Dominion Wars [Forum Game/Under Construction]
Sorry if it is a bit hard to read, I still have to flesh it out & make it easier to read. The whole is barely past concept stage
Dominion Wars is a successful MMORPG game world where an Eternal Emperor rules from the Black Citadel on the central continent, his Elite forces ensure that there is no war between his vassals on the Royal Continent and only monsters can be fought for rewards, but the other continents are dominions only nominally sworn to the Emperor, and are free to fight each other for various reasons. The continents and islands here all have different ecosystems, flora and fauna. Dominions can be as small as a town, and large as a continent. A dominion can be vassal to a stronger or larger one, but all of them have to bow to the Eternal Emperor as the unquestionable ruler of the world.
The world has both a player run economy and guilds. At the same time NPCs also exist and adapt to the situation, the game AI evolves and lets NPC characters gain an identity of their own. Player characters can set up a trade caravan and NPCs will offer to escort or join it. Perhaps NPCs will try to raid it, or players will. You can create shortages or flood the market with goods.
There are very few immortal characters in the game, the most famous ones would be the Imperial Guards of the largest cities protecting peace & order, and the Elite monsters which can be defeated but will still respawn. Players can create 3 characters and all of them can be revived 5 times before they permanently die. Both Sci-FI & Fantasy elements are present.
Something seems to have recently changed though, rumors are spreading events in the MMO affect people in the real world, and events in the real world also somehow affect the dominions in the game. The Eternal Emperor went missing but the NPC forces like the Imperial Guards still do their job. There are rumors even about some players dying, but for some reason this just made the MMO more popular.
Players can create their 3 player character avatars from a list of races and classes, the game registers the gender of the user and locks them, thus ingame it should be the same. Still, it is known some hackers can circumvent this.
game info will gradually be added, start will be once I am sure I have time besides job
This forum game may not look unique to you at first, as there are similar ones inspired by series like Overlord, Matrix, Log Horizon & Sword Art Online, Phantasy Star Online. There are also ones that let you experience multiple worlds. The twist I intend to add is the option to evolve the characters, every time a character is present in a story scene and survives it a skill point is gained. The original designer of the character can decide how to improve the character, a total of 3 points can be stored if they aren't spent the GM(me) will spend any points above the 3 (to be able to continue in case someone abandons the story for some reason). All the readers can also vote on which guilds or dominions a character should join, but the original character designer has a VETO to overrule event scene decisions. (example: Lily has story options to join a Guild of Thieves (A) or Guild of Wizards (B), but Lily's creator Bob vetoes it, so she doesn't join either)
A VETO gives you a right to ignore given options, but you're not allowed to suggest what else the character would do. (Although you can explain why you did use the veto, as in above example of Bob he may just want Lily to become something else than a Thief or Wizard)
This should allow a bit more fluid interactivity for the readers, and allow the character creators a bit stronger influence over their own characters, being an incitement to not miss out on a story scene. Of course not picking the offered options of A, B (sometimes C) with using veto power may result in a better or worse result for the character's story.
You may notice I created a location for real world characters. Indeed, You don't just design MMO characters but also the player, their user. 1 to 3 real characters to up to 3 ingame characters. You don't have to create 3 real people to have one for all 3 ingame avatar characters, but if you just have a single real character and 3 ingame ones and your REAL person dies.... well, that will be interesting for the 3 avatars, right? Death of a character doesn't mean the player also dies except in some cases (depends on situation). All this means one can create up to 6 characters total for this forum game.
Both user and ingame characters will have a list to choose 2 traits from. An example of real, user traits would be 'Hacker', it enables some stuff normally not possible, but MMO Admins can erase you if found out. I will mix in NPC characters and Admins, Mods into the story, for a good while you won't know which of these are. Yes, not even Admins and Mods are immortal in this game, although they have additional skills & powers.
I also plan to add world development options (like creating, expanding and upgrading a settlement) but the details on that are at this stage not decided. This is quite a grand story and will need time to be prepared for it to run smoothly. Rules and other info are likely to change before it, so while you can show interest already, I won't accept characters yet.
Yes, there is a chance players could get trapped in the world, but that is not predestined, it will only happen if things turn ugly due to event scene decisions made by readers (and perhaps VETO use of the creators).
Even though the game is far from ready, would love to hear your opinion on the concept.
