I've written another game, this time a JRPG... Well, sort of, I'm white and not stupid enough to think that I really qualify as a subject matter expert on Japanese culture, but the game I wrote is all about emulating the feel of those games before everything became an ARPG (and some in the transition period like FFXII and FFXV). Games where everyone starts off with rusty iron stuff, and can eventually advance to Top Tier gear and having 9,999 HP and MP. Games where characters have Limit Breaks and Summons. Games where characters only die against End Bosses or better and Cutscenes,. It's a game largely inspired by the PbtA system, but differs enough I don't want to outright call it that. But it follows the same Basic/Advanced/Class move structure as at least one PbtA game (DW), and the Basic and Advanced Moves kind of look like menu options if you look at them sideways. It also follows a modified form of the Class Warfare in which everyone picks an ancestry (required) and two other options from mixed ancestry, class (no qualifications), and any advanced class they qualify for.

FAQ
I always get some questions when I write a game I will do my best to answer here. I'm old enough to have forgotten some of them, so bear with me, yeah?

Q: Why not use [System]
A: It didn't do something or all the things I wanted. I mentioned a few in the paragraph above

Q: Why so long?
A: Fortunately if you're not running it, you really only need the characters book (Books will be available in the game rather than out here in the public due to the question about the adult rating below). The character book contains 15 Ancestries, 9 base classes, and 18 Advanced Classes. I don't know how many combinations that makes, but I think factorial works in there somehow. That part's 60 pages, plus the 36 pages of magic that JRPGs often have, and another 60 in equipment. Plus I threw in some appendix stuff on how to make characters and inspiration for naming.

Q: Speaking of adult rating, why so adult?
A: Because JRPGs typically have huge destructive spells, summons, and limit breaks which probably qualify as graphic violence, and I can't guarantee the books don't contain more obscene language than is "suitable for all ages". Anything else is for the group to decide.

Right, now that we got that out of the way. Potentially interested players should indicate preference on which story they would like to play.

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Story Ideas
A Twitch Glitch in the System
A new MMO in development phase is all the rage, but it has a dark secret. The subscriber base is small enough that it’s not well publicized yet, but some players have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances. When [party size] popular video game streamers from various platforms go missing after logging onto a collaborative video effort news breaks out and the game suddenly becomes so much more popular. What’s more, those loved ones who kept the computers on have started to realize their owners are attempting to speak to the outside world. Can the streamers figure out what captured them and escape before they are killed, or will they be glitched out in an update cycle?

A World of Modern Magic
Somewhere along the way, technology did not progress like one might expect, and some, or potentially all modern devices are powered by magic instead of their usual mechanism. This could mean that there’s a lot of magical crystals laying around, or it could mean that cars run on demon power, or that Wi-Fi must follow the path of ley lines. It also means that there are people tasked with making sure that the magic that keeps the world running smooth doesn’t go awry. Your party is those people.

Optional addon: Secret Magic
Like above, except common folk don’t know it’s magic that runs their smartphones, or really any of their tech. Those who suspect it might be true are largely regarded as crackpot conspiracy theorists. The party would be responsible for cleanup and cover-ups in the event that technology fails in a way that blatantly runs the risk of revealing the secret.

Earth 21XX
Some time ago, scientists were noodling around with Quantum Physics (as one does, ya know…) and accidentally created the first Quantum Mage, but also accidentally opened a portal into an alternate dimension from which weird creatures spawned. Over the next 7 years the creatures’ continual presence slowly altered the physics of the world so that certain advanced technologies no longer worked and certain technologies that had previously become nonviable came to fruition. At first the creatures were winning, and then suddenly the first Royal of Old New York City summoned an archangel to protect the town. That summoner along with anyone who knew the old world is now dead. And from the ashes of the old world, a small group of new heroes arise.

Woke up on a Battlefield
The players all appear to have participated in a great battle of powerful magicks. They are laid out on the ground in a scorched earth crater. Why are they there? Who did they serve? To what end was the battle fought? Why can’t they remember anything before?

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Any takers?  I'm looking enough players to make 4 PCs at least, but will accept up to 10.
This message was last edited by the user at 00:26, Fri 16 Dec 2022.

