wind [B](Raw damage here. Create a localized tornado, accomplish super-jumps, shoot a compressed air ray to rip your opponent apart.)
Leo Bio
Leo Earth
Leo Fire
Leo Ice
Leo Jewel
Leo Machine
Leo Wind
Angel (Wanna grow angel wings? Sure. Wanna grow devil wings? We can fix that too. Gift yourself with the ability to fly and hover, double your weapon range, shoot holy rays, or turn your wings into pure energy for one waist-splitting shot.)
Bio
Blood (So your endurance has increased. Not bad. You can also bleed forever, infect your victim, carry the AIDS virus without breaking a sweat, or for the crazy type you can always french-kiss your victim and shoot all your toxins down his throat.)
Blunt (Wanna break bones? We break bones. And big ones too.)
Christian-Style Holy
Christian-Style Unholy
Cyber (Interfere with computers, gain vital data on the monsters, memorize a map of your surroundings, connect to a cyber-telepathic network, anything is possible.)
Darkness (Good night. If you want to give nightmares to your victim with the infamous skill called One Wild Night, get this discipline.)
Detection (You are now the team's radar. Better do your job well.)
Enhancement
Hate (Make negative energy orbit around you, create a tornado of fear, cause panic among the crowd. Or even better: submit your victim to the insanely badass Pain Cannon, the technique known for making the poor sap suffer all the pain felt in the world since the beginning of the universe... in a 5-second span.)
Illusion
Love
Mind (Bend objects, make things fly, do pyrokinesis, we've got it all. If you're a basic hardcore psychic fan, apply here.)
Multiplicity (That's exactly what it is. Amaze your enemies by splitting into six clones. Grow a second pair of legs and run like the wind. Double your weapon's capacity for those intense fights. We have everything for a quick save.)
Physics (If the current laws of physics are not your strong point, just bend them your way. For example, a collision at 1 MPH could do, let's say, one million Newtons worth of force on your target. Or to effectively kill an android, simply change the laws so that the higher the resistance, the higher the current. Zappers.)
Reli-Style Holy (Use the power of the Delsabers for your own advantage. PSO fans, come here.)
Reli-Style Unholy (Or if you prefer to side with THEM, no problemo. Black aliens, here they come.)
Soul (Master telepathy, remote view a location, see through walls, become aware of the monster's current state. Or even better: lie down and gift yourself with an out-of-body experience to go explore the dungeon with no way to get hurt.)
Sound (A good sonic boom right next to your ear can hurt big time.)
Speed
Strength
Wiccan-Style Holy
Wiccan-Style Unholy

Add to this quests, feature characters, super-bosses, super-style, super-aggressivity. Picture this: A four-legged Column Sniper alien attempts to catch you at a distance with its arm-integrated gun. But you're too busy fighting a dangerous Millenium Knight, the type with a sword for a left arm and a rifle for the right. And if that wasn't enough, a Street Defender android has just located you and is heading your way. At 200 feet, it will shoot a rocket and collect you. You gotta kill the Millenium Knight before the rocket's launched. But if all else fails, no problemo. You, with your mastery of Concentra Wind, can always do a Concentra Dash and flee out of harm's way. Too bad though. If you do that, you won't have the chance to fight November Echo, the astral-born woman able to control two exploder guns at once with her mind while she assaults you with all four elements, plus a cross-shaped saber. Sounds like a plan, huh? Besides, she looks so hot.

And the prime feature character: good ol' Shuri of course! Complete with green hair, a trenchcoat, a wild attitude, a beautiful Scandinavian appearance (actually, she was born in Siberia,) a pair of Slinger Number 12 old-fashioned guns, and a badass Orva Sword, shaped like a jet fighter's wing, almost as long as she's tall, and still sharp even 2000 years after its creation. One day, you'll have to challenge her to a fight. You, your Magma Driver machine rocket launcher, and your prides: in your hand, the immensely powerful laser blade called Galaxan. As a backup: another sword clipped at your side, the Union Jack. The name says it all.

Wanna play?

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Hehe, would make for a kickass ad! If you want info on anything just for fun's sake, go ahead and ask! Or make suggestions. Or make comments. Or keep bumping this thread until Doot locks it. Or do fanart. Or fanfiction. Anything is possible. Yeah, that's pretty much it.

There's gonna be just one slogan to this game: "Welcome to Soul Terminal."

[Doot]

Awesome Idea! ... stickied it rather than locked it. Hehehe.

[Nogrick]

I'm confuzzed. You're making a game Shuri?

What are all the classes exactly?

[Shurikane]

I have quite a load of them. But here's a few off the top of my head:

-Law Holder (Like a wandering sheriff of sorts.)
-Tank (Big endurance and heavy weapons.)
-Power User (Your resident wizard.)
-Bounty Hunter (This guy gets more money, but he's a tiny bit weaker in battle.)
-Scavenger (Food finders. Pretty fast and agile.)
-Samurai (Ultra-honorific fighter. Very respected. But he can't use guns or bows.)
-Weapons Teacher (A unique class; he can teach fighting skills to other players. So that's some more income for you if you get that class.)

There's a load more. I'll bring my sheets in tomorrow.

[Silver Adept]

Sounds very interesting, Shuri. I'd definitely like to see a game like that.

[BWS-1]

Man, I'm already addicted! Hmm, now if I'd want to do a BWS-1 char, should I make him an android, or a human that eventually finds a robotic-like helm?


B's spells picks are ...

Circa Electricity
Circa Light
Concentra Electricity
Concentra Wind
Blunt
Cyber
Detection
Sound

*teh drool

O yeah, this looks cool, haha, it's funny cause, when I think BWS-1, I think, ''no TP for joo foo!'' :p I've lived long enough in a HUcast character <_<

[mysticdragon]

neato!, but i wonder why the samuri class can't use bows? i think that the traditional samuri used bows...didn't they?...someone tell me please...

one suggestion though, more classes. even though the mutant has different variations, i think that you should have more, or you could do the corperate thing, and include more in expansion packs or mods..

i say this, because my character is more of an elemental now, and i don't think that that would fit into "mutant", or would it?..

[Shurikane]

If anything, your elemental would be simply a powerful mutant with a good lot of soul power to cast da l337 spellz. But take note that Mutants and Androids branch off. So you have Human, 5 Mutants and 5 Androids to choose from.

Now, I could've gone into the deep end of the subject HAD I NOT FORGOTTEN MY FLOPPY DISK IN BIOLOGY CLASS!!! >.< Grrr.... I hate when that happens.

[Senkir]

good luck tracking it down, eh. I think it's about time I drew shuri....

[Shurikane]

Okie-doo. I FINALLY managed to get a hold of another floppy and brought it to school to upload some concept files. It's a bit "raw" since it's directly exported from MS Word but anyways...

Weapons
Classes

Discipline of Angel
Discipline of Circa Jewel
Discipline of Concentra Bio
Discipline of Concentra Insanity
Discipline of Hate