I've been hacking on a problem for awhile now involving an option to build a dynasty in an RPG-like game. I'm trying to find ways to make it natural for you to want to play a character for awhile and identify with that character, then naturally want to leave that character behind for a newer, better character (another member of the dynasty, years down the line). The solution I have in mind is two-part: First, I need to break your attachment to a single character and transfer it to something more lasting; second, I need to make raising a child a way of creating characters that can't be created by any other means. Here's the core of the idea, I'd appreciate any improvements or fixes you might have:

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You're Not A Character, You're A Thing Rather than taking the role of a single character, you play an Indwelling, one of several mysterious artifacts that have been handed down generation to generation throughout time. Your actual form is a floating, ghostly jewel, blood-warm to the touch, and you are capable of great powers. However, these powers only manifest themselves and improve when you merge with a human host. Merging takes on at least two overtones: Parasitic or symbiotic, implying harm or mutual gain. Parasitic Indwellings slash their way into the minds of human hosts, turning them into puppets. Symbiotic Indwellings, OTOH, slowly merge with their hosts in a unifying process that takes years. Practically speaking, you get immediate control of the character either way, but characters have needs that parasitic Indwellings are more free to ignore, driving their host into the ground before moving on; symbiotic Indwellings, alternately, slowly unlock more powers and abilities hidden within their host, but only if they treat their host well. Indwellings need compatible hosts to continue growing along a particular path. Offspring of a host, if raised properly, are the most ideal. As an Indwelling, your goal is to seek your destiny and origin, and one way to do so is to create a strong bloodline of hosts capable of weilding your powers.

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Thoughts?

Check out this book and this one.

Belgarath and Polgara are immortal Sorcerers. They are raising a dynasty waiting for the birth of the chosen one.

Princess Maker in space?
http://members.chello.at/theodor.lauppert/games/pm2.htm

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Original post by Wavinator Rather than taking the role of a single character, you play an Indwelling, one of several mysterious artifacts that have been handed down generation to generation throughout time. Your actual form is a floating, ghostly jewel, blood-warm to the touch, and you are capable of great powers.

I think the "magic" flavor of this artifact clashes with the "tech" flavor I perceived in your other posts. Gameplay-wise, I think it would work, and I'm sure you could come up with a more techy explanation if you wanted to. If not, I'd recommend throwing in enough magic (or technology indistinguishable therefrom) that it doesn't seem out-of-place.

Hi,

Once you mentioned 'A thing'... my mind inmediatly floated into a machine/magic realm... something very Isaac Asimov in style crossed with Final Fantasy. How about this:

You are a robot/automaton/android/borg... maybe part fleah part steel. The first time you create your character you are given a certain amount of points so you can buy your initial body (a very simple body) and a basic positronic brain. The brain is important but expensive. The brain controls your reflexes and how many subsystems or weapons you can control. Your body are formed by subsystems and weapons. You may start with basic subsystems (movement and a couple of weapons). As you progress in the game you can buy or find new body parts and maybe attach them to your body but your brain imposes a limit. So you can save money and buy a new artificial brain so you can transmit your soul... new brain may hold more caps so now you can control more subsystems (i.e. movement PLUS status monitor which shows on screen like a HUD). Your reflexes may also be improved so now you respond faster (which means more attack each round). Or you may control a bigger body (more actuators on each arm and leg). Maybe control more limbs.

So, your objective would be to enhance your body. You may even start assembling your new shell and in time, when you think it is complete, you can switch your soul into the new body.

Hey I really like this idea!!!! If you are planning to implement this talk me so we can write this down.

Luck!
Guimo

I agree with Logodae that although a little bit of voodoo here and there looks good in sci-fi stories, this might be a bit too much. Not that I don't like it, it IS cool, and a hell of an idea for gameplay; but maybe it wouldn't hurt to desguise it as something else.

An alternative could be simply a creature like the Goau'ld (sp?) in Stargate.
Another one could be that you are the soul/essence/conscience of an individual from an ancient, extinct race, imprinted onto a strange device like the one you mentioned (similar to this episode of the X-files where some guy "uploaded" his brain into a computer).

But no matter how you explain it, IMO gameplay-wise it's perfect ;)

Quote:

Original post by Guimo Hi, Once you mentioned 'A thing'... my mind inmediatly floated into a machine/magic realm... something very Isaac Asimov in style crossed with Final Fantasy. How about this: You are a robot/automaton/android/borg... maybe part fleah part steel. The first time you create your character you are given a certain amount of points so you can buy your initial body (a very simple body) and a basic positronic brain. The brain is important but expensive. The brain controls your reflexes and how many subsystems or weapons you can control. Your body are formed by subsystems and weapons. You may start with basic subsystems (movement and a couple of weapons). As you progress in the game you can buy or find new body parts and maybe attach them to your body but your brain imposes a limit. So you can save money and buy a new artificial brain so you can transmit your soul... new brain may hold more caps so now you can control more subsystems (i.e. movement PLUS status monitor which shows on screen like a HUD). Your reflexes may also be improved so now you respond faster (which means more attack each round). Or you may control a bigger body (more actuators on each arm and leg). Maybe control more limbs. So, your objective would be to enhance your body. You may even start assembling your new shell and in time, when you think it is complete, you can switch your soul into the new body. Hey I really like this idea!!!! If you are planning to implement this talk me so we can write this down. Luck! Guimo

Wow, this idea is so.... so.... so offtopic. It has nothing to do with the OP's idea.

My first thought was the golden path.

I think its a neat idea, might make for some interesting gameplay.

It sounds a lot like The Sims 2, actually. You are a poor entry-level Sim, but you want to work hard and acrue stuff so that the next generation of Sims can spend their time maxxing skills so they can get even better jobs and make even more money and get even more stuff so that the fourth or fifth generation just has to spend money and bone their neighbors. I'm guessing you have more engaging objectives involved, but I think you'll find Western audiences very open to your idea.

If you can get people to really feel like they're the artifact/player and not like they're the character (That's another thing The Sims did well, and they even used a floating jewel for the player's avatar... And here I thought you were going to be original with this. ;p) then you'll have no real trouble.

Of course I'm thinking of this system in a vaccuum. If you'll have a lot of character dialogue options and other role-playing gameplay, then it could erode the balance between engagement and detachment that you seem to value so highly.

And your parasitic/symbiotic dichotomy made me think of The Hidden. Can you jump out of your host, possess a grunt, get him shot to bits in a rockin' diversionary tactic, then float back to your host and mount up again?

I do like the general concept of the idea that you play a "character within the characters". In my village sim game (which I've put on hold but I refuse to let die [smile]), I've cast the player in a similar role; as the guardian spirit of a village. And as other people have said, this is similr to the detatchment provided in The Sims. It puts the player a level away from the other characters. Plus the enchanted object motif with a personality of its own is a reasonably common and useful one in fantasy of all times, and has a lot of potential for the backbone of a story.

My only reservation is that the way you've described the interaction between the Indwelling and the characters is very cold and inpersonal; as if the characters are merely shells for the Indwelling to act through. I know you've put in the difference between the parasitic and the symbiotic Indwellings (sounds a fair bit like Stargate [smile]), but even with the symbiotic Indwellings it still sound a bit "clinical", like you are just going through satisfying desires in order for a greater reward. This might just be in the way you described it though; I'd like the symbiotic characters to be more "human" in the way they play, while the parasitic could be a bit more demonic/monsterous.