#48. One Step Toward Gaming Industry

Insert "Been a while" comment here.

No, seriously. It has been a while and I have gone through whole lotta transition in my life. Something that I've never expected in my life, not at least in this kinda form.

Okay, long story short. Weirdo Whoever is now an employed member of a game developer/publisher, as an aspiring manager-in-training.

Before you ask (not that anyone care), it's not exactly a big company. But it's probably one of the best shot I could make, at least for myself. The people are nice (which is surprisingly hard to come by), what little that can be explicitly called as my "talents" actually pays off (in fact, the only reason they employed this n00b was those little "talents" that I have never appreciated in my life), and my office is near the station and some good eateries I've had since like last two years or so.

But most important thing is, I like the job. It's fun.

I had this sensation of actually learning something, something that I've been forgetting ever since I graduated high school. Even back in my freelance life, which I kinda sorta appreciated (probably the easiest way to feed yourself without tough works aside from overnight bonanza), I had this feeling that I was sucked into a vortex of ever grinding myself into a translator machine.

Not here. Everything I learn anew, and every single concept fascinates me. It's like I just wandered into a massive multiplayer online sandbox and suddenly stumbled into a developer's secret debugging room.

My boss is a nice person. No, that came out wrong. So far everyone in the job is a nice person. Most of them are experienced workers, some of them have actually kickstarted their own games once in their lifetime, and I'm just a newbie who get to see their ropes. Lucky me.

Hope it pays off in the long run, just like it already paid off in the short run so far. For like third or maybe like second time in my life (I can't remember the first, but I do know it's all over by now), I'm actually making progress. End transmission.

#47. Differentiating Hybrids

Been a while. Things happened here and there, but they're all irrelevant so I won't write the whole thing here. Let's just say that I am going through a transition here, and let's just get down to business.

So as I've been working on D&D homebrews and critiques, I had some thoughts on myself. One thing I took interest, while talking with my peers and colleagues (if I can call them that), was the matter of hybrid classes. So after almost like half a century of trials and errors, the "class" system typically divides a character into some roles: Tank, DPS, bruiser, buff/debuff, heal, and so forth. Most classes can do only a handful of things by themselves, as far as multiclassing or whatnot is not concerned. Then there's hybrid classes, whose shticks are to step on toes of more than a class would normally do.

The problem of hybrid classes, especially in JRPG, is that they are jack of all trades but master of none. Take Red Mage from Final Fantasy, for instance. It is probably the archetypical JRPG hybrid class, who can do all melee swordfight, healing spells, and damaging spells, but none of them are as good as dedicated, or "pure," classes. And as an archetypical JRPG hybrid class, its flaw is shared among many JRPG hybrid classes: It starts strong with diversity, but ends up mediocre due to its lack of specialty.

"Specialty" is the word I'm looking for here. Many hybrid class fails to acknowledge that, whatever fancy fluffs they can provide, what matters most is their specialty, as in, something that can answer the question "So what can I not do without this class?" I've been hitting 'round the bush on this part, because hell, I am a fan of hybrid claass myself, but only recently did I find a suitable answer for myself. I found that answer from, yet again, D&D: The very existence of paladin class.

Take paladin. Your typical tank/bruiser/heal hybrid. Easy peasy. But what makes a paladin different (note that it's not good or bad that counts; it's always different) from a fighter/cleric multiclass? Currently in 5th ediiton, a paladin gains access to a number of unique benefits that only it can provide: A list of exclusive spells, Divine Smite, aura features, and super saiyan 20th-level feature. Of course some classes can gain a fascimile of these stuffs, but without that, only paladin can grant these benefits and therefore has its niche.

So ironically, a hybrid class must be specialized in its own way, while providing multiple benefits that a combination of lower-tier classes would provide. The aforementioned Red Mage has Dual Cast, which is an exclusive feature that only the class could grant, but my disdain is that it is the only feature that makes it different and it comes too late.

