Fantasy RPG based in Modern Day

What would you people think of a Fantasy (Magic, Potions, etc) based MMO RPG in the Modern World (Cars, Assault Rifles, etc etc)? I'm currently designing a game which may incorporate modern-era and fantasy elements.

My game is only in design and planning stage (design document, mind map, concept drawings, etc). What would you think of this game, if it was ever released?

(If this is the wrong section, please let me know as I'm new to these forums)

 

Zero interest if it is an MMO, could be interested if it is a normal single-player game. Make sure that you have resources to pull this kind of project off.

 

Yeah, It's just merely a concept, may or may not actually become a fully fledged game.

 

...

You might want to make sure you're familiar with Shadowrun games and Arcanum.

 

Same. The fad where most MMOs become F2P often with P2W cash shops has left me no longer interested in them.

 

My current design is currently along the lines of Free To Play with Non-Intrusive Advertising and Premium which will get rid of the Advertising and bring some other features which are to be decided. I don't like Play2Win myself.

 

So The Secret World?

 

Something like that, but without the horror elements. My concept is more generic and server dependent. My concept also include things like Elves, Orcs which I will somehow incorporate into a modern theme.

 

Something like Warhammer 40,000? Only without the dystopia part.

 

Yeah, you're reading my mind now!

 

But that's the best part!

 

So its shadow run, basically. Not that unique. Not saying its bad either, just make sure you have a "unique selling point"... elves and orcs in modern day settings have been done before.


Also, I second other to think about dropping the MMO part.
1) You most probably don't have the resources to pull it off... don't waste a single brain cycle about it if my assumption is true.
2) The MMO world is extremly tough... there is little room for competition, certainly less so than in the singleplayerworld... for one, MMOs are played for years, not hours. Players once invested hardly migrate from one MMO to another until either the MMO dies or they are no longer entertained. Secondly, the way higher cost makes running an MMO with less than a certain threshold of players uneconomic, hence even almost finished MMOs getting killed by the publisher, or MMOs quickly closing shop if they went live but failed to meet the projected numbers.
3) MMORPGs are kind of a fad, which is currently fading away. Sure, WoW is still going strong... it and other surviving MMORPGs are overshadowed by far by the current fad, MOBAs...


Concentrate on the RPG aspect if you don't have the money and teamsize needed to pull off an MMO. And think twice if you REALLY want to get into the merciless MMO game even if you have the resources needed.

 

Shadowrun is dystopian - the world is dark and hopeless. Non-dystopian mix of magic and technology is less common, but is frequently present in JRPGs.

The only western games in non dystopian "magic and tech" settings I can rememebr are "Technomage", "Arcanum" and "Vampire: The Masquerade"-related ones. It is possible that I forgot a few, of course...

 

Vampire: The Masquerade NOT dystopian? I mean, with the end of the world looming, hinted at many times throughout the game, and the rather dark and rundown places the game plays in, I don't know if I would call it NOT dystopian.

To me, shadowrun actually is LESS dystopian than Vampire: The Masquerade...
for one, you are not automatically in such a hopeless position as being a newly created vampire against your own will... you might be an underdog, but you are at least not forced into an undead existence you cannot escape from.
Then AFAIK the world of shadowrun is never hinted at to be on the brink of destruction. The world of Vampire: TM is... even if it doesn't happen in the game in the end, the hints are there.
It might be more of a "normal world" than the world of shadow run for "normal people" (until that all changes with caines arrival during gehenna). But for the Vampires, which eyes are exactly what you see the games world through, its a bleak and dangerous world. One wrong step and you have the Vampire hunters on your heels (and only a taxi drive to a different part of the city will shake them... that part made me always chuckle )

The fact that it all looks normal on the surface is just a tool to make the monsters lurking the shadows look more frightening, and to heighten the players disbelief in the end hinted at by the story (which happens to be true in the end, just not in the frame of the game... Whitewolf ended the Vampires universe with the book gehenna)

On the other hand, shadowrun is just your usual underdog story. Pretty much GTA, just with fantasy components (and maybe a little bit mor social criticism).



Well, to get back ontopic, I still think "modern day, NON-dystopian with elves and orcs" is not such a unique hook. Many games that do steampunk or modern day fantasy scenarios have such a unique hook, and its usually that hook that makes it special, not the magic or elves or orcs.

Well, might be that the TO has such a hook but is not ready to share it yet. That is also fine. I am just voicing my opinion hoping it might prove helpful.

 

It is matter of taste, but for me dystopia sorta implies world order, not just having vampires in it. Aside from vampires, masquerade world is pretty much identical to our current one.

