GH2: World-Shaking Events? (Spoilers)

[Joseph Hewitt]

At the moment, no matter what the PC does (or fails to do) the game world isn't affected much. I was thinking that there could be a greater sense of consequence+drama if there were big events which shake up the status quo. In addition, these events would provide some well-needed narrative development for the factions involved. I mean, there are things being hinted at in the background, but if these things actually had an effect on the world it'd be way more interesting.

I'll list some of the event ideas first, then talk for a bit about game mechanics.

- Kettel Industries isn't really active in the L5 region, but they have developed the Advanced High-Altitude Battroid program (advanced model Jos and Maanji) for the Solar Navy and may be looking for additional customers. Maybe various factions in L5 could be bidding for it; as a result of the PC's actions, Kettel Industries mecha might be provided to their allied faction or to their enemy's faction (or, alternatively, to a neutral faction- if the PC messes up the allied bid but also messes up the enemy bid).

- The Rishiri Dominion has been cozying up with the Aegis Space Force. The Council wants a real navy to do its bidding without question, not a mercenary defense force like the Rocket Stars. Aegis, for their part, want more influence on L5 politics. Maybe at some point the council can revoke the RS charter, replacing them entirely with the ASF. Many RS members could be converted to ASF; others might defect. Alternatively, the RS might have enough support among the public to force the ASF out of L5.

- The Silver Knights are called by some corporation or other to defend their holdings in the dusty ring. To the Bohemians, will they be seen as peacekeepers or an occupying force? Are they there to protect the local colonists or the interests of the spinners?

- A corporation could buy out a different corporation. This might happen if, for instance, the PC is fighting an offensive battle against Corp X, then all of a sudden Corp Y buys up their stock, becoming the new (and fully refreshed) enemy.

- The Red Mask Raiders take over a Bohemian colony utterly, converting it to a factory world. The entire population becomes slave labor. Even worse, Queen Madas might adopt the role of newly-formed-but-legitimate government to make peace with one of the L5 government/corps factions (hey, she might be a heartless despot, but at least she's bringing stability to  the region!), giving her some powerful allies. This sort of thing could be the casus belli which draws the Silver Knights into the area (assuming that the L5 Council isn't the faction which makes peace with them).

Now, on to mechanics...

These events should be tied to the core story, and should only come up if the factions involved are the allied faction or the enemy faction. Two reasons for this- first, the events are supposed to be dramatic, which means that they should get the focus. Second, tying them to the core story means that they can be tied to the PC's actions and have an effect on the choices/ending. The events should be scripted so it doesn't matter which faction the PC is the enemy/ally of- there should be ways to interact with the scenario in either case.

The events will be triggered by a core story episode. After that, the event will exist as an independent entity, running parallel to the core story and probably at a renown rating of 80. This means that the event can be triggered early but the PC is going to have to level up before they're ready to deal with it. I'm not sure how to model these events- a complex plot coupled with some new ASL commands and city moods might be able to handle things. Some of my ideas are so complex (the Red Mask takeover, for instance) that they might work best as a sleeper quest. The scripting for the event could be built into the campaign file, but only activated when told by the core story. The disadvantage of this method is that certain features of the event would be carved in stone, i.e. the RMR take over the same colony every time.

What do you think?

[JohnnyDmonic]

I like everything, really.  In fact, I made a Kettel Industries mecha with the description being almost exactly what you said.

As for the part with making it part of the core story tying it to one specific world, it's probably a lot of work, but I'd think there are ways around that.  Making a 'random world generator' that creates random asteroid colonies for the Bohemians (small, medium and large.  I imagine some bohemian colonies are practically one family on a tiny rock, all the way up to Tohru size), and maybe some other stuff (like one level dungeons/abandoned colonies), then saves them to the PC save file.   Or simply set a condition that rolls a random number at character start, and saves it, and then the plot in question picks that colony?

But I definitely agree that player-interactive world events are a great addition to almost any rpg.

ETA:  I'd also like to add that some of the sidequests were my favorite part in GH1, like the Argyser, even though I rarely got around to it.  And the little buried touches like the Esher from Hwang-Sa temple or the Buru Buru on Tokto island.  They may not be as epic, but they also add to the feel of an interactive world.


ALSO, speaking of the idea of a random world generator, that reminds me of my usual favorite idea.  Special Events.  As GH is set up I think the only way I could figure out to really do Special Events was to set keys for them in the series file, so if they were flagged they didn't come up again.  But I *love* Fallout style special events.  and could imagine any number for GH2.  Finding a cache of weapons on a random asteroid.  A derelict ship of unknown origin.  a planetoid of leprechauns that you can never find again after the first time.  An asteroid with a crumbling cliff wall with a mecha of strange aspect apparently long buried in it revealed by the erosion of the solar winds.

[JohnnyDmonic]

IIRC one of the industrial asteroids has a rumor about Hoeller having plans to build a factory, but that it was called off.  Assuming that isn't a plot already that I just having managed to follow up on, that'd be a good one.  Convincing them to go ahead with construction, defending the construction site from attack, dangerous ruins found when digging the foundation, opening ceremony, final attempt on the factory by enemy X after it opens.

[Joseph Hewitt]

ALSO, speaking of the idea of a random world generator, that reminds me of my usual favorite idea.  Special Events.  As GH is set up I think the only way I could figure out to really do Special Events was to set keys for them in the series file, so if they were flagged they didn't come up again.  But I *love* Fallout style special events.  and could imagine any number for GH2.  Finding a cache of weapons on a random asteroid.  A derelict ship of unknown origin.  a planetoid of leprechauns that you can never find again after the first time.  An asteroid with a crumbling cliff wall with a mecha of strange aspect apparently long buried in it revealed by the erosion of the solar winds.

I think there's a thread somewhere here about the different types of content in GH2. Special events like these can be added, and there are a few already- the assassin that you fought a while back being one example. There are two basic types of one-shot events: Quests, which get added at campaign startup and can modify the game world in major ways, and RanCon which adds something to a scene but doesn't affect much beyond that. The weapons cache and asteroid could maybe be modeled using RanCon, the rest would probably be quests. Unfortunately, random quests are currently deactivated, but I hope to re-activate them soon.

IIRC one of the industrial asteroids has a rumor about Hoeller having plans to build a factory, but that it was called off.  Assuming that isn't a plot already that I just having managed to follow up on, that'd be a good one.  Convincing them to go ahead with construction, defending the construction site from attack, dangerous ruins found when digging the foundation, opening ceremony, final attempt on the factory by enemy X after it opens.

The Hoeller factory quest was in a previous version of GH2, but it's been deactivated since Cayley is already the questiest place in the whole world. The quest will be rehabilitated in the future, but it'll appear on any asteroid colony except Cayley Rock.