So yeah. Maybe I can take this into consideration when I make something that at least is corporeal. End transmission.

#46. Oh Japan and Your Shoddy Novels

Before I begin, almost all links on this particular post is either in Japanese or related to Japanese materials. If you ever clicked any of them and are lost in translation, trust me, you are completely normal.

I must confess, I am not a fan of so-called Japanese light novels. I don't read them on a regular basis, I only have like four books in my bookshelf and is starting to regret ever buying those. It's just not my thing.

Now, normally I won't whine on things I don't care at all, but these days I had some curiosity on what the hell is going on all those Japanese light novel market. Of course there's another world this, another world that, a truck runs over you and you reincarnate in (take a wild guess) another world, that all just happened. I read through the very same theme when I was like fifteen, so it was actually a surprise to me. I thought that thing was all past things. (What didn't surprise me was the titles, which are now almost always one or more sentences. With ten words or more. I miss the good ol' single-to-double word titles.)

But seriously, recently things get way too much. Last summer I saw some bloke wrote what he thought was clever but was stupid was hell, something like what, 300 normal soldiers going on a siege against 5,000 demonic warriors? And he called it "a genius tactic?" Anyone with the slightest idea of Lanchester's square law will see how unrealistic and stupid this is, seriously. I took a look at what the hell was going on and had to scrub my eyeballs to get rid of what I just witnessed.

And there's this, what was the title again? Second Life in Another World or something. That thing was going to be anime'd but actually cancelled? Because the work has a protagonist who massacred thousands of Chinese in the war, and the author tweeted something chauvinistic? I know Japan is all messed up as of these days, but if a chauvinistic half-writer can be a million-selling author, I think almost all hopes are lost. (Amateur Tip, because I am not a professional writer: Perhaps it's best not to cause international controversy based on your so-called patriotism, which, as Samuel Johnson has said, is "the last refuge of a scoundrel.")

So that got my attentions at last. Recently I made an account on Syosetsuka Ni Narou, probably the biggest online novel site in Japan. I took some look at the recent hits, and had to scrub my eyeballs off to get rid of what I just witnessed. (Good thing I had some leftover bleaches from previous incident.) I mean, I'm no writer myself, just a generic weeaboo/gamer hybrid with some taste at fantasy genre, and I'm not even a native Japanese speaker/writer/reader/whatever, but hell, I can write a masterpiece if my future competitions are all... these. No, seriously. Japanese media was one of my greatest fascination when I was young, but these days, they keep disappointing me. All the wonders they showed me with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (yes, this is a Jojo reference), Hellsing, Cowboy Bebop, Shin Megami Tensei, everything... It's not there. Not at least in this so-called Narou-kei novels. It's just sad to have this feeling that you finally get to meet your childhood idol and find him/her all fat, old, lazy, and uninteresting. That's how I feel now.

If they can do it, I can. If I actually do it, then it's the end of Japanese subculture literature. End transmission.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Racial Subclasses

Another homebrew article I failed to update. Desperate, I scratched the bottom of what I think is my font of homebrew ideas. At least I think I came up with something that at least makes sense, or is it just me? I can't be so sure.

The WWPD&D document "Racial Subclasses" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whover Plays D&D: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Hello, darkness, my old friend... And this time, I'm doing it right!

I'm catching up with what I missed to update. I've been working on some cleric and paladin subclasses, and I mashed 'em up into a single WWPD&D article, with hurried spells for both classes. Yes, that's right, I'm running out of ideas.

The WWPD&D document "Hallowed Be Thy Name" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Re-Imagining Psionics

Let's face it, I'm not the only one who is disappointed with how Mystic turned out. Which is why I've been working on almost complete overhaul of psionics for, I dunno, months? And now I think I came up with what I would enjoy.

The WWPD&D document "Re-Imagining Psionics" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: The Scion

Hello, darkness, my old friend... Oh wait, wrong way to start a blog post.

