For many RPGs, it feels as though roleplaying takes a backseat. They focus more on allowing you to "build" the character with your stats and cosmetics, but don't actually have decent interactions within the game to allow you to get into your role. And by decent interactions, I don't mean another fetch quest. Something interesting and meaningful for YOUR character. A lot of times you mostly do combat and your actions in game do not have any effect on the story or how your character is perceived. Examples of good RPGs are RuneScape and Mass Effect. RuneScape has entire quests for fishing or cooking, and choices in Mass Effect will change your standing with people. That being said, how would roleplay work within DHS?
A lot of games start you in the middle of a special event, bringing you instantly into the action. RPGs will follow that action by focusing on your character, customizing them, or showcasing who they are. How will Deadhaus Sonata start? Do I get a prologue as some significant character? It WOULD be pretty cool starting the game as the powerful Lord Zorin. Do I get to experience how my character comes into becoming undead? A ghoul starts by eating a person and officially transforming. A Liche starts by stabbing themselves or drinking poison. How does a banshee start? I would guess passing some threshold into our realm. I feel that because all these classes are also their unique race, they deserve a unique introduction. This part, hopefully intertwined into the tutorial, will be very important as it allows the player to begin to be immersed.
Will it immediately start with character customization? Customization is usually where you start with RPGs if you don’t have a combat prologue/introduction. I open the game, click “vampire” and what do I see? Fang length? Eye color? I’m almost certain we will all choose red eyes for our vampire. I’m hoping to see all the basics there. If I have a vampire, I have to be able to have oddly colored skin. And what about the ghoul? How do you even customize that? Can it have bigger nostrils? Less skin? I’m expecting maybe a little less for this class, because as far as we know, ghouls don’t wear clothes. It will probably be some variation of the amount of flesh left on the body, muscle mass, amount of teeth, and random bone pieces jutting out from back and limbs.
As everyone knows, I’m a Liche lover. I want them to be the coolest thing in the game (though I know Denis will certainly focus on the vampires because vampires are definitely his thing). I want the liches to start out as a dead guy with a wizard hat, then unlock/buy things to turn him into what I REALLY want… skeleton with glowing eyes. Shadow creature with hood. The Liche from the Liche radioplay. I have faith that the team will do that for us LLs. Otherwise I will annoy Mike.
You're playing as an undead, so most non-combat interactions will probably be with other undead. Are you helping some zombie who's lost his foot? Or does N'gaztak just assign you a bunch of tasks? “Hello undead go kill troll”. Now that I think of it, I have no idea what the deadhaus is like. Is there a physical congregation of the dead? Like a dead city? Like if I leave my crypt, there’s dead people selling things? “Get your brains here, 5 gold!” Maybe dead exist on a spectrum, like maybe some people just DO come back, but they’re not angry with a purple flame, just confused. I’m sure there’s some exploratory quests, like “go check out this ancient library” and it’s mainly for Liches. According to “Of Hope”, there's been many empires before the Thacean empire. Meaning, there’s lots of dead people and lots of ruins. I could see the library thing being real.
If we have peaceful interactions with non-(un)dead npcs…what happens? “Hey Mr. Vampire, Timmy is bullying me
“ And you just slaughter this kid’s harasser? Sounds good to me. Kidding. According to the lore, the undead are hanging around Jelrass. Do we get to talk to humans? Or is it KOS? If a ghoul walked up to me and tried to do anything other than jump into fire, I’d just die on the spot. They are CREEPY! I hope some people submit to us and then ask us for help, like loyal undeath cultists or something.
There’s a concept I haven’t seen an example of yet, which is the unique tarot cards. I have zero clue how they might work. I saw some art of a blood moon werebat form? I’m guessing that’s like a rare tarot. If that’s going to be a thing, that’s seriously cool. That opens up so much roleplay potential between players. If I knew a player had a blood moon werebat, he’s going to just be our leader for the rest of the level. Imagine having two other vampire buddies who are bats with you. You’re the blood moon bat and they’re regular bats. Everyone is scary. If you gave unique voice lines to enemies who are experiencing a rare tarot, I would feel SO immersed. The Liche should have a rare tarot that gives me death touch but it causes them to immediately petrify or be resurrected on the spot. Come on, that sounds COOL. If these cards can be traded, then the player that found it first deserves a title. Blood moon bat gives blood moon servant title. Or, the title is passed to the holder, so that they may boast that they own this card.
Now, on titles. I think they would really intensify the roleplay experience. Vampire, slayer of men, eater of blood. Cool right? These should be awarded for completing genuine achievements. Getting 1000 kills would be the slayer of men title card. These help other players know where you’re at and how you play. Also calling someone by their full name, title and all, would be hilarious. Also, Apocalypse, there’s something that will make or break the game for me. I am not even kidding. If titles exist, and I can’t be an archliche, I will yell at Mike again. I can see it now “Archliche Mortis, Dead Shepherd”. Cool right?
Almost done with my brain vomit. Thank the Fetid Prince too. Honestly, I cannot leave my computer until I type this out and put it out into the world.
So roleplay between players is something I mention a lot, it’s not even needed but it will drive engagement and create fun interactions. So how can I communicate with players? It should 100% be text chat. If voice chat is possible, do that. If instant messages like “need help!” “on my way!” existed, I would be fine. Do players congregate at hubs like Jelrass? Or is it invite only, and we hang out in my sick crypt? Dunno. Hoping for the hub personally.
