Unfortunately, the partner with whom I was planning this story could no longer continue with me, so I find myself needing to open this back up again.
The
good thing that came out of this is I now have a much more solid idea of what I want and need for this story. :D
First, though, I need to reiterate a point. This time with
italics!
There will be a lot of worldbuilding in this roleplay.
Perhaps you will have a better understanding of what I mean when I say this if I say I enjoy planning almost as much as I do the actual act of roleplaying. I have one world I have been building with a partner for nearing on two years now. I have another where my partner and I took nearly 20 pages of PM planning to flesh out the world, characters, and plot before we even started talking about an opener. I have another where my partner and I are building character sheets for 43 unique characters. I am an
extensive planner. Now, that doesn't mean I have to plan out every single thing before we begin. But it does mean I need a very solid foundation for both the VR we are going to be starting in, and what our characters are going to start out doing. Please expect this. Even better, enjoy it. I sure do. :D
Luckily, for those of you who aren't quite as obsessive about planning as I am, my previous partner helped me figure out lots about this world, which I shall now share with you!
Around the turn of the 22nd century a small company run entirely by a group of highly talented, intelligent, and creative programmers created the TITAN System, and completely revolutionized the VR gaming experience. TITAN built and managed entire worlds using fundamental data given to it by the developers of the game. The worlds TITAN built were, like the real world, cohesive wholes, where changes made by both players and NPCs would have a lasting effect on the world around it. Each quest could be completed only once, and each reward was unique. TITAN was able to analyze the lore of the world, both the lore created by the developers and the player-created lore to create an infinite number of world-appropriate quests at various levels, tracking the changes that the players made and using everything to maintain a world that truly feels alive.
A decade later, and the TITAN System now runs and maintains all VRMMO gaming worlds across the entire planet. Contained in millions of servers, TITAN has grown far beyond the dreams of the original developers, and, with access to more data and computational power, has even grown in complexity. On top of TITAN's ability to build quests, it has several other core features that define the TITAN gameplay experience.
SKILLS: The skills and leveling system of TITAN works in reverse of the standard approach to MMOs. Rather than a player gaining experience, leveling up, and then distributing a limited number of stat points into predefined fields which have a very specific effect, players level up through an almost completely opposite method. Players gain experience in certain fields by using a skill, and become better at that particular skill the more it is used. A player's level is, therefore, a cumulative representation of their experience in all the skills present in a game.
Depending upon the type of game, the different available player skills can completely change. To best illustrate the TITAN system, I am going to exemplify a standard fantasy MMO, based off the RL game Skyrim. Every game has certain fundamental skills that everyone can learn. For this example, the standard skills shall be "one handed" "two handed" "unarmed" "block" and "archery". Any individual who wishes to pursue one of those fields must first learn enough to master the basics. Every person has these same requirements. However, after an individual has earned enough experience in one of these fields to have mastered the basic skill, it is possible to start branching out into more specialized fields. For instance, a player who gained enough experience in the "one handed" skill to have filled the basic skill would then be able to branch out into more specific styles such as "dual wielding" " slicing" "stabbing" "bludgeoning" and various combinations thereof. As players continued to learn more in the specialization, it would allow them to specialize even more. At a high enough experience level TITAN would start creating brand new branches based off of the player's unique combat styles, which it would be very probable that only they could pursue. However, if a player comes up with a brand new combat type at a lower level that is still appropriate within the lore of the world, it would be possible to submit it to the server and TITAN may turn it into a unique skill. For instance, once someone mastered the basics of one handed, they may be able to submit for a skill for "whips" as long as it fit in with the world lore. It would, however, be impossible to redistribute skills, as there are no actual points, simply learning. If a player wanted to change class, they would have to learn from the ground up.
MAGIC: As long as it is appropriate in the VR world, TITAN will implement a system of magic that is mostly consistent through the different games, with small variations to make sure that players cannot directly transfer the skill from one game to another. Like physical skills, players must learn the basics of magic, and then they can begin to specialize. All magic is summoned and targeted through ritualistic hand and arm motion, where the player's fingers trace symbols and patterns in the air and a spell will be triggered that way.