So this is my old shame, my old nemesis, and my old ambition. The very first full class homebrew I attempted, struggled on, almost given up on, and finally finished. I give you... wait for it... the Scion.

The WWPD&D document "The Scion" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: The Artificer, Revisited

I'll be frank, I didn't like how the Artificer class turned out in Unearthed Arcana. How much? So much that I made a revision out of it! (Insert obligatory Rocky Horror Picture Show audience participation joke here, haw haw.)

Actually I'm not the only one doing this, there are many like this, but this is mine. (Insert obligatory Full Metal Jacket joke here, haw haw.) So anyway, here is a new Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D article, taking some changes in the troublesome extra class we all hate and probably love.

The WWPD&D document "The Artificer, Revisited" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: I Solemnly Swear...

I made this last month, and I didn't post it here? Must have slipped off my mind, but then, I've been doing translation job and saving Tamriel every night, so I was really occupied. (Hang on, what do you mean I played Skyrim for more than 200 hours and still yet to defeat Alduin and save Tamriel?)

So yeah, I made this one a bit earlier, but it's mostly law-breaking subclasses and feats. If you want some outlaws in your party, maybe this could help you make something interesting. I hope.

The WWPD&D document "I Solemnly Swear..." can be found here (Google Docs) or here (NaturalCrit Homebrewery).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

#45. Harmless Ghost Story

Believe it or not, I am a total loser when it comes to horror stories. (But then, I am a loser by default, so that doesn't make much difference.) I mean, I don't have the right quality to enjoy all those jumpscares and goosebumps, especially jumpscares. There is masochistic joy, and there is jumpscares, which are not exactly good for my fragile heart.

But I should admit, horror stories have their niches, and some elements can be used for greater effects in other genres as well. The mystery-solving plot, the cruel twist, the charismatically hideous terrors... All of them are universal, but they shine most when the genre is set to horror.

So I've been indulging myself into recently concluded Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, as well as some other indie horror sensations, and one thought struck my mind: What's up with all these ghosts and their schadenfraude? I won't spoil much of the details (if there are still some things left to spoil at all) but all the ghosts in various games are determined, no, obsessed with tormenting mortals and driving them to suicide, if not outright killing them by themselves. If that is what happens when anyone dies, then I might have my reason not to die. Why can't the dead just leave the livings let live and rest in peace?

I know it's cheesy at best and diabetes-inducingly sweet at worst, but I do think that the ol' friendly ghost trope could be implemented for better effects. Maybe someone is dead, failed or was unwilling to move on to whatever that happens after death, but does not want to kill or worry others. Maybe they want to proceed to the afterlife but can't. (The reason could be serious like "someone else is keeping them from moving on" or "the killer is at large and thus [the ghost] cannot rest," or stupid like "they missed the upcoming Spinal Tap concert" or "[the ghost's] boss would be upset if they didn't show up at work.") Maybe you should help the ghost leave the mortal realm, because like Terminator, they cannot self-exorcise. More than often it would be living people who are more treacherous and deadly than ghosts. The list goes on. It would make a good visual novel story, at least.

So another nitwits on non-existent videogame idea ends here. When would I ever push myself into more committed lifestyle? Aw well, I'll just stick to translation job for now. End transmission.

Weirdo Whover Plays D&D: D&D Wiki Special

Some of the visitors to this squalid blog of mine (if there is any, that is) might recognize this weird handle name from a site known as D&D Wiki. Yes, I was a regular visitor to that site, I did some homebrew stuffs on that sites, and even more reworks and nitpicking. Sadly, the server status and my real life issues have barred me from visiting D&D Wiki these days, and besides, I found r/UnearthedArcana.

Still, I miss the good ol' days, and homebrew stuffs I made back in there. In memory of some of my first homebrews, this Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D article is dedicated to my old works at D&D Wiki.

