IP ideas/concepts - Critique/views/feedback welcome.

[El Phantasmo]

After many years of playing established and indie games (Along with a fair bit of homebrew) I’ve decided to try and pull together a few of the recurrent IP’s that float around my head and surface from time to time.


I’m looking, initially, for feedback and critique/input on the game concepts – this isn’t game text but merely me describing what the game is about etc. Please feel free to point out where there are other games that already have the same/similar approach or setting, where things are particularly strong or weak etc. I’ll list them below but the writing won’t be particularly flowery at this time!


Unscenesent Karoshi;


A sci-fi game set several thousand years into humanities future – our species has been part of the Free Council for a couple of centuries after we were found to be space-faring. The member species are numerous and many will be playable from the get-go. The Free Council formed Aeons ago in order to ensure the freedom of all species following a war with the Primes, a collection of races from the beginning of the Universe who eventually achieved true immortality. The Primes were eventually overthrown and escaped to their own created Universe to rule as Gods – but their influence is seeping back into out reality.


So far a pretty standard sci-fi setting with collective government (Though this one spans multiple galaxies instead of just ours) vs ancient foes.


However true immortality comes at a cost – you lose your soul. It’s the soul that makes you mortal and anchors the life to the a great cycle of life-death-beyond. Existence without a soul means you are immortal but also that you’ll succumb to hubris, arrogance and more importantly a desire to control others. With no compassion or empathy the base desires and impulses of an entity rise to the surface. Soulessness also removes you from the cycle. This is where, hopefully, my game idea diverts into slightly original territory;


The dead, from the beginning of time until now, had been locked away to the “Afterworld” or “Deadsyde”. The only way of travelling there was to die, when you Soul then moves from this realm into theirs via deaths door, essentially a portal your soul moves through to reach the Afterworld. Some see it as a literal door, others a light, others a harrowing journey where they’re beset by images of their past and the pain they’ve caused. It takes many forms but ultimately leads to one place – the Universe or realm inhabited by the Dead. The dead understand more about the cycle than the living and wish to see it continue; not in order to bolster their own ranks, but in order to keep the natural balance. The dead in this setting are the enlightened ones, the good guys (For the most part) and the reason why the living can now fight the Primes.


The Primes have servitors (They managed to exert control over a species who discovered a Prime artifact) who began to rampage, destroy and control others in this material universe. They are the Tide, the tools of the Primes, but in their actions they weakened not only the walls between our universe and that of the Primes but also between the material and the dead. The dead can now communicate with the living when someone reaches the end of their life and stands at deaths door – a message is imparted and the dying individual sent back empowered by the dead – these individuals are the Karoshi (A corruption of the original Japanese term). Individuals who should have died but who were refused access to the Afterworld and sent back to fight the Prime influence. They wield odd powers and possess potent capabilities. The Free Council is fully aware of them as is the universe at large, there are Karoshi who walk on worlds the Free Council have yet to find in addition. The Karoshi aren’t immortal, but they cease aging, destined to die in service fighting the Prime influence or at some allotted point when the dead rescind the power that fuels them.


Primes – Previously biological species from the beginning of the universe who achieved immortality through technology, enslaved lesser races and ruled huge swathes of the universe until overthrown by the lesser races. Escaped/Exiled to their own created Universe (Such was their technological advancement) where they have ruled as Gods.


Lesser Races – the formerly enslaved species who threw off their oppression and drove back the Primes. In the time after they formed the Free Council.


Karoshi – The dying who have been sent back to fight the minions and influence of the Primes be that directly opposing the Tide or the more insidious threat of Lesser race immortals.


Free Council – Collective of thousands of member species who ensure harmony in the Cosmos. The relatively newly returned threat of the Primes and their Tide is now their primary concern. There are those species and other collectives that oppose them or refuse membership which the Free Council attempt to court, influence, subvert or war against.


Warborn


A steampunk high-fantasy setting set on the fictional world of Hizarka. Several species inhabit the world and continent that share the same name in a time after the Gods withdrew to their own hidden realms following the Celestial rebellion – many Gods died and fell to Hizarka, falling onto, threw and into the world. The numerous species of the world now pursue different ideological, political and theological agendas whilst technology also advances (Even though not all use it).


