Campaign setting "Terra unlimited"(PEACH) - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Campaign setting "Terra unlimited"(PEACH)

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
bribri
Sep 06, 2008 16:15:30 Just the bare basics of campaign idea I had in my head for a while that I’m trying to get a few more solid ideas for. I don’t know when, or where I’ll be running it, but someday I’m sure I’ll give it a try. What I’m looking for here is PEACH naturally, as well as suggestions on a few key points. Role playing will be a large part of the game, as I play most of my games online where it’s easier to do just that. This is no where NEAR done just so you know. Forgive me if I mess up the grammar anywhere, I am only human after all.

The Idea
The campaign takes place in a virtual world. A massive multiplayer game made somewhere in the next ten years called ‘Terra Unlimited’. It is the next generation’s ‘World of Warcraft’; an extremely popular game played by millions. The game itself would be pretty standard fantasy, nothing too different about it at a glance beyond non-standard races. What ‘really’ makes it different is that TU is the first real advance into virtual reality games. A simple headset lets a player feel like he really IS his character, enjoying all the benefits of the fantasy world, without any of the drawbacks.

Anyhow, I imagine you can see where this is going. One late night on the players server something breaks. All the players lose contact with the outside world, unable to simply ‘remove’ their headsets, and log off. They start to suffer from all the ‘bad’ parts of the world: pain, sickness, even death! Add to this that it all started in the middle of a huge PVP event, and you’ve got a hell of a problem. Once the dust settles a WHOLE lot of people are dead, everyone is angry, scared, and paranoid. The few GMS who were logged onto player accounts at the time try to bring some order to it all, but they quickly realize managing an army of angry teenagers who are now ‘stronger’ then they are isn’t so easy. After a few weeks of being ‘trapped’ like this, a large portion of the games population pulls a “lord of the flies”: falling into their inner savagery, and turning everything into pure and utter chaos. Most ‘GMs’ are killed right off the bat out of blind paranoia thinking they had something to do with what happened. The larger cities are torn apart by what can only be called ‘gang wars’: guilds fighting guilds over blood that had already been spilt. Outside the major cities things are no better; monster numbers being completely out of control... players forming bandit parties to survive, the works.

The heroes of the story end up being the ‘lucky ones’. A medium sized, land locked city called Trina-Fort managed to avoid the chaos, and our heroes somehow managed to get to it. Four months pass, and the fort becomes a bastion of hope, players fleeing other cities boosting its population every day, while those in charge try to keep everyone ‘busy’ with one task or another to keep their minds off the situation. Still, after all this time that question is still on everyone’s lips: How did this happen? How will they return to the real world? Will they EVER return? And so this is the player character’s quest: to find this out while being supported by Trina-Fort, going out into the now dangerous world, and discovering the truth.

I guess you could call it... Grim Dark Hack//Sign? I always hated that show, and I think they pulled the idea off poorly hahaha. Ironically all the ‘MMO’ aspects of 4e that people whine about make it perfect for this game. So let’s see what else I’ve got here

Starting level
-I’ll likely be starting the players around level 5 which is lvl 10 out of 60 in the game world which is actually a pretty competent level for various reasons. Terra unlimited is actually ‘Terra 2’, a sequel that only recently came out, and because of this no one has gotten higher than level 30. Grinding is no longer possible as players now feel ‘fatigue’ meaning they just can’t beat down on things hours straight, ;monsters that are ‘fitting’ for the player’s level are now too dangerous to fight seeing as if you get ONE death it’s game over. Last but not least, when the server wide PVP event was held, the higher level players were all teleported to a different zone to make things fair... since then they haven’t been seen.

Races
The game will not use any of the standard races beyond human. I’m aiming for somewhere between six to eight races, and any suggestions in this area would be great. Humans are by far the most popular race, as the strange sizes and senses of the others can be disorienting to new players. I plan to make these races a little stronger than the core races in the players handbook to make race have a larger impact.

