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Brainstorming and motivational thread for The Storygame Formerly Known As Hunter. Because I decided railroading people onto the 'Hunter' path didn't really work, so now it's going to be more open-ended... though I still need to figure out how to incorporate the Hunter path as an option. And of course, now I need to create other interesting paths as well...

So, if you were living in a post-apocalyptic high-fantasy city, what would YOU want to do? XD

Hire magical hookers. 

Dunno. Probably something to do with intrigue and politics. 

Yeah, I was just thinking about that... it might be interesting to give the player three possible starting points, one of which is to be a child of wealth and privilege, one of the ruling class. That would eventually get you into the politicking game... there might be other routes to get there, but that would be the easy one. 

Hmm... You could have a small-time pick pocket who ends up as the city's most influential crime-lord, or a kid with "special gifts" that ends up as a powerful mage, or the traditional orphan farm-boy that becomes a heroic warrior. Just throwing ideas around here ^_^

Ooh. I like the crime-lord one. Thanks. ^_^

One thing I'd like is to do is to give most of the paths the chance to go on a mission to find out what happened to a neighboring city. For the crime-lord path... hmm. I suppose it would work more like the politician path. You wouldn't go yourself, but you could send someone.

Yey! That's kind of the only one I liked, but I figured I should throw some others in there too in a half-hearted attempt to be helpful. 

... But perhaps with the crime-lord going to the neighboring city thing... Perhaps the character hasn't actually become a crime-lord yet and is still working their way up the ladder... Then they can go ^_^

Well, to be fair, orphan-to-hero is pretty much already a path. And I like the becoming-a-mage thing, just not for this game.

And I could see that too... maybe if you don't succeed at becoming a crime lord in time, you get sent along by someone higher up. XD (It's the beginning of the endgame, so no time to progress much after that.)

Oh, neh-mind then. I thought that was going to be near the beginning or in the middle of the game.

Well, I might end up reworking it, since I'm reworking everything else. But my current thought is that the other city goes dark, and when you investigate, you find that it's been completely overtaken by demons. Who will most likely be heading for YOUR city next. There are a couple different ways to handle that, but regardless, the real endgame is when you return to the city and use whatever resources you have to rally its defenses.

Fun! 

Id suggest against making multiple starting points. You're already going to be writing multiple paths, assumingly, you don't want to be forced to write 9+main branches at the begining. 

I just think it would just be really interesting to see the same city from both its lowest and highest classes... buuut yeah, the sensible thing to do is to stick with a single starting point. And the more dramatic starting point is the low one.

That could be done in your three(?) main paths. The Hunter Path sees the destruction of the world, the crime-boss sees the scum, and the politician sees the gold, albeit from his/her own POV. 

I'm not sure the 'politician' path is even viable from the lowest starting point... but you're right, there will definitely be more than one perspective.

Hmm, that depends on how crafty you want the player to be. S/he could easily just pull the strings on some up-and-coming politician, and run the government that way.

Ooh, @Morgan_R!

Remember when you didn't put Assassin Hookers into the Tavern? Obviously there should be some in this game.

Maybe you could be an Assassin Hooker?

XD

I'm not sure if you're serious or not, here... XD

Does it matter whether I'm being serious or not? Is the idea of playing as a kung-fu knife-throwing hooker of macabre justice not awesome enough on its own?

Hes got a point here, Morgan.

In a Quentin Tarantino sort of way, maybe. It's just not my style. ;P

Well, if you want to be great in the eyes of the Great Moustache (or anyone not into so-called banalities, really), the first thing is busting your own ass outta the orphanage (which functions more as a child brothel, because reasons).  How you do so presents different opportunities.   I mean, what's greater than starting from the bottom?

The Hunter route could go with something a little dark or brash, which introduces the player to a facet of the world 100% based on the culture of death.

Bargaining your way out (at the expense of your fellow orphans' lives ;n;) will introduce the player to something called corruption and sacrifice for the greater good (politics).

For the third route, it could be anything.

Because honestly, while getting the whole city to fall apart on the second page is entertaining, it's not climactic.

Innnnteresting. Not sure I want to go as dark as 'child brothel,' but yeah. Food for thought, here. Thanks. ^_^

How about child Hooters? Sure there wouldn't be much to hoot yet, but it's a step up from brothel. 