Unlike most RL games, where players learn a spell and are then able to execute it as long as they have enough MP, TITAN does not have individual spells, but rather requires players to build spells through a system of runes. Individual runes are very small and simple, based off of a gesture that can be completed quickly and simply. However, true spells cannot be cast with only a single rune, and these individual runes must be woven together, with themselves and with other runes, in repeating patterns to have a strong effect that could be called a "spell". It is possible to show someone a spell through the combination of runes, which could be viewed as a "rune" in and of itself. However, it is also possible for players to experiment and build their own spells through combinations of runes that other people haven't attempted yet. Along with players needing to actually learn the combinations of runes in order to cast a spell, they must also have the requisite knowledge in that kind of magic. If they do not have the knowledge required for the spell, it will cast but fizzle before completion, as opposed to simply failing to cast. There are also certain kinds of runes that cannot be cast unless the player has completed a quest to "earn" that rune. Each rune has a unique branch at the top of the "magic" skill tree, and successfully casting that rune increases the player's experience.
In order to make sure that all games provide a challenge in learning magic, the meaning of the different runes do not transfer from game to game. Luckily, to avoid player confusion in transitions from game to game, once a player successfully casts a spell the pattern is saved in a player's "spellbook", and they can select that spell and bring up a pattern that they can then trace in the air. Other players cannot see the trace, but are able to see the runes the player leaves behind in preparing to cast.
MAGIC SUBSTITUTES: If magic is not appropriate for a world, or if the game requires more options for magic-like skills, TITAN is able to create other systems that use different methods to achieve similar effects. "Alchemy" and "Enchanting" are two common ones, although there are others. Unlike magic, which can be cast anywhere, magic substitutes require specific tools to prepare things before they can be used. However, magic substitutes are completely different skills from magic, so in a world where both magic and magic substitutes exist a player who is good at a specific spell would not necessarily be able to enchant an object with that spell. They would have to share the spell with an enchanter, who would then enchant the object with the spell.
NPCs: In order to bring the world to life TITAN fills all game worlds with NPCs, who are like characters in a story. Each has a unique personality and behavior traits, and when they die they cannot come back to life unless resurrected. NPCs also do not contain dialogue loops and are able to keep track of the passage of time. However, while it is undoubtedly possible to have an extended conversation with an NPC that is not necessarily directly related to their quests or businesses, it is always possible to tell an NPC from a PC because of more limited reactions and conversation bounds. If a conversation strays too far outside of an NPCs programming, it will change the subject.
And that is TITAN in a nutshell. I'm sure there's stuff I didn't explain well, or forgot to explain, so don't hesitate to ask if you have a question.
That was a lot of world information, and it didn't even take a peek at the plot. O_O Luckily, I only have the vaguest idea of what I would like for this story.
This story would begin with me playing a relatively low level character, joining into a new-ish game. She would have some experience in VRMMOs, but not much. Early on in the game she would come across an odd quest, which would have been created by TITAN for a specific purpose that does not relate to the MMO itself. TITAN has been studyin people for a very long time, using them to create quests, but in order to grasp a better understanding of the human psyche it decides to create an AI that should be indistinguishable from humanity. This AI would be
your character. The quest my character goes on would, one way or another, provide critical information about human nature that would allow TITAN to complete and release the AI. After being created, your character would come find mine to thank her for being his/her "mother", after a fashion. My character would, luckily, be very understanding about the whole AI thing, and wouldn't be bothered about trying to find reasons your character isn't "human". Since your character would be directly linked to TITAN at all times, it would be able to do god-like things at will, although it would be bound within TITAN's need to maintain the world in a lore-appropriate fashion.
Where we go from there would be, in a large part, up to you. Although I do want it to contain a bit of cheating at the beginning. This story, though, should quickly evolve from "lets have fun" into something more serious, looking at the differences between a real and virtual world, and how the two can start blending together.
There you go! Lots of information. :D Take it as you will!
