Posts from Expedition: general discussions. Auto-translated

Well, it's not all just pure magic there. For example, a chimera or a homunculus is simply a skill that grants an additional body. And the purple creatures, for example, have a passive ability that allows their standard attacks to deal sanity damage (the second health bar, which also serves as a mana bar) to the enemy instead of health, which makes it possible to attack incorporeal enemies.

Nah, I'm going to find a job that leaves me enough time for my hobbies.

Good thing I came up with a system where players create races and abilities themselves 😎 Now I just need to come up with a system where players can calculate battles themselves ☺️

I've seen such a system; players spent most of their time arguing about who should win in their friendly duel.

The Game Master should dominate everyone.

All that's left is to come up with a system where players calculate battles themselves ☺️

Well, in any D&D game, players keep track of and update their character sheets, deduct health, and make their own rolls (although the GM still needs to provide responses), which already simplifies the situation compared to expeditions.

By the way, do you generally prefer playing as the "native" factions or the otherworldly ones? It doesn't matter if they're characters from other expansions or simply from a different world compared to what's in the expansion.

The plot is also important. In a completely different setting, with a completely different GM, our group completed two campaigns, acting as locals in their world. But after finishing the battle with the final boss of the second campaign, we were isekai'd into a completely different world with completely different rules. And this also provides interesting opportunities for role-playing. Especially considering that my character was an aristocrat who had dedicated his life to strengthening the reputation of his family, and in the new place, his name meant nothing, he had no previous connections, and even the purpose of his life no longer had any meaning. Not to mention that in his original world, it was a classic "knightly" fantasy, while in the new one, it was sci-fi with elements of cosmic horror.

It largely depends on my mood; overall, it doesn't make much difference.

By the way, do you generally prefer playing "native" characters or those from other worlds? It doesn't matter if they're characters from other expansions or simply from a different world relative to what's in the expansion.

In previous expansions, isekai wasn't a thing, and I personally didn't even think about it. In AA, I wouldn't have done isekai if it weren't for the factors of attachment to my old character and build-quest optimization. In short, it turned out okay as an experiment, but I wouldn't want to do it too often. My limited mind can't organize a coherent and aesthetically pleasing picture of a multiverse.

Nebka's game also featured an isekai element. So, there were precedents even before the current game, although they were exceptions. Besides these two games, the concept wasn't used anywhere else. And personally, in my games, if I ever create any, it definitely won't be used.

If someone had told me earlier that in the future, the isekai-inspired Sonata would be walking around the city with a player character (also isekai-inspired), I would have thought it would turn out to be some kind of nonsense, but in the end, I actually liked it, but of course, you shouldn't overdo it...