...that's really fricking creepy. >_<

Maybe there's some sort of debt-slavery going on, where if you're raised by the orphanage you owe them... and they may very well sell your debt to a brothel when you come of age. Still evil, but not quite AS evil. >_<

That actually sounds really cool... Come to think of it, that could actually be a starting point for any character, and the way you pay the orphanage back determines what path you take. ^_^

Yep, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. ^_^

(If by 'pay them back' we mean 'destroy them,' for some paths... XD)

Can never go wrong with the assassin route.

...interesting. I don't think I would have thought of that one, thanks. ^_^

What if you apprentice to a gollem maker?

There could be apprentice paths, yeah. I'm not sure how well a gollem-maker in particular would tie into the endgame... I'll have to think about it, though, because it's a neat idea. Thanks! ^_^

Sub-path for hunter : biological researcher.  You come to an understanding (positive / negative might change things) and create (ways to communicate with them / a way to destroy all of them).  Also brings crappy side effects to the city, regardless of choice.

That'd be a little amusing.

Unfortunately, this overlaps with a significant element in the endgame. Thanks for the thought, though!

*kicks over sandcastle*

Feel free to try again? XD

While we're on the topic of dark things :

Possible stockholm victim companion route by taking politics route and entice a rich kid into doing all sorts of nasty stuff for you.  Could serve as leverage for target politician.  If the kid survives something like an assassination, welp, now you can drag him / her along for the ride towards the end of the world.

I just don't see an easy way to get into politics from the orphanage starting point. You have no money (negative money, really), no assets, and no connections. How do you get from Point A to Point B?

Aman's suggestion.

Derp. Missed that. Hmmm...

Well, maybe you could catch a politician doing something they shouldn't, and blackmail them. Other than that, I'm not sure what sorts of strings you could pull...

Happened to save a politician from getting run over by horses, talking economics in a bar while a politican listens and gets convinced to use you as the brains of his operation, etc. 

...maybe. Given the complexity involved in making the path, and the likelihood that most people will go for the Hunter path or the crime-lord path, I'm not sure it's going to make it in. Thanks for the input, though! ^_^

So, let's see. Once you're out of the orphanage, you can do a variety of things. Begging, stealing, looking for work. All actually played out in detail, unlike the previous iteration. Begging doesn't go anywhere, but can keep you going long enough to find work. Depending on the work, that's the start of a couple different paths, including Hunter.

Stealing can get you in with a gang -- or arrested, fined, and back in debt-slavery. Which is where you end up if you don't succeed at escaping the orphanage, so there has to be a path out. Besides 'work for a decade.' :P

Become the leader of the orphans in the orphanage/slavery place?

That's actually an interesting idea for the opening scenario -- are you trying to get yourself out, or trying to get them ALL out?

Once they're adults, though, they're sent off to work at various dangerous and/or unpleasant jobs. Though there might well be other slaves there that you could rally...

And you'll have plenty of little servants everywhere who owe their lives to you, garnering you a huge crime/information network in the middle of the game.

Yeah, the implications of getting everyone out are almost more than I want to deal with. Maybe you just fail if you try that. >_<

XD 

You're never fun Morgan :P

Sigh. I guess I could consider it. And if you don't choose to get them all out, some of them could potentially escape later, allowing me to use some of the same NPCs regardless... just with a different attitude towards you.

Now I'm starting to wonder if I need to move the start point back. It was going to be 'you're lying awake thinking about how you're going to get out of here,' followed by the escape attempt... buuut maybe I need some time to establish the other characters first. I mean, if they're going to show up later, it would be helpful if the player actually got to interact with them.

But then that seems like a potentially slow start. Already made that mistake with Paladin, rather not do it again...

Skip it if you don't feel it neccesary. You can add it in later if you must. 

Not sure if it's necessary or not... I'm not thrilled with 'thinking about the plan' as an opening, either, to be honest. Maybe starting with you on the run, having just escaped, would be better...

Yeah, starting with action is always good. ^_^

Cause as much chaos as possible and then diappear.

Though Malkalack's idea of magical hookers would be fun...

Are you going to have the Shadow Hunters from the book 'City of Glass'?

Taco, I'm sure the title was just a coincidence...

Dammit! I didn't realize there was a book by that title. Now I need a new city name / title. >_<

Thanks for pointing it out, anyway. That'll each me to Google my titles before I pick 'em...

