The one game you want made that isn't being made

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.

I mean the original original NFS had FMV right? But please not so much as in Payback or the one before it.

Those all get big thumbs up from me. I like the Space Marine 2 thought, I really dug the first game, played through it several times. Really underrated game.

Sorry, had a lot of pent-up EA bitterness. Madden’s back on PC so I hope NHL comes too.

Under a Killing moon?

@rei

I thought about a Wing Commander game but that ship has gone into a parallel universe with no return home.

So Freespace it is!