System Ufera
Hello. We are a system - a group of people who share the same body, due to Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. We are working on a science-fantasy setting that deconstructs or deviates from many standard fantasy tropes, with a story largely inspired both by the trauma and personal struggles we've faced, and by the things we used to escape from said trauma (and several of the characters being introjects), and a PnP RPG system through which people can interact with the world in which the story takes place.
Aside from that, however, the PnP RPG is also something we'd like to make into a good-quality game. Our goal in its design is to have a game that is immersive. By this, I mean the following:
1. The setting, while drastically different from real life, must make sense in its own context, and the game must reflect this. The setting is one where magic and fantasy materials exist, and where sufficient training and conditioning can enable feats which would be considered superhuman in real life, and even give a character with archaic (or even no) weaponry a chance to be effective against a character with advanced weaponry. However, these things are part of the setting, not the exception to it - magic operates by the physical laws which govern the setting, is studied as a science by its practitioners, and has a place in society in which its study and practice influences, and is influenced by, society, just like everything else. An army of melee weapon-wielding warriors that can be a match against an army wielding firearms must come from somewhere, must have a reason and a means for existing, and must be capable of fighting well enough to justify its maintenance, but so must the army equipped with firearms, meaning they can't just be nerfed, but must continue to justify their existence in a world where more archaic weapons aren't completely obsolete. These are just examples. The game's design and mechanics must reflect these differences from our world, but do so in a way that is plausible, rather than heavily relying on suspension of disbelief from players.
2. The mechanics of the game must encourage players to create believable characters who would actually fit into the world, and allow for a wide variety of characters to be made. While the RPG will still focus largely on adventurer-type characters, the game must give players as much of a chance to explore the way their character lives just as much as it gives them a chance to send their characters into battle or on a quest, and it must do so in a way that integrates these aspects of their character in as seamless of a fashion as possible. Furthermore, min-maxed murder hobos with one absurdly high stat and everything else left in the dust are not to be encouraged by the mechanics, but actually discouraged, meaning that the mechanics of the game must allow optimization not through being completely focused, but by being more rounded and allowing for a greater diversity of characters, even within similar roles. While there will always be bad ways of designing any given type of character, players must always have *some* way of designing the type of character they want to play, without being punished by the game's mechanics for doing so.
Aside from that, however, the PnP RPG is also something we'd like to make into a good-quality game. Our goal in its design is to have a game that is immersive. By this, I mean the following:
1. The setting, while drastically different from real life, must make sense in its own context, and the game must reflect this. The setting is one where magic and fantasy materials exist, and where sufficient training and conditioning can enable feats which would be considered superhuman in real life, and even give a character with archaic (or even no) weaponry a chance to be effective against a character with advanced weaponry. However, these things are part of the setting, not the exception to it - magic operates by the physical laws which govern the setting, is studied as a science by its practitioners, and has a place in society in which its study and practice influences, and is influenced by, society, just like everything else. An army of melee weapon-wielding warriors that can be a match against an army wielding firearms must come from somewhere, must have a reason and a means for existing, and must be capable of fighting well enough to justify its maintenance, but so must the army equipped with firearms, meaning they can't just be nerfed, but must continue to justify their existence in a world where more archaic weapons aren't completely obsolete. These are just examples. The game's design and mechanics must reflect these differences from our world, but do so in a way that is plausible, rather than heavily relying on suspension of disbelief from players.
2. The mechanics of the game must encourage players to create believable characters who would actually fit into the world, and allow for a wide variety of characters to be made. While the RPG will still focus largely on adventurer-type characters, the game must give players as much of a chance to explore the way their character lives just as much as it gives them a chance to send their characters into battle or on a quest, and it must do so in a way that integrates these aspects of their character in as seamless of a fashion as possible. Furthermore, min-maxed murder hobos with one absurdly high stat and everything else left in the dust are not to be encouraged by the mechanics, but actually discouraged, meaning that the mechanics of the game must allow optimization not through being completely focused, but by being more rounded and allowing for a greater diversity of characters, even within similar roles. While there will always be bad ways of designing any given type of character, players must always have *some* way of designing the type of character they want to play, without being punished by the game's mechanics for doing so.
- Location
- Waterville, Maine