Comments
reserved for rules
reserved for dynasty and character detail [GAMEWORLD]
reserved for family and character detail [REALWORLD]
reserved for game skills and powers / real skills and powers / etc
Skills:
reserved for dominions and their descriptions
Royal Dominion
Ruler: Lady Emma Scarlet
Theme: Imperial Administration
The Royal Dominion is the heartland of the Empire with the cosmopolitan imperial capital from which the Emperor (usually) reigns supreme. The majestic city is mostly filled with humans or half-elves, and is notable for its high number of gnome and dark elf population which don't have a Dominion of their own. Most law enforcement and military organizations are based here. The economy is based on global trade and it is hard to pinpoint what it excels at in, but it is the only location where teleport scrolls, elixirs, Royale swords, and the Book of Wisdom are sold.
The concept : 12th Century/Majestic/Globalist/French
Dominion of Steel City
Ruler: Don Vito Nero
Theme: Steel City Main Square
Steel City was a player created settlement which grew to a size that rivals that of the imperial city, although it isn't as pleasant to look at. It has a haphazard city layout, and you can easily get lost in the slums, or in the 'politics' of the local gangs. The city state's population is mainly human with a large number of orcs and felin among them. The economy is mainly based on consumer goods and metal mining which recently surpassed that of Emerald Island, and Steel City is also infamous for hosting the largest black market on the main continent where you may have anything one can desire, for the right (or wrong) price. The wealth of the city can as such be explained by the industry or by the crime gangs and families cooperating with Don Vito, the head of House Nero and current ruler of the city.
The concept : 20th Century/Criminal/Depressing/Italian
Dominion of Emerald Island
Ruler: Admiral Reinhard Grün
Theme: Forest Pact
Emerald Island is a former penal colony of the Empire almost the size of a continent on its own, which got elevated to Dominion status. Its main income comes from harboring large majority of sellsword companies for a fee and relies on trade routes. It's population consists mainly of a coalition between humans, high elves, dwarves, and automatons. The economy is based on mining industry, maritime trade, agriculture, and mercenary companies.
The concept : 18th Century/Alliance/Naval/German
Scientist Triumvirate Dominion
Ruler: Attila Fehér, Jeanne Leblanc, Agent White
Theme: Restoration Labs
The Triumvirate is officially ruled by three Triumvir Officers elected every three years, their territory has recently expanded to incorporate a part of the snowy mountains and steppes surrounding their main lab. Unlike other dominions it has no central rule and all the smaller labs act as autonomous settlements with the local Science Officer acting as a mayor. It has a mixed population, although androids are of the highest number among the ranks and it also has a good amount of lizardkin citizens. The economy is based on various materials processed or created in labs necessary for various industries, medicine, explosives. Recent sale of the resurrection procedure by the devs resulted in the Triumvirate becoming the sole entity capable to revive players in the game, suddenly boosting their wealth and influence which they already used to expand their research and development (R&D or RTD) in other fields.
The concept : 21st Century/Laboratory/Wacky/Hungarian
Dominion of Gray Death
Ruler: Gris Nigromante
Theme: Skeleton Tower
This dominion is basically a single dark tower in the middle of a desert which is at least as high as it expands deep into the underground below. The ruler and owner is a single player character who is known as the greatest necromancer in the game. While the dominion has no economy in the normal sense, its huge number of skeletal armies and servants could be loaned to other realms on whim of Gris, who also often patronizes other necromancer players until they displease him. Since the revival ability became owned by the Scientist Triumvirate many eyes turned towards the Lord of Gray Death who may have the only alternative for avoiding character permadeath.
The concept : 16th Century/Necromancy/Empty/Spanish
Dominion of Acrophobia Skyscraper
Ruler: Technocrat Skye Rozoviy
Theme: Pink Skies
Cool idea, will want to participate in the story myself when it comes to life. Reminds me of my RPG sessions with my old friends.
Will need some time to get used to the "system" but surely I will be following.
What kind of races/classes there will be available?
It will be a mixture of both hi-tech and fantasy ones. Will write up details later, but classics like dwarf & elf will be in there, cyborg/android 1-2 more science related species, felin/succubi/lamia too (basically anime-inspired races). Choice of race and class can create interesting options, mixtures like Elven sniper (with sniper rifle) are possible.
I still ponder the idea to make multiclassing or advanced classes possible with use of 'skill points', because I like the idea of it but it may be too much to handle. So I'm still undecided on that one.
Subclasses could be cool and I think easier to handle instead of mixing other ones, which would make things more complicated. Like every class have 2-3-4 subclasses to choose from and are related to the main class. For example: Class: Warrior // Subclasses: Paladin/Barbarian/Knight/Mystic Knight.
Class: Mystic //Subclasses: Necromancer/Sorcerer/Witch-Wizard etc etc
Every warrior/mystic would simply be different and somehow unique with different set of abilities than other warriors/mystics with other subclass.
Teaser:
http://i.imgur.com/aaCLWnK.jpg