I had more to say when I thought about this a few hours ago but I am so tired. As always, Apocalypse can use anything I type and I will be more than happy to talk about it more. Also I won’t be mean to Mike, he's great.
A lot of games start you in the middle of a special event, bringing you instantly into the action. RPGs will follow that action by focusing on your character, customizing them, or showcasing who they are. How will Deadhaus Sonata start? Do I get a prologue as some significant character? It WOULD be pretty cool starting the game as the powerful Lord Zorin. Do I get to experience how my character comes into becoming undead? A ghoul starts by eating a person and officially transforming. A Liche starts by stabbing themselves or drinking poison. How does a banshee start? I would guess passing some threshold into our realm. I feel that because all these classes are also their unique race, they deserve a unique introduction. This part, hopefully intertwined into the tutorial, will be very important as it allows the player to begin to be immersed.
Will it immediately start with character customization? Customization is usually where you start with RPGs if you don’t have a combat prologue/introduction. I open the game, click “vampire” and what do I see? Fang length? Eye color? I’m almost certain we will all choose red eyes for our vampire. I’m hoping to see all the basics there. If I have a vampire, I have to be able to have oddly colored skin. And what about the ghoul? How do you even customize that? Can it have bigger nostrils? Less skin? I’m expecting maybe a little less for this class, because as far as we know, ghouls don’t wear clothes. It will probably be some variation of the amount of flesh left on the body, muscle mass, amount of teeth, and random bone pieces jutting out from back and limbs.
As everyone knows, I’m a Liche lover. I want them to be the coolest thing in the game (though I know Denis will certainly focus on the vampires because vampires are definitely his thing). I want the liches to start out as a dead guy with a wizard hat, then unlock/buy things to turn him into what I REALLY want… skeleton with glowing eyes. Shadow creature with hood. The Liche from the Liche radioplay. I have faith that the team will do that for us LLs. Otherwise I will annoy Mike.
You're playing as an undead, so most non-combat interactions will probably be with other undead. Are you helping some zombie who's lost his foot? Or does N'gaztak just assign you a bunch of tasks? “Hello undead go kill troll”. Now that I think of it, I have no idea what the deadhaus is like. Is there a physical congregation of the dead? Like a dead city? Like if I leave my crypt, there’s dead people selling things? “Get your brains here, 5 gold!” Maybe dead exist on a spectrum, like maybe some people just DO come back, but they’re not angry with a purple flame, just confused. I’m sure there’s some exploratory quests, like “go check out this ancient library” and it’s mainly for Liches. According to “Of Hope”, there's been many empires before the Thacean empire. Meaning, there’s lots of dead people and lots of ruins. I could see the library thing being real.
If we have peaceful interactions with non-(un)dead npcs…what happens? “Hey Mr. Vampire, Timmy is bullying me
“ And you just slaughter this kid’s harasser? Sounds good to me. Kidding. According to the lore, the undead are hanging around Jelrass. Do we get to talk to humans? Or is it KOS? If a ghoul walked up to me and tried to do anything other than jump into fire, I’d just die on the spot. They are CREEPY! I hope some people submit to us and then ask us for help, like loyal undeath cultists or something.There’s a concept I haven’t seen an example of yet, which is the unique tarot cards. I have zero clue how they might work. I saw some art of a blood moon werebat form? I’m guessing that’s like a rare tarot. If that’s going to be a thing, that’s seriously cool. That opens up so much roleplay potential between players. If I knew a player had a blood moon werebat, he’s going to just be our leader for the rest of the level. Imagine having two other vampire buddies who are bats with you. You’re the blood moon bat and they’re regular bats. Everyone is scary. If you gave unique voice lines to enemies who are experiencing a rare tarot, I would feel SO immersed. The Liche should have a rare tarot that gives me death touch but it causes them to immediately petrify or be resurrected on the spot. Come on, that sounds COOL. If these cards can be traded, then the player that found it first deserves a title. Blood moon bat gives blood moon servant title. Or, the title is passed to the holder, so that they may boast that they own this card.
Now, on titles. I think they would really intensify the roleplay experience. Vampire, slayer of men, eater of blood. Cool right? These should be awarded for completing genuine achievements. Getting 1000 kills would be the slayer of men title card. These help other players know where you’re at and how you play. Also calling someone by their full name, title and all, would be hilarious. Also, Apocalypse, there’s something that will make or break the game for me. I am not even kidding. If titles exist, and I can’t be an archliche, I will yell at Mike again. I can see it now “Archliche Mortis, Dead Shepherd”. Cool right?
Almost done with my brain vomit. Thank the Fetid Prince too. Honestly, I cannot leave my computer until I type this out and put it out into the world.
So roleplay between players is something I mention a lot, it’s not even needed but it will drive engagement and create fun interactions. So how can I communicate with players? It should 100% be text chat. If voice chat is possible, do that. If instant messages like “need help!” “on my way!” existed, I would be fine. Do players congregate at hubs like Jelrass? Or is it invite only, and we hang out in my sick crypt? Dunno. Hoping for the hub personally.
I had more to say when I thought about this a few hours ago but I am so tired. As always, Apocalypse can use anything I type and I will be more than happy to talk about it more. Also I won’t be mean to Mike, he's great.
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