The WWPD&D document "D&D Wiki Special" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (NaturalCrit Homebrewery).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

#44. Class-ic Problems

Been some while. Apparently real life strikes harder than ever, okay, not that hard but temporarily harder because I cannot get my hands on new Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D articles (if anyone reads that one at all, anyway). But having a job where your work could be idle at times means you can spare some time for a little chitchat or two, or like myself, post some random stuffs on blog. So here we go:

I have some friends (this fact alone sometimes surprises people, no wonder) who are into doing some creative activities. They are, like many others who shares my period of birth and growth, really into videogames. And as a self-proclaimed geek/nerd/weirdo mutliclass and a local smart-arse, I am often summoned to advise on their creative activities.

One thing that baffled me was, they often gets confused with the concept of job and class. Sure, you character is a warrior, a wizard, a rogue, or anything, yes, but what do they actually do for a living? I once found an example where my friend, after much contemplating and scratching their head, answered, "Dunno, maybe they go hunt monsters and find some coins lying around?"

No wonder I blame videogames for shallow inspirations. (I'm looking right at you, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.) I mean, yes, it's convenient game-wise, but if you're writing a story for a cartoon or a novel or something like that, I cannot help but feeling that it's not exactly right or well-thought. For some reason it sounds a bit... lame. Maybe it's because I DM'd a bit too much campaigns these days.

So, as an unsuccessful Dungeon Master, I would like to share my view on class and profession matters. I will be deriving many of my stances from Dungeons and Dragons, because that's what I'm familiar with, and I by far do not insist that my stance is absolute; after all, it's my idea, and while I do think it could be yours as well, I do not intend that it should be.

I think the problem stems on the translation of the word class is the problem in the first place. In Japanese and many Chinese-based part of the world, this is often translated as "profession (職業)", as in, things you do for a living. I, however, think this is very misleading, and it should be more on "role (役割)", as in, what you do in a particular situation, that is to say, what are you in your party.

This is because, the current practice of using class as a synonym of profession sometimes makes little sense. Say, you're a wizard. So what do you do for a living? In fact, what does a wizard actually do for a living? It's not self-explanatory, so ding, it's not a profession. (Just in case: Anyone with enough skills and guts can hunt monsters, perhaps for a living, but that still does not explain how come all wizards in the world are skilled monster hunters.) What do you do for a living as a barbarian? If your answer is unfortunately "mug some civilized people," then how different from you are from a bandit or a highwayman? Ding, not a profession.

Yes, the very idea of class is so gaming stuff in the first place. In many games, this is often mixed with professions, jobs, titles, and whatnots. Some classes are more inclined to specific professions, such as religious classes like clerics, druids, and paladins, or more thematic classes like barbarians, rangers, and warlocks.

However, I do believe that by separating classes and professions, a character could be more interesting and variable. For instance, take your typical shopkeeper (a profession), Mr. John Doe, who runs a grocery store near you. He could be a brawny ex-mercenary who retired from his famed past and settled down for a peaceful life (class: fighter); a part-time hunter and therefore guaranteed to provide fresh and bloody meat as much as you'd pay (class: ranger); an aspiring practitioner of arcane arts who spends his holiday brewing potions from his goods and attending a local Sorcery 101 class (class: wizard); or even an agent of local thieves' guild who, under the facade of happy-go-round store owner, smuggles illegal goods from other regions every night (class: rogue). See? Even a simple store keeper can be anyone, depending on his class.

This works vice versa. Say you have a warlock in your party (a class). This particular warlock could be a sellsword, who kills, maims, and pillages in the name of their patron (profession: mercenary); a local witch doctor who, in exchange for a pouch full of coin and some occasional treats, may concoct you a shady yet surprisingly effective healing ointment (profession: apothecary); the last of their cult, jealously guarding the last piece of relic devoted to their patron, lest it falls into the hand of some oppressive mainstream religion (profession: hermit); or even a noble whose family tradition includes music, poetry, inbreeding, and heathen worshipping (profession: nobleman). If you happen to play a roleplaying game, it's good to try out new combinations, because it makes one hell of joy by playing characters with some amusing class-profession combinations.