It's important to me that I like the character himself, his personality, and his abilities, and that it's interesting to role-play him. I haven't played many forum role-playing games, and before Sakuramoria, I was sure that it just wasn't for me. I didn't play in Sakuramoria itself, but it was so interesting to watch that I wanted to join, which I did first in Horizon with Nebka, and then in Arselia with Revnya. And now, I don't really know. With Nebka, all or almost all of the player characters were from another world, but in my headcanon, I considered Nikta to be a native of this world – her people lived underground in complete isolation, and no one knew about them, and I described the moment of her possible arrival vaguely – she could have either fallen through a portal or simply run out of a cave; in the heat of the chase, it's hard to tell what really happened, especially if you're, well, blind. With Revnya, it's also clear; I played a long time ago, and I didn't have any characters that I would want to transfer (I remembered about Nuesh and Kafira later). My first thought was to create champions from scratch. And I'm glad that Biba and Boba are locals; this adds color and diversity to our team. And during the plot, it's nice to feel a connection with Anuzish, a sense of home, an understanding that my champions are their own, local, and not just some newcomers. But I think that playing a character from another world would also be interesting, like Kefirka – she's not just not local; she's the most alive, real demoness, and she would have to repeatedly overcome herself and prove to those around her that appearance and aura are deceiving, that even a demon from another world can be good and be useful (according to the lore, she was shy and quite peaceful). Of course, looking at Klin, I understand that the demon would have a fun life from the very start of the game, and Revnya would probably not even allow her to be ported, but the character would have good potential. And yes, before these expansions, we didn't have isekai characters; only old champions were transferred if the new expansion was in the same world. I don't know; once, I had a desire to continue playing with an old champion, but I regretted it, and the champion wasn't particularly interesting, as I eventually realized, and I didn't want to play the expansion at that time. In the future? I would definitely like to play as Nikta again; I feel that I haven't even realized half of her potential. If you remember, I even wrote a small fanfiction in the current expansion, where she isekais to Giyona with Nysho in the mountains. However, Nikta has deviated from the original idea. I planned to use her "camouflage" appearance more, where she appears as a harmless disabled person with a cane, from whom no one expects trouble. But, firstly, I didn't have time to practice and get into the role, and secondly, in the plot, we acted openly; everyone knew that she was a mercenary, and in Radovud, it would definitely not be possible for two small, blind albinos to appear at once, and I was running around in "working" mode. And yes, in fact, Nikta was created as another thief-killer, but a thief-killer with principles, killing only incorrigible villains, unlike Beata (by the way, Beata is not a pure thief-killer, but rather a professional troublemaker, but in any case, she is not as principled in choosing her victims as Nikta, at least she wasn't before the events of the expansion). I didn't really develop Nikta's character, but in general, I liked the way she turned out, she's so cheerful, moderately sarcastic, although I should have made her more talkative – but again, I attribute this to the fact that I didn't have enough practice; literally in the current expansion, you can see how my early posts were dry and infrequent (IRL also interfered a little), but at some point, I got into the groove and started to more clearly show the differences in the characters of Beata and Giyona, write longer posts, some details of their biographies, and all sorts of reflections, Vietnamese flashbacks of Giyona, in the end. I probably wouldn't isekai Beata and Giyona, by the way, nor would I continue playing with them in another expansion in this setting. They are too closely connected to their world and plot; they have their own history and an epic love story, which I still hope to bring to a wedding and a finale and give them a well-deserved happy ending with the completion of the arc of Beata's redemption. But I want to note that it seemed much easier for me to create the characters of two characters at once than one. Firstly, the contrast between the heroes; if one acts in one way, the other can immediately act in another way, and there are different characters. Secondly, interactions within a couple; it's much easier to find a reason to reveal one or another aspect of the personality. Most likely, I just have experience in creating interactions between characters, for example, in Kronos, I usually bring two or three characters to the leading heroes of the chapter and reveal their characters and relationships through communication between them. But I could give other characters a chance, probably. Nuesh, Kefirka, even Tioalas – I'm a little embarrassed by some aspects of his personality now, but that's why I would like to return to him and help him improve and become a better person... fairy. The rest of my champions are remembered even worse, but perhaps this is a sign that I shouldn't dig them up. In a separate category, I probably should put the ideas that I, as it were, started, but didn't really get to play. A dryad for Ment, a werewolf-cat for Alex, a steampunk cyborg with a mechanical familiar for Ment (oh, I remembered him). I even started playing for the last one, I remember that he bonded with the goblin Lokken, and there were also champions of Revnya and Vistrit who were romancing each other, but all these games quickly died out, not even reaching a thousand posts. Also, the angel-healer from Black Ice, I didn't even play her, just tagging along with the party, and the expansion itself also ended relatively quickly. Also, Amber from Selenia, who is like Robin or Speedy, only a catgirl. I probably wouldn't isekai these guys specifically, but I think it would be interesting for me to create their clones if there were corresponding gameplay elements. By the way, when I was thinking about a third character in Arselia, I came up with the angel-healer, but then I realized that no, let's keep the flies separate from the cutlets; for this party, Biba and Boba are too good to dilute their dynamic duo with a third wheel. But I have a lot of ideas for new champions. Some of them I mentioned here; this is another blind character (only a mage, like Krey from KotOR) and a dynamic duo of opposite personalities, one of whom is a child. I also want to play as an artist. Or try my hand at playing as some kind of cute, semi-trickster-not-trickster type, like Kiven, Amamus, or, even more directly, the Doctor. Other ideas will probably appear. In summary, yes, I think that I would be equally happy playing as an isekai character or a non-isekai character, depending on my mood.

I'll tell you about my setting when I have a free moment. Maybe you'll like it. It's a pretty cool mix of dark fantasy and sci-fi post-apocalypse. And I drew inspiration from Lovecraft.

