Hello, all! This is my first account on Choice of Games and I’d like to gather an opinion from the forum. I’m working on the narrative for my very first game I want to know what your opinion is on a game set in a collegiate atmosphere. Lol, its been a while since high-school but I’m nearing the end of my Bachelor’s Degree and have some interesting ideas for a setting in a college environment. Likely, this story will be rated for Teens and above simply due to the tones and themes that come with a college story.
Anyway, enough with my background and the pseudo-disclaimer. This story is about an adult mage and their first year in a college in the Southern US. The mage will be attending as a non-traditional student (an adult older than the usual “fresh out of high-school” age group) with a number of backgrounds to choose from. The reason for this mage’s attendance will be that their former job (or that simply performing magic alone) was not conducive to their lifestyle; the various backgrounds available will add clarity and context to that portion of the narrative. Why the mage chose THIS school in particularly will also be determined by the player as well. Based upon the above choices (as well as a few others), the player will effectively determine the starting personality of the mage in question, though you can evolve it further as the story progresses.
Throughout the story, the player (or rather, the mage) will encounter numerous supernatural forces that have centered in the town around the school. There will be monsters, there will be some difficult choices to make, some very bad jokes, and mayhap a few opportunities for romance along the way; this is college after all.
I’ve read and re-read the Dresden Files a lot over the years, lol, and while this will not be ripping off Jim Butcher’s work, I will not deny that his style has influenced me over the years.
I’m thinking of 5 in total, with 2 disciplines each.
Animism: The art of communing with and the summoning of animals. Communing means that you invoke the essence of a single animal at a time, a trait that defines the creature above all else. If the mage wants say a cheetah’s speed, then he get’s the speed he desires with all the drawbacks of doing so while in a human body; no shape-changing for mere mortals, lol. Summoning animals is exactly as written on the tin, the mage can call forth animals to assist him in a particular task; this is good because while this isn’t set in the backwoods, the town around the college isn’t New York.
Elementalism: The art of manipulating and generating energy to affect the world around you. Manipulation requires the presence of enough energy of the type the mage wishes to utilize; fire spells need a source of fire to manipulate, and so on. Generation is the singular mastery of a single element, and that’s it. It requires no source as the mage can spontaneously reproduce the conditions needed for the element invoked; a fire mage is a master of fire, not earth.
Divination: The art of communication and binding of spirits. Communication means that the mage can call upon the latent spirits within an area to provide him with information; he can even call upon those of higher (and lower) planes. Binding is a discipline that requires a totem in order to work correctly, as spirits do not have corporeal forms. Some might call this the gateway to necromancy (as flesh makes a great, if disgusting, medium for metaphysical energies; others might recall that the Jewish Golem was a product of this art.
Psychokinesis: The art of telepathy and moving objects without touching them. Telepathy is pretty self-explanatory and so it the 2nd discipline of telekinesis. Both require serious effort, however, and may take a toll upon the mage’s health.
The last magic requires a name but it involves the manipulation of the body’s processes. The 2 disciplines involved are that of bolstering the body (+1 to strength, dexterity, etc.) and the healing of the mage and others. Both tax the mage’s body, however, and the healing aspect is NOT regeneration. The mage can heal a broken bone but a dismembered body part will remain so, the stump healing instead of re-growing.
I’m figuring out the ChoiceScript as quickly and thoroughly as I can. The drafts of the first chapter are almost complete but until I work around the scripting, the narrative will have to come afterwards.
It sounds promising, and being inspired by the Dresden Files makes me hopeful (I’m not a big Urban Fantasy fan, but I respect his work - especially on his characters).
…maybe. Oh who am I kidding, I’m totally using that, lol! Once I get into the nitty-gritty of ironing out the stats for this game, I’ll start exploring some rather epic scenes for each of the Magics and disciplines therein.
Edit: I’m kind of surprised no one brought up the “gopher-chucks” from the Kung Pow movie of yesteryear. But I guess that would be too silly.
Various types of birds, including Barred owls, hawks, wild turkeys and the like. Most of the critters are going to be things like squirrels, gophers, mice, hamsters, and such. Snakes are common as well as raccoons and opossums. Dogs and cats, obviously, as well as too many various types of vermin/insects/arachnids to count.
Oh and fish, because a mage that can compel fish to jump out of water into a bucket is a well-fed mage.
Edit: here’s a link to the stuff I was talking about
This sounds like a fun game. If I can speed up the demo by helping out when you get stuck coding, hit me up. I’ve figured out most of the mistakes to avoid by now.