Oh, and this is just my idea, but I hate the idea of a character explicitly referring themselves as their class, rather than their professions and other titles. An introduction for a shaman sounds plausible and even awesome if she is "Layla Thorngrove, Daughter of Myria Thorngrove the Fair and Just, Speaker for the Azure Souls of the Viridian Worlds." Not as much if she, of all things she could use, uses something like "a 14th-level druid."

In short: I believe that classes are not professions by essence, and the two must be separated, because it makes more sense in gaming terms and also fleshes out character better with more combinations. As a roleplayer, I think something like this should be more integrated into videogames, especially Japanese videogames. (Yes, my eyes are still on you, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.) End transmission.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Toxic Love

(For the reference, I suggest playing this lovely piece music, from a not-exactly-lovely piece of an animated film, by none other than Tim Curry himself.)

I actually asked my old DM if poison in D&D sucked back in past edition. His reply was no, in fact many poisons were deadly at least back in 3.5rd edition, what with Constitution damage and all. While I do think removing ability score reduction (and addition) was a good move, I felt sorry for poor poison damage, which is now too well nullified by oh-so-many creatures and even characters.

This one is my tribute to some of the least loved damage types, and probably mark my turn to more sadistic approach to my players. As the Ancestor has said in his epic voice, "great is the weapon that cuts on its own."

The WWPD&D document "Toxic Love" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (NaturalCrit Homebrewery).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Homage to the Past

Oldies are goodies. If I ever become famous enough to write an autobiography (which won't happen anyway, but still) that phrase could be the title. So yeah, some conversions from past editions that I have never played at all, because the very concept is freakin' awesome.

Took me weeks to finish this. Most of the time were spent on finding materials and determining which one to convert, and converting work took just as much. I thank my old DM for providing some 3.5e and 4e books, I owe him so much.

Maybe I should gather up my players to playtest this. I'm not sure if they're all balanced enough.

The WWPD&D document "Homage to the Past" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (NaturalCrit Homebrewery).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Magical Muscles

A new update on WWPD&D article. It's almost a month since the last update, but at least I'm not forgetting this one, this time. Persistence makes perfect, because I'm to lazy to practice.

This article, "Magical Muscles", provides some archetypes for combat-oriented classes, namely barbarians, fighters, and monks. By granting a limited spellcasting abilities and not-so-much spellcasting abilities, these archetypes would make them more versatile. At least I hope so.

Oh, and from now on, I'm using an awesome PDF publishing tools delivered by NaturalCrit Homebrewery. Note to self: Buy a bottle of beer or two for the NaturalCrit dev.

The WWPD&D document "Magical Muscles" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (NaturalCrit Homebrewery).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

#43. Videogames I Hate and Why

As I daydream myself as a future videogame developer (which would be too future if I keep myself as I am now) I keep asking some things to myself, and one of them is: What kind of videogame do I want to make? My drafts show me that I am far from certain to answer that question, but au contraire, they show me that I am ready answer the opposite of the question, as in: What kind of videogame do I not want to make?

This is very personal stuff, but ever since I got my smartphones and found that there are many videogames in mobile platforms, the first thing I learned was to hate some mobile videogames. I won't explicitly name those games, but at least I can elaborate which aspects of the games did I find so revolting, and they are:

Auto-Whatever. I know people these days are too busy to spare time for videogames, I experience the same thing now that I am properly hired and all. However, that does not justify the "Auto Battle" button on the screen, which turns the videogame into a video, and not a game. I mean, what good is a videogame if all you do is just letting the game doing everything on its own, and watching the progress done without you? The first time I saw the feature in one of those kinds of game which allows the game dungeon crawl on its own I nearly swore out loud. I'd rather watch a decent film or some TV series than playing, no, letting the game play itself. You know what, I don't want to call it a game at all, I want to call it demos with a choice or two.

Over 9000... and Beyond? Maybe because I am a tabletop roleplayer myself, but I find numbers in recent videogames a bit too large, and for some reasons the game wants to constantly brag of how great their numbers are. Although I know that the percentage calculations and stuffs are much easier and more elaborate on bigger numbers, I am rather doubtful if it is a good thing to get entertained at millions and billions of numbers that are achieved too easily. Personally I prefer smaller numbers, which reminds me that the difference between one and two can be a matter of life or death. Many roguelike games, and recently Darkest Dungeons showed me the thrills of small numbers.

Pay to Win. I'm not a big spender, but if it means some fine-quality videogames, I am more than happy to spend some cash. Why is this simple yet perfectly reasonable idea lost on so many videogames, as they force players keep spending money on something that is supposed to be free? I don't win every time I play, but if I would win, I want to win all by my own decisions and skills, not by cash-purchased, overpowered items and stuffs. Life is already capitalist enough; I don't want such extensions of competitive money-spending race when I want to let out some steam with my videogames.

Wheel... of... Misfortunes! When I pay like a dollar for, say, a bar of chocolate, I want nothing more than a chocolate. Nowhere in real life I have to place my wage on some kind of roulette, which dispenses maybe a bar of chocolate, maybe a bit of chocolate, and maybe a bar of chocolate with the Golden Ticket in it (if my surname is Bucket, maybe). If I want to buy Item X, I want nothing more than X, and I do not want to gamble on that. Some might say that it's more thrilling that way, but I find it rather disturbing, especially since I hear news that some devs are actually meddling with the roulette tables.

If I was a full-time videogame developer, this would have helped me with my game-making progress. As an inept intern in a company that has nothing to do with videogame development (although I am rather happy with my work) this is little more than a rant on videogames I don't like. Well, gotta grow up. End transmission.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Warlocks

So yeah, another WWPD&D article. I was writing things as much as I could, partly because this is one of the few hobbies I've ever got, but also because now that I started publishing my works online, I thought I could take advantage on this rather obscure article to let myself known to the world. Why? But hey, why not?

This article, "Warlocks", is all about warlocks. New archetypes and new invocations. Well, actually it's new archetypes and old invocations, revised in 5th-edition format, but let's not dig too deep on that, shall we?

The WWPD&D document "Warlocks" can be found here.

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Companions

I won't explain very much, but after all these times I've been making homebrew stuffs for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, and I tell you, things are getting out of hands. Not that I'm doing bad at stuffs, but for the last, what, eight months? I made like dozens of homebrew materials, both finished and unfinished, and is still counting to the point that I thought, hey, maybe I really need to do something on my own.

Then I came across this awesome template that allows me to make my own Unearthed Arcana-style documents, presented by none other than Wizards of the Coast themselves. Awesome jobs, WotC. So I just finished my first document, and named it, rather poorly: Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D, or WWPD&D for short.

I started with something simple, benchmarking others' works and even some official works from previous editions. (Uncredited in the document, but great thanks to my DM from previous campaigns, who gratefully lended his Complete Arcane.) The first WWPD&D document, "Companions", is based on the Animal Companion feature from the revised ranger class.

I'll be dong this stuff from now on. For now, it's not too much, but hey, just like the not-so-good man with a big smile in his face once said, "Wait 'til the get a load of me."

The WWPD&D document "Companions" can be found here.

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

#42. Life, The Universe, and Everything... In Wiki?

Fourty-second post, guyz. Fourty-seven posts of delusions and pen-scribblings that did nothing for my career or anything, but then, not everything in this world is supposed to be profitable twenty-four-seven, is it?

So I have been busy these days, which surprises myself as much as anyone that knows me in a way or two. For starters, I got a job, which means stable income, with less time. Well, mostly less time, because once you get the hang of how you can split time you have like double the time you are supposed to have. Once I get used to my new job I would definitely route some of my spare time to do something that finally makes myself useful.

I have been doodling stuffs in D&D Wiki these days, starting early this year. The handle name is pretty much the same, and I have been rather... zealous on some things. Tabletop roleplaying games are awesome, people. I am DMing a campaign myself, with my usual, ambitious delusions to back up.

So I was working on some original works as well as some "derivative" or downright fanworks as well. Who knows, maybe you can find some online. Which, by the way, will embarrass me like nothing else.

So yeah, just thought I have to at least update my status once in a while. Gotta roll, I have slept like four hours. End transmission.

#41. Resources in JRPG

So I've been busy, especially after I was hired. It's just an intern, but it's still a job, yesno? Anyway, hired or not, I'm still a delusional daydreamer I used to be (and I don't think this will ever change) so here's another bullshit I've got to share with you. If you're there, that is.

One thing I really hated about JRPG as much I liked is the resource system, your typical, good ol' MP (Magic Point) system. The idea can't be simpler than this: You have a limited points which you use to use your skills. You regain a number of spent points with certain items or a good night's sleep or so. The reason I hate this catch-all system is that it somewhat limits the potentiall of all characters and skills, especially when you are running a long dungeon run. Chances are, you will preserve everyone's MP as much as you could, clinging on relatively weak default attacks (which often require no MP spend) until you face the boss, where you spend every single point of MP upon it. This may sound fair, but the frustration of MP starvation kinda gets in my nerve.

I recently play more of real-time videogames and tabletop roleplaying games, especially Heroes of the Storm and Dungeons and Dragons, and both games gave me some good ideas to improve my favorite videogame genre. I'm drawing inspiration from other games such as League of Legends, which I used to play as well few years ago. So here are some ideas on the "re-take" of JRPG resource system:

The problem of conventional MP system is, you don't get much chance to replenish it, and all characters share a single trigger for it. It's easier to develop and build, yes, but strategy-wise, it's getting rather old, and it somewhat makes characters identical, which is one of the reason JRPG is dying these days. So my re-take would focus on giving more opportunities to regain spent MP.

Rage. Barbarians from Diablo III (and Sonya from Heroes of the Storm), Fighters from World of Warcraft, and some champions from League of Legends use this particular resources. Basically, you regain a small number of rage every time you hit someone or you are hit by someone, but your rage will start depleting if you spend too much time being peaceful. This greatly increases the combat stamina because you don't need to stay out of battle waiting for your mana to replenish, but you will have to risk yourself by keep fighting for this stamina. This will work great with a decent fighter-type character, who won't need to recharge his/her "magical energy" to swing a sword, and will sustain oneself longer in the prolonged battle compared to squishy wizards.

Skill Momentum. It's not much of a "replenishing" than "saving", but this still counts. Basically, if you're going to spend a number of MP every time you use a skill, you'll get some "refund" by regaining a relatively smaller number of MP every time you do so. This will make a good skill spammer-type character, whose shtick is not relying on a single strong blow, but a weaker skill jabs that will keep enemies occupied.

Quick Rest. This attempt has been increased a lot these days, but I'll write this anyway. You have an extra skill that spends no MP and replenishes a large chunk of spent MP when used, at a cost of one full turn. In order to avoid abusing issues, this skill may have a limited number of uses per combat. This will work well with nuker-style characters, who will unleash a killing blow at one go and must stay low while he/she "reloads" the magical capability.

Choose Your Own Resources. This is a new take on "one character, one resources" type. Your character can choose which type of resources he/she will use during downtime. This means that a fighter can use Skill Momentum-type resource to utilize skill-based bruising or Quick Rest-type resource for one, big hit, a wizard can use Rage-type resources for battle mage-type brawling, and so forth. Since some type of skills work too well with some type of resources, maybe some skills will have reduced effect when used on a certain type of resources. The fastest idea I can have is that Skill Momentum resource will greatly reduce the effect of all skills, keeping up the spamming gimmick.

So that's it for now. I'm having some sleep deprivation these days, what with interns and all. Gotta put on my clown mask and rob a bank or two. End transmission.