[RP][Dragon Quest] My brain randomly offered me an idea for a Dragon Quest themed DWRP game last night. It almost certainly won't actually become a real game for a number of reasons, but I kinda wanted to share it with everyone anyway. :3
The premise would be that some mysterious evil force was randomly gathering up bits of various Dragon Quest game worlds and bringing them all together in an alternate (jamjar) dimension for an equally mysterious purpose. The Goddes Rubiss wanted to put a stop to their nefarious plans, whatever they were, but this amalgamated world seemed to be fresh out of-
-viable heroes. The forces of evil had naturally left as many of their nemesis' behind in their original worlds as possible, and those few that they couldn't banish were sealed away like the heroes often did to them. This, of course, was a problem. But not an unsolvable one. After all, the forces of evil weren't the only ones who could reach into other-
New characters would arrive at the Quester's Rest Inn from DQ IX (since it was already sort of an Inn Between the Worlds in canon) much to the shock of Erinn and the staff at first. The inn would then serve as the characters' home base.
Initially, Stornway (the city where the inn is located) and its surrounding area would be the only part of the world the characters had access to, but investigating and leveling up would gradually unlock more of the amalgamated world map.
Every character would get a Class on arrival, and would only be able to use equipment/abilities that that class could use normally. The option to change classes would be unlocked when Altrades Abbey eventually was, but they'd likely be stuck with what they got for awhile at first.
Leveling up could happen three ways: your classic fighting monsters to gain EXP, helping random NPCs in the world with various tasks and side quests, and investigating the amalgamated world to figure out just WTF was going on.
Fighting: Pro- The fastest way to gain EXP and thus get both better skills and cash. Con- The higher level you get, the longer it takes to advance, and with few opportunities to get to know the characters in the world, you won't get many Gratitude Points (more on those in a sec).
Helping Out: Pro- Characters who aren't the most combat savvy can still do their bit, plus you can quickly become a favorite of the townspeople, so you not only get lots of Gratitude Points, but often some cash or other rewards. Con- The slowest way to level up, and doesn't tend to be super exciting if you don't like slice of life-ish stuff.
Investigating: Pro- Investigating the world brings useful info about all kinds of things, not just their predicament, and NPCs will also be grateful to find out WTF is going on with their world. Also your best chance to find some cool, rare items. Con- Can be very dangerous, so you're far more likely to wind up getting killed and waking up at a-
-church minus half your gold, having to patch yourself up before heading back out to try and make it further than last time. Also tends to be the most plot-heavy option.
Naturally, this NPCs of the world will be grateful to these strange folks who are trying to help get things back to normal, so that's where Gratitude Points come in. Helping out NPCs in various ways and just be generally being a nice person to them and your fellow characters would get you Gratitude Points. The bigger the favor, the more points.
Gratitude points would be calculated up each AC, and then could be exchanged for various gameplay bonuses or exchanged at a special shop for a variety of special items, like stat-increasing seeds.
Big metaplot events would require all three groups to work together, but for the most part, players could focus on just one consistently, or mix and match however they liked.
The ultimate goal (aside from the characters likely wanting to get home, of course) would be to figure out the evil forces' nefarious plot, free the few Heroes who were trapped in the amalgamated world, and take said evil forces down with the help of those Heroes so things can be set to rights.
There would have to be some method of calculating up EXP, especially for fighters since no one wants to play out a bazillion random encounters in text form.
Just thinking about how much management a game like that would take kinda makes my head hurt though. And since I can't code and have difficulty keeping up with just normal tags sometimes... Yeah. It's almost certainly never going to be a thing. X3
Revisiting this because I had the further thought that the culrpit behind the evil inter-dimensional shenanigans would be Hargon, fresh off of the ending of DQ Builders 2. He decided to accept Malroth's challenge to become a builder of sorts himself, but that didn't mean he stopped being evil.
(Freeing the Builder would also provide an option for characters who couldn't or didn't want to go home after the game ended; they would be taken back to the Isle of Awakening to live there.)
And because the Builder would need an actual name for RP purposes (and because it'd be my game, and I'd want to use the female builder option) her name would be Banna.
Con- The higher level you get, the longer it takes to advance, and with few opportunities to get to know the characters in the world, you won't get many Gratitude Points (more on those in a sec).
Con- The slowest way to level up, and doesn't tend to be super exciting if you don't like slice of life-ish stuff.
Con- Can be very dangerous, so you're far more likely to wind up getting killed and waking up at a-
That, or Investigating.