Human- Duh obvious. Not sure how I’ll buff it, though. Likely +2 to two stats rather than one. They are the overwhelming majority of the game, making up around 40% of the player base. On one amusing note, while the game lacks dwarves some players purposely used the character builder to make short, buff humans with thick beards to emulate them. In response another group used the builder to make very ‘elf’ like humans: slight, with pointed ears. Both groups are a minority, and have a friendly rivalry of sorts.

Totochtin-A Short ‘fuzzy’ race similar to rabbits, who look similar to more serious versions Koshare, or Pooka (From Holic, and Odin sphere respectively) depending on how far on the ‘fuzzy’ scale you go. Originally the ‘cute mascot’ of the game they were made into a playable race during one of the later expansions, with customization options to make them more cat or doglike rather than just rabbits being added more recently. Will be REALLY fast and agile with stats similar to Halflings, with additional bonus that let them roll twice for certain actions (Athletics, Agility, Init), and the ability to gain extra minor actions in a round. Many people can’t help but treat Totochtin as they appear I should note, even if they know full well they’re actually human beings behind the virtual disguise...

Iron Men (Or Maidens)-Living Suits of armour, said to be warriors from a forsaken race. A very ‘durable’ race, likely with stats similar to Warforged. Helmed horrors, Al from FMA, and just your generic walking suit of armour are good examples of the design. ‘Females’ will look more like battle maidens of various sorts, with hard, leather or chain where flesh should be, and metal masks rather than faces; their expression only being able to change when no one is looking (waving their hands over it, turning away etc... Think hex). The Iron men suffer from a few problems after the cut-off, namely everything feels cold, they don’t need to eat, and they don’t even feel alive. Standard angst.

The Fey-Think more oversized Fairies than anything else. Pretty things with butter fly wings, odd coloured skin, and a whimsical demeanour; with males having the option to look a little more insectlike than their female counterparts. A more spirit focused race, who make good casters, and have limited hovering abilities etc. They may have a few abilities that let them substitute personality stats for physical ones. This will allow them to be at least decent warriors if they choose to be. Beyond the wings, being a fey doesn’t feel TOO different than being human, and most aren’t too bad off.

The Forsaken-According to the games story the forsaken were once a race of angelic beings that once flew through the skies on wings of shining gold. They, of course, got corrupt, and the gods had to kick their asses: stealing the race of its power of flight, leaving them has hunched over dark things similar to Vultures. Think our good friends from Dark crystalif you want a good idea of their design. Will likely be ‘tough but slow’ caster types. Forsaken are the least popular race in the game because a)they are NOT very pretty, and B) they are very slow--something which is much more noticeable when you’re ‘living’ as the race. Still those who DO choose this race have much love for it, and being one at all makes you unique.

One Last Race-Anyway with three clearly in-human races, and two clearly humanoid ones I want at least ONE more race to even things out. Something clearly human without being overly cliché is what I’m looking for. Something ‘good looking’ seems to make sense considering how MMOs normally work.

Classes
The standard pretty much works here fine really. I will likely have to change how powers recharge (Encounter powers=Recharge after a minute. Dailies=Recharge after an hour) to fit the MMO feel. I’d also like to add a few more classes to ‘fill the ranks’ of some rolls. Seeing as many have gone through the work of designing full classes over here, I think that would be a good place to start. Any suggestions on which of these are the most balanced? And aren’t too much like the others?

Attributes/Skills
Naturally, in an MMO like this, one can’t use the standard skill/attribute system completely. A high int character doesn’t mean there is a high int player behind them. Players will have ‘two sets’ of skills, and personality stats. One for the ‘character’, and one for the human behind them. ‘Lore’ skills will still be used as a way of identifying monster attacks, and their effects, as well as their obvious use through rituals. I had originally debated adding a ‘courage’ stat of some sort, but decided it wasn’t needed. It was the PCs bravery to face the dangers of the outside world that makes them different from everyone else. They don’t need stats for it! On the note of not needing stats things that don’t ‘directly’ help them, such as being able to sing, cook, paint, or occupations and talents that don’t ‘help’ in the game world can all be taken for free. Part of your characters flavour. Crafting skills also exist in TU but players won’t be taking them... as they simply don’t have the time to sit around making pots and pans to level them! There are NPCs focused on keeping everyone in town equipped!

