First off, if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to slap me upside the head.
That said, I'm currently working on a setting, but I'm running into a fairly major roadblock with the concept that needs ironed out before I can carry on with the actual worldbuilding. The idea is to have the PCs exist as PCs in a Virtual Reality MMO (think Sword Art Online), with a separate "real world" that might be used when a plot hook would naturally lead one out of the game. Now, the astute observer may have noticed an issue here. Leaving the game would strip the players of their class abilities, stats, spells, equipment, gold, etc.
So my question is thus: How would you handle having a "real world" exist in your game, where the laws of reality apply exactly as they do in our world?
One solution I've come up with is to have the characters learning how to actually fight from playing the game. I.E. Character A swings a sword around for sixty hours in the game, and therefore Character A can swing a sword around with the same skill as they would have rightly accumulated in said time. The issue here is, not everyone plays a physical combatant, and this very much leaves casters out in the cold.
With how I've laid this out, is this even viable? Is it likely too much of a challenge to find something useful the casters might be able to do?
Have you considering having two separate - but related - characters for each player?
Carl Graves is a cop, with 10 years on the force, and a handful of marksmen medals from divisional competitions - but by night he is Frarnver The Undefeated - Barbarian Lord of the Western Isles ...
The real world character and the fantasy character could even have separate but overlapping skill sets. I think some skills might overlap, but not all. "Soft" social skills - Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion, etc. - might have a partial bleed over. Improve your bonus score +2 in the fantasy realm, and it goes up +1 in the "real" and vice versa.
I have a hard time believing that sword fighting skills ( muscle conditioning, and muscle memory ) would translate. But they don't need to if Carl Graves has different and distinct combat skills than Frarnver The Undefeated ( firearms vs. swordsmanship ).
Maybe Tishan The Enchantress is really Catherine Vandeld computer programmer by day ( and sometimes the infamous hacker 0B51D14N ... triple ID! ).
One possible drawback is that Players would be splitting experience over two characters - even with partial conversion of social skills, that's a pretty heavy XP drain.
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Character A swings a sword around for sixty hours in the game, and therefore Character A can swing a sword around with the same skill as they would have rightly accumulated in said time. The issue here is, not everyone plays a physical combatant, and this very much leaves casters out in the cold.
I have an issue with this example for the following reason:
Are the characters playing themselves? Does their body type get transferred into the game (much like in SAO), if not then their body types would not be the same, muscle on their body and whatnot. Therefore that would not translate between worlds.
Secondly, and this will get complicated, but follow me, if a character who has no knowledge of swordplay is put into the game, is swordplay something they already know in the game? In other words a level one swordsman character already knows how to basically wield a sword, and then they grow their skills around that. That creates a rift in knowledge because the player did not know anything about swordplay before entering the game, that can be assumed that the innate swordplay knowledge would leave them if they logged out. OR if the level 1 swordsman does not know anything about swordplay and they have to create that knowledge through practicing in game, then that information can transfer out of the game because it is more of a shared mind and the training will have been just like if the player had done the same actions and training in the real world. *gasp* I know that's a lot of semantics, but I think if you're trying to make this a "real" as possible then that is something to think about. Because it doesn't quite make sense for a kid with no knowledge of how to competently battle with a sword, long into an SAO type game for a few hours, then log out and suddenly have the same knowledge and skills that the swordsman character he is playing. I hope that maybe describes it better.
In a sense this sort of resolves the "what about casters" deal, is that when you log out, you are no longer that swordsman in the exact same sense that when you log out, you are no longer that caster.
Super, super cool concept and I really like this though! If I had to handle this, I would basically make new character sheets for the humans and not have any of their stats go above a 10, because the score limit of 20 is for heroes and adventurers, and humans are not that (though a case could be made for some that actually devote their lives to skills with a sword or martial arts, etc.)
I don't know much about SAO outside of it's premise. I do, however, know Code Lyoko and that is what I'll use as my influence here.
In the anime the main characters are sent to a virtual world by being scanned and turned into digital versions of themselves. The characters then obtain a new appearance and combat ability. When they receive enough damage they are reverted back to their physical forms in the real world. So lets ask some questions and propose some answers:
How do they transition in to the alternate world?
They use some type of tool/portal to physically transition into the alternate world
They use some type of tool/portal to transfer their consciousness into the alternate world
How do they get combat skills in the virtual world?
