Do you think it is possible to make an RPG with little or no combat? When you walk through a forest, you might sometimes see a deer, but getting attacked by a pack of dire wolves every three steps just isn't realistic. I've been trying to come up with ways to make an RPG which isn't combat focused, but it seems very limiting. Do you think a good story could disguise the fact all of the quests will probably end up just being repetitions of Talk To Everyone or Obtain Item X? What would the player think? I guess they'd be pretty dismayed to discover that all those points they've been putting in sword bashing are completely useless. I guess you could change the level system to have skills like Charisma and Running, which would help with all the aforementioned Talk To Everyone quests. That would probably be difficult to balance though. What do you think about this concept in general?

What you are describing is basically all available in a regular RPG though. What are you going to offer in place of the combat that isn't available elsewhere?

Hello Storyyeller,

if you aim for such a world you should look to pen&paper. It is possible to play campaings without firig one shot (or hitting someone with a sword). But your game would need to be a 'real' rpg ... roleplaying is the keyword here.
Give the player a goal he/she can achive without fighting. Finding information, earn trust, be the best rider, find a item.
For example i know a Gnome in WoW that had the dream of getting a Kodo. It is simply not possible for that race (yeah i know braufest event boss drop now) to get a Kodo ... but he spend hours trying to get one. Hours of good/funny roleplay moments. I guess in the end, he made everyone crazy with it and Blizzard had just to patch one in.
Another character could have the dream of becoming a mage ... in a world where magic is legendary at best.
Let a Dwarf spend all his money to build some device he can fly with... we all know that is impossible isn't it?
I know this is next to impossible to implement, but do not dictate these things.
But the player would do mudane tasks to follow their 'dream'. Earn money, get books, learn to read them... just a few ideas.
If you target real roleplayer with this game you can have a world that is 'alive'.
There was (is?) a addon for WoW where you can add your own factions and let player (or guilds) give reputation. You do not have to have strict rules about this stuff ... someone will have fun designing quests for other players (a chat is enough for that). Theres no need for big rewards or epic weapons if the game is based on player interactions.
Of course you need a way to ban the 'imba-rofl-lol-roxxor' quickly.

--GWDev

PS: Maybe not something for the masses.

So would the simulation aspects be more important?

Character depth is the key here. One key aspect why roleplaying in wow even remotely works (apart from the ignore list) are the emotions. A character can express emotions while interacting. I can smile, laugh, be rude at someone. I can blush or be afraid. Of course it is nice that the model are so datailed animated, but that is not really important for roleplaying.
If i am angry and want to storm away, i need a way to express this in game.
And of course basic items. A shovel, a lamp, a rope or a cake. This opens the door for roleplaying ideas.

--GWDev

Two words: Oregon Trail.


Seriously though, there are a handful of RPGs where there are *NO* random encounters -- the only opportunity to do battle is at scripted points in the story.

When you think about it, random encounters are prety much just an excuse to let the player grind out a few levels here and there, and as a mechanism to keep the player from wandering too far afield (basically, keeping them focussed on the geographic area where the current plotline is taking place) -- that and they're there to look cool, let the player feel out their abilities, equipment and spells, and the generally let them feel like a badass.

I don't think you'd miss random encounters too much as long as there were other ways to provide what they traditionally have ('soft' boundaries, coin, loot, levels) provided everything else moves along fast enough that the player doesn't grow bored.

Planescape Torment was sort of this. It had combat but a lot of it was avoidable. Ultima 7 is... sort of the same way. It had combat as well but it wasn't that important

The important thing is to add gameplay to other areas. Torment had really ornate conversations, and your stats would affect the outcome somewhat, and it had puzzles, and lots of options in regards to character building and exploration and just how you approached quests. And most of the quests did involve solving puzzles or working through a dialogue in a particular manner to get a certain result.

High interactivity helps a lot. Let the player play as a merchant a la Elite, but without all the piracy and bandits and whatnot. Let them run some sort of in game business. Or -- since I already mentioned Ultima 7 -- just let them play with all the "junk" items.

Survival RPGs are also interesting, where you're focusing on, for instance, building shelter and harvesting food to survive winter. Dwarf Fortress, The UnReal World, and Survival Kids DO all have combat, but again, it's not NECESSARILY the focus in the first two and is more part of the hunting aspect in the latter. Harvest Moon could also arguably be grouped in here as well.