Characters will have the following skills: Acrobatics, Arcane, Athletics, Dungeoneering, Heal, Perception, Religion, Stealth, Thievery, Nature and Barter

While Players will choose four of the following instead: Bluff, Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate, Endurance, Perception, Knowledge-World, Streetwise, Programming, and Medical/Psychology

Game Style
The game will be played in a very episodic style with weeks, or even months passing in-between sessions. During this down time, players do what they can to help the town out, follow other leads, while the ‘important stuff’ happens during the sessions themselves. From time to time they will be pulled into other tasks, and jobs: Helping to defend a small town, searching for missing scouts, or even going on scouting missions themselves to find out what happened to other parts of the world (As there is no longer any kind of long range 'chat' comunication or teleportation). Terra is a BIG place, so there’s a lot to be looked into. Over all I’ll be more of a story teller here, as lethal as Terra is I don’t want my heroes dying, wasting all the character development they had built up for nothing, but the threat will be still there.

Karma Points
In order to encourage the above I’ll grant my players Karma points. Similar to action points they’ll be a useable resource that can be used to alter the story, or grant them free rerolls. They’re gained by good role playing (based on the player’s skill) as well as creative works such as drawings, role playing sessions, and short stories which take place in-between sessions. Karma points don’t ‘regenerate’ on their own like action points too, and are just a resource the players can gather up like gold, and equipment.

Anyway that’s it for now...as I make more defined rules I might post them up here... please tell me what you think!

To do list:
[i]-Decide on the 6th race, and if I'm going to add anymore after that.

-Number crunching. Making the six races in full, and balancing them against each other. Streamline how the player/character dynamic works numerically

-Bringing life to the setting: Making full geography, places, and people. Full write ups on all the races and how the cut-off has affected them. I have plenty in mind for this

-Make it more clear what has changed with the 'cut-off', as many of the changes aren't listed here. Most of the changes simply make it feel more like a 'real world' rather then a virtual one I might add.

-Decide on what player made classes I should use[/i]
#2
Goober4473
Sep 06, 2008 23:40:03 Nice. I really like this concept. I once considered doing a game in .hack//SIGN style, but I could never figure out how to pull it off and make it fun.
#3
rpmarsh
Sep 07, 2008 5:05:14 I think it is a good start though the races of the forsaken sounds as if they would require more fleshing out as they sound to off putting. As for the other PC races they sound decent enough but seem more as if they are just cosmetic changes to core and mm races.

I am curious as to how or if you will include any of the other MMO aspects such as E-Mail, NPC's, ReSpawning, and resurrection.

Also how would you deal with real world knowledges of technology, cheat codes, viruses.
#4
bribri
Sep 07, 2008 19:08:48
I think it is a good start though the races of the forsaken sounds as if they would require more fleshing out as they sound to off putting. As for the other PC races they sound decent enough but seem more as if they are just cosmetic changes to core and mm races.

Of course, of course. I have ideas for the 'story' reasons behind all the races that I will include but such things are fluff in the truest of terms. As for the inspiration behind the races I originally started coming up with them before I had even decided to use D&D for this game hahaha. The ideas started off along the lines of "A Cute race" "A Dark race" and so on. 'Staple' ideas that one would expect to find in an MMO you know? The comments saying they’re ‘sort a like X’ is just a short cut on my part: It’s easier for me to just point out something they’re ‘kind a like’ then going on for six paragraphs boring you to death with all the different variations players can create. This is in addition to me just looking at the system, and saying “what already exists that would work for this race I have here?”

The stories for each race will be nice, and flavourful... but in the end mean nothing, as EVERYONE in the game is nothing more than a normal human being behind the virtual disguise. Even if they were carbon copies of PHB/MM races it would be like this. What DOES matter is how other players view people who choose the race, and how it FEELS to be that race in the first place, not whatever fable the programmers thought up for them.

