Is it how about or…
is it a genuine question?
With “how about” it would be a generic story. Not much detail.
But with the QUESTION, the player interacts with NPCs on different islands, each giving a different feat or buff.
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idk heres some
- speed
- ice
- hypnosis
- copy powers
- mimicing people
- flare
- uhhh idk uhhhh more dark matter like ones
- main hero might have a really rare one?? some sort of light one??
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Will probably be a simple dash.
Would it work like BotW’s ice rune? If so, I’ll think about it.
Would be an interaction-based power.
Too memory-intensive, sorry 
Yet another interaction-based ability.
Could probably be a checkpoint system if you’re lost???
King’s version of Hailo’Ahmid is “Purifying Light”. This could probably work as they would be made of “corrupted” light because of the color scheme presented to 4314.
This would basically power up Hailo’Ahmid ;_;
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ah, gimme some time to think of more, and I’d <3 to make a thumbnail or character concept art if I could!
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Good luck with that because I’m not gonna be finished in at LEAST a month :v(
Sorry if I sound mean
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Ok, continuing:
Peace of Mind
Since the Day One of of the universe’s existence, there has existed an ethereal plane in which exists the Island of Mind, a respite from the cycle of lives souls channel through between demises, marching ever onward towards enlightenment under the watchful eye of the Great Mediator, Duality, known to represent the balance of karma within the universe. Though memories are wiped clean up on reincarnation, vestiges of the Island have slipped into the mortal plane, inspiring much theological discussion. Upon returning to the Island, a soul regains all past memories, and it may only stay should Duality deem its soul in balance, having neither committed too many bad acts, nor too many good. But what do you mean by TOO many good, some may ask? How can such a thing be possible? A common, if tediously flawed refrain. Think of universal morality as a pendulum, tossed between the disparate poles of our perceptions of good and Evil. Inevitably, it being forced towards one side will bring it crashing with greater force to the other after sufficient time has passed, with no way of halting the pendulum at either pole, merely minimizing its oscillation to a middle ground, a Balance. Such is the task of Duality in its judgment of souls.
But the system before you wasn’t always like this, no, for souls used to retain their memories should they be good, for it was thought they could grasp the necessity of balance, but alas, they proved unworthy of such wisdom. Most retained this ethos of course, and all did so initially, but upon rebirth into the mortal plane, an unfortunate few turned to the suffering surrounding them in less fortunate souls and asked themselves “Is this truly necessary?” And so, they began to help, interfering and aiding when souls should have faced trials alone, for how can one morally develop if constantly aided by another in their judgment? And for a time, they did capture the pendulum, suspending it in Good, though its containment required an ever growing scale of such acts. Despite its protests, the souls turned away from Duality, their memories unimpeded by mortal demise, and continued to merely pass through the great deities realm to further their designs of control in the mortal plane. Eventually, the pressure grew so great that he was torn into his two disparate halves of Duality unmerged, releasing the primordial beings of good and evil, Halio’Ahmid, and one whose name has been lost to time, simply known as The Dark One. Halio’Ahmid sent his followers to ever greater heights, curing famine, plague, on track to cease bodily decay itself, an END to the Cycle, imbuing those good souls with its own ancient magicks to spread its light across the world. But to defy the end to mortality itself was too great an affront to whatever forces govern the universe beyond even deities comprehension, and thus the pendulum was released in an act that Helio’Ahmid was unaware of until too late, seeding every act his followers took with the machinations of The Dark One. It enveloped all but the mind of the newest recruit to the cause, one soul who had achieved true balance between his morals and yet was drawn to Good externally by the pressures of his peers. A great irony then, that he should be forced to confront their forms as servants of Evil. As the progress around them unraveled to a state worse than when Halio’Ahmid’s work had begun, with war and strife blooming across all planes of reality in what promised to become a Cycle of Pain, the lone soul called upon Helio’Ahmid, forcing him from his stupor into an alliance for a final push against The Dark One, driven not by some desire to retake control of the pendulum, wrest it from the forces of evil, no, to restore it to its natural balance, to reform Duality, and reset time in such a manner the Balance could never again be disrupted. This soul became a vessel to Halio’Ahmid’s powers, guided through the darkening abyss surrounding The Dark One until he emerged in its presence. What occurred in that chamber defies recording, the powers displayed unfathomable. All known to history was that the soul subdued The Dark One long enough to re-merge it with Halio’Ahmid, yet sacrificing itself in the process, preserved immortally within Duality’s conscience as a mediating force, yet deprived the rest it granted to future balanced souls, unable to grant the very peace of mind it guided others to in the infinite progression of time.
