Wheel of Time MMORPG

[Lews_Windu]

This is my idea for a WoT MMO game. I've been thinking of this for a little while, and would like the input from people here. Mainly just to fantasize about how utterly cool such a game could be. Well, here goes.

 

Wheel of Time MMORPG

 

It is my firm opinion that the only kind of game that can hope to capture the charm of Randland, and satisfy the need of fans to experience that world to its fullest. I’ve been thinking about this for awhile, and here I’m going to try and organize my thoughts.

 

Setting

20 years after Tarmon Gaidon. Any game taking place during the series is going to suffer from everyone wanting to be Rand or Mat, much like Star Wars Galaxies suffers from every third player wanting to be Han or Luke. Also, placing it in the time of the books sets walls on how much the developers are able to input on their own- the books would become chains rather than a backbone.

Place two decades after the books though, and you have much more room to breathe, while at the same time having something to fall back on. We can be reasonably sure that most of the nations depicted in the books will persist for at least a few decades afterwards. We can also be quite sure that the Aes Sedai and Asha’man will continue to exist as organizations, and this is where the heart of the setting is.

Every player is a channeler and begin the game as a wilder. Players, based on their gender, will have the choice of joining their respective group, or remaining unaligned.

For story, the game focuses on the efforts to rebuild the world in the wake of Tarmon Gaidon, even as the world continues to change as the wheel shifts to a new Age. Both the servants and guardians play a key role in this.

 

Race

Although there are many different races within WoT, almost all social, political, and military interaction takes place solely between humans. This will be reflected in the game in that all players will be human. In this way, there is no “Race”. The closest thing is that every player chooses their nation. This does not determine attribute bonuses, only starting factions which will be discussed later on. Attribute bonuses will be determined by gender, to help bring in Randland's focus on the difference between men and women.

 

Class

        The fantasy standby of “combat, magic, stealth” doesn’t really fit the world of Wheel of Time. To this end, “class” will be a nebulous thing, decided by distribution of attributes and skills. When creating a character, players will decide the distribution of points in these attributes:

 

Endurance- this determines hit points, and the duration and magnitude of physical abilities such as running, riding, and also how long the player can grasp and use saidin/saidar.

 

Dexterity- this determines skill with martial weapons like swords, spears, and bows, while also determining the number of weaves that can be utilized at once.

 

Intelligence- this determines the rate at which one advances their skills, and the amount of experience they receive from combat and quests. Randland does not suffer fools, and there is no reward nor reason for players to make the characters idiots.

 

One Power- this determines the base level of strength in saidin/saidar, and also determines the rate at which the player learns new weaves.

 

Faction

Faction in the Wheel of Time is three-fold. First, is nation, which determines social standing when operating throughout the world. Second, is class, which breaks down into noble and common. They determine social responsibilities, with advantages and disadvantages to both sides. Last, is gender, which determines social opportunities. To be honest, I’m not sure exactly how to implement this, but hopefully those who read this will.

 

One Power

        General strength in the One Power is controlled by the corresponding attribute and level. Of the Five Powers, players will choose two they are strong in and two they are weak in. These determine modifiers to different weaves. Talents in the Power are chosen as skills, and every player has four to start, and can choose more or strengthen others as they level.

 

Combat

In Wheel of Time, there is no balance between melee and magic. However, skill in a martial weapon can be extremely advantageous for players, giving them the edge to win when facing greater numbers or stronger opponents. Male characters will be more suited to soloing, while female characters are very skilled in groups due to their ability to combine the powers of other players. There will be equal focus between PvE and PvP. PvE will mostly take place as fighting Shadowspawn in the Blight and elsewhere. PvP will be expressed as duels between players, which must be mutually agreed to, and take place between players within five levels of each other. A party will be more advantageous than soloing, due to the ease for parties to shield opponents. Wars between nations will take place as set events that contain both PvP and PvE.

Death will be expressed as a total loss of hit points, at which point the player is unconscious. In PvP, opponents can then choose to still the player. The player will then have to journey back to their faction base to be Healed. This will be much more difficult for Wilder players, but these players will have more freedom of movement from a social standpoint.

 

 

Well, that’s all I got. Thoughts?

 

[Dorsbane]

Here is the one small problem that I could see with the time choice. There is no emeny. There will be the Seanchan, and the Children of the Light of course but there are no trollocs, no myrrdral, no greymen, no Forsaken nothing big and bad or dangerous looming in the future to over run the world. Don't get me wrong an Aes Sedi on a leash is a terrible thing but with a new coalition of Asha'man and Aes Sedi could take care of the threat fairly easily and I'm sure that RJ will have left instructions for how Rand and Mat clean up that problem while on the way to Tarmon Gaidon.