Dragon fallirectors Cut, added brand new secret ending, which you can see on youtube. It is as bleak as it gets, it sorta explains how the world works and to my knowledge it was created in accordance with shadowrun lore.

You should play Dragonfall.

As I said, I just don't rememebr many of those. It is a very common theme in jrpgs, but there don't seem to be that many serious western games that do this kind of thing.

 

You could consider a setting similar to Dresden Files, which are awesome books, btw. It is a modern fantasy and very good. There are others out there as well. If you think about it, Harry Potter is a fantasy set in modern times.

 

Well, after reading though the comments, I've made a decision to drop the MMO part, for now at least, this gives me more time to focus on the more important stuff such as the story, lore and the actual gameplay.

When talking of Vampires: The Masquerade, I might include vampires either as part of the story or as a sort of side quest. They won't be central to the whole game world though.

 

From what I remember, the Artemis Fowl series I read as a kid were a mix of modern setting and fantasy as well.

 

Modern day Fantasy RPG? Ever heard of Paracite Eve? or Earthbound? I'm pretty sure the Persona series takes place in the modern day as well.

 

They were never my thing because of difficulty of dealing with technology vs magic. It is one of the reasons most fantasy games are set in the timeframe right before gunpowder is invented or available. The problem is that it is easy to think of technology as incremental.. you go from grenades, to grenade launchers to rocket launchers to tactical nukes...

I think it comes down to us, as human beings, knowing the natural progression of technology so it is hard for us to not think one small incremental advancement ahead... whereas with magic, we really have no idea how it works, so the author of the world is more easily able to create the progression to fit the balance of the game. It is easy to create artificial limits on your magic system to keep it balanced... when you are talking about technology, your players are always going to be saying or thinking ´well, if I can do this, then to do the next thing is just this one little invention that is really basic´

 

Actually, I feel like this is something that isn't nearly exploited enough.

When it comes to making a Gadgeteer class, you could very easily just make their progression through the game based on things they invent, while a magician progesses just from knowledge learned. While your magician can advance intuitively, perhaps your gadgeteer could advance based on finding certain items to power up their inventions.

I mean Star Wars balances magicians vs technology, at least in the original trilogy. Magic can only get you so far before you need Han Solo to shoot someone.

 

Star Wars is Fantasy Sci Fi. I think it is easier to balance Sci Fi, since it suggests in the future...or at least future technology.

 

There isn't a lick of science fiction in Star Wars. Just because it has spaceships doesn't mean it isn't entirely fantasy.

Like, Metal Gear is Sci Fi, Star Trek is Sci Fi. They were inspired mostly by existing technology, or inspired technology that came after, like the Cell Phone.

Star Wars? Thats entirely fantasy. It's no different from Lord of the Rings, other than a different aesthetic. The majority of the technology in that universe has no actual root in science, because they aren't supposed to. They're just as magic as The Force itself.

There is a line between the two, but people tend to just lump this stuff together because nerds like it.

 

So a Harry Potter RPG? Or a Twilight one? Perhaps Charmed or Buffy? Or whatever the teenagers are watching today?

My point is evaluating a game based on genre + setting isn't very useful or informative.

Will any of these games work?

• Fantasy RTS?
• Historical hidden object game?
• Sci fi crafting game?
• Steam punk FPS?

To evaluate an idea you need to define, and preferably prototype, the core gameplay.

 

Yeah, this is the point I was trying to make. If it is Sci-Fi, then it is outside the knowledge of ´us´ as people. We don´t know the natural progression of technology for stuff that is beyond what we can do now in our real world. In essence, it looks like technology, but it is in fact ´magic´ to us.

 

Harry Potter is a perfect example... and you know what she did? She completely ignored technology and weaponry because it would have blown the snot out of her story. While Harry and Voldemort are shooting each other with highly inaccurate wands that shoot one shot every 5 seconds, you didn´t see anyone pulling out even a 9mm, let alone an assault weapon. Based on the cars they were driving, it appeared to be about 1970s or so...so where were the machine guns? The entire story breaks down.

 

It could work.

 

I wasn't holding up Harry Potter as an accurate example of fusion between fantasy and real life, just as a possible explanation of the OP. Harry Potter itself is a children's book, and so takes a pretty fantastical approach.

Very few games take an accurate approach. I've yet to play anything that runs along the lines of 'You take a sword cut to the arm, over the next few months you slowly succumb to infection and die.' Or 'A land mine takes out your legs. Spend the rest of the game as an amputee confined to a hospital bed.' Or perhaps simply 'Loosing your comrades under heavy artillery fire is too much for you. You survive the war, but commit suicide shortly after returning home.'