This should be viewed as an overarching narrative, the tutorial taking place in a sort of library, the pursuing history lesson being the main gameplay as the player shifts perspectives from a mere modern day traveling soul to that of the Fulcrum (name of the soul who brings balance between Halio’Ahmid and The Dark One, for the balance rests on their ability to mediate the two’s influence on the universe.) Alternatively, if you desire Halio’Ahmid to be the final boss, I could write a multi ending variation in which the player works with The Dark One against Halio’Ahmid, the level of C0rruption acquired by using Darkened abilities in a run determining final ending.
Secondary Note: If all locations are meant to exist within the same plane as the Island of Mind, they could perhaps embody various traits observed within good people, and their most direct parallel for evil after the metaphorical pendulum is released. Ideally, the player could choose to experience one of these islands, any one Island of say a group of 4 to 6 dependent on scale, and observe the shift whilst in the first island, the second island realizing what has occurred, 3rd island being partnership with either Helio’Ahmid or The Dark One, 4th island being the final boss point, with the Island of Mind itself a hub between them, and each island overlapping with related concepts in the mortal plane as the stability of the ethereal realm deteriorates.
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So what you’re saying is that both sides of Duality are spreading their influence across the Island of Mind and the mortal plane.
For some reason I feel like this is a reference to Doom Eternal, ULTRAKILL, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Doom: You travel back to your spaceship after each excursion into HeLL on Earth.
ULTRAKILL: You have different “Acts” with different traits as layers.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: You choose to fight Galeem, Dharkon, or both, as they are deities fighting over reality. This is the biggest one because you mention siding with one, seeking to balance and ground them.
I love this lore. I can imagine a color scheme of Yellow vs. Violet, with Mauve in the middle as Duality.
You have been very helpful with the lore, which I will build upon.
I’ll wait for a few others and start developing!
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As an Ultra Hardcore difficulty, you could ally with neither, special ending, but all NPCs are hostile, and you possess neither Enlightened or Darkened abilities, just base moves all PCs have regardless of faction.
Speaking of abilities, any constraints I should know of before I start developing them, same goes for general map layout and theming.
And to clarify some things, the Island of Mind should by no means be considered safe beyond your first interaction with it before the proverbial pendulum is released. Beyond that point, there will always be some form of unresolved hostile threat associated with each Trait Island stemming from the hub, with regions being made safe after completion of the nearest island, but at the cost of all other hostile effects worsening. For example, the Good Trait of Frugality could be perverted into Gluttony, which applies speed debuffs to the player at intervals due to a physical need for increased caloric intake to survive beyond normal recommended limits, the severity of the debuff escalating for each Island you restore balance to before choosing to enter Gluttony.
Act 0: Reflection (No Disbalance, Tutorial Zone, Present Day)
Act 1: Calm before the Storm (No Disbalance, Start of Game, Flashback variant of Island of Mind)
Act 2: Distant Thunder (Minor Observable Negative Effects, Occurs on entering your first Trait Island)
Act 3: Rising Storm, Scene 1 (Moderate Negativity, triggered by 2nd Trait Island entry), Scene 2 (Major Negativity, triggered by 3rd Trait Island entry, weakened boss variant here)
Act 4: Calamitous Crescendo (Rapid variation in severity of negativity, potential minor chances of positive effects to aid from your chosen deity)
As for your “Acts” system, while the game could certainly proceed in this linear fashion (it admittedly would be easier and would be how I would do it due to my incompetence with devices), it would be more intriguing in my mind to have the game be semi open world with the order of events the player chooses having as much impact on the world as the choices themselves. So in this manner the “Acts” system would not be associated with a specific island, but rather what order the islands are entered, and the relation in escalation of the severity of the region’s imbalance. This could be symbolized by having a base prop template for all islands which shifts on the triggering of each Act. the chosen distortion becoming more amplified as time passes before being restores to base state on completion.