I am curious as to how or if you will include any of the other MMO aspects such as E-Mail, NPC's, ReSpawning, and resurrection. Also how would you deal with real world knowledge of technology, cheat codes, viruses.

A good chunk of these were taken out as one of the main plot points is that the people in the MMO world are 'cut off'. Cut off from the rest of Terra (the chat system is down, they have to send messengers and scouts) and cut off from the real world (they can't log off, send emails, or anything similar). NPCs are still around but as they weren't programmed to defend themselves most were killed during the initial riots, and those that survived would now have to be taught to deal with things like eating, and sleeping... something that most certainly wasn't in their programming originally. Certainty a plot point I think eh?

Re-spawning doesn't work, when a person dies, they stay dead, or appear to. People aren't sure the reason for this, but the popular idea is that the 'player' dies when his character does, going brain dead as it were, meaning they can't just 'hit the respawn button'. Resurrection spells will be around, but with an interesting twist when they finally do show up (as only high level players normally have access to them). Knowledge of computers, particularly Terras own scripting, will undeniably be helpful as the game goes on. Truthfully this won’t be too different then a 'wizard' with Knowledge:Arcane. When the players discover something 'weird' the computer savvy player will be able to figure out what’s going on, and maybe even manipulate it, in the same way a wizard player might happen about some ‘strange magical effect’, and try to manipulate with his arcane skills it to his parties advantage. As for viruses that... sort of thing is classified. I may or may not use something like that, and saying one way or the other might give up plot points. Either way the players, stuck in the virtual forms, obviously don't have access to such things.

