Yo! I've been enthusing about this game with some other interested parties and one sort of key area of reservation that's come up is the universality of the having to kill people thing, out of concern that it might get a bit samey. Like, personally I'm really, really keen on the whole struggling with your humanity and being beset by unpleasant compulsions thing, but it seems like there could be more room for interesting variety here than there is – that the struggle could be a bit more interesting if ending up killing someone was universally the risky outcome of not doing an unpleasant thing to sate your horrible hunger/compulsion/whatever, but that killing people/totally destroying their souls wasn't what everyone had to do in order to avoid that. Like possibly if more of the monsters had a setup where whatever method of feeding they have to do has some kind of horrible physical or mental effect on the victim, etc., but doesn't automatically result in their death unless they're out of control, instead of killing being the default base requirement for satisfying the compulsion in the first place?
Basically I'd be worried that giving in to your newfound monstrous side and killing people isn't so much of a big deal if it's a literal inevitability, and that there could be more interesting tension over the issue/between characters if it was more dependent on individual choices. Sorry if this is something you've already thought over/discussed as mods and decided would be impractical for different reasons!
Only a few of the monster types actually HAVE to kill in order to feed - a vampire could drain someone partially or a werewolf could chomp on a leg and nothing else, etc.
Taking your comment into consideration though, my original idea was to have monsters that need to feed around once a week - would only NEEDING to feed once every month or two with the option to feed more frequently make the struggle more interesting?
Ooh, okay, I'd gotten the impression that it was murder or nothing from the bios – sorry about that! Which monsters are the ones that specifically have to kill?
And! Honestly it's not so much the frequency of murder that would give me pause here so much as it being an inevitability. Like, I'd feel like with something like this whether or not to give in to that impulse would be a really big deal, and it would take a lot away if instead of being "I can get by without killing and I don't want to kill, but I feel a strong urge to" it's "i don't want to kill, but the only way to not kill people is to kill myself" – so honestly if killing isn't mandatory for most of the characters then my main issue isn't an issue at all! But with that in mind I do think it might be more interesting if you only needed feed to once every month but doing it more would feel good or make you stronger or whatever, just from a ~struggling with ur inner beast~ perspective :o
The soul removers (Demons and Shades) and the drowners (Mermaids and Kelpies). Soul removers don't actually kill them but they are essentially dead.
The venom-users (Nagas and Arachnes) may also have a difficult time not killing their prey. However, the characters know nothing about this and the Bestiary is not ICly available information, so they can try to resist if they like.
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rysligmods) wrote2013-11-01 05:40 pm
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(Anonymous) 2014-07-04 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)Basically I'd be worried that giving in to your newfound monstrous side and killing people isn't so much of a big deal if it's a literal inevitability, and that there could be more interesting tension over the issue/between characters if it was more dependent on individual choices. Sorry if this is something you've already thought over/discussed as mods and decided would be impractical for different reasons!
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Taking your comment into consideration though, my original idea was to have monsters that need to feed around once a week - would only NEEDING to feed once every month or two with the option to feed more frequently make the struggle more interesting?
no subject
(Anonymous) 2014-07-04 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)And! Honestly it's not so much the frequency of murder that would give me pause here so much as it being an inevitability. Like, I'd feel like with something like this whether or not to give in to that impulse would be a really big deal, and it would take a lot away if instead of being "I can get by without killing and I don't want to kill, but I feel a strong urge to" it's "i don't want to kill, but the only way to not kill people is to kill myself" – so honestly if killing isn't mandatory for most of the characters then my main issue isn't an issue at all! But with that in mind I do think it might be more interesting if you only needed feed to once every month but doing it more would feel good or make you stronger or whatever, just from a ~struggling with ur inner beast~ perspective :o
no subject
The venom-users (Nagas and Arachnes) may also have a difficult time not killing their prey. However, the characters know nothing about this and the Bestiary is not ICly available information, so they can try to resist if they like.