Help brainstorming for a new game?

[Clever-Fox]

Well, my friend and I have been for the past couple of weeks brainstorming ideas for a fantasy game we would hope to make some day. And so far, all we have as a setting is an island kingdom* that has been thrown into civil war after the true king was overthrown by his power-hungry brother. However, that is just the start of the problems for this kingdom. The new "king" has been 'dabbling' in the dark arts, and with the help of his court wizard, has managed to create an army of dark knights, with orders to crush all resistance, and to erase any hope of his brother coming back to power.

However.... This is where we have run into a bit of a standstill. While we have a basic idea of the setting of our game, we don't even have an idea of who the main character is, we (or, rather I, since I am the one who comes up with most of these ideas!) can't really think of how the main character would be tied into this civil war. And that is why I am asking you, my fellow fans of SciFi and fantasy, to help me brainstorm ideas!

 

[jastius]

the main character is a mercenary hired by the destitute remains of the good royal house, a disenfranchised younger teen or young adult. this young person is backed up by the remaining priests of a disbanded monastery that took the young royal child in long ago and had been a target for the dark knights. the monks are a formerly powerful fighter mage training center and an ideal center to train the young person.
the mercenary was chosen because he/she has the ability to call various intelligent fighting beasts.. one of which, a dragon is the mercenaries friend and companion. arrayed against the armies of darkness are the sauriopoids and fantasy beasts.
the monks have another agenda, however. the mercenary can help them recover the fabled item which can restore their order and allow them to take their rightful place.

aligning themselves with a group of gypsy pirates they attack the entrenched positions from all sides of the kingdom at once to cover their real attack, the recovery of the diadem. and when the recovered item is brought into the sacred chamber all specters of darkness are banished and the peace and prosperity of the kingdom is restored.

just an idea...

 

[Lenny]

My approach would be to think about the type of gameplay you want (which may also be limited by the type of game - anything goes with tabletop; something built in, say, RPG Maker will likely be a turn-based fighty-with-swords system, unless you go crazy with custom engines; original coding in Unity or Unreal Engine is, like tabletop, unlimited), and then decide on your character.

For example, if you want to run around with a sword that weighs as much as an ox, you don't really want you main character to be a child of five. If you want stealth, you'll probably steer away from bulky tanks with enough armour to suit an army.

I've been enjoying a lot of stealth games recently, so my pick would be a lowly citizen who escapes the initial outbreak of fighting in the capital (similar to the opening levels of Half-Life 2, maybe!). A fun story could see them and their immediate family captured by forces opposing the King, with the MC forced into service to protect the family. Possibly could even be part of a peasant army told to attack the capital, manages to escape it when the battle turns bad, finds themself trapped in the keep, and decides to kill the King, or die trying, just to end the whole debacle (or magic the choice away - Crazy Bracelet of Plot Progression that ensures no-one in the peasant army can refuse to carry out the ultimate orders of killing the King). This citizen doesn't need to have awesome powers, or be a stealth god, they just need to be able to give it a shot, and they can improve as things go on, probably finding items to improve and help them on their way.

 

[jastius]

but Clever fox is trying to get the main character into the game, Lenny... they have hit an impasse. They need to connect the lowly citizen you are suggesting into the framework of the main story as per Clever fox's outline.. but Lenny the whole family? what if the mad uncle goes all wicked witch of the east upon the family and tries to kill all of them..(i'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too... he he he he he...)

 

[thaddeus6th]

Could have the character be a warrior-monk/monastic knight. Skilled warrior, his monastery's usual neutral but gets drawn into the fighting against its will.

 

[Lenny]

but Clever fox is trying to get the main character into the game, Lenny... they have hit an impasse. They need to connect the lowly citizen you are suggesting into the framework of the main story as per Clever fox's outline.. but Lenny the whole family? what if the mad uncle goes all wicked witch of the east upon the family and tries to kill all of them..(i'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too... he he he he he...)

I'm sorry, how does a citizen directly affected by a civil war not tie into a civil war story?

And no, not the whole family, the "immediate family", which is a group that traditionally includes: parents, spouse, children, siblings. The MC could be living with their spouse and children in the city, and decide that the civil war going on in the streets around them is far too dangerous, so they feel the need to flee.

 

[Clever-Fox]

Well, I never said the MC would be 'a citizen' of this kingdom. In all fairness, he may very well be part of an ethnic minority of beast-folk (just an example!), which, even if officially labeled as citizens, would probably have enough problems from the government (or society!) without the civil war going on.

 

[Lenny]

No, but you did ask for ideas.

I'm trying to determine the problem jastius has with mine.

 

[Clever-Fox]

True, I did ask for ideas! I apologize if it seemed like I was shooting down anyone!

 

[jastius]

sorry lenny, don't mean to be critical.
i just didn't see the logical progression from when joe citizen with no arms or armament becomes the superninja rescuer of the kingdom from being one of the squalling mob trying to get out of the way of the dark knights slaughtering everything in sight.
i see what you were saying and its a very good idea.. very embracing to lots of types of people.

it just worried me, like, while he is ninja-ing about, what would be happening to his near and dear ones? i am sure evil uncle will be using them for target practice.

i mean, i just hate that part in films where they take half your family out and shoot them to get you to behave, holding the other half hostage for you to betray the good guys....i find situations like that heart-rending. it makes me want to hit something with a shoe.
it was more of a reflexive response of "nooo! they are going to shoot them all!" type thing then any form of actual objection...
i do apologize, lenny.

 

[Phyrebrat]

sorry lenny, don't mean to be critical.
i just didn't see the logical progression from when joe citizen with no arms or armament becomes the superninja rescuer of the kingdom from being one of the squalling mob trying to get out of the way of the dark knights slaughtering everything in sight.

You mean like Desmond from Assassin's Creed? a bar man to a saviour!

I think Lenny has a point; you need to think about the gameplay mechanics as that will inform your character choice. You could go Sid Meier's Civilisation route, or you could go fixed story (Dead Space, Mirror's Edge etc), sandbox, or something like the SW: Battlefront or LOTR: Conquest games (The latter two examples would give your player a carousel system of choosing character classes).

pH

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'll move this is to the General Writing forum, as this is really about brainstorming ideas rather than existing games or game systems.

Btw, the deposed king - why should we care about him?

 

[jastius]

the deposed king, brian or the mad usurping brother to the deposed king that is holding onto the throne with his army of zombiefied vampire knights rampaging through the landscape?

 

[Clever-Fox]

Well, Brian, that's part of the problem I came across. Obviously, the deposed king isn't the main character, but I can't think of any good way to bring him into the story outside of "Oh, he got his throne usurped, and wants it back!" And, the main character.... What does he do! What makes him want to bring this damnable conflict to an end.... I ask myself that question all the time at school, and yet I can't seem to find a good reason...

 

[jastius]

maybe its like the explanation of baseball in the movie 'blast from the past'," he does it because he must..."

 

[Clever-Fox]

Hmm? I don't think I've seen that movie. At any rate, having the MC get involved in the war and perhaps even saving the world as he/she knows it simply "because they must" doesn't really come off as a strong reason. But, it is a start; although that raises another question: What event or at what point do they come to the conclusion that they must get involved in the war?

On that note, I was thinking something along the lines of the character being a prisoner or servant of some variety just as the conflict reaches its peak...