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So many memories from the 7th grade Buddhism social studies unit
I love this idea and it really rounds up all of the lore without leaving any unanswered questions. While some things are a bit ambitious memory-wise, I think the concept of neither good nor bad and neither light nor dark prevailing is pretty cool and the pendulum analogy reminds me of Newton’s Cradle or just any swinging object; if you pull it one way and let go, it will swing to the other side with similar force, and back, until it eventually settles again at the center.
for Thunder
Unrelated, I know, but about your pfp art thing I said I would do – don’t worry, it’s still going to happen, but I’ve been super mega ultra busy lately and my art program has decided to instantaneously crash every time I open it, so… back to ibispaint X for me
(I was going to send this in a dm but I haven’t the slightest idea how to send dms)
OH ALSO. You probably won’t see this since it’s an edit but I don’t want to ping you for the third time. Do you have a character sheet or description of the dragon in your pfp or is it all I have to go off of?
for Fergo
@Fergo SORRY for all these pings and replies… your lore and naming reminded me a lot of the open-world game Abyssal which is… technically a roblox game but WAIT WAIT IT’S GOOD I SWEAR—
Abyssal has great gameplay, amazing lore, cool naming and a stupendous soundtrack, all of which are kind of similar to what you have going here. If you have the time I HIGHLY recommend playing it even a little; it might offer some more inspiration for you :D
aaand replies
@King_Thunder_Alt1 just trying to keep my replies in a single post -
I’m always more biased to stories that base their definitions of morality/good and evil on nature, space, and the fact that everything we do is really just dependent on the things you said – genetics, upbringing. The environment you’re in and your past experiences. When you think about it, “free will” or consciousness as we imagine it doesn’t exist in a sense; everything is really just the collision and movement of matter through space and time, and that’s all it ever has been and will be. Neither purity nor calamity is outright superior. [1]
Anyway, very poetic, thank you :]
a belief also at the core of Daoism (MORE SOCIAL STUDIES FOR YOU) ↩︎
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The pendulum concept was inspired by the D&D deities I recall from the companion book series “The Dragonlance Chronicles” I read a couple years ago. As for no triumph of good or evil, been experimenting recently with conceptual endings like this that diverge from those normally accepted tropes, addressing them while also making them subordinate to another plot device, as nothing in life (and thus good stories) can truly be considered impressive if only considering morality as a shallow definitive concept. For all the discussion of shades of gray, and the debate over that viewpoint being utilized solely for the justification of immoral practices, I’ve seen little that actually attempts to subordinate the concepts to outside factors, for that is what truly occurs around us. Yes, choice IS an important factor, but never the only one, nor is it independent in itself, as it’s driven by things like theology, politics, upbringing, and genetics. My goal recently has been to present the ultimate futility of choice in achieving true desires, merely in progressing towards that objective until you come into an inevitable stalemate with factors beyond your control.
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Don’t worry about judgement, you won’t get any from me. I love it too, more in my bio.
I love D&D as much and possibly more due to how much you can do. Some times, as a DM I introduce mechanics that are a tad bit OP that I have to balance during the game. I’m lucky to have my players.
THAT is why I love TotK and BotW. Open world is KING.
Yet.
I still need to have a blueprint, because King earlier mentioned so many bright ideas that I really want to add but not sure how.
I propose:
-
7 different islands. Memory-intensive, but focuses on the traits and characters, lore-wise. Limbo, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery are included. I didn’t include Lust, Gluttony and Greed because:
Lust: has no correlation to the deities at all, and is considered an imperfection in Halio’Ahmid’s eyes and was wiped.
Gluttony: also has no correlation; Halio’Ahmid wiped this and gave everyone an equal amount.
Every other trait does in some way. These traits will be disguised as not to have people questioning “Where’s Lust and Gluttony?” and not to stop and think mid-game or after. It kind of ruins the experience. -
The original 5 Acts, more memory friendly but still contains most of the lore. This way I have more room to update the game.
(Don’t sue me if this was too short)
Why is DM not allowed ;-; ↩︎
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hey fergo you got anything yet? jst curious
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No, we’re still deciding on how the game should work. Once we have it down, I’ll be able to world build a little, so hang tight until we finish.
Thanks for trying to make a thumbnail in advance, though!