 

What about a game that takes place just after the Breaking? Then you would still have all the danger, minus the Seanchan. But there would be roaming bands of Aes Sedi haters to replace the White Cloaks, men going mad with from the taint would prove to be terrible adverseries, and the Dark One's forces would still be there to do battle with.

 

If not that then the Aiel Wars would be a fun time to reek havoc on Randland, and agian its preseries so the backbone is still provided but without all of the chains. Malkier has just fallen a generation ago so there are still those who wear the hadori. I mean a race of Lan would be fun to play with- master of weapons and honor bound.

 

For "Races" you would have the different nationalities which are very different in look and action. and then you could also have "occupations" like fletchers are archers but can also make and sell arrows, or a blacksmith can make weapons and mend armor and weilds an axe (like our favorite smithie)so that you can earn money rather than just run around murdering people. A Gleeman would be cool since they would be like soundrels, they weild knifes and play for their supper. I think a good mix of Fable and KoTOR would produce an amazing Wheel of Time MMORPG.

[Lews_Windu]

I like what your ideas about professions. Though for an "Big Bad"- how do we know all the Forsaken and all of the Black Ajah will be killed/captured in Tarmon Gaidon. RJ said there would be loose ends, and we know that there were still battles with Shadowsworn for years or decades after the strike at Shayol Ghul.

[Chel Vanin]

The idea in itself is beyond cool. I would play a WoT RPG for hours on end. However, to make this game you're gonna need all sorts of money and i for one would be sad to see a game that does an injustice to the series. In fact if the game isn't good, better not to make on at all.

 

Besides that, if a WoT RPG came out that was all I dreamed it could be...I like your ideas. I think 20 years after TG would be better personally because that way we aren't "tampering" with the WoT story in any way. I also think you could choose characters besides channelers.

 

Also, how were you thinking about the leveling? Would it be Oblivion style where every time your skills go up you get closer to a level or WoW (ugh) style where you turn in quests/ kill monsters for xp?

 

Again, the idea to me is sweeeeeeeeet.

[Dorsbane]

Okay, as long as Trollocs and Myrrdral are available in the game as enemys or even as playable characters I'm down with the post Tarmon Gaidon plot.

 

Heres another idea that I just had. You know in Fable and KoTOR tons of other RPGs (those are just the first two that I thought of and where I got the idea) how your actions are reflected on your character, on their demenor & appearance. Well what if your decisions in the game can decide if you are a nice person or a little more on the evil side. If you are bad then drakfriends might approach you to recruit you to the remanants of the Dark One's forces, and if you take the "holy-er than thou" approach to the game then maybe the White Cloaks might try to get you to join rank. Do you get understand what I'm getting at?

[Dorsbane]

Oh and I love how we are discussing this as if it might be possible. No one could ever recreate the world that Jordan has in his books but I love thinking about it. If someone ever made our game it would be flippin sweet

[Chel Vanin]

Oh and I love how we are discussing this as if it might be possible. No one could ever recreate the world that Jordan has in his books but I love thinking about it. If someone ever made our game it would be flippin sweet

 

I know  ;D

[Blackmoore]

Why 20 years after?, why not as part of the story right now, you could sign up with one of the many factions out there -- The Shadow, the Seachan, the Aes Sedai, and the Dragonsworn.  You'd get quests from key figures from the stories -- Rand Al'Thor, Matt, Perrin, Rhuarc, etc. for the Dragonsworn; Elaida, Egwene, Moiraine, Cadsuanne, etc. for the Aes Sedai; Forsaken for the Shadow; High Lords Soandso for the Seanchan.

 

Factions:

Shadow

Seanchan

Aes Sedai

Dragonsworn

 

Classes:

Scouts (basic theif/spy/archer character)

* Gleeman

* Hunter for the Horn

* Darkfriend

* Forerunner

 

Melee (up close and personal)

* Warder

* Aeilman

* Myrdrall

* Ogier Deathwatch

 

Channelers (ranged offense/support)

* Aes Sedai

* Asha'man/Wise-Ones

* Sul'dam

* Dreadlord/lady

 

The key would be to not fall into the Jedi trap of SWG, so you'd really have to handle the Channelers carefully.  They'd have to have some serious flaws/limitations to balance out the One Power.  Maybe something like this:

 

Aes Sedai/Aes'Sedai -- wouldn't be able to use direct weapons against any but the shadow; superior healing/wards

Ashaman -- would be offensively strong, but as the "taint" built up, they'd have to slow or stop channeling to recover; weak healing/wards

Sul'dam -- vulnerable "pet" is source of power

Dreadlord/lady -- unable to heal

[Lews_Windu]

Also, how were you thinking about the leