Society (cRPG, long)

JSwing · 2001-04-26T21:46:42

Heroes are, almost by definition, outside of the normal bounds of society. Even when the hero represents a normal person thrust into extraordinary circumstances, for the duration of the adventure the hero is outside of the scope of society. The mundane folks carry on mundane jobs, that are connected to other mundane folks because they all work together to keep society running. The hero, by contrast, is off alone, slaughtering monsters in a cave or disarming explosives on an airplane in mid-flight. The actions of a hero are exceptional or singular or both. Heroes aren''t perfectly isolated. Games often have a haggling skill, and occasionally a reputation. Not very much compared to the wealth of detail lavished on the hero''s other skills, nor on the intricacies of mundane life. IMO this is one reason why adventures are reduced to the same old hack and slash formulas. Problem statement: How do we better integrate our hero with larger social environment without boring the player and without changing the hero''s primary purpose? Here are my suggestions: First, we need a number or two, a stat or variable associated with mundane society. I propose a variable that represents the player''s social class, rank, and status. This is also measure of the character''s privilege, wealth, place in society. This number might include reputation from adventuring, but it may be worthwhile to keep the two separate. Certainly earning a reputation as an adventurer can open some doors, but it doesn''t really represent the network of influence that comes with social class. Furthermore, if a player can easily climb the social ladder through their primary occupation (adventuring) then there is little incentive to model any further social structure. Next, we need incentive for the player to be concerned about his social standing. We want to provide motivation to climb the social ladder without too many penalties for being at the bottom. Some suggestions: 1) Equipment. Access to practical equipment (ropes, lanterns, sacks) should not be connected to class. Standard adventurer tools (maps, weapons, armor) are sufficiently outside of mundane life that social standing doesn''t have a lot of influence either (cabinet ministers are certainly wealthy enough to afford automatic weapons, but are rarely seen carrying them to work). However, access to advanced or rare materials needed for magic/tech might be heavily influenced by social standing. Example: Frieda''s Silk Imports has a fairly upper-scale clientele. On a scale of 1-10 it might rate a 7. A low-class peasant or laborer might be refused service. A farm yokel might be given lower quality goods at an outrageous price because the merchant expects that the hick will not have the taste to know better. A very rich or influential customer might be given a discount to encourage patronage which will draw other rich customers. In game terms, some items are simply not available to the peasants. There is a heavy tax or cost for acquiring rich items if you are lower class. (a large modifier for cost based on relative social standing - something on the order of +/- 25% per point difference in the above example). Keep in mind that some shops may operate the other way as well. A tailor who serves the peasants may start jacking up the price for a rich person - charging extra because the wealthy can afford it. In game terms, something like a +/-10% based on relative social standing for the scale mentioned above. Some shops (like a black marketeer) may discourage the patronage of the privileged altogether for fear of the attention that it might bring from the local law enforcement types. Licenses and Laws. In most societies with a centralized government, the common citizen is restricted from owning weapons comparable to soldiers or police. Weapons used for hunting might be commonly available, but you don''t walk around a city carrying one while you shop. In game terms, access to weapons/armor might be restricted by license, or to specific sections of society (military, police, etc). This might not require the player to simply climb the ladder as much as join a specific social class/job or get a special license from a higher up. It''s a privilege. Carrying weapons around in public would certainly be restricted. It might only be enforced in certain areas of town, or it might cover the whole city. This isn''t meant as a heavy penalty; have a guard station refuse entrance or confiscate large, unconcealed weapons while the player is in town, returning the items when the player leaves. Obviously this could be mitigated by a player''s reputation as an adventurer or social standing. A peasant might have his sword confiscated while a knight would not. This also provides a game mechanic to reinforce the weapons chosen by a generic thief - small and concealable. Similar restrictions might apply to powerful magic items or dangerous substances like poisons. While you''re in a cave killing goblins no one cares if you use poison or not, but they get nervous if you walk around the city carrying a bottle of the stuff. Again, mitigated by status or reputation. If you bother with a law or court system (I generally wouldn''t) keep in mind that the privileged can pull strings to get crimes reduced or even erased. Some feudal societies had different laws based solely on class, where guilt or innocence was determined by social standing as much as the facts. Taxes would be similarly prejudiced. Facilities: Generally the upper crust has access to better quality facilities. Someone qualified to be the royal physician probably doesn''t bother healing yokels, but might help a friend of a friend of the prince. Any facility that is intended to provide direct benefit to the player (medical, training, libraries, etc) where the quality of function can be incrementally divided should be influenced by social rank. Sticking with the medical example, a local clinic might be able to provide light healing or treatment, but heavy duty care would only be available at an upper class hospital. Availability of doctors and beds determined by who they were treating. It is reasonable to provide a set of facilities only available to the outcasts as well. The old mystic hermit in the woods, a local witch/midwife, bars that cater to the laborers, that sort of thing. You could substitute individual doctors, trainers, or sages instead of places, but the effect is the same. Salary: This is an important one. Today most adventurers earn their living from their victims. Giant spiders might poop out gold and equipment when they are slain, for example. The only reason for this is game mechanics. Let''s see what happens when we change this adventure cliche. 