I guess one major point I should bring up is that Terra Unlimited isn't a story of an MMO. That's the backdrop, the setting, the 'sci-fi' explanation of how these events are transpiring, and part of the flavour: but doesn't define the story that would be told here. This is actually a more classic fantasy story: Normal people, taken from their modern lives, and put in a fantastic, dangerous situation, and are forced to cope without the safety of modern day life. It's of a story of how people deal with these changes:Some fall to their darker sides without the rules of society, some find the nearest hiding spot, and some rise above their mundane origins to become heroes.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 bribri Sep 06, 2008 16:15:30	Just the bare basics of campaign idea I had in my head for a while that I’m trying to get a few more solid ideas for. I don’t know when, or where I’ll be running it, but someday I’m sure I’ll give it a try. What I’m looking for here is PEACH naturally, as well as suggestions on a few key points. Role playing will be a large part of the game, as I play most of my games online where it’s easier to do just that. This is no where NEAR done just so you know. Forgive me if I mess up the grammar anywhere, I am only human after all. The Idea The campaign takes place in a virtual world. A massive multiplayer game made somewhere in the next ten years called ‘Terra Unlimited’. It is the next generation’s ‘World of Warcraft’; an extremely popular game played by millions. The game itself would be pretty standard fantasy, nothing too different about it at a glance beyond non-standard races. What ‘really’ makes it different is that TU is the first real advance into virtual reality games. A simple headset lets a player feel like he really IS his character, enjoying all the benefits of the fantasy world, without any of the drawbacks. Anyhow, I imagine you can see where this is going. One late night on the players server something breaks. All the players lose contact with the outside world, unable to simply ‘remove’ their headsets, and log off. They start to suffer from all the ‘bad’ parts of the world: pain, sickness, even death! Add to this that it all started in the middle of a huge PVP event, and you’ve got a hell of a problem. Once the dust settles a WHOLE lot of people are dead, everyone is angry, scared, and paranoid. The few GMS who were logged onto player accounts at the time try to bring some order to it all, but they quickly realize managing an army of angry teenagers who are now ‘stronger’ then they are isn’t so easy. After a few weeks of being ‘trapped’ like this, a large portion of the games population pulls a “lord of the flies”: falling into their inner savagery, and turning everything into pure and utter chaos. Most ‘GMs’ are killed right off the bat out of blind paranoia thinking they had something to do with what happened. The larger cities are torn apart by what can only be called ‘gang wars’: guilds fighting guilds over blood that had already been spilt. Outside the major cities things are no better; monster numbers being completely out of control... players forming bandit parties to survive, the works. The heroes of the story end up being the ‘lucky ones’. A medium sized, land locked city called Trina-Fort managed to avoid the chaos, and our heroes somehow managed to get to it. Four months pass, and the fort becomes a bastion of hope, players fleeing other cities boosting its population every day, while those in charge try to keep everyone ‘busy’ with one task or another to keep their minds off the situation. Still, after all this time that question is still on everyone’s lips: How did this happen? How will they return to the real world? Will they EVER return? And so this is the player character’s quest: to find this out while being supported by Trina-Fort, going out into the now dangerous world, and discovering the truth. I guess you could call it... Grim Dark Hack//Sign? I always hated that show, and I think they pulled the idea off poorly hahaha. Ironically all the ‘MMO’ aspects of 4e that people whine about make it perfect for this game. So let’s see what else I’ve got here Starting level -I’ll likely be starting the players around level 5 which is lvl 10 out of 60 in the game world which is actually a pretty competent level for various reasons. Terra unlimited is actually ‘Terra 2’, a sequel that only recently came out, and because of this no one has gotten higher than level 30. Grinding is no longer possible as players now feel ‘fatigue’ meaning they just can’t beat down on things hours straight, ;monsters that are ‘fitting’ for the player’s level are now too dangerous to fight seeing as if you get ONE death it’s game over. Last but not least, when the server wide PVP event was held, the higher level players were all teleported to a different zone to make things fair... since then they haven’t been seen. Races The game will not use any of the standard races beyond human. I’m aiming for somewhere between six to eight races, and any suggestions in this area would be great. Humans are by far the most popular race, as the strange sizes and senses of the others can be disorienting to new players. I plan to make these races a little stronger than the core races in the players handbook to make race have a larger impact. Human- Duh obvious. Not sure how I’ll buff it, though. Likely +2 to two stats rather than one. They are the overwhelming majority of the game, making up around 40% of the player base. On one amusing note, while the game lacks dwarves some players purposely used the character builder to make short, buff humans with thick beards to emulate them. In response another group used the builder to make very ‘elf’ like humans: slight, with pointed ears. Both groups are a minority, and have a friendly rivalry of sorts. Totochtin-A Short ‘fuzzy’ race similar to rabbits, who look similar to more serious versions Koshare, or Pooka (From Holic, and Odin sphere