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Ok, now that the spambot is muted, it's time to use this forum for my own devious means. The following text was taken from a conversation between me and Cat2000, but I assume the connection was lost on her end due to viruses.
In essence, my goal is to have a hybrid of an adventure game and a world sim.
I decided that in the back of the book there would be a dozen or so spinners, called timers. One timer would define global time since the beggining of the campaign. Events in the story would procede with or without the character, (usually the former,) much like the way the Nightmare board games would keep all the players on the clock as the character on the tape started pulling strings.
The timer system is most evident when included with the system of world maps, which allow for a nonlinear approach to the genre. The character at any time is free to blow off the kidnapped princess and hang out in the pub instead. Obviously, this makes your relationship sour with the characters, so they won't give you that medallion that you desperately need to fend off the assassin you know is going to be visiting that night. Of course, if you think you can outrun it, you could try and sprint for the docks to make your escape...
Finally, I intended for an addon system of some sort. The chances or any particular encounter being found in the exact time and place where it occurs is slim, which means that there can be many hundreds of such encounters contained in a single campaign, and each slight difference in the character's choices causes him or her to arrive in different places or times, making a whole different story unfold.
What I'm looking for is someone to either help out by writing the main/side encounters, or to at least design them so it doesn't become as silly as "You see a gnome." Graphics designers are also very welcome if any of them hang out around here.
In essence, my goal is to have a hybrid of an adventure game and a world sim.
I decided that in the back of the book there would be a dozen or so spinners, called timers. One timer would define global time since the beggining of the campaign. Events in the story would procede with or without the character, (usually the former,) much like the way the Nightmare board games would keep all the players on the clock as the character on the tape started pulling strings.
The timer system is most evident when included with the system of world maps, which allow for a nonlinear approach to the genre. The character at any time is free to blow off the kidnapped princess and hang out in the pub instead. Obviously, this makes your relationship sour with the characters, so they won't give you that medallion that you desperately need to fend off the assassin you know is going to be visiting that night. Of course, if you think you can outrun it, you could try and sprint for the docks to make your escape...
Finally, I intended for an addon system of some sort. The chances or any particular encounter being found in the exact time and place where it occurs is slim, which means that there can be many hundreds of such encounters contained in a single campaign, and each slight difference in the character's choices causes him or her to arrive in different places or times, making a whole different story unfold.
What I'm looking for is someone to either help out by writing the main/side encounters, or to at least design them so it doesn't become as silly as "You see a gnome." Graphics designers are also very welcome if any of them hang out around here.