User blog:Neoexlucky/Tales of the Echo: New mechanics

Hey all, so this is a post mainly for the Tales Team so anyone else can pretty much disregard this.

Are they gone? Cool, alright so today I'm going to talk to you guys about something I've been thinking about doing since before the reboot, the mechanics. Currently we're a very simple series pretty much like every other series there is, with the exception that we are an organized team. However I've been thinking about doing something a bit different to make things a little more fun and a bit more impact-ful. So let's begin.

Tales Decisions
The only one that I'll feature in the first season of Tales of the Echo, Tales Decisions are really impactful to the story. They'll be more prominent in season 2, but what they basically are is a decision with no right or wrong answer, and is something that will impact the world. Technically every decision you make will have an impact at some point but Tales decisions are very heavy and can be anything from a group wide decision to one character only decision which I'll always drastically change the world and the way characters react to one another.

I have a large amount of villains and other characters planned that will only appear based on these decisions. The actions that you all make can be so big they can have their own season, some of them are even tailored towards your characters, a black arms alien or the person responsible for Zapors's parents death are a few examples of characters that could appear (I don't actually have these examples made...at least not right now.) This is simply to help you guys develop your characters, since there can be a Zero or Trinity season, why not a Masako or Platinum season focused on developing those characters? If those do come into affect I'll let you, but I like the idea of a season arc focused on people besides my characters.

Relationships
This one won't start until season 2. Basically we make the assumption that every character in the Knights likes each other. However that doesn't have to be true. What about rivalries between characters or budding romances? Here soon I will be developing a relationship system where things you do will impact how characters react to you. Every character except Neo and Fey will have a full relationship, everything from hated to loved, and everything in between. Neo and Fey will only have a positive relationship since their the leaders and every character needs at least one reason to stay.

These relationships can be heavily impacted though and can even turn a previous ally into a traitor if you everyone hates them. Characters can have a disagreement and can choose to stand against you. Note that I'll may be doing relationships between my characters and yours, I will not force players to use the relationship mechanic with other players, although you are welcome to.

Future mechanics
There is one mechanic that I want your opinion. Since the start of the series, we have been using a free form style of combat, where we basically have a character automatically hit towards another character, or having four characters hit the boss and then I take a paragraph to explain why or how it worked. This style is okay, but what I have been wondering is if we should bump it up. What I'm asking is, what do you think of a battle system using dice, ala Dungeons and Dragons.

I would design it to be simple, not as long as in realy dungeons and dragons and for it to fit what we need. It's something I'm interested in doing and if everyone is up for it, I can try my hand at creating it. I doubt the mechanic would be ready in time for season 2, but I would say possibly around halfway through season 2 it could be ready to go. I'd also have some people come and test with me just to make sure it's working correctly. All this being said I have a rough concept here.

Strength (How strong a character is, affects Brawling and Melee)

Endurance (How durable a character is, affects Defense and Constitution)

Agility (How agile a character is, affects Range and Speed)

Intelligence (How smart a character is, affects Kinesis/magic and Willpower)

Charisma (How personality affects other characters, affects cunning and Charm)

Brawling (Things punching, using claws, talons, fist weapons etc.) Melee (Swords, axes, katanas, scythes, etc)

Defense (Determines how much damage is soaked up.) Constitution (Determines health, characters don't die, they faint.)

Range (Ranged weapons like bows, crossbows, guns, etc) Speed (Determines Order of who attacks first)

Kinesis/Magic (Affects kinesis use or magic use) Willpower (Only useful for magic users and healers, allows different types of spells and increases healing)

Cunning (The ability to charm people, even out of combat) Affinity (The damage that 'pets' do, such as The Reaper)

For most damage we would roll Skill k Stat. So as an example for casting a spell, you would roll Intelligence k Magic. For using The Reaper you'd roll Affinity k Charisma, for slashing with a scythe you use Melee k Strength. The first number (Skill) would be how many dice you roll and the second number (Stat) is how many you can keep.

Again, remember that this is a rough system inspired by the combat system of an roleplay site I was on, and there are still things that would need to be worked out. How happens when we use Super forms or Trinity's Phoenix Up? Will there be feats, like in Dungeons and Dragons? What about weaknesses? How do weapons and armor come into affect? How do we dish out exp to 'level up'?There is a lot that still needs to be worked out, but if it can be done, then the combat system for this series will be incredibly more diverse and could be a lot of fun. It'd be a lot of hard work, which is why I want your opinion before I continue with this. That's pretty much it though. Comment below what you think or if you have any comments, questions, concerns or curse words, and I'll respond as fast as I can.

Coffee Break? Coffee Break! (talk) 23:05, December 14, 2015 (UTC)NeoExlucky