Just searched the title. Apparently there are at least three books by that name.

So it really doesn't matter because there's already a bunch of books with the same name!

Doesn't matter. Just because I can use the title doesn't mean I'm willing to. :P

^

...thanks, Aman. Much appreciated. ;P

^_^ Always glad to be of service. 

I think this has a better ring to it. 

Hmm, I dunno, maybe Latin it up. 

^ Sounds cooler.

There's also;

City of Deception.

City of Hope.

City of the Cursed.

City of Transparency. 

Thanks for the suggestions! I do want something fairly subtle, that doesn't have strong negative or positive connotations. The city, and the protagonist's relationship with the city, is complex.

Okay, so, I'm viewing this as a chance to do something more awesome than the 'City of Glass.' Before the war, before Skybreak, before everything went to hell... this was a major high-fantasy city. So... what cool defining features could it have?

Skybreak! That;s an epic name, right there. XD

But that's just backstory. XD

Who cares? Skybreak is obviously when the demons came in, and it's an epic sounding name. Sounds perfect. The news can call the end game Skybreak 2, Skybreak Harder

Heh. Well, I'll consider it as a fallback plan, anyway. Thanks. ^_^

Dragons? Prophets? 

Hmmm. Those are less about the city itself, though...

What if one of the buildings is built around the bones of a massive, Godzilla-sized dead dragon? 

Awesome. I think I'll riff on that and put the results out in the wastelands somewhere, for the Hunter-path players to find... thanks. ^_^

Or perhaps they could have a big ol dragon statue right in the middle of the city. I'd make the picture for it.

Aw. Thanks for the offer, but I don't think I want to include dragons. Too... Tolkien-esque. XD

Well, the dragon doesn't have to be a bad guy...

I like those best.

(Transparency; glass is a no go, and this is the closest thing I can think of and sounds awsome. the Broken; they live under a broken sky.)

Hmmm. The Broken City? The Shattered City? It's still functioning as a city, though, and I feel like those titles suggest something more thoroughly destroyed...

Shattered Glass. 

City of the Broken.

The Fractured City? 

City of Shitty

City of Reflection?

^Perfect title^

Ideas ideas :

Schaarde - shard germanic

Glæs - glass

Rente - rent (to shards lolol)

Then add some prefixes or suffixes to end up with something like Glæsvale.

That could work. But I keep coming back to the idea that this is an opportunity to make the city more interesting. To give it some noteworthy feature, or custom, or something... besides just having a lot of windows. XD

What if this is the Gilded City in the future?  Some would call it the Olde Aurum or something along the lines.  Of course, magic circuits can't be used any more at this point.  Some time ago, the gold architecture was switched out for more durable, yet usable materials, such as diamond linings and panels acid-etched with circuits.

...now that's an interesting idea. Hmmm. I'll have to think about that. Thanks! ^_^

Just gonna point out that even though you start in an orphanage, I don't see you mentioning any option where you're adopted as a kid. It's a really easy way to go any route as well.

Want a political route? You're adopted by a local lord who forges some papers to make you seem like their legitimate heir because you look like them and for whatever reason, they currently don't have one.

Assassin route? You're adopted by an assassin organization that try to teach you to become the perfect killing machine from a young age.

Honestly, there's so much potential from this starting point.

If by 'potential' you mean the potential to make any number of completely different games masquerading as one... which is tempting, I admit. XD

Hey, you're looking for ideas, I just figured I'd point out there's lots of ways to go.

The political intrigue one seems great, and it'd be really unique to the site. Not really sure how much politics could be done within a single city though.

Thanks. And I'm serious, it really is tempting. I'll start with the 'escape' paths, but maybe circle back to the possibility of 'adoption' paths.

I don't know how good I'd be at writing it, but I could definitely see politics working on a city scale...

More a note to myself than anything, buuut... if you're on the crime-lord path, you get to steal the MacGuffin. Which isn't actually a MacGuffin at all, of course. So you can use it... or get the city officials to pay you NOT to use it. ^_^

Maybe you could play as a demon trying to survive the hunters and/or kill as many as possible instead of being the demon slayer. Being the hero all the time can get boring.

Playing as the bad guy is definitely a neat idea, but I think being a demon specifically would get old. You can definitely be the bad guy in this game, to the extent of profiting from the demon's final attack on the city, instead of helping to defend the city.