Project Obrigado - Abilities and Dependencies

So I thought if I was really serious about this project it would need a name.  “Obrigado” is an expression of gratitude in Portuguese, so it seemed appropriate.  Why Portuguese?  Because its the language of capoeira and I would like to learn to speak it one day because capoeira is one of the things keeping me sane at the moment. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman!)  In any case, I’ve had so many ideas over the last few days; they’re practically popping out of my ears.  Also, they were all over the map, so the first thing I decided needed to happen was section out all the things I’d have to think through before I could even approach another person with this idea.  I even made a little diagram:

Yes, its in MS Paint.  Judge all you want, I am impervious to your disapproving stares!  The arrows between the boxes represent relationships between objects - I’m starting to be really grateful I learned a bit of object-oriented programming right now.  Some of the relationships are more of a parent-child dependency, but a lot of the objects are interdependent.  Once I started mapping it out it was pretty clear to me that the area that had the least dependency on other objects was the core mechanics of the game.  From this several other objects would need to take their functionality, so that is what I focused on first.  

I’m not entirely sure I’m using the right language when I say “core mechanics” but what I mean is the stats and bonuses that affect a character’s progression and how they relate to the various aspects of the game.  The concept that I’m working with is that to fully take advantage of the game a player needs to build a fully whole and well-balanced character, and in doing so build themselves into a more complete individual.  Our subconsciousness is affected by the things we experience, and I believe if the focus of this project is completeness and balance in-game it will extend out into real life.  I might have my head in the clouds on that one, and I’d appreciate any thoughts people might have on the subject.

Another crucial fact that needs to be integrated into the game is that in real life the only way we can make progress in something is by doing it, so I’ve decided that progressing in the game won’t be focused on gathering XP, but using your abilities.  Managing a mental illness isn’t something that just happens as I well know, and building on my previous statement about balance I’ve found that you can’t just do one thing and have everything fall into place.  You can’t only take your meds, or only exercise, or only do any number of things.  Being healthy is about building an arsenal of good habits, all working in concert to actively maintain your stability.  You can represent that necessity in-game by making leveling dependent on making progress in every ability, and having each ability tied to a different kind of activity.  Here’s what I’ve come up with, and hopefully it isn’t too vague since there are some things like equipment mods and tracker details I’ll be fleshing out later:

Physical Prowess:  A pretty straight-forward ability, PP would be increased in-game mostly by making melee attacks.  The higher your PP gets, the more damage you do with melee weapons in general.  Some weapon and armor mods will require a high PP to use.

Agility:  Also leveled in-game, but by making ranged attacks or using weapons that have a lower power focus but a high focus on critical strikes.  A high Agility means a higher chance of critical strikes and like PP some weapon and armor mods require a high Agility to use.

Endurance:  This ability is increased by consistently using the tracker.  The more consecutive days you log self-care activities the higher it gets.  There may also be a temporary negative effect if there is a significant gap in days where activity is logged - but its wiped out completely upon resuming using the tracker.  High Endurance means more health and more inventory space.

Equilibrium:  Equilibrium is mental discipline and focus.  I’m trying to avoid genre-specific terminology since I haven’t decided exactly what kind of environment I would like it to be set in.  But having a high Equilibrium would increase your access to special actions, how many special actions you can have active at once, and how many different types of weapons you can equip at once.  It would be increased by using the tracker to log a variety of activities, and by providing more details in your log entries.

Charisma:  This one would be increased by participating in the social platform, for example by being available to connect with players through the panic button, or making your journal entries visible to others.  That last one I had to chew on for a while - after all it’s not easy to put your own internal struggles out in the open even in a closed community.  But I think I would include it because the purpose of the social platform is to support other members of the community, and making some (not all, you’d be able to choose which entries to publish and which to keep to yourself) entries available could help other members feel like they aren’t alone.  It would also build your own awareness that you aren’t a freak or a monster, just a person with a problem.  As for in-game effects - a high Charisma would unlock more customization options for your characters appearance and make your special actions more powerful.  I’m already biting off more than I can chew, so I don’t know if I want to include mounts or familiars in the mix.  But if I did, high Charisma would give you access to more powerful ones.  Also, some weapon and armor mods would require a high Charisma to use.

That’s pretty much it for character stats.  Of course you could play the game with all your focus on one or two areas. Someone who exclusively uses the tracker could get by with their high health and array of special actions, but wouldn't be able to use a lot of the equipment mods (more on that later) and leveling would be a lot slower. What I am trying to do here was outline a system that would make the game more fun the more well-rounded a character you have.  Also, the progress-by-doing model neatly answers the “who gets the experience” question.  Answer: it doesn’t matter who drops the monster - if you participate, you progress.  This will help build the cooperative atmosphere I think is crucial to have.  And its not exactly the same as a shared XP model - if one player is tanking damage while another hangs back and shoots, the former will get Endurance progression and the latter will progress in Agility.

The next logical step seems like character generation, so I’ll go through that next.  If you’re wondering why I’m just plastering all my ideas up on the Internet as they happen - well, I find that blogging helps me organize my thoughts a bit, and if I try and hold myself to writing a little bit about it every couple of days the less likely I am to abandon the idea.  And if the pageview monitor in Blogger isn’t having me on, this has generated a lot more interest than I expected.  So expect more content rolling out.