Hi Dark,
Oh, I know exactly what you are saying about game stereotypes. When I
began drafting my game rpg game I started to go with a fantacy setting
and realize everybody who is anybody has been there and done that so to
speak. We have everything from Zork to Final Fantacy, and it is assumed
just because a creature is a goblin, orc, etc it is automatically evil
and something to beat up on. Most fantacy games have similar themes but
different settings and char names.
How many times do you have to read an adventure description like this to
get the feeling you have been there and done that before.
The Dark Tower Adventure
One day while walking through the North Broadlands you come accross a
large tower that looks very old. You have heard from the farmers,
woodsmen, and rangers who live in the area that it once belonged to a
long dead dark wizard. Recently the wizard's ghost has been sighted
near the tower, and many fear he may be returning to life do to some
dark magic.
What would you like to do?
Play Adventure (p)
Cancel Adventure (c)
I don't know about you, but even though my little adventure description
sounds cool that isn't all that much different from a story you can get
out of a DND adventures companion book or off of Sryth. It is too common
place. Dark wizards, ghosts, goblins, etc are what you expect in that
setting. Not much new ground.
I've been turning to sci-fi myself because we already have a good
fantacy game, Sryth, that fits my needs. Science Fiction still is wide
open for the taking. Even if I take an off the shelf Science Fiction
theme like Star Wars or Star Trek those have huge possibilities in play
value. In fact, years of development have given them ready made
universes to explore and build upon.
Smile.
dark wrote:
Hi Tom.
actually, it's lack of this type of game which has been the biggest
temptation for me to go into programming myself, ----- though of course,
life circumstances, my phd, stage performances and the fact that I'd
actually like to get some proper writing done (sinse that's I think
going to be my main career path), have all got seriously in the way.
this is why I've been such a big supporter of the expanded gamebook
formats such as Sryth, age of fable and the Chronicles of arborell.
I'm just rather sad nobody has exploited the exploration potential of
scifi, sinse imho it's potential is just as great as fantasy as a
setting, ----- pluss it lacks so many sterriotypes that often get in
the way of building an interesting fantasy world.
eg, in a fantasy game you can just state that goblins are an evil race
of demihumans and leave it at that, where as to setup an evil alien race
like the daleks or the shadows takes work in background.
Of course good fantasy game writers such as Mathew yarrows in Sryth can
also give goblins etc extra info and background, ----- but it's horribly
easy imho (as the generic grindable monsters in pvp games show), to just
state "goblin warrior, 5 hp" and leave it at that.
Oh, and on the monster background, this is one of the things I'm really
liking in the entombed game.
Beware the Grue!
Dark.
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