Quote:

Do you think a good story could disguise the fact all of the quests will probably end up just being repetitions of Talk To Everyone or Obtain Item X?

No, but designing the quests such that they AREN'T just "Talk to Everyone" or "Obtain Item X" will.

Athlught there is combat in it, the game "Sword of the Samurai" is an RPG less focused on the grind type questing of your typical cRPG.

It is not really combat that is the problem with cRPGs, it si the way it is implimented. IT is almost always the character(s) running around in a dungeon hacking, slashing and blasting their way through to gain the loot. It is if the only role the players can play are either exterminators (kill all the orcs) or are grave robbers (breaking into the 1000 year old temple and taking the treasure).

It is because these roles have been so over used that they have become cliche, and it the cliche that is the cause of the problem.

The solution is pretty obvious: Give the player a different set of roles to play.

The drama in role playing is in conflict. IT is how the character(s) solve this conflict that the drama of these games centres around. However, the easiest type of conflict is combat and it is also much easier to represent to the player as computer games have traditionally dealt with combat type conflict (eg: Space Invaders), fortunately there are games that have non combat conflict. For example: tradeing type games like the Forntier/Elite series. Or, even the game Balance of Power. You essentuially tried to avoid combat between the two factions (America and Russia), because if combat took place it was of the Mutually Assured Destruction type and both sides lost.

SO it is certainly possible to have non combat conflict in games. It is just harder to pull off.

That is a sticky question...

Is it possible to create and RPG that has little or no combat, sure (as indicated by other people in this thread), but it isn't as cut and dry as some people would make it seem.

In many RPGs the world is a place of strife and you, through the player character, must fulfill some form of hero's story to save it. This typically means starting out small or weak and relatively unknown, overcoming many obstacles which leads to growth, to eventually overcome the antagonist in some sort of climactic battle.

If that is the mold you are working with, go with combat as the core interaction. It is scalable, repeatable, diverse, supportive of feeling heroic, a readily understood game mechanic that players generally enjoy, and a game mechanic other developers will already 'get' when working on your game. It also provides an understood mechanism for reward (loot), has a clear win and lose state, and unlike many other systems the power curve is evident. When your character levels he/she is capable of slaying stronger monsters even if the underlying stats are abstracted or confusing.

There are other considerations which makes combat the right choice as the core interaction for an RPG but those are the ones that immediately came to mind. If you want to make a change from a combat-centric model then consider changing to a genre which is entirely story and puzzle driven (Adventure, such as Kings Quest) where there is no systematic progression system that requires the same interaction to be repeated over and over again, or change the theme of your game to accommodate something other than a combat-centric Hero's Journey which culminates in a climactic battle to the death. Those themes will only serve to box you in and make it appear as if combat should have been at the core of the game.

So, what do I mean by changing the theme? Well, here is an example:

"You are Tommy, a farm boy from the land of Kansasthania, whose life goal is to become the King of Pumpkins. Yet a boiling cloud of evil is about to descend on this fertile land threatening to destroy farming forever. Now Tommy must learn the secrets of vegizdry and restore the blighted areas through a combination of magic and age-old farming techniques before it is too late. Once Kasasthania is saved Tommy must then leave his home to learn where the blight came from and devise a way to stop it so that his home is never threatened again!"

It is assumed that, in the above example, growing plants or purifying areas will be the core mechanic that can be used throughout the game. It is a puzzle which should be repeatable, feeds into the overall theme of the game, feels at least somewhat heroic (Think of Okami when an area is saved), and should instill a sense of progression as Tommy would only be able to grow small or normal plants in the beginning and later be able to produce wild and magical plants based on his experience level. The climax event may simply be Tommy growing enchanted pumpkins around an accursed, ancient Oak tree that hates all of humanity because his friends were cut down and made into furniture. This will save the tree's soul and Tommy will become the Pumpkin king at the same time.

The above example still is a Hero's Journey of sorts, but one where it isn't inherently skewed towards combat because the theme demands a series of bloody confrontations. This is a very whimsical universe that I made up on the spot, so don't try to read too deep into it :)

Some other things to do in RGP.

Crafting:
Build Houses.
Create painting.
Create map of jungle.

Social:
(Build organization with rules and agenda.)
Create guilds.
Create kingdoms.
Create towns / cityes.
Make entertainment to get fame.

Trade:
Buy & sell to get personal wealth.