The bodies of the dead gods that fell to Hizarka are now mined for their Aessence, Celestially powered materials and ephemera, to be used in magics and technologies from the self-replicating species of the Voka, the shamanic magics of the Crinix beast nations or the technological war machines of the human lands. Other species view the materials and Aessence in different ways, only a few theorise they are the remains of the Gods who fell.


Currently war is threatened on several fronts and for a myriad of reasons. There are no Tolkienesq species within the setting, instead a plethora of natives who follow different ideals and paths are available.


Some have discovered that ingesting the Aessence can produce wildly differing effects with many using the abilities gained this way to win the upper hand in battle – hence Warborn – some users favouring the limited and potent effects of the Aessence whilst others choose permanent but lesser abilities.


ProGen


Humanity theorised how it would, as a species, end for many years. From official reports, theological discourse or media such as literature and film many have envisioned plague, natural disaster and war to be our undoing.


In the end it was science. Medical advancements across several fields lead to exciting new discoveries which lead many to believe a new utopia lay within reach, an end to diseases such as HIV, ebola and the like as well as effective preventatives against cancers and other illness. Instead mans hubris lead to his downfall – somehow something went wrong. A calculation was wrong, an unforeseen variable not accounted for or in more chilling theories a direct and wilful act lead to the Infected. A disease ravaged the world, Infected spread and the Pures were left fighting former friends and family the world over.


The Infected origin isn’t known but the virus is now blood-born. A small percentage of the population are immune (The Pure) and venture out of the few settlements still secured in order to search for supplies and answers. The Infected are mobile viral weapons, each possessing differing diseases and maladies that can spread and combine in different ways. Some are slow and languid, others swift and agile. The virus changes each in different ways – but each Infected is dangerous.


Theories about the EOC (End Of Civilization) exist within the settlements – Some world Government tried to suppress the medical advances for reasons now lost but failed, their measures spiralling out of control. Others claim the virus is natural, a cleansing mechanism to rid the world of too many humans. A fringe believe the infection either originated from some extra-terrestrial origina or was created by parties unknown. Before the EOC a pharmaceutical company named ProGen were supposed to be the most advanced in regards the medical breakthroughs – it is this company most blame for the end of civilisation and who attract most of the attention when survivors inevitably look to find out why the Infected now roam the world.


The Pure and other survivors now attempt to survive and rebuild where they can. The Infected wander and sometimes group together for many purposes but mostly to feed and hunt the uninfected.

 

[J0ker]

Joker's two cents: go with the second idea, it's very original.

 

[El Phantasmo]

Thanks for the reply Joker!


I'm aware of some cross-over concepts and ideas with other games, be they TT, minis, computer games etc. Thanks for saying it sounds very original.


Unsenescent Karoshi has some similar ideas to many Cthulhu-mythos games (The Primes are inspired by, but not actually the Lovecraft Mythos and have slightly different agendas), Mass Effect, SLA Industries and the like.


Warborn is, apparently according to a friend of mine "Meh, sounds like Iron Kingdoms." - Which I have the D&D 3.5 stuff for. I can see the similarity - numerous races and steampunkery - but they are quite different in setting details. The Deiaphages, or Warborn, who use the Aessence of fallen gods aren't really comparable to anything I'm aware of (I don't own every game though so for all I know there are a slew of games out there that are identical!) though fueling tech with bits of celestial flesh might be something other games do. The comparable games and feel I guess would be Iron Kingdoms, Victoriana, Mordheim etc.


ProGen spring from my love of zombie-ness and things rotten and undead. Obvious surface similarities to Resident Evil, Last of Us, I Am Legend and really any of the Zombie-survival type genre of books, movies, TV or games. This time however the dead aren't necessarily brainless. Some are very much still capable of thought, though rare, and the cause is solely in the blood ... which changes and uses other blood-born illness as tools or uses other illness a viruses as "source code" for mutation.


