-FEYCORE-

[AlexMdle]

What? Surprised?

Yes, Feycore. Its gonna be back. And be different.

As you may remember the old version died.
I do not lie when I say that Dragon Hunters is impossible to maintain due to the sheer mindboggling amount of things Spriter has to keep up with, thats the reason people build engines, so that they run the routine automaticly. While I tried to keep Feycore as simple as possible, it still got bogged down in the amount of rolls I had to do per a single action, so whenever I found an excuse not to update it, I took it and rode it like a horse.

So, due to this, I want to bring it back AND ensure that it stays.

For starters, this means that work will be put to establish the database before starting the game, that way Alex doesnt have to continually create new items, monsters and locations, also there is a separate reason I will explain in a sec.

Second, I will largely simplify the game. True, it will remove alot of depth it had, but on the other side, it will get so much easier to update and hey, you WANT it to get updated, dont you?

Third and most important, I will appoint a second GM who will be tasked with updating whenever I don't. (People complain about Alex not updating/Alex not on to update = SECOND GM TO THE RESCUE) Of course, for the second GM to know how the hell to lead the game, the database will first have to be established .

For now, Im in concepting stage. I will post mechanics of the game here as it goes.

[AlexMdle]

Entry #1

Classes

First of all, how should the classes work?

Limitations are obvious - Instead of a passive that has to be rolled every turn it's in effect, class should instead decide the equipment/skills/spells of a character, since those are only purchased once.

Paths will fork, of course, in 3 directions - Mellee/Magic/Ranged. Each different fork changes what sort of weapons and armor a character can use.

Stats

6 stats is unacceptable, especially with substats. 3 should suffice: Might/Agility/Power.

Might does not affect HP. HP growth should be class-specific.

Might should affect physical damage.

DEF is obsolete, but what do armors do then? Extra HP? Seems that DEF is still required for now.

Agility should affect ranged damage.

Dodge chance is to be removed, luck in general should be avoided. Less dice rollin'.

Critical chance. Hm. It's too vital as of now, I guess Agility can afffect it.

Power should measure spell damage/effect. All spells should use Power as X.

Power should not affect number of spells one can learn. Tons of power = Over 9000 spells o_O

MP sounds more and more like a good idea. But inability of player input means management of spells may be wasteful.


Magic/Skills

Any sort of cooldown is to be eliminated for calculations, few things are as arduous as keeping track of different skills' timers.

The spell stock idea from first feycore worked nice, but again, requires brute memorization and is as such a victim to the margin of error.

Should mages be allowed to spam spells endlessly? No. That would allow things like stunlock and etc.

Any sort of %-tage or chance should be removed from spells. They should either work, or not work.

Players should be allowed to learn spells instead of assigning them randomly, that way they can choose the direction they go.

Magic of different elements means specialisation versus certain kinds of enemies. I like that Spiral Knights-vibe in that.

Mages should never be using weapons. Basic spells always have unlimited stocks?

Speaking of which. Spells should have different levels that require different amount of spell slots. Slots vary by class.

End of Entry #1

[AlexMdle]

Entry #2

Rough Class Draft

Instead of specific names for classes, its just classes.

What about multiclass? That idea is surprisingly tempting.

In fact, a board can track the HP/MP/Spell Slots of a class.

Removes the No mellee/No Endless spell spam dilemma - Mages that feel insecure in their spells, can purchase mellee classes to make up for it.

Should there be any advanced classes then? I imagine one would pick 1 level of a class to access its equip, like mages taking 1 level in warrior so they can equip heavy armor.

Cant force them to purchase multiple levels to unlock skill - Starting warriors should be able to wear heavy armor.

Should heavy armor inhibit spellcasting? In what way? Does it work vice-versa? This is getting too confusing.

Idea: Light armor benefits spellcasting. Mage can choose between better protection or spellcasting bonus.

Boni can be anything between +Power/+MP and maybe elemental resistance. Extra spell slots are forbidden.

Speaking of resistances, those should be semi-rare in items, a character should rarely get over 3 res pieces.

In fact, it should go like this - Vulnerable (2x damage taken), Normal (1x damage taken), Resistant (Half the damage taken), Immune (Takes only 1 damage), Attuned (Absorbs the damage).

Enemies should have those as well.

Fire > Earth
Earth > Wind
Wind > Water
Water > Fire
Light X Dark

Monsters have no elements. Instead only varying levels of elemental resistance.

Uh. Back to hero classes.