respectively) depending on how far on the ‘fuzzy’ scale you go. Originally the ‘cute mascot’ of the game they were made into a playable race during one of the later expansions, with customization options to make them more cat or doglike rather than just rabbits being added more recently. Will be REALLY fast and agile with stats similar to Halflings, with additional bonus that let them roll twice for certain actions (Athletics, Agility, Init), and the ability to gain extra minor actions in a round. Many people can’t help but treat Totochtin as they appear I should note, even if they know full well they’re actually human beings behind the virtual disguise... Iron Men (Or Maidens)-Living Suits of armour, said to be warriors from a forsaken race. A very ‘durable’ race, likely with stats similar to Warforged. Helmed horrors, Al from FMA, and just your generic walking suit of armour are good examples of the design. ‘Females’ will look more like battle maidens of various sorts, with hard, leather or chain where flesh should be, and metal masks rather than faces; their expression only being able to change when no one is looking (waving their hands over it, turning away etc... Think hex). The Iron men suffer from a few problems after the cut-off, namely everything feels cold, they don’t need to eat, and they don’t even feel alive. Standard angst. The Fey-Think more oversized Fairies than anything else. Pretty things with butter fly wings, odd coloured skin, and a whimsical demeanour; with males having the option to look a little more insectlike than their female counterparts. A more spirit focused race, who make good casters, and have limited hovering abilities etc. They may have a few abilities that let them substitute personality stats for physical ones. This will allow them to be at least decent warriors if they choose to be. Beyond the wings, being a fey doesn’t feel TOO different than being human, and most aren’t too bad off. The Forsaken-According to the games story the forsaken were once a race of angelic beings that once flew through the skies on wings of shining gold. They, of course, got corrupt, and the gods had to kick their asses: stealing the race of its power of flight, leaving them has hunched over dark things similar to Vultures. Think our good friends from Dark crystalif you want a good idea of their design. Will likely be ‘tough but slow’ caster types. Forsaken are the least popular race in the game because a)they are NOT very pretty, and B) they are very slow--something which is much more noticeable when you’re ‘living’ as the race. Still those who DO choose this race have much love for it, and being one at all makes you unique. One Last Race-Anyway with three clearly in-human races, and two clearly humanoid ones I want at least ONE more race to even things out. Something clearly human without being overly cliché is what I’m looking for. Something ‘good looking’ seems to make sense considering how MMOs normally work. Classes The standard pretty much works here fine really. I will likely have to change how powers recharge (Encounter powers=Recharge after a minute. Dailies=Recharge after an hour) to fit the MMO feel. I’d also like to add a few more classes to ‘fill the ranks’ of some rolls. Seeing as many have gone through the work of designing full classes over here, I think that would be a good place to start. Any suggestions on which of these are the most balanced? And aren’t too much like the others? Attributes/Skills Naturally, in an MMO like this, one can’t use the standard skill/attribute system completely. A high int character doesn’t mean there is a high int player behind them. Players will have ‘two sets’ of skills, and personality stats. One for the ‘character’, and one for the human behind them. ‘Lore’ skills will still be used as a way of identifying monster attacks, and their effects, as well as their obvious use through rituals. I had originally debated adding a ‘courage’ stat of some sort, but decided it wasn’t needed. It was the PCs bravery to face the dangers of the outside world that makes them different from everyone else. They don’t need stats for it! On the note of not needing stats things that don’t ‘directly’ help them, such as being able to sing, cook, paint, or occupations and talents that don’t ‘help’ in the game world can all be taken for free. Part of your characters flavour. Crafting skills also exist in TU but players won’t be taking them... as they simply don’t have the time to sit around making pots and pans to level them! There are NPCs focused on keeping everyone in town equipped! Characters will have the following skills: Acrobatics, Arcane, Athletics, Dungeoneering, Heal, Perception, Religion, Stealth, Thievery, Nature and Barter While Players will choose four of the following instead: Bluff, Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate, Endurance, Perception, Knowledge-World, Streetwise, Programming, and Medical/Psychology Game Style The game will be played in a very episodic style with weeks, or even months passing in-between sessions. During this down time, players do what they can to help the town out, follow other leads, while the ‘important stuff’ happens during the sessions themselves. From time to time they will be pulled into other tasks, and jobs: Helping to defend a small town, searching for missing scouts, or even going on scouting missions themselves to find out what happened to other parts of the world (As there is no longer any kind of long range 'chat' comunication or teleportation). Terra is a BIG place, so there’s a lot to be looked into. Over all I’ll be more of a story teller here, as lethal as Terra is I don’t want my heroes dying, wasting all the character development they had built up for nothing, but the threat will be still there. Karma Points In order to encourage the above I’ll grant my players Karma points. Similar to action points they’ll be a useable resource that can be used to alter the story, or grant them free rerolls. They’re