Rabies; cue fast moving and feral Infected. Pretty standard 28 Days Later type critters. But other illnesses? Some weird combos and some entirely freaky-sick results leads to things like the Burners, Infected so virus ridden that they're burning up - blood steam rises from their flesh, they're boiling to the touch, they can spontaneously explode or burst into flame. I did quite a bit of research into some blood-based illness, virus etc and worked out some ways these might manifest hyped-up methods of progressing the infect. Then there's the standard meta-story of the virus origin, whether it was created or something natural, whether the Infected are dead or not (And the ramifications of such) and other considerations.

 

[Grey]

I'm coming at this from a system-based perspective, just so you know.


1. That's actually kind of neat. I was afraid it was going to ME at first, but it reminds me of Chronicles of Riddick except more coherent and thought out. I think you need to consider how hard sci-fi you want it to be, maybe lay out a timeline. When designing any setting, always consider the logical ramifications and implications of the ideas you want to include. For example - if the Free Council is intergalactic, how is intergalactic travel achieved? Will that be important? Can you tie it to the gameplay in some way? How about FTL communication?


I suggest you check out World of Darkness - Mirrors: The Infinite Macabre (my take on it is here) for undead space warrior ideas.


2. Warborn does have some neat ideas, philosophically, but players in high fantasy are rarely inclined to think about theology in any meaningful way. Furthermore, it's not Steampunk. This is something most people don't realize. The 'punk' suffix is important. Like cyberpunk, steampunk is about using new technology to oppose the ruling powers. Have you considered de-emphasizing the steamtech except as something the human culture/s tend to use? Also, would absorbing Aessence have an effect on the Warborn? Seems to me the risk of mutation or similar might be rife.


Definitely stick to the lack of Tolkienesque races. Consider evolutionary factors (which can include magic) when you're putting them together in detail.


I actually have a broadly similar setting knocking about here somewhere, but the differences are deep and distinct.


3. Needs more work to be worthwhile - I've seen plenty of post-apocs in that mould (including an awesome conversion for Blood & Smoke around here somewhere). Still, that's just me being sick of post-apoc and zombies-by-another-name. I think with a little research you could do some cool stuff with the viral medley angle.

 

[El Phantasmo]

Grey - Thanks for your response!


1 - Unsenescent Karoshi doe actually have a timeline already. Not to create myself a bitch of a history to manage ... but my start point was "Big Bang" and went from there. The numbers are immense. In the end the first 10 billion years or so got split down into epochs and then things got more defined when the Lesser Races stood up for themselves. It's on an Excel spreadsheet currently ... and it's almost out of space. In each epoch and then time slot I have planned out natural events, wars etc. It's huge. Sits about 20-something MB so far. I am a pain when it comes to logical consistency and looking at the consequences/ramifications and continuity of things.


Ultimately the Karoshi themselves are one of the few things capable of standing up to the Tide and their masters the Primes. The game is mostly about resisting the Tide/Primes, routing out Immortals (Humanity and other species have developed technologies that allow this, even though it's now outlawed by the Free Council, knowing that it's the immortality that causes soul loss. It also means immortals are potentially open to Prime influence.) and dealing with the myriad races, factions and the like that would occur in such a hugely populated Universe. Fermi paradox isn't a consideration in the setting!


Regards the FTL issued there are numerous quantum technologies that exist allowing FTL comms and transportation that utilise both near LY speeds for "short distances" of .5LY to 1LY as well as smaller scale Ion drives and Grav Drives. Distances above 1LY are either undertaken as long-haul and last for years via near LY speeds, Prime artifacts (Rare, we're not taking Fading Suns jumpgates or ME Mass Relays, space artifacts that provide instant transport) or costly Q-Build (Disassembling, Quantum teleportation of information and then rebuilding at destination). Then there's the remote presence bodies available that transmit via Q-Coms but they're seen as rather simplistic and for the "masses" as they're not always the most reliable. Great for visiting and sight-seeing, but not as a viable long-term option.


2 - Warborn is a reaction to my malaise with standard fantasy - but you're right about the Steampunk. I put that purely as it's in vogue and a buzzword. Quite correct that I misused it!


