Hello! I'm trying to nail down some rules to a very complex setting I've been developing for a while now, and I need some help to very big questions! I've developed this setting in a way where the setting itself writes its own plots, so it is very layered. Only sections 3, 4 and 5 need to be read to understand the immediate setting, so don't bother with 1, 2, or 6 if you don't wish too be overwhelmed with extraneous details! This also is to serve as my own reference, which is why its all here! The idea behind the setting is an MMORPG type game (like World of Warcraft, Runescape, Ultima, etc), where people live permanently. They do not log out, or remember anything of the real world, other than that the world they reside in is a game. 1. Setting Summary - Sim's relation to EarthNet Takes place in a 'game world' that's not entirely a simulation of the real world That game world is contained within a 'bubble' called a 'sim' Thousands, possibly millions of sims are all contained within the 'EarthNet' EarthNet is an evolved form of the internet, that uses the earth's atmosphere as a giant wifi router The EarthNet can be traversed by beings from a sim, and objects from a sim can be taken into the EarthNet The EarthNet is seen as a limbo outside a sim, like outer space to earth, or purgatory to hell 2. The Sim's Design The sim is a sun-sized ball of ice floating in space The 'sun' is a small star that floats around the ball of ice and stops for long periods of time in 1 spot When the 'sun' moves to a new spot, it thaws the ice and reveals land/continents underneath Eventually the 'sun' moves again and leaves the realm in darkness, to freeze over Walls of ice surround every realm, these are actually the edges of the 'shell' of ice over the greater sphere that have been melted by the sun Because of the ice, realms can be hundreds of earth-sized spaces apart, no realm knows of another realm's existence Because of the cold and lack of sunlight when the sun leaves a realm, all of the denizens of a realm die when the sun leaves 3. The Realm's Design The main realm of the plot currently has the sun over it Thematically a generic video game-esque fantasy aesthetic Swords, spells, monsters, etc Towns, dungeons, castles, etc One frozen realm is nearby the current sun-realm 4. The Game's Design Players start in a town Kill monsters, do quests, gather resources, craft items, kill other players to level up Players have access to all classes in the game All classes level up independently, some skills carry over from one class to another Fields, Castles, Dungeons, Forts, Strongholds, Labyrinths, and Temples are all places players go to fight against in-game monsters and collect treasure Arenas, colosseums exist for players to fight other players specifically Players can kill other players anywhere outside of a Sanctuary Sanctuaries include towns, Chapels, and any Shrine or Temple Players can create their own towns that can be larger than the NPC towns, but must be defended from monster raids Players can start and join guilds, guild members can all use teleports to a pre-determined area, such as a Guild Hall Players can join parties of up to 10 people or raids which have no cap on the number of players The lower the number of players in a Castle/Dungeon/Fort/Stronghold/Labyrinth/Temple, the higher quality treasure compared to its level Semi-regular game updates appear to the world and content 5. State of the Players No one remembers the 'real world' other than that it was real and this world is a game that's fake Everyone forgets everything past a certain amount of time Players are separated into two groups: Guilds and Solos Guild players tend to leave towns very rarely, they retain sanity better than Solos Solo players tend to leave towns often or never come back, they tend to go insane more often than players who remain in towns, tend to be much higher level Guild Armies are groups within guilds that gain the benefits of being in a guild while also being high level, due to leaving the towns to go level up, vastly more sane than Solo players Players do not have to eat or drink to stay healthy, nor do they have to exercise They are required to sleep however When players are asleep, they have a choice of dreaming or going to a 'message board', in which they can communicate with other players like a standard BBS Some players have completely lost touch with their humanity and only wander the world, killing other players for experience points and loot Players can be one of many races in the game, all with different rules and special talents Some players have completely lost touch with sanity, and haunt special areas where they engage in sex endlessly with one another Players who die remain at the site of their death indefinitely as a corpse that can be revived, unless their bodies were entirely eliminated, in which case they'd go to an "underworld" dimension, where they sleep eternally unless somehow summoned back into the land of the living, are freed via a gateway, or escape themselves somehow. Players who die 'permanent deaths' (their corpses are destroyed) are sent into the Underworld Players can escape the Underworld by bringing themselves back into 'balance' by working through mental health problems they had when they perished, this may take a very long time and a lot of effort for the player Once they have proven they are back in balance, they are reincarnated into the realm Reincarnation involves them assuming a new name, face, race, and other set of attributes Their memory from their past life is wiped, as well as any memory of the Underworld Reincarnations spawn in towns during a Black Moon 6. Misc details (not enough on each of these to make a category for them) The Healing Church, a guild of players that seek all knowledge of the real world and work to impose the 'rules' of the real world on the realm, in order to get as close as possible to replicating the real world as possible, so that someday people will think the game world is the real world. This organization does not accept certain races or other deviations in characters that they've considered a threat to their goals of increasing the overall health of the human population in the realm, as a cure for the rampant insanity that exists from the stagnate, eternal lives of the humans in the game. Memory Loss, all players lose memory after a certain point of time in their lives. As all players have eternal life, all players have forgotten exactly where they came from, how long they have existed, all the people they've met, and all the places they've been. Memory Remains, the only way to permanently keep memories is by writing them down in a Tome, Tomes are rare memory storage devices that can be destroyed, but otherwise will last forever Expansions, additional content, expansions to the world, new dungeons, and other things will appear at certain intervals. When an expansion is going to be added, all players will fall into a heavy, unconquerable sleep. Gateways, some leads to frozen realms, some to mysterious lands touched by the moon or the Black Moon, some to moons overlooking the realm, some under the sea, and in one instance, one leads to just outside the sim, to the EarthNet Red Moon, appears very rarely, no one remembers when it last appeared, appears at times when the EarthNet is directly connected to the sim Black Moon, cannot be seen but its presence can be felt by all players, appears regularly, when it appears in the sky all players will have their emotions stimulated, can restore sanity to an extent, everyone in the realm falls asleep during a Black Moon, reincarnated players appear during a Black Moon Purgatory, an instanced location that can only be accessed via a gateway, these 'pocket dimensions' can serve many purposes, however they are nearly all universally against player interests, and usually an indication of a terrible insanity that has befallen its residents, who's deep insanity has manifested as the Purgatory they now reside in. These often take the forms of extremes in stimulation, such as eternal battlefields, endless pleasure hells, eternal slumbers, or other tragic states. That's what I've got so far, I'll post again after this with some weak areas and big unanswered questions I have that I could really use some help with. Again, you really don't need to use all of the above to contribute to answering the questions, I know its kind of an information overload and a pain in the butt to read, so use it more as a reference if you wish, or just ignore it, that's totally fine. Thank you.