I'd be interested. The world sounds fun. I like the intro

The World? You mean Earth 21XX or A World of Modern Magic?
This message was last edited by the user at 02:41, Sat 16 July 2022.

All of them :) I'm good with any of them. They are all interesting.

• The first is 'you are normal in video game' that's a fun genre. I'm running one and playing in one at the moment
• A world of modern magic is bizarre. Living through that chance would be great
• Earth 21XX is interesting. Marginally the least favourite of the four because the appocalyptic situation detracts from the changes in world due to magic. But still good
• Woke up on a battlefield... I've played in a couple of campaigns like that. Both were great. Depends on the reason why you were there...what happened.

I was going to hold off until someone eles indicated interest, but I think clarifications are needed

I'm flattered, but have little to proceed on without something preferential.


Actually, you aren't limited to your "player" abilities and ingenuity. You chose Metamind? sure, you can use your player knowledge of the game to make the system glitch and possibly skate through dungeons and bosses and the like. But if you're also a Dark Mage you wouldn't lose access to your spells and stuff because the real world doesn't have Dark Mages.


Yeah, that also has the sub-option about whether it's obvious or secret, but otherwise it almost looks like a statement of preference, but I can't quite tell.


The apocalypse was actually stopped, it's just that the way physics worked (the old world) was changed, and the population somewhat but not cataclysmically reduced. Possibly millions or maybe a single billion lost worldwide from the breach to the rise of Grand Summoners. This is more or less an inexact century, and 3 Element Nuke (what actual market JRPGs might call Ultima or Megaflare or any spell of similar scale) craters separated from those events. Population and civilization has more or less stabilized as they gained a better understanding of the new rules of physics.


I tend to build the map in the direction that players go, and an amnesiac campaign allows for that. This scenario would be the epitome of play to find out what happens despite the fact that I have a start point (which since I mentioned it above, would be an instance of the Dark Element Nuke) and a "Most Viable End Point" I am not the exclusive connector of the dots here, due to the rule system, but traditionally I am in the role that connects most of them.

They all definitely have potential for a lot of fun for sure.  Though out of the options I think I would go with the Modern World with the secret (Ministry of Magic vibes to me) or the glitch for top two favorite.

Heh, fair warning, the only thing I know about Ministry is (assuming I am not getting this wrong) what it is... which I'm vaguely of the opinion that it is probably Harry Potter. While I may stumble around into some tropes from the Potterverse by accident it will most definitely be an accident if we even go that route. I had some votes elsewhere for Woke Up on a Battlefield, but I'm definitely not holding anyone to it if enough people here lean in favor of another direction

If it goes into a Modern/Secret Magic route it'll honestly probably look more like Kingsglaive than Potterverse, but if Kingsglaive were the equivalent CIA or FBI instead of the Secret Service. And it won't be called Kingsglaive or take place in Eos. Mostly because I don't know enough about Eos.

Actually I'll either have to do the most amount of work or the least amount of work for a Modern Day Secret Magic game, as that will either require an entire new world, or Earth but with a conspiracy. Although since I already have an Earth setting that takes place in the 2100s, I could actually tie this one into the events of that game leading up to when a creature called a Bomb attacked Mall of America, and beyond and we could play through the collapsing US government forming the unit that would investigate these weird magical events.

And while the events of the early 2060s have been previously played out both on here (in a long since deleted game) and in real life when I had face to face gaming friends, I'm not above pretending that never happened. Darksol can fite me if he wants a say. Hahaha, he'll get that if he even uses this site any more. (note to mods, that's not a threat or an incitement of anything, it's an inside joke.)


The glitch would also require little, because I already have a setting in an Earth that already has a VR video game that um... oversteps its bounds in terms of dipping into the real world. It has themes that I could easily edit out for the sake of playing here, or alter in a way that's more suitable and would hardly be noticed by anyone who didn't know what they were looking for.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:26, Fri 16 Dec 2022.

Count me in, I have a character concept already in mind.

For the first time in a while, I think I may be able to give it a shot: link to another game as noted in this thread's title, that's an ADULT game.