Added 2 hours 55 minutes ago
I don't think settings are usually advertised before an expansion, but there's no guarantee that there will be an expansion for this, so I'll just tell you about it. In general, the setting is a piece of a larger piece, which is also a piece. My universe is very large, but it's a single entity. Everything I do, I do within the framework of my own mega-world. There are no others. There used to be, but not anymore. I like this arrangement. Name: Kingdom of Sela-Mira For more than a dozen stellar cycles, a war has been going on between the cosmic superpowers, the Dark Empire and the Empire of Kei-de-Keine. The Keiine have always needed rare resources to maintain the operation of magical mechanisms. The planet Aberat, located at the junction of the two empires, not only possessed these resources but could also serve as an excellent base for waging war. It's no surprise that the Empire of Kei-de-Keine takes the young planet, populated only by an embryonic form of intelligent life, under its control. Aberat becomes the jewel of Keiine's economy and an impregnable citadel on the way to the Dark Empire. Three times the Dark Empire attacks Aberat and suffers defeat. Finally, the supreme commander of the Shadari race personally challenges the planet's defense. During the fourth attack, the Dark Empire breaks through Keiine's defenses and destroys most of the fortifications and mining machines. The bloodiest battle in the history of the war between the two empires breaks out. The outcome turns out to be unexpected. It is then that seven different entities emerge from the depths of Aberat's oceans. They provoke an apocalypse, destroying the troops of Keiine and the Shadari. The remnants of the legions of both empires flee the planet, except for a few unfortunate souls who are stranded on Aberat, which has been flooded by a monstrous flood. The Dark Empire loses its supreme commander and a considerable number of elite soldiers. Kei-de-Keine loses its best source of resources and a strategic point. But the emergence of a third party temporarily stops the war for Aberat. To this day, the two empires have not returned to try their luck on this planet. The aborigines of Aberat, however, survive. Even before the start of the fourth invasion, they felt the need to flee to the mountains, away from the oceans. The seven entities take control of the planet, and the native population becomes their prey. Thus, the Pantheon of Aberat is born. Two continents on the site of the highest mountains, framed by a boundless ocean: this is what the planet has become. On the eastern continent, the Khaishi, the native population of Aberat, build their civilizations. Initially, they were humans, the lowest species in the vast branch of intelligent beings, characterized by familiar humanoid features. The highest form in it is precisely the Shadari from the Dark Empire. But Keiine, a completely different species, conducted many experiments on the planet's population in order to adapt it to the realities of the Kei-de-Keine Empire. The result was the Khaishi, an improved form of humans with some Keiine features. In total, the Khaishi build six states, huddled on one relatively small continent and islands near it. The Khaishi, with the exception of one people, worship the Pantheon of Aberat, and religious wars become the calling of the young race, because there was far from friendship and love among the Pantheon. The goddess Ceraria and her immortal, personal demons of the Pantheon, unique to each deity, found the kingdom of Sela-Mira on the southernmost end of the continent. And as long as this state exists, there is a struggle between the supreme power of Ceraria and the cults of Yog-Sheldar and Iggarath, the goddess's worst enemies. In fact, it is in the kingdom that the potential action of the expansion takes place. In a totalitarian, but prosperous state, ruled by the order of priestesses of Ceraria, a new, particularly powerful cult is brewing, threatening great troubles. In addition, there are too many immortals, people (Khaishi) are disappearing, and some are even going mad. From time to time, even Shadari are found. And in politics, the kingdom of Sela-Mira is pressured by two neighbors: the coastal Empire of the Seven Stars and the powerful northern kingdom of Volder. One day, in the casemates of one gifted cultist, who makes sacrifices in the name of Yog-Sheldar, a group of prisoners escapes. These prisoners are supposed to be the players, who will have to choose a side and try to influence the local conflict between the priestesses and the cultists. Or, perhaps, escape from this conflict. That's about it. I wrote down the basics of the plot on my phone

So, in my case, it's more about coincidences than inspiration. I had a concept for about five years, but didn't develop it or use it, and then I saw something similar much later. It's similar to how you described it with Voyager.

And what about the mechanics... it would be better to take races/factions from Dominions, and it would be better than in all the previous expansions.

By the way, do you generally prefer to play as "native" factions or otherworldly ones?

If the setting is lacking in terms of racial diversity, you can come up with your own, like Nebka did, although some limitations might be helpful in this case, because personally, some ideas might not appeal to me and break the immersion (like characters from the real world, although Ment played it well overall, but I don't really like the concept).

Well, my focus would be more on the differences in origins within the same race. Instead of some minor buffs, the origin would play a really important role in the build.

For example...

By choosing Priestess as the origin, the player would receive the "Venomous Blood" passive ability, which changes a lot in the gameplay, and also limits magic to a single unique school.

Playing as a character from Volder, the character ignores most of the magic, but also cannot learn it himself. Plus, instead of a very important faith, he develops atheism.

A character from Ammantur crafts things that will make others envious, but there is no magic, and without crafting, he will have a very hard time due to lowered characteristics.

A pure-blooded cultist specializes in a ritual branch that is inaccessible to others.

And so on.

In general, there are only local humans among the races, but each origin differs in gameplay, and not just in numbers.