I posted this in the Game Writing forum, but i see most of u reside in this forum sorry if there are any problems double posting. anyways this is the current background story i came up with for my text-based MMORPG: Satordeus, Creator and God of the people of Mundus, had grown weary and bored with maintaining the balance of the world he had created. Seeking a means of releasing himself of his tasks, he fathered four children with women from the mortal plane. He divided the heart of Mundus into the four aspects of life: earth, air, fire and water. He then assigned the power and the responsiblity over an aspect to each child. Each child was named after the aspect they controlled: Divumsemdeus (air half-god) - ruler of the sky Aquasemdeus (water half-god) - ruler of the waters Ignissemdeus (fire half-god) - ruler of fire Terrasemdeus (Earth half-god) - ruler of the earth All went well, life went on unhindered by the change as his children grew into their roles, and Satordeus was able to finally rest. But the children were of half-mortal blood, and as such they also possessed the lure of mortal emotions. They fell, one by one, to the lust of their mortal longings. Greed and Jealousy consumed them, none was satisfied with their share. The world slowly began its slip from balance, each child straying from the tasks of maintaining the balance of their own aspects as they strove to thwart eachother and draw more power towards themselves. The earth began to rumble and crack, fire storms ravaged the lands, tornados leveled forests, rivers rose and consumed whole areas, the world began to stress with the disorder. Satordeus, woken from his slumber by the ordeal, was not impressed with what he saw. His people had lost faith, and fear lay deep in their eyes. The world was in splinters. He began the restoration, and sought to restrain his children. But, having had the taste of power, they did not idly retreat into the darkness. In a final act of will, they combined their efforts against their father, banishing him from the world he had created. With their father out of their way, they resumed their struggles, pitting against eachother in constant turmoil. But none could ever gain the advantage, as each aspect was divided equally, none being stronger then the others. They became aware of this, and hence they focused towards the mortals to gain the leverage they required, and so the Divine Reckoning began. Who will you choose to serve? ------------------------ still not set on it. the whole 1 god for each element im not 100% for... as it isnt a very original concept. but in terms of game-play the dynamics work well for it. im not sure.... either way, any comments and constructive critisim would be appreciated regarding the story. As far as gameplay is concerned, currently im thinking something along the lines of having to do quests for a god to be able to gain powers/skills/proficiencies. That is, upon finishing a quests for a god, they imbue or grant u a new skill. I got alot more concepts and ideas floating around in my head... ill put them up once i sort them out on paper.

If this thread is going to survive here, try to bend it toward gameplay. Will it just be a constant four-way war? Will the players be fighting each other, or will they be working together to kill monsters? Will the gods give them missions to accomplish, or reward them for slaying enemies? What will the game look and feel like? How will character creation work? Will you choose an alignment, or will you start out neutral and built an alignment by taking jobs and building a reputation, like in Escape Velocity?

Iron Chef made some very good points. I''d just also like to say (and this has probably been repeated over and over but hey), it is indeed a very unoriginal wheel of elements you have there. I''ve got nothing against it but I know that most people immediately turn away whenever they see the words "fire, earth, water and air" Personally I liked the Pandaren Brewmaster in Warcraft III for the simple fact that it could split in 3 elements - earth, fire and lightning. It''s not much different but it''s a "breath of fresh air" into something that is sooo cliche. I''d suggest something like the japanese (if memory serves me right) wheel of elements, with metal and stuff.