No point requiring a high standard of accuracy from fiction writers while at the same time ignoring the systematic liberties taken by games.

However if you are interested in a high accuracy fiction merging of magic and technology, check out Harry Turtledove's Darkness series.

 

Dwarf fortress. Seriously.

Losing a limb means you may bleed out. Even if you don't bleed out, you will spend the rest of the game without a limb. Oh, and wounds can get infected too. Also, if character has no limbs left, then said character will have to roll around instead of walking.

 

Okay, okay. Enough already. I'll put Dwarf Fortress back on my list. But it's going after getting bored of Cities: Skylines and my space plane only play through of KSP.

 

Might be a matter on how you look at things, I look at the world through the eyes of the protagonist. This way the Vampires: TM world turns out to be quite dystopian.
Of course, you seem to look at the world from a third person perspective... this way, true, its just our modern day world, with a secret vampire culture lurking in the shadows.

Just don't forget the Caine story string that was intertwined with the normal story during the whole game. It turned out to be a fluke in the frame of the game, but in the context of the wider lore, it is pointing at the end of the world.

Have it in my Steam library, played some minutes then stopped because I got distracted. Definitely should pick it up again and play it through though.... have too many games, to little time to play them all. Sad really.

Granted my knowledge of the Shadowrun lore is dusty, and mostly taken out of books (never was much of a pen and paper player, never finished the SNES Shadowrun). And while the general tone of the lore doesn't look THAT dystopian to my WH40k-hardened brain (THAT is dystopian ), I give you that I don't know that much about the whole lore.

Well, lets see. I will try to think of any game or movie/anime that comes to mind.

Final Fantasy has been kinda-Steampunk since FF6. Their unique hook simply is "bigger and more colorful". Everything is big and bold, the enemies are huge, the magical powers of enemies and characters are extreme, the steampunk structures are towering and massive.
If you REALLY deconstruct FF Storys, characters and enemies, they are not that special or interesting. But Square always manages to make everything look larger than life. Works quite well as a hook it seems.

Attack on Titan. Cannot not REALLY understand what is all the fuss about it, I find the story highly illogical and badly structured, but I gotta admit the execution really is brilliant. Again, this is more Steampunk than modern day.
Their hook is big hulking giants that are an inhuman force of nature threatening to delete humankind from the face of the earth, against highly specialized human defenders with steampunk technology. AND a lot of mystery surrounding the nature of these giants.

Gate. Modern Day Japan meets a fantasy worlds inhabitants thanks to a mystical gate opening in Japan. Hook is that for once, the power scale is reversed. Modern day assault rifles, Tanks and planes beat the S*** out of dragon riders and magicians.
The thing is that when the japanese invade the fantasy world, they try to apply modern day diplomacity and values... their fantasy opponents rather follow medieveal values. Thus an instable truce develops.
Story is not so strong, cannot decide if they want to show cool action scenes or how the fantasy world humans and elves clash with the modern day world of japan. Also, lots of disgusting nationalism and army glorification, only offset by some interesting philosophical question the series indirectly asks throughout.
Still... Magic is not the biggest and baddest thing in this world. The assault rifle and RPG (the other one) clearly beats it. Makes the whole story feel quite fresh.


There must be a TON of animes and games about magical girls and boys in modern day times, but I don't count them seeing how they are always fixated on humans. More comparable to Harry Potter I'd say.

 

We're discussing games though. There ARE movies/animes, but my point still stands that mixing magic and tech is fairly uncommon for western games.

Thoughts in no particular order:

Steampunk usually implies victorian or 19th century setting. Steampunk does not mean magic.

Final Fantasy is definitely not steampunk.

Gate had absolutely amazing battle scene in season one but fell apart in season two, which was a pity.

Keep in mind that that having "magic" in a setting does not mean it is "fantasy". Fantasy usually implies western kind of settings with multiple races, wizards, etc., usually medieval. Swords and spells, etc. When you, say, throw in japanaese ayakashi/youkai in there, you get something completely different.

To my knowledge shadowrun and D&D: modern mix modern world and magic, but only Shadowrun has video games.

If we're talking about games, you could mention shin megami tensei series with spinoffs (digital devil saga is magic + high tech, and Raidoh Kuzonoha happens at the beginning of XXth century). But once again, I can't think of many western games that do this kind of thing.

