Look at that! The course-building definitely looks like a direct successor to SimGolf. You’re right, if there’s too much financial management it might feel like a different game. But we’ll see!
(BTW, I always tell people that SimGolf is “the best game about game design.”)
I may have said this on a similar thread in the past, but I’d really like to see an RPG, or even an MMO, based on Jack Vance’s Dying Earth novels.
The setting is a tired, worn-out but currently simple and bucolic, largely mediaeval-fantasy Earth some unknown vast time in the future when the sun occasionally flickers and wobbles, on the verge of going out. A world kind of like the D&D type of world (D&D being partly inspired by Vance) with magic, only there are numerous unknown, lost, hidden vaults, installations, cyclopean ruins, etc., dotted around on Earth’s rich, ancient loam, from civilizations that rose, fell, rose, fell, thousands of times, based on different ideas and principles. Like, e.g. 1) when Earth had a vast evil interstellar empire, 2) the second time Earth had an interstellar empire, but it was good, 3) the time Earth was ruled by magicians, 4) …
Etc.,etc. That type of thing. The canvas is about as big as it could possibly be, offering tremendous scope for the imagination, rich stories and varied gameplay utilizing low tech, mid tech, high tech, unbelievably advanced tech, and magic, on Earth and ranging throughout the galaxy, all with a poignant sense of impending doom and a lore history stretching uncounted years into the past, with things discovered, forgotten, discovered again, forgotten again.
yup, this could rock awesomely. or a sequel.
This sounds very cool - will look up that series.
This puts me in mind of an Eternal Champion MMO or RPG, Hawkmoons distant post-apocalyptic world with strange forgotten tech and an evil British empire, the chaos and law driven realms of Corums first novels or the Celtic mythology of the second, Bastables steampunk airships, Erekoses iceships world, and of course Elrics high fantasy. The perfect excuse for a cross-genre setting.
Some of the Dying Earth stories have a somewhat similar vibe to Michael Moorcock’s Dancers at the End of Time trilogy (Vance’s work is quite a bit older, don’t know whether Moorcock was influenced or inspired).
Vance’s fiction was edgy at the time Gygax was creating D&D, and it’s one inspiration for some of the weird spell magic systems in it.
One does not reduce Bushido Blade to a sword-fighting game with one-hit kills…shame on you!
You CAN hit the other guy and have him not die…the hit has to be fatal. I would have accepted a sword-fighting game that ditches life bars.
There’s a lot more going on too. Different weapons, stances, huge environments, etc.
Nidhogg is a 2D arcade mini-game. It’s amusing, but not really the same thing.
Deuteros the next millenium was fantastic. An update to that would be great.
Probably said it before, but an updated Powermonger or Ashes of Empire (Midwinter 3) would also be fantastic.
The Numenera rpg setting of the ninth world mimics parts of the Vancian feel. While Torment isn’t a perfect adaptation, you might enjoy it!
Arma 4 by any one else but BI, which is impossible since only BI can make Armas. Just so tired of nearly two decades of jank.
You know, some people complain sometimes about “Vancian magic” (the requirement in some RPG systems to memorize and prepare spells). But people seldom know the rationale - the idea is that spells are so weird and distort the mind so much (a bit like the Lovecraftian idea of strange words and language that can drive you mad) that it’s a tremendous strain to hold them in the mind, and requires a lot of preparation, and a high level of intelligence, so when you discharge a spell, it’s a mental relief and you forget it. It’s a very cool idea - that happens to double up as an interesting limiting mechanic in some game systems.
Even more interesting, I always thought, was how Vance’s idea of what magic is, is very close to what “real” occultism propounds: basically magic can’t be an innate property of the human being (IOW the idea of a “Sorcerer” doesn’t make any sense, that’s more of a superhero-like idea). In Vancian magic, as in genuine occultism, the magic is done by beings who inhabit other dimensions and planes of reality (Vance called them “sandestins”), and you do magic by getting in touch with them, and using the spell to bind them to your will - IOW, they do the magic, not you.
Vance’s sandestins are very much in line with the “salamanders”, “undines”, demons, spirits, etc., in the Western system, and also, curiously enough, the bizarre beings in the celestial bureacracies of Chinese magic (which is surprisingly similar in many ways to Western occultism).
Sandestins are tetchy, finicky (and also morbidly witty) creatures who resent the way you as a magician are forcing them to do your will, and they’ll try all sorts of ways to have to avoid doing what you ask of them (similar to the geni idea) - another reason for the high INT requirement, you have to pretty sharp to avoid being tricked by them.
A proper Dragon’s Dogma sequel, or at least something in that spirit.
OMG that would be so cool.
Thanks for this post—I now have a mental model for the weird/arcane aspects of the Blades in the Dark game I’m going to be running soon.
Cool!
Last word on this, in the course of thinking about my idea, I’ve discovered that there is actually a d20 system based on the Dying Earth! It’s published by the Pelgrane Press.. List of abilities :) :–
Appraisal
Athletics
Concealment
Craftsmanship
Driving
Engineering
Etiquette
Gambling
Imposture
Living Rough
Pedantry
Perception
Physician
Quick Fingers
Riding
Scuttlebutt
Seamanship
Seduction
Stealth
Stewardship
Tracking
Wherewithal
OK, this is more than one so bear with me here:
Covert Action 2
Offline Wing Commander sequel
Online MMO Wing Commander or Freelancer/Privateer
Anachronox 2
Star Control 3
Birth of the Federation 2
Halo PC ports, proper not half-assed Russia only multiplayer only
FreeSpace 3
2D Atlus-style Street Fighter without weird 3D roided out characters
Mass Effect continuing adventures of Shep
Mass Effect Andromeda 2, 3
Independence War 3
Freedom Force fighting the Trump administration by IO Interactive
Dragon Age 2 continuation of Sarcastic Hawke’s adventures working combat AI companions
Dragon Age Inquisition 2 with working combat AI companions
Aliens Colonial Marines that doesn’t suck
Save the World non-BR Fortnite with story mode
Quest For Glory continuation
Metal Gear Solid continuation with David Hayter, Solid Snake, Kojima and no Pachinko-focused Konami
Suikoden continuation
Skies of Arcadia continuation
Need For Speed that doesn’t suck and one without FMV
KOTOR 3 offfline single player without MMO nonsense
Battlefield Bad Company bringing back wise-cracking crew
Borderlands sequel proper
Brutal Legend sequel
Monkey Island sequel
Budokan 2
Half-Life 3
Portal 3
Megaman Legends continuation
Einhander continuation
Quake 5
non-F2P crap-infested Command and Conquer or Dune
Jedi Knight continuation
Syndicate proper continuation
Dawn of War 3 that didn’t suck like the MOBO attempt
Space Marine 2
modern Sim Golf or Sim Earth
more Elite Beat Agents dammit
NHL on fucking PC
2D Super Metroid sequel! No more of this 3D Prime bullshit
(phew)
as unloved as MEA was, I’d like to wrap up loose ends.
I giggled at your Need for Speed point, then nodded sadly at your Command and Conquer/Dune point.