Trials & Tribulations

STORY ::..
A plea for help

Now that the Missiongarde community idea has been struck down, I am left again with trying to formulate a plot (or at least quests). But, since I am a lazy bastard and I again crowdsourcing my development efforts, proactively synergizing the collective team effort of RMN.

Like I mentioned in the first Plot blog this game is intentionally a short and traditional RPG. For my first RPG in VX I do not want to get bogged down by heavy story elements, scripted cutscenes, characterization, and reams of dialogue. But I am unsatisfied with the generic crystals plot I came up with on the spot.

Anywho, from the outline:

The land of Xnyndril is in peril! The Dark Lord Voidius and his army of netherdemons is destroying the world! The kingdom's many attempts to slay the evil lord have failed, resulting in a dearth of suitable heroes. To the rescue are the Quirks, a motley band of heroes who have opted to pursue the more esoteric classes in their training.

The gist of it is you will command a party of 4 through the land, stamping out the evil of the Dark Lord, culminating with you facing the weakened Voidius in an epic battle.

Now, I find that it is easiest to plot out the main quests that take you from beginning of the game to the end battle sequentially.

The game (tentatively) will start out with the young King (formerly known as Prince) Tafkap receiving a dire message from the Aerosmith Svetlana Teighlor, Commander of Fort Battleford - the last bastion of the Army of Light. The last heroes have been defeated and she is desperate for aid. Tragically, there are no more heroes left. Paladins, wizards, bandits, engineers, warlocks, knights, and even bards - all dead.

...except for the Quirks, a motley band of who have opted to pursue the more esoteric classes like the Beekeeper and Larper. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Quirks are called upon as a last ditch effort to win the war.

At this point you will select 4 classes for your party, and then meet the King. He does not fully trust your abilities and sends you out on a trial to prove your mettle. From then on you embark on your journey to defeat the Dark Lord. But I am also considering a longer build-up phase, where you make yourself known before the King summons you and sets you on your main quest.

Anywho, when I was thinking about Missiongarde, one of the main tenets was that the new missions were self-contained logical groups of related quests with a definitive start, middle and end. This format could suit T&T (replacing "mission" with "trial"). It will, however, result in a most disjointed story but the smaller quest-units could be satisfying in of themselves.

As an example, I was thinking that one of the trials would be to turn the populace of a earldom back to the side of Good. See, the Earl is convinced that the only way to survive is to side with the Dark Lord and the people are following him. So it is your job to spread the goodwill of the King, do good deeds, and sway the populace back to the good side and eventually confront the corrupt Earl. This would be just one "Trial" among about a dozen trials and once they are complete (or mostly complete) you are sent on the Final Trial to defeat the Dark Lord.

Compare that to the original idea, where I had the heroes start with a test of mettle quest, followed by 6 "Save the Crystal!" quest interspersed with a boat and airship quest, and ending with a Final Battle.

So, what do you guys think of the trial format? Or is a more traditional Quest A -> Quest B -> Quest C ->...-> Final Battle format more appealing? A few of you mentioned that you have story and plot ideas pouring out your orifices, so I'd like to hear them (if you are willing to share).