The skills are granted intuitively by some magical means, think the Matrix and learning Kung Fu.
The skills are granted because the virtual version is a separate entity from the real version, as in the Code Lyoko description
The skills are learned as they adventure in the virtual world, and are treated like unlockable features in a video game tutorial
They are limited to choosing a class in the virtual world based on their real world counter parts life experiences: A cop would make a better Ranger than they would a sword fighter.
Do the players retain any of the abilities when returning to the real world?
The players are fully aware of the switch between worlds and treat it as such.
The players retain the abilities, making them something of superheroes in the real world.
The players do not retain the abilities but certain skills have analogs in the real world, such as becoming an archer or martial artist.
If the players can transition between the worlds, can any of the creatures from the virtual world transition as well?
The two worlds are separated with only the real world tool/portal granting travel access.
The two worlds are constantly connected with free travel between both as long as you have access to the tool/portal on either side.
Only the players and specific creature(s) have the ability to travel between the worlds.
The players are the only ones who can travel between worlds, but the virtual world has some other influence on the real world. Tidal waves, mind control, normal people turn into monsters.
I'm sure I can come up with more given enough time, but I think this should get the creative juices flowing. I really hope you can get this concept working, it sounds like a blast!
First off, if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to slap me upside the head.
That said, I'm currently working on a setting, but I'm running into a fairly major roadblock with the concept that needs ironed out before I can carry on with the actual worldbuilding. The idea is to have the PCs exist as PCs in a Virtual Reality MMO (think Sword Art Online), with a separate "real world" that might be used when a plot hook would naturally lead one out of the game. Now, the astute observer may have noticed an issue here. Leaving the game would strip the players of their class abilities, stats, spells, equipment, gold, etc.
So my question is thus: How would you handle having a "real world" exist in your game, where the laws of reality apply exactly as they do in our world?
One solution I've come up with is to have the characters learning how to actually fight from playing the game. I.E. Character A swings a sword around for sixty hours in the game, and therefore Character A can swing a sword around with the same skill as they would have rightly accumulated in said time. The issue here is, not everyone plays a physical combatant, and this very much leaves casters out in the cold.
With how I've laid this out, is this even viable? Is it likely too much of a challenge to find something useful the casters might be able to do?
It's an interesting concept!
Have you considering having two separate - but related - characters for each player?
Carl Graves is a cop, with 10 years on the force, and a handful of marksmen medals from divisional competitions - but by night he is Frarnver The Undefeated - Barbarian Lord of the Western Isles ...
The real world character and the fantasy character could even have separate but overlapping skill sets. I think some skills might overlap, but not all. "Soft" social skills - Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion, etc. - might have a partial bleed over. Improve your bonus score +2 in the fantasy realm, and it goes up +1 in the "real" and vice versa.
I have a hard time believing that sword fighting skills ( muscle conditioning, and muscle memory ) would translate. But they don't need to if Carl Graves has different and distinct combat skills than Frarnver The Undefeated ( firearms vs. swordsmanship ).
Maybe Tishan The Enchantress is really Catherine Vandeld computer programmer by day ( and sometimes the infamous hacker 0B51D14N ... triple ID! ).
One possible drawback is that Players would be splitting experience over two characters - even with partial conversion of social skills, that's a pretty heavy XP drain.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Super, super cool concept and I really like this though! If I had to handle this, I would basically make new character sheets for the humans and not have any of their stats go above a 10, because the score limit of 20 is for heroes and adventurers, and humans are not that (though a case could be made for some that actually devote their lives to skills with a sword or martial arts, etc.)
Published Subclasses
I don't know much about SAO outside of it's premise. I do, however, know Code Lyoko and that is what I'll use as my influence here.
In the anime the main characters are sent to a virtual world by being scanned and turned into digital versions of themselves. The characters then obtain a new appearance and combat ability. When they receive enough damage they are reverted back to their physical forms in the real world. So lets ask some questions and propose some answers:
How do they transition in to the alternate world?
How do they get combat skills in the virtual world?
Do the players retain any of the abilities when returning to the real world?
If the players can transition between the worlds, can any of the creatures from the virtual world transition as well?
I'm sure I can come up with more given enough time, but I think this should get the creative juices flowing. I really hope you can get this concept working, it sounds like a blast!