1) Monsters do not generally carry treasure. The only ones that might have treasure would have to have the intelligence and social skills to understand trade. This does not mean that they will offer to trade, just that they are developed enough to use it. Some exceptions may be made for creatures that like shiny objects, but this would only be a coin or two, or maybe a gem. Intelligent creatures probably do not carry their life savings around on their back. If they do, it''s fair to assume that their life''s savings don''t amount to much. If creatures are wealthy and settled, then it is likely that they engage in trade with society. Wiping them out may not be a good thing. Even if a player is given incentive to wipe them out, the state may decide it wants a hefty cut of any treasure. Forfeiture laws, taxes, and whatnot. Opportunists and thieves gather like buzzards. Remember, if these people were noble, they''d be the heroes. 2) Instead, a player has a salary or a petty cash value which is proportional to his rank in society. This represents how much cash the player can expect to have on hand after normal living expenses are covered. It can from a day job, an inheritance, a stipend. This should not be a linear scale. A character might earn additional bounties for completing adventures or quests, or not. In any case this shouldn''t be huge. 3) At a fixed interval the player gets paid. This could be between adventures, or every time they return to rest and heal (a true weekend warrior). When they are paid, if their current cash is less than their salary, their current cash is reset to the salary value. They don''t simply accumulate money without end. Anything extra is eaten up in incidental expenses. The players ought to be given the opportunity to spend what they have before their next paycheck. We''ve removed the option of a savings account, so to be fair, we don''t automatically force payday on the player until he is ready. The good news is the player always has a ready supply of cash. The bad news is it''s probably not enough to do everything he wants. But we don''t reduce any excess earned through adventuring, meager though it may be. 4) Since cash cannot be banked, players will immediately try and bank material goods to resell later. This should be discouraged - the character is a hero, not a merchant! This can be crippled by requiring a business license, or by drastically cutting the resale value (Diablo, anyone?), or by eliminating the resale altogether. Another good way to do this would be to make the common tools (sword, rope, lantern) fairly cheap, but have the player spend most of his cash on consumables like healing potions, batteries, or enchantments. 5) Obviously, the only way to increase salary is to move upwards in society. So what is the result? We have reduced the cash incentive from direct adventuring, which was of dubious moral value to begin with. We have added incentive to be concerned with social status, but we let the player have tools common to his trade (adventuring) without much fuss. We get rid of the silly ''gold as monster poop'' cliche. People: Other people in society are useful. More than just the merchant or trainer that most games feature. If a player wants to improve or repair the character, see facilities section above. Other people are critical to increasing a player''s social status or advancing a plot. (It''s not what you know but who you know) If we use the salary rules above, then social mobility is important. Even in a rigid class system, heroes should have the opportunity to move up and down the scale because they are normally outside the system. The player might impress a patron who introduces him to the right connections, for example. The simplest system I can think of is to have the player earn reputation through heroic adventures and then cash these in to climb the social ladder. It might be possible for the player to lose reputation for unsavory acts, and get bumped down the social ladder because of it. If you develop a system of social skills, these can also be used to help move up and down the ladder of privilege. If a player doesn''t develop the social skills appropriate to his status he might be passed over for promotion and left off the invitation lists. Other people are good for advancing plots: If the player wants to steal the earring of the princess, he needs to get to the princess to do it. Why not woo her with a love poem (like Cyrano)? The wizard in the park won''t discuss the mystic principles of foo with anyone who too stupid to understand it. How to demonstrate reasoning? Play him in a game of chess, or engage in lively rhetoric. Need to get into an upper class party? Social status really helps when you try and bluff your way past security, while having earned a patron might let you use their name to get in. A more general form would be an obstacle or obstacles that are between the player and his goal(s) that rely on social skills. The adventure, or at least a portion of it, takes place in a social setting. This requires a more complicated system of skills than our simple singular measure of social status. That would be a separate subject in and of itself, so I won''t make any detailed suggestions here. I put one time uses of social skills into the not-fun category. If you bother to have a skill like debate or art appreciation then make sure you''ve got a heavy chunk of design available to support it. Otherwise make the simplification that a player acquires all of the appropriate manners as they change social rank.

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by JSwing April 17, 2001 06:54 PM

19 comments, last by JSwing 23 years, 7 months ago

Ravuya

136

April 26, 2001 09:46 PM

Sounds like you guys are thinking about Princess Maker crammed into an RPG... Princess Maker has a variety of social skills, and it allows you to go through a (limited) adventuring segment to gain money.

Society (cRPG, long)

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Society (cRPG, long)

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