 

True... truth be told, there are also not a ton of western Steampunk games/movies, while that is still going strong in japanese media.

Steam Trains, guns sometimes too oldschool to be 20th century designs, gunswords... Final Fantasy has plenty of stuff that scream "Steampunk", as well as the general attire of the characters, when they are not colorful BS Fantasy designs, looking to modern to be medieveal, but are clearly not modern day. Early 20th century at best.

So, TECHNICALLY not a true Steampunk setting, yes. "Steampunk" fits the weird mishmash of Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Steampunk elements best IMO though. Its not Science Fiction (there is not much science in Final Fantasy), the monicker Fantasy usually is used for high fantasy, medieveal worlds, and then we quickly run out of official monickers.

Id call it "Fantasy with Steampunk influences".... but then I call Star Wars "Fantasy in Space", because that is also not Science Fiction.

I hear you.... I waited the whole second season for the story to pick up steam, and it never did. They managed to fill 12 episodes with.... a weird mishmash of sidestories that didn't really contribute to the overarching whole.

And that is where the current "story genre" classification system falls flat on its face. Just because its not western influenced doesn't mean a fantasy story is not a fantasy story.
Just because there are spaceships and mechas does not mean its science-fiction.
Just because there is a lovestory does not make it a romance.

I would say it doesn't matter if its about japanese ninjas casting their "ninjutsu spells" in a fantasy japanese looking world, or western looking magician throwing fireballs at castles in a western mediveal looking fantasy worlds.
Both are made up worlds, both worlds do not follow the real world laws of physics. Its Fantasy, no matter what is the influence or how you skin it.
Just as Star Wars is Fantasy. You have the Force (Magic), lightswords and laser weapons not following the laws of physics (magic weapons), you have jedis (good magicians / warrior-priests), you have sith (bad magicians / warrior-priests), you have space ships again not following the laws of physics (dragons?).
The whole universe is built for effect, not realism, nor based in science. And its a made up universe, not ours. The intro even tell you so much.

I know, some people would like a simple classification. And they would most probably be overloaded with more than the about a dozen classification we have today.
Still hurts my pedantic self to see people calling Star Wars, or to a lesser degree, Star Trek Science-Fiction.

Yeah, I think I am missing out on a lot of RPG history because of not having played D&D pen and papers...

Hm never played these games... some of the gems that never made it to the west?


Still, I don't think just because there is not much competition in the space of "modern day fantasy with elves, orcs and magic", that you should do such a game without an additional hook.
But I guess we are getting now into the area of personal opinions, and I'll stop trying to make a point here

 

Which is why the fantasy is attached to the Sci Fi. I didn't add it to that category but it is still there, like it or not. Even Extra Credits puts it there. lol Real Sci Fi games are rare.

 

Yes, they're gems.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (PS2)
Shin Megami Tensi: Raidoh Kuzonoha 1/2 (PS2)
Digital Devil Saga (PS2)
Persona 2, Persona 3, Persona 4. (persona 1 was completely butchered/westernized during localization and is not recommended)

Also, Shin Megami Tensi 1/2 were available on snes and ps1. Those weren't officially localized, as far as I know.

I highly recommend a version with original jap voices, if you can get a hold of it, it is less of factor with nocturne, because it has nearly no voice acting.

Shin Megami Tensi series can be described as "demon pokemon", except the story is branching, usually has multiple endings and there's the whole "good vs chaos".

Persona series are a spinoff with dating sim elements.

Alright, trick question time.

What would you call lovecraftian universe? Call of Cthulhu, Dunwich Horror, etc.

 

I'm working on a modern fantasy RPG heavily inspired by the World of Darkness table top games. Even have a viable minimum product that involves bashing wererats with a crowbar.
*cough* shameless plug *cough*
I'll be putting it up on Greenlight as soon as I put together a video.

 

Wikipedia is calling it gothic fiction. Is that what you're asking?

 

Not EXACTLY the same thing, but Might and Magic has always slipped in Scifi elements.

M&M6 has you go through a massive quest to aquire ancient weapons which end up being laser pistols and rifles.

It was an awesome little twist.

 

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll add it to my long to-play list


As for the question. Well, generally I would call it fantasy horror. Even if it plays in our modern, or not so modern world (lovecraft novels are not modern day anymore), it has a strong fantasy element. Given all the fantastic stuff lovecraft came up with for its cthulhu stuff.

Though I have to say, almost every horror story has a fantasy element given most of the time the "horror" comes from made up creatures and dangers, soooo.... Dunno really.

