2015-01-28 Some design work and a poll

So what news do I have? Well there is some big behind-the-scenes work that is going on right now.  In addition, I have been working on a bit of design work here and there.  In particular right now, I am designing a new combat framework for use with Forgotten World.  It is a major overhaul of how combat works, and there are some big changes included.  For one, stats will be point-based rather than level-based and can be increased during gameplay as well as by cleansing shrines. One area that has left me in a quandary is dealing with dexterity and combat techniques.

In the Forgotten World, you increase dexterity by shooting creatures with arrows – the more difficult the creature is to hit, the higher the worth of that hit towards increasing dexterity.  In addition, the shrines give the option of boosting the dexterity by a sizable chunk when cleansed. I should also add that starting class defines the size of the boosts and the starting value of each stat (in fact Bards currently are set to start with a higher dexterity than mages can get through shrine cleansing alone).  But where should I set the dexterity requirements for learning the techniques?

So I’m putting this question to a poll over on Facebook: Poll

The options are

• Keep it like Ultima IX with Dexterity boosts at shrines defining whether you can learn a certain level of technique (of course Bards start with a bonus of 2 boosts, and Tinkers, Druids, and Rangers start with a bonus of 1 boost to Dexterity)
• A combined approach where the raw dexterity value is used to determine if you can learn a technique and the thresholds for learning techniques will often require combat experience and dexterity boosts.
• A weapon-focused approach where you must fight with a certain weapon style (Bows, 2-handed weapons) enough in order to learn a new technique in that style.

In addition to designing combat, I’ve been working on rewriting U9’s Journal for Forgotten World (Spellbook will be rewritten as well), and in doing so, I’m writing a rather more extensive history section.  So any comments regarding errors or missing details or too much information are definitely welcome.  Note that this Journal is actually a standard journal and guidebook written by the Scholar Anton (Alagner’s apprentice in Ultima VII) for Britannian adventurers and travelers.  The First Age of Darkness is posted here on Facebook: First Age

That is all for now, but expect some bits of news here and there over the coming months.