Good idea on the Steam-tech being a human-based technology. In the setting humans can use magicks but aren't nearly as skilled as some of the other species. The Steam-tech could be their identifiable gimmick/schtick over the others. Neat idea. I can, in the backstory, actually work that quite well as I know what Gods fell where, what can be done with the Aessence etc. The humans could easily have the monopoly with the Steam-tech and it's use/maintenance and fueling.


The Warborn as massively affected by the consumption of the Aessence. Mortal flesh was not meant to house a Deities power after all. Whilst use of Aessence has some useful effects (Think Exalted level charms) the cost is great. The user can "overload" on Godflesh and suffer numerous effects - catatonia as they relieve the God memories still housed in the Aessence, explode in a shower of energised gore, succumb to a God-complex where the drives of the Deity take over the Warborn etc. It's potent but comes at the risk of equally debilitating consequences.


The various species hail from largely different areas besides those that either haven't naturally evolved or don't actually hail from Hizarka originally. Humans did and inhabit terrains largely similar to Earth. The Voka, a species comprised of rune-inscribed Godflesh alloy shells house spirits from the Celestial Realms. The Crinix come from a largely tropical land and are broadly tribal/shamanic - though some live elsewhere.


There's a mix of races all over the place, but there are reasons why they are the way they appear or function, even anthropologically speaking, and aren't limited to only their homelands. It would be possible for a couple of humans, a Voka and a Crinix refugee raised outside it's homelands to go adventuring into Ethen lands (Ethen being highly mystical and living above the body of one of the mightiest gods which grants them vast magickal abilities etc) to search out more potent Godflesh to harvest. Cue shenanigans.


3 - ProGen is one I've had on the back burner for a while, but much like you I've seen so many zombie-themed games it's hard to get excited by them as they're either OTT silly (Resident Evil) or actually very similar to all the others. The one difference within the setting is that whilst the Infected did originally get called Zombies in the media when things began to breakdown, there were differing opinions once things had become a little more stable. A big part of the setting is the question "Are the Infected dead?" and the ramifications of that - could they be cured? Did you really just kill someone who's actually just very ill? Does it matter if they were attacking you?


The premise from the game stems partly from my own take on immigration and for sections of society perceiving sub-groups of people as "outsiders" or different to them somehow. How casually they can dismiss those in need, sometimes in quite callous ways. The language barrier is one issue, as is ignorance of culture, and those things definitely exist with the Infected. They're seen as unintelligent (They aren't, at least not all of them), dead (Who knows!?) and unable of communicating (Furthering the opinion they're dead). There's no evidence of culture or bonds between them, but much of the world is in darkness now - satellites no longer work so comms are restricted to radios and similar "low-tech" methods, transport is mostly out of the question as fuels rarer than anything having been mostly used already and flight is pretty much out of the question. Travel is walking, cycling, horse back etc.


The Infected come in so many varieties I was definitely trying to avoid either basic "Zombies" or a small number of different types (Ala "Left 4 Dead"). There are baseline Infected, then there are the previously mention Burners but also Pumpers (Vomiters), Melters (Bloods turned acidic) and Dry (Still ambulatory but somethings drained them ...) as well as others and combinations.


Thanks for the feedback!

 

[El Phantasmo]

Gah, I'm an idiot, FTL Comms aren't possible without some kind of McGuffin or far extrapolated pseudo-science. I'm going with a fusion of the two ... and I still can't fathom why I didn't realise FTL Comms aren't possible.


Mind you it does allow me to tie the living and dead elements of UK together a little tighter - craft now carry phasing drives and emitters. This allows them, through truly esoteric science, to partially exist in the same layer of reality/universe as the Dead. Laws of physics are different their thus allowing apparent FTL (It's actually distance that's truly weird in the Afterworld, when "skimming" the Afterworld things are just twisted and warped)


Also means that when travelling a ship is "Ghosting" and hitting things like micro-meteorites and the like isn't as much of a concern. Comms are broadcast the same way. Swish. Comms use the "Echo" system, complex system allowing near FTL comms.


Also - nifty revised history/background for Hizarka. Full Gods/creation and races creation sorted. It not only makes sense, sets up conflict as a central premise to the world, explains fully why the Gods fell and why others left etc but is also I think quite different to most games (Certainly the ones I know of anyway!)