Its a grey area, I give you that. Maybe just call it horror. Or go with the "Gothic" monicker, as Ryiah put it. Even though now THAT is a monicker filled with such a breadth of stuff, containing romance stories to fantasy horror to dystopian adventures. Might be because it also is used for a certain period of writing.


Doesn't really make eastern themed fantasy stories any less fantasy stories. Or Star Wars a Science Fiction story at that.

<pedantic_mode>
SciFi as in "guns and spaceships" (as in Fiction, but no Science)? Or SciFi like in "a story depicting a possible future rooted in todays scientifical knowledge" (As in Fiction AND Science)?

Isac Asimov Novels are Science-Fiction. Most of the stuff in there is rooted in Science. It might not be possible with todays technology, but it does not defy the laws of physics as many "fantasy in space" stuff does.
As an added bonus, like most good Science Fiction stories it is written to explore the social implications of evolving technology, what it means for humankind and all that. Not just to up the size of explosions and guns like many of the non-scifi movies with future tech do.


I see why people want distinguish between past - present - future when it comes to stories and games.
But why do people still use SciFi as a monicker for everything "future", when we moved to using both "historical" (for past stories rooted in reality) and "fantasy" (for past stories in made up worlds) for things "past"?

Granted, "Fantasy" is a pretty open term, and can be used for "Fantasy in Space", "modern day fantasy" and the tried and true "medieveal / high fantasy".


So lets just say Might and Magic added guns and mechas. Those do not automatically imply "Science-Fiction". Its still fantasy elements, unless Might and Magic suddenly dropped Magic, moved to a real world setting and started to obey things like the law of physics. I would bet their guns and mechas are just as much fantasy as their swords and magic.

Yes, its a useful monicker baring a better system of classification. IMO its still wrong.
</pedantic_mode>

 

You can start with either Nocturne or Persona 4 and you'll get the idea of what this is all about. Although getting "undubbed" version of persona 4 may require extra work. Anyway...

I see. In this case we hit differences in definitions.

I call "fantasy" a setting that is suitable for "sword and sorcery" style heroic adventures. Well, that's not exactly precise definition (because Witcher 3 is fantasy for me), but you get the picture. Magic, elves, orcs, etc.

You call "fantasy" any story that is placed in unrealistic settings. Meaning that for you lovecraftian universe, japanese youkai/ayakashi, and d&d book will all be "fantasy".

My point was that mixing magic and technology in a modern setting is fairly uncommon for western games. There's no modern day magic and tech equivalent of witcher, dragon's dogma, gothic and the like.

 

Well, see, I would call "sword and sorcery" style heroic adventures, IF they are playing out in a mediveal fantasy setting, "high fantasy". I really like that monicker because it helps distinguish between this very often used fantasy setting and other, less often used ones. Like "modern day fantasy"... or, baring a better name, "fantasy in space".

The monicker "Fantasy" I would use as a broad term of fictional stories set in a world that is not placed in the past-present-future of our own universe... of course, there are fringe cases there too, for example a story in a far away galaxy of our universe. That place most probably is complete fantasy until we reach a technology that allows us to inspect the worlds of far away galaxies in every detail. Still, as long as the author TRIES to depict a real place (by working from a scientifical base), I would not call it a "Fantasy story". If anything, it would rather be "science-fiction", even if its not about the future.

As such, the witcher might be a fringe case because altough it is medieveal, its world is rather a little bit too realistic apart from the monsters really.


But I'd say lets agree to disagree... I would love to see an official definition, but I guess there are many of those and they most probably also disagree with each other.


Coming back to your last statement, yeah you might be right. I think the western audience is often claimed to be quite "conservative" about genre expectations. Have a fantasy story that is not sword and sorcery? Pack your stuff and go home! A Science Fiction story not set in space? Same!
Not saying this is necessarily the truth (I am certainly part of the western audience and I LOVE to be surprised by a game not following genre conventions)... but I have heard that sentiment from different sides.

And seeing some of the AAA games, the big players in the industry certainly seem to think so too (apart from being relucant to experiment in general).

Could be the reason why most games coming out seem to follow cookie-cutter genre guidelines, and stick to the tried and true genres.


The single biggest reason I am pretty hyped for Horizon:Zero Dawn is the setting above everything else... a prehistoric / post apocalyptic genre mix with robo-dinosaurs sounds pretty fresh... In a sea of openworld Zombie shooters, that really stands out.
That, and the player character looks Kick-Ass. I love non-generic looking player characters.
Now lets hope the game and story doesn't suck, and the PS4 Neo being as good as rumoured without breaking the bank