Would you like your MC to be a Demon, a Human or something else? (working on the story)

I’m the kind of ornery person who, when I’m playing something like D&D, insists on being the powerless human who relies on stabbing dragons in the eye and running away. I have a soft spot for the underpowered and the overlooked. And yet I’m making a game where you play as a monster undercover among humans… go figure.

I don’t like power gaming or god characters. I don’t want things to be easy. If I am playing as some kind of mythological creature, give me limitations and weaknesses; throw me in a setting where it’s a disadvantage. One of the better games I’ve played this year was Octodad. You play as a hyperintelligent octopus. But here’s the catch: you have to fit in among humankind, and walk and push shopping carts and make coffee using your unwieldy boneless tentacles. It is nearly impossible. That’s my kind of game.

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Fighting super villains with nothing but a battery guzzling laser sword from E-bay is way more fun than playing god but I’d rather cuddle and expand my party.

The most important part of a game for me is choosing the personality of my character. If I can’t choose the MC’s personality, the MC should be easy to relate to or funny.

Your game sounds like it has a well defined MC as the MC is forced to feel like an outcast. Why can’t the MC enjoy that people fear them and feel powerful because they can use that as an advantage over the humans?

I prefer relationship based games over stat heavy or games solely about winning or losing. I want to enjoy the journey through the game and not have to worry about picking the ‘right’ answer. Who’s home did we live at after we were abandoned? Is it an orphanage, nice human home, abusive human home, or something else? These details will determine if I feel happy to go to a place where I will (hopefully) be accepted or sad at leaving My adoptive family and friend behind and see the school as a prison; these details give a story depth.

As for the five monster races, I intensely dislike it when the meaning of words is distorted so much that it becomes meaningless. Elves can be tall or short, some zombies are fast while some are slow, some werewolves can change at will and live in a pack while others are human most of the time…It makes it hard for me to picture and play monster MC’s so if you’re going to make a sentient tree MC, please don’t call it an elf.

It also seems extremely difficult to write a different story for each race with each story having it’s own branching and each playthrough being a satisfying length. It might be easier to have a similar main story and then branch off from the central story.

For the backstory, history, and society of each race. I don’t think much more than the MC’s looks and abilities should be mentioned at the beginning, because MC doesn’t know about their background. School could teach history lessons, but with all the diversity of many races comming together, the setting would probably be more like modern day America than old school rpg races.

tl;dr Your idea is fine, but it probably wouldn’t fit my specific taste(but, I’m picky).

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Sentient trees are closer to Dryad territory. Does anyone have a name for sentient flowers?

You know what I want to play as? I want to play as a faceless entity. The only prominent feature, if any, would be the mouth. It could be a being made of shadows, of light, of plant - I don’t care. Just give me a playable faceless monster and I’ll be set for the next 10 years. There’s this artist on tumblr and they have a character named Steve who is pretty close to what I’m talking about. :persevere::kissing_closed_eyes:

You know: Playing a werewolf that some family mistakenly took in as a puppy one full moon night would be kind of funny.

edit: actually “could” is probably more accurate.

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Mild devil’s advocacy: the genre, to the extent it is a genre, exists because a lot of people like reading derivative and familiar “other world” fiction at least as much as they like original works of imagination. For every China Mieville, there are surely a dozen Terry Brookses, Dennis McKiernans, and Terry Goodkinds.

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I’m not asking anyone to challenge China Mieville.

Just because he looks like he could beat the everlovin’ snot out of me and everyone in this room.

“Yes, I write books for a living. I mostly just carve the words into a rock with my little finger…”

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funny that fantasy (where making stuff up is the point) keeps recycling races with a few changes here and there while sci fi seems to keep getting more and more races (at least in literature).

I still want to see more werewolves that aren’t snarling rageoholics.

you all hold extremely valuable points, and I am still evolving my story. but as I know some players prefer to play as a human which doesn’t fit in with my storyline but I am willing to make a compromise, like a human/humanoid who looks ordinary apart from runes decorated on their arms which gives them above average speed, stamina and strength which still makes them human so there will be a human option. also, I was thinking about putting this option:
how do you feel when you constantly get picked on by the villagers? 1) Angry, when I get the chance I will treat them exactly how they treat me! 2) I just feel sorry for them picking on me because I’m different to them
things may not be how I word it, but the character will have on option that will either set them on the path to becoming good or evil from the start, so you could have a good werewolf, or an evil werewolf depending on what you prefer. but my story is still evolving.

If it’s normal picking on I would look for a sanctuary. After I’ve straightened out my thoughts it depends.
I might invade their privacy later.

If we’re talking pitchforks at the door then I’m going to be agitated.

there will most likely be an option to get revenge on the villagers, but that will be after you go there and visit for the first time and find out some information about you origins.

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I’m not a big fan of binary choices, especially when they lead to “good vs evil” manichean stats. I enjoy having a range of in betweens and morally grey choices available, I find it easier and more interesting to RP an MC that isn’t the archetype of good or evil.

As for the original topic: it really depends on the writing but original races are always a plus.
Your story idea is fairly classic so you might wanna try to add your own original touch to engage the readers.

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I think asking the player how the MC feels about being ostracized is a good idea. But as they are currently written, either of those two options could indicate an evil character. Ideally, you would have several options for this choice – or even better, several interactions with the villagers, each presenting an opportunity for the MC to respond to villagers’ attitudes in a concrete way.

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ok there are still be some things that need to be changed and I promise I’ll get around to it, but in better news I may start writing it this Sunday! so if you have any opinions/ideas please write them in this thread and quick, and the name of this book might be called ‘Magic uprising’ the title might change but its the best I can think of at the moment.I’m also considering having assistance from a co-author but that still remains to be uncertain, but I’m still leaving it as an option so I might still request one on this thread so just keep an eye out anyone who is willing to help me out.

Hmmm, I’ll be okay so long as the MC could be made to sound unique. But I digress. Having pointed ears, being an elf sounds fun. Or being half beastfolk, and having an adorable fluffy tail to chase 'round’s cool too.

don’t worry, I have a cunning plan which is this: the elves will more clumsy than graceful, demons are more understanding than violent ,werewolves will be more peaceful than brutal, vampires will be kind instead of bloodthirsty, fairies will be more skilled at killing than being caring (ironic is it not?) and finally the humanoid will be umm…the neutral option since is more human than the res for obvious reasons. so I’m just turning the tables about common knowledge on mythical folk but the humanoid will have some distinct features which I’m still currently deciding but I can tell you all that each will have magic making anything possible at this stage, and this is all I’m saying for now until I’m certain on the rest of my story.

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I prefer party animal demons over violent anyway.

Honestly I’d rather discard those polarities entirely and have something really fresh. I once made “vampires” that relied on magic because they are all terminally ill.

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I’m looking for a co-author that knows how to code so if anyone is willing to help me write this story please message me on this thread, thanks