So I’ve been working away on the character system for Overworld, 10 new classes and races to play from including the barbarian, wizard, and halfling. There’s a lot to talk about there, probably in one big post when it’s done, but I wanted to share some fun from the troll/orc play test.
Trolls and orcs are tough and mean, as you might expect. Lots of other characters take on some kind of physical weakness, lower max health or reduced attack strength, in return for their special power. Trolls and orcs, on the other hand, do an extra half-heart of damage. That’s extremely significant, you can one-shot scorpions. Trolls also get an extra full heart, and passive regeneration, but take on the clumsiness of being a huge creature.
Anyway, to balance out their might, trolls and orcs need some debuffs that function almost like anti-powers. Orcs are ugly and hated, while trolls are ugly and feared. This makes using shops difficult or impossible, as well as taming creatures. It also had a funny and accurate side-effect on the Godzilla quest, where you must save villagers from an attacking monster.
Playing as the orc, when I went to befriend the villagers, they rejected me and refused to follow me to safety. That was “hated” coming into play, which made me laugh, I had to hunt down and slay the tiger instead of helping people. Fitting, but time consuming! The troll was even funnier, as I lumbered up to the villagers to talk, they scattered like rabbits! Between the wolf and I, we had the cowering villagers cornered before I figured out my “feared” trait was causing them to run in terror! It was fun but pointless chasing them around before I turned on the wolf.
Fortunately, a lot of my design goals allow cool shit like that to self-balance.