gained by good role playing (based on the player’s skill) as well as creative works such as drawings, role playing sessions, and short stories which take place in-between sessions. Karma points don’t ‘regenerate’ on their own like action points too, and are just a resource the players can gather up like gold, and equipment. Anyway that’s it for now...as I make more defined rules I might post them up here... please tell me what you think! To do list: [i]-Decide on the 6th race, and if I'm going to add anymore after that. -Number crunching. Making the six races in full, and balancing them against each other. Streamline how the player/character dynamic works numerically -Bringing life to the setting: Making full geography, places, and people. Full write ups on all the races and how the cut-off has affected them. I have plenty in mind for this -Make it more clear what has changed with the 'cut-off', as many of the changes aren't listed here. Most of the changes simply make it feel more like a 'real world' rather then a virtual one I might add. -Decide on what player made classes I should use[/i]
#2 Goober4473 Sep 06, 2008 23:40:03	Nice. I really like this concept. I once considered doing a game in .hack//SIGN style, but I could never figure out how to pull it off and make it fun.
#3 rpmarsh Sep 07, 2008 5:05:14	I think it is a good start though the races of the forsaken sounds as if they would require more fleshing out as they sound to off putting. As for the other PC races they sound decent enough but seem more as if they are just cosmetic changes to core and mm races. I am curious as to how or if you will include any of the other MMO aspects such as E-Mail, NPC's, ReSpawning, and resurrection. Also how would you deal with real world knowledges of technology, cheat codes, viruses.
#4 bribri Sep 07, 2008 19:08:48	I think it is a good start though the races of the forsaken sounds as if they would require more fleshing out as they sound to off putting. As for the other PC races they sound decent enough but seem more as if they are just cosmetic changes to core and mm races. Of course, of course. I have ideas for the 'story' reasons behind all the races that I will include but such things are fluff in the truest of terms. As for the inspiration behind the races I originally started coming up with them before I had even decided to use D&D for this game hahaha. The ideas started off along the lines of "A Cute race" "A Dark race" and so on. 'Staple' ideas that one would expect to find in an MMO you know? The comments saying they’re ‘sort a like X’ is just a short cut on my part: It’s easier for me to just point out something they’re ‘kind a like’ then going on for six paragraphs boring you to death with all the different variations players can create. This is in addition to me just looking at the system, and saying “what already exists that would work for this race I have here?” The stories for each race will be nice, and flavourful... but in the end mean nothing, as EVERYONE in the game is nothing more than a normal human being behind the virtual disguise. Even if they were carbon copies of PHB/MM races it would be like this. What DOES matter is how other players view people who choose the race, and how it FEELS to be that race in the first place, not whatever fable the programmers thought up for them. I am curious as to how or if you will include any of the other MMO aspects such as E-Mail, NPC's, ReSpawning, and resurrection. Also how would you deal with real world knowledge of technology, cheat codes, viruses. A good chunk of these were taken out as one of the main plot points is that the people in the MMO world are 'cut off'. Cut off from the rest of Terra (the chat system is down, they have to send messengers and scouts) and cut off from the real world (they can't log off, send emails, or anything similar). NPCs are still around but as they weren't programmed to defend themselves most were killed during the initial riots, and those that survived would now have to be taught to deal with things like eating, and sleeping... something that most certainly wasn't in their programming originally. Certainty a plot point I think eh? Re-spawning doesn't work, when a person dies, they stay dead, or appear to. People aren't sure the reason for this, but the popular idea is that the 'player' dies when his character does, going brain dead as it were, meaning they can't just 'hit the respawn button'. Resurrection spells will be around, but with an interesting twist when they finally do show up (as only high level players normally have access to them). Knowledge of computers, particularly Terras own scripting, will undeniably be helpful as the game goes on. Truthfully this won’t be too different then a 'wizard' with Knowledge:Arcane. When the players discover something 'weird' the computer savvy player will be able to figure out what’s going on, and maybe even manipulate it, in the same way a wizard player might happen about some ‘strange magical effect’, and try to manipulate with his arcane skills it to his parties advantage. As for viruses that... sort of thing is classified. I may or may not use something like that, and saying one way or the other might give up plot points. Either way the players, stuck in the virtual forms, obviously don't have access to such things. I guess one major point I should bring up is that Terra Unlimited isn't a story of an MMO. That's the backdrop, the setting, the 'sci-fi' explanation of how these events are transpiring, and part of the flavour: but doesn't define the story that would be told here. This is actually a more classic fantasy story: Normal people, taken from their modern lives, and put in a fantastic, dangerous situation, and are forced to cope without the safety of modern day life. It's of a story of how people deal with these changes:Some fall to their darker sides without the rules of society, some find the nearest hiding spot, and some rise above their mundane origins to become heroes.