I just recently thought of this... Obviously, this is not something I could see being used in a serious project for a number of reasons, though I thought I''d share anyhow. Let''s suppose you have an RPG with the standard levelling system. Only, instead of gaining levels and working your way up, you start out maxed out and LOSE levels as you kill stuff. Basically, the more time you spend fighting, the harder the game gets. Like I said, this is a totally silly idea and definitively not something I could see being used in a game. But still, I dunno... sounds like it could make for a game that really stands out. > Just a weird thought...

that sounds... bad... no one would play 5 minutes w/o making a new character. try increasing the difficulty as they get stronger... it works better

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Original post by Anonymous Poster
that sounds... bad... no one would play 5 minutes w/o making a new character. try increasing the difficulty as they get stronger... it works better

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Only problem is that making a new character would mean starting over. That''s pretty much the same than resetting the game because your little guy lost a life so you could have all 3 lives again (at the cost of sitting through the spiffy 4-bit intro, the title screen and starting back at square one).

To add to the challenge, battles should be mandatory. I could see this being annoying but there''d be no point in fighting stuff if you could run away, save for bosses

RPGs should be about story, progression, development, reward.

I would put your game down right away. I want to advance and build up a character not battle, battle, battle.

I think RuneLancer''s idea could work for a single character or character class in an RPG. A game could have a class called, say, Jainist Cleric, whose spiritual power is diminished by violence. Members of this class could start out relatively powerful, but the player would have to carefully manage them lest their souls become stained and their powers vanish. Perhaps they could only be "recharged" at religious sites. Just a thought.

I think its actually an interesting idea - just call it ''permanent wounds'' and you have some logic. Maybe allow powerful magic to fix it, but not for a long while and not often. The object then is to learn new things and gain wealth without getting hurt too bad. Instead of death at 0 hp, give them a ''permanent wound'' that reduces their effectiveness. Since death isn''t as much an issue anymore, you don''t need to make hp go up every level, so combat can stay fairly dangerous while a master will still beat a n00b because of the items he/she has and can use.

how bout a game where you start as a teenager and as you go through your character becomes stronger and stronger untill a certain point where he/she begins weakenin of old age. the story is so involved an intricate by then that players may not care if their characters are growing old and weak. they just want to play out the story to the end. mantra''s could be dropped now an then to motivate the player to continue on. of course as your character grows older he/she still retains all the wisdom from his/her life. all you have to do as a game designer is appropriately adapt the gameplay as to keep it fun and challenging. bring forth new abilities with age as old abilities fade away.

I like the aging idea... I can picture a bunch of old men and women standing in the depths of Saturn''s core, weilding their glowing ruby swords and crystal armors (sigh, the good old RPGs with weapons made out of anything regardless of material quality or solidity :D), occasionally readjusting their dentures while they give the Dark One their heroic final-battle speech.

I particularly like the Jainist Cleric idea though. That''s what came to mind when I tried finding an actual application for that idea. I''m pretty surprised that it got serious replies that could actually be used in a game, considering it wasn''t serious to begin with.

Extrarius: curious about one thing... If death no longer poses a problem, what would be the conditions for a player losing? I suppose more and more "wounds" would make it harder to acheive something and if there''s a time limit, it could make it easier to lose... love the idea though >"<

i use to make a game like this on rpgmaker
it was against fighting zombie like, and the character was infected by how many combat he made and became weaker
then the game turn to be about sneak and strategie (did i go straight to goal or i beat those zombie place to guard this powerful item)
the game was short because it was too boring in the long (well i have not put a lot of diversity and maybe not exploit enough the concept )
surprisingly, most player try to beat the boss with the most waekest state possible (the game take count of combat then you know how well you can do)

another was a little rpg where you start with too weak character which going to be train by a powerful woman mage in a journey, but at the beginning of the journey (when she join your party) her stat start to decrease to each combat you made, since the ennemi was more powerful than the remaining hero you have to manage fight to go well until they became strong
the truth is in the scenario the mage happen to be the daughter of angel, she was just evolving to his true form (she evolve at the lv 50 where her stat was the lowest and begin to regain stat from) the fact his skill is learn is the actual linear fashion
but i never finish this rpg yet

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
be good
be evil
but do it WELL
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The idea could work if you used story to back up the deterioration (i.e. cursed, aging, hunger, etc), because it would be pretty dumb to be able to kill a dragon in the beginning then half way through get slain by a rat.

Damn those rats.