Why do you have 2 different PFPs in my topic o_o
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Treachery and Fr@ud could be combined and simplified to Deception, and Violence could be co-opted into wrath. Heresy would be an interesting concept, but I don’t immediately think of major lore applications, short of the Island of Mind itself being overcome by Heresy in the final act despite purging the outer Trait Islands. Rather than focusing on the negative aspects that have been used previously, I think it more fitting to think of the 4 to 6 traits you value most in a good person, then invert them. Ironically for the best ending, the player should leave an even amount of good and Evil traits intact, as it will then be balanced, though they won’t know to do this on first playthrough, as the whole point of the lore is the necessity of balance, so reverting everything to good just delays another major oscillation by the moral pendulum.
Yes exactly, sorry just want to clarify, in Act 1 all the traits are still good, but then the pendulum swings, turning them into evil as time progresses. From this point you choose whether to try and persuade Helio to see the error of his ways and forcibly bind him to The Dark One, or you have to ally with The Dark One to defeat Helio, with two variations in victory dependent on your use of Darkened abilities, if you use little, you get the normal binding ending, if you use many, the pendulum merely becomes captured by evil, creating the Cycle of Pain.
No, the player is meant to be the first and only truly balanced soul, attracted to Helio by external pressure rather than internal morality, hence his location in Act 1. Acts 1 and 2 highlight the decline of Helio’s followers into madness and the warping of the islands they inhabit. Act 3 has you choose which deity to seek support of, and Act 4 had fight the opposing deity. Canon ending is the deities recombine into Duality, also inadvertently binding you. Bad Ending is a full evil takeover due to overuse of Darkened abilities. There is no full good takeover per say, but the Good Ending achieved by fighting both entities to force fusion, exploiting their shared moment of weakness to force true balance, ending the Cycle fully.
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So you’re saying that I should have all negative traits at the beginning of the game as a sign of Halio’Ahmid’s absence, or vice versa?
…First or second…?
So the player tries to convert them to bad in Act 1, but everything is reversed slowly and they have to re-convert those islands to their liking?
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How would the player get to see Halio conquer the islands?
They would achieve a “loop ending” if they did.
Wait a minute, I could just have a pop-up asking them their path multiple times throughout the game.
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@Fergo A pop up could be used to ask what to do with the Island after completing it yes, though I would make the phrasing vague to express specific moral choices encountered within it. As for a pop-up explicitly asking a path, that feels a bit on the nose, and would ruin a bit of immersion in my eyes. The passive player will still have a good game experience, and the ending screens for Canon and Bad Endings could hint/explain how to get the other endings for more dedicated players and lore junkies.
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I feel like I’ve got it now.
I will have 4 islands (not including the Island of Mind), with traits of Compassion, Adaptability, Tolerance, and Devotion. The “evil” variants are Wrath, Stagnance, Bias and Treachery. The player essentially is Duality, as a manifestation, but still weak in morals. The pendulum, located in the Island of Mind, is held still by a weak follower in Act 1, but eventually they fall entering Act 2. The pendulum swings to the half point in Act 2 (it is pretty large to take that long), where everything is balanced for just a moment, before swinging to the Dark One’s favor in Act 3. The player decides if they enlight some of the islands once again, or if they keep it dark, therefore deciding the deity they favor. In Act 4, if they chose to enlight some of the islands, both deities get angry, and if you successfully bind them, cutscenes start to play. It tells the story after you are no longer seperate from the deities and the peace it brings, therefore cleansing souls and letting them keep a little bit of guidance in their next journey to the mortal realm. If the latter was chosen, the Dark One appreciates your decision and decides to help you in your quest to eliminate any instances of Halio’Ahmid. This ends in your demise and a sequel game that tells the story of what happens after Halio’Ahmid was eliminated.
I think I’m all good on blueprints, thank you for your time!
Oop, cvefy is typing.
EDIT: @Cvefy, you can still submit your lore. I’ll try to fit it in with all that’s going on with King’s part 
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did king_thunder already submit a lore?
I’m almost done
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No problems at all with this, sorry this has been so hard to follow, obviously a decent bit is lost in translation to gameplay. Pendulum had merely been a metaphor, not a physical object, could be used as physical, though I would suggest making it largely unobservable aside from the final act in which it has begun to oscillate wildly as you ascend to confront whatever deity/deities your path has chosen. And the islands has been meant to be changed throughout the first three acts, not just Act 3, but I could see the need of simplification for memory purposes. Are you intending to make a sequel, as I hadn’t factored that in?
Fair, will look forward to writing it in a few months lol.
Feel free to ping me if you need anything further, have a goodnight!
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