Might classes (Aquiring any of those allows wearer to use Heavy Armor)

Barbarian - Allows Axes and Clubs. (Maces and Morningstars count to the Club class)
Knight - Allows Shields and Swords. (Any kind of sword counts)
Pikedemon - Allows Spears and Halberds.

Taking more of the same class allows one to perform skills with associated weapons.


Agility classes (Aquiring any of those allows wearer to use Medium Armor)

Thief - Allows daggers and throwing weapons. (Throwing hatchets and shurikens all count as throwing weps)
Hunter - Allows bows and crossbows. (I know crossbows actually require strength IRL, just roll with it)
Swashbuckler (Not sure about the name) - Allows exotic weapons (Such as lashes, two-sided akamas etc)

Now that I think about it, every weapon should state whether it uses STR or AGI for damage.


Magic classes (Light Armor)

Instead of classes, there should be schools. Each school unlocks and extra level of associated spells and 2 spell slots.

Schools:

Elemental schools - Fire, Wind, Earth, Water.
Necromancy (Mostly dark spells)
Divination (Mostly light spells)

Necromancy is a bad name, since no spell will allow any minions.
Max. Spell Level will be 10. Lvl 10 spells are extreme spells of mass destruction.

Also. I was wrong, X should not be in all spells. Some spells can have set effects, depending on their level.

End of Entry #2

[AlexMdle]

Entry #3

Alright, let's have an example form:


Name: The Dude

Might: 13
Agility: 10
Power: 10

Class: Knight 1.

HP: 20
MP: 10
Crit: 10 out of 100

Armor: Basic Heavy Armor
Weapon: Basic Sword
Accesory: None

Spells/Skills: None

Gold: 0


That's brief. It works.

Guess I better go and set up the beta of the class table.

End of Entry #3

[AlexMdle]

Entry #4

How will items work.

Easy.

As usual, players have to write combined boni in clauses, I do encourage them to write every bonus in a separate clause tho.
Seriously, it's just 3 item slots, just around 3-7 clauses for you to write down. At least you won't lose track of the boni that way.

Anyway.

Heavy armor will usually provide 3x the DEF of Light Armor. It will usually provide defensive boni like resistances or extra attributes. Some may provide some exotic boni (Deals X universal damage to mellee attackers, protects from poison buffs, etc etc etc)

Leather armor provides around 2x DEF of Light Armor. It also usually boosts Agility, (Critical chance removed, DEF is increased with some classes/armor) or ranged damage or etc etc etc.

Light Armor provides the most meager of DEF and almost exclusively boosts Power or adds various elemental protections and sometimes immunities.



Then we have weapons.

Weapons provide raw boosts to mellee/ranged damage.

Dont forget: Melee = 1X Might, Ranged = 1X Agility.

Mages cannot wield any weapon unless they get a level in corresponding class.

Furthermore, weapons can provide a variety of different boni, to any class.

Some weapons, are also enhanced by an element. All physical damage dealt with those weapons instead takes on the Element of the weapon.

And finally accesories. They are completelly random as to what bonus they give.
Unlike all other items, almost all accesories are randomly generated with a table I will give to the second GM (Who will most likely be Pure).

Every time a drop is generated, the GM first determines what it is:

1 - Weapon
2 - Armor
3 - Accessory
4 - Consumable

Then he looks over to the database to determine what kind of weapon/armor/consumable the defeated monster drops.
Then he rolls again to see if the drop is uncommon/RARE. (15/100 and 1/100 respectively)

Uncommon drops then get an X amount of rolls to determine what boni they receive. Said boni can stack.
RARE drops receive double the boni and 1 special trait from a separate board.
All accesories are pretty much generated that way.

Thank god those items drop rarely, otherwise I would have to make 10 extra rolls after every second fight.


Consumables also depend on monster and vary in power.

End of Entry #4

[AlexMdle]

Entry #5

Locations.

As usual, adventuring in a location should have a chance to unlock more locations.

Every location after starting one will follow a theme: Elemental, Ranged, Immune to something, weak to something, Multiple monsters, etc etc.

This way people will have to adapt as they go further and eventually be forced into groups to balance out each other's weaknesses.

Every level will have around 3-5 locations, more as I add them, but a basic list and their unlocking pattern will be posted.

Also.

Monster traits.

Aside from extra skills, some monsters should posess traits that make them difficult to approach by certain builds.