Unanswered questions! 1) What happens when players die? Do they respawn somewhere? Do they vanish? 2) What happens to the players in the frozen realms? When they die, where do they go? What happens to them? 3) Where do the players in a new sun-realm come from? 4) Are there NPCs besides monsters? 5) Who creates the expansions? 6) What controls the sun's movements? 7) If the sun moves around the ice ball, how does the realm have a day/night cycle? Those are all I can think of for now. Thanks to anyone who replies, I really appreciate the help!
Hi @Vagrant Tale. Forgive me, I am not that knowledgeable about this kind of thing. Is this for a 3rdPRP computer game? or a strategy game? In the plot it comes across as being a bit WorldofWarcraftesque or like Runescape. Could be a good premise for a game. However, what I notice is that what you seem to have written down above, comes across as a bit convoluted and very complicated. I think what makes a lot of computer games absorbing and addictive is the simplicity. I'll be interested to see your questions.
Thank you for such a speedy reply! I'm going to reply to this as soon as I can, though it may not be tonight, and I obviously need to improve my initial post to reduce some confusion, so I will do that as well. Thank you so much OB1!
"What makes this realm any different to the others? Other than the obvious?" The realms where the sun used to reside before it moved, they become frozen, pitch black wastelands after the sun leaves, and because of the icewalls around each of them, players cannot escape the darkness or cold, and are left to die miserable deaths from the lack of sun. When the players die, do they remain where they are in the frozen wasteland, waiting to be revived? Do some of them survive the cold and live in endless misery? Do the ones who die go to a purgatory after-death? Or do they just respawn in the new sun-realm? "Not sure I understand the question." the sun will move to X area and linger for hundreds, possibly thousands of years. After a long period, it will simply float away to a new location. Once it picks a new spot, its presence will melt the ice, and create a "pond" on the surface of the ice-ball. Continents will reveal themselves because of the sun's presence, and new towns will be created, and players will populate this new realm (called a sun-realm, because its a realm that currently has the sun). After a long period of time, the sun will simply leave this realm as well, to be frozen over and left in pitch black. Apologies on the late reply. Thanks for the input!
Is this meant for a computer game? If so, how can you make this all relevant and include it within the game? I am not sure how all this will work! How can you portray something that occurs over thousands of years into a game that lasts maybe an hour or 2 at a time?
The idea behind the setting is an MMORPG type game (like World of Warcraft, Runescape, Ultima, etc), where people live permanently. They do not log out, or remember anything of the real world, other than that the world they reside in is a game. I believe I've found a death solution: players who die remain at the site of their death indefinitely as a corpse that can be revived, unless their bodies were entirely eliminated, in which case they'd go to an "underworld" dimension, where they sleep eternally unless somehow summoned back into the land of the living, are freed via a gateway, or escape themselves somehow.
Even if they do not log out, does time work differently when in this world? If the player walks away from the computer for an hour, has 10 years passed? If not I still don't see how something that happens over 1000 years can be relevant. I like the idea of if they die they spawn in an underworld where they need to find a way out in order to get back to the actual game! The underworld could be like a massive labyrinth. Or you could have the guardian of the underworld (Hadesesque or Anubisesque character) set a number of tasks you must complete in order to be resurrected?
There's no computer to walk away from, all the 'players' exist inside the sim, which exists in the net. There's no real world to return too for them, though the large passage of time matters because a) memory loss over a long period of time prevents them from remembering things in the past, such as past relationships, when they were first spawned in the realm, when the first NPC towns appeared, and even what put them into the sim in the first place and b) their eternal life creates a very miserable condition, in which many lose their sanity because of overstimulation in certain areas of the mind I like the idea you have about being resurrected by actively accomplishing it! Here's what just came from that excellent idea you had! Players who die 'permanent deaths' (their corpses are destroyed) are sent into the Underworld Players can escape the Underworld by bringing themselves back into 'balance' by working through mental health problems they had when they perished, this may take a very long time and a lot of effort for the player Once they have proven they are back in balance, they are reincarnated into the realm Reincarnation involves them assuming a new name, face, race, and other set of attributes Their memory from their past life is wiped, as well as any memory of the Underworld Reincarnations spawn in towns during a Black Moon I feel that a 'reincarnation' and 'resurrection' should be different, a resurrection involves bringing the same person back from the Underworld, while a reincarnation involves a person assuming a new identity. Those that are permanently killed will never truly be seen again, unless they are resurrected, which would return them as something unholy, or an abomination of some degree.
