Right.
I've been having this idea of a campaign that's essentially simulating being trapped within a full immersion MMORPG. Sounds familiar? No wonder - in case you happen to know Sword Art Online. It's an anime which starts with the same premise and that was my original inspiration.
However, D&D 3.5 rules actually need to be clipped and houseruled a lot to fit the premise. I could use 4th edition, sure - in case I cared for enough to have bought the books. For the record, I did enjoy playing a few campaigns of it but would never have it take over in my games.
The main things I'm thinking about relate to magic. It should come as no surprise that spells in D&D 3.5 break games. It's what the rules boil down to. The things I've been thinking about are:
1. Full casters: Right. Obviously I cannot allow all Tier 1 classes. Actually, I should probably not allow any of them. Thus far I've thought about limiting spellcasting classes to a select few with no utility spells which would, ironically, break the immersion by not being a realistic fit for a virtual game. Thus, I'd only allow for things like Warmage, Warlock and Dread Necromancer. However, divine casters will be much more limited. Should I only allow for Paladins and Healers? I think not. This is a problem. Another thing I've been pondering about is, whether or not I should simply go the way of Sword Art Online and ban magic completely.
2. Healing: It was mentioned with the problem regarding divine casters already. Of course I can make potions a commodity since they would not be limited by the normal rules of item creation. Such items can be spawned ad infinitum in an MMORPG. However, I would prefer not making them too common. Also, the meaning of food: Does it heal? I'd say yes. It cannot be consumed in a battle but the characters would preferably still eat and sleep due to the nature of full immersion. The game will probably also be a lot of hack n' slash for a change and all possible ways to heal are welcome in my opinion. But is this really ok?
3. MMORPG qualities: These include things like whether or not NPC's are immortal or not. Probably they will have an advanced AI but will be unable to plot against the players (unless I use a virus storyline with this hook). They really break the norm of the same rules applying to everyone in a game world.
Anything I've missed? Any references to campaigns in which this has already been pulled to help me along? And of course, any ideas that would befit such a project are more than welcome.
I've been having this idea of a campaign that's essentially simulating being trapped within a full immersion MMORPG. Sounds familiar? No wonder - in case you happen to know Sword Art Online. It's an anime which starts with the same premise and that was my original inspiration.
However, D&D 3.5 rules actually need to be clipped and houseruled a lot to fit the premise. I could use 4th edition, sure - in case I cared for enough to have bought the books. For the record, I did enjoy playing a few campaigns of it but would never have it take over in my games.
The main things I'm thinking about relate to magic. It should come as no surprise that spells in D&D 3.5 break games. It's what the rules boil down to. The things I've been thinking about are:
1. Full casters: Right. Obviously I cannot allow all Tier 1 classes. Actually, I should probably not allow any of them. Thus far I've thought about limiting spellcasting classes to a select few with no utility spells which would, ironically, break the immersion by not being a realistic fit for a virtual game. Thus, I'd only allow for things like Warmage, Warlock and Dread Necromancer. However, divine casters will be much more limited. Should I only allow for Paladins and Healers? I think not. This is a problem. Another thing I've been pondering about is, whether or not I should simply go the way of Sword Art Online and ban magic completely.
2. Healing: It was mentioned with the problem regarding divine casters already. Of course I can make potions a commodity since they would not be limited by the normal rules of item creation. Such items can be spawned ad infinitum in an MMORPG. However, I would prefer not making them too common. Also, the meaning of food: Does it heal? I'd say yes. It cannot be consumed in a battle but the characters would preferably still eat and sleep due to the nature of full immersion. The game will probably also be a lot of hack n' slash for a change and all possible ways to heal are welcome in my opinion. But is this really ok?
3. MMORPG qualities: These include things like whether or not NPC's are immortal or not. Probably they will have an advanced AI but will be unable to plot against the players (unless I use a virus storyline with this hook). They really break the norm of the same rules applying to everyone in a game world.
Anything I've missed? Any references to campaigns in which this has already been pulled to help me along? And of course, any ideas that would befit such a project are more than welcome.