Rough draft:

Flying: Receives half the damage from melee attacks.
Ghostly: Receives half the damage from ranged attacks:
Magic Immune: Unaffected by any sort of magic.
Immune to X: Unaffected by any sort of X.
Relentless: Does not allow escape.
Cowardly: May run away when gravely wounded.
Draining(X): Removes X MP with every basic attack.

And so on.
Those will also be posted and more may get added as we go along.

Special locations, (Arena for example) will have their own, special rules.



OH. And also.
No more resting bullshit. Your HP/MP are restored to 100% automaticly after each fight.

End of Entry #5

[AlexMdle]

Entry #6

Ok, so how the hell do we approach skills.

Are they finite in usage? Do they complement basic attacks?

Since there is no MP to use, this means it's either one-use or always-use. Should they be passive then?

An example would be an Axe skill that allows you to attack all enemies at once. Why would you want NOT to use it?

Hm. But if a skill has drawbacks? Like attacking all enemies only dealing X/2 damage?

Skills should be chosen just as spells - Random, but with semblance of AI:

If there is only one enemy - Attack all with X/2 - Should never activate.

Yes, that sounds more logical.

I guess it's time to go write a basic skill for each weapon.

End of Entry #6

[AlexMdle]

Entry #7

FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT

The AI.

Last time it was based solely on rolls.
Roll for spell chosen, roll for success, roll for critical and all that crap. It worked with stocks.

With mana however and all things considered, me and Pure should act as the AI.
This idea is surprisignly effective, if risky.
We can decide what spells are most useful in a given situation, what skills to use when needed.
The only probable problem is people bitching if we accidentally didn't use the right skills, which resulted in loss of the battle.
Removing plain luck makes it possible to blame us, but this is something we have to take.


Other small bits.

As usual, a dead character will require a full day of recovery to become playable again. If a character dies while in a group, he is temporarely removed from the group. You cannot heal/revive a dead character in a battle.

This is an acceptable penality, especially since gold/xp loss are removed.
The reason is the increased diversity in resistance the enemies can show, which can make some enemies impossible to beat by characters in some points.

Of course a character will try to run away if we see that next enemy attack may kill it. This should succeed 100% if the enemy has lower Agility and only half the time if its same or higher than player's.

Also, on XP. I think the best XP curve would be the linear one - 100XP/200XP/300XP/400XP etc

It allows players to amass desired base levels quicker than an exponential curve, but still makes it hard to get to maximum mastery.
Levels should cap at 12, with each extra level past that granting one extra stats as compensation for skills they miss out when not taking other classes.

This would make a pure class eventually become much more powerful than dilluted classes stat-wise, but also remove almost all versatility from them. This is especially evident with pure magic schools. Mastering 1 element still leaves you at odds with 5 more.


Thoughs on how the shop should work are still to be collected. My guess is that it could contain random weapons, common and uncommon, maybe rare.

I should add an associated price tag to each bonus an uncommon item gets. That was it becomes possible to track prices of various uncommon items.

The price tag of the boni is doubled for rare items. This means buying a rare item is a real ripoff, but hey, what are the chances you get one otherwise?

End of Entry #7

[AlexMdle]

Entry #8

Oh god I missed something.

Might affects melee damage.
Agility affects ranged damage.

Daggers/Exotics are melee.

...Daggers/Exotics are used by agility classes.

NOT GOOD.

I decided that the best idea would be to merge ranged/melee into a physical damage stat that changes depending on weapon held.

But that bears implications. Players would need to reshuffle the stats every time they equipped something else.

And even then, what's the use of that stat at all!?

Might/Agility only affect respective damage types and when they're merge, just plain damage.

Simpler solution: Remove those substats. Might and Agility should count as raw damage value for their weapons.

This simplifies things once more.

Of course, this means I have to rework current skills/spells/items.

Better go now.

End of Entry #8

[AlexMdle]

NOW STARTING

Please enter in following format.

Name:

Class: (Example - Knight 1, Barbarian 2. Etc. You start with 1 level of a chosen class. I will then give you starting gear of a given class)

Might: 5 (+ The bonus of the class you pick)
Agility: 5 (+ The bonus of the class you pick)
Power: 5 (+ The bonus of the class you pick)

HP: 5 (+ The bonus of the class you pick)
MP: 5 (+ The bonus of the class you pick)
DEF: 3 (+The bonus of the class you pick)

Weapon: (I will post what weapon you start with)
Armor: (Same)
Accessory: (None atm)

Spells: (Only get this row if you actually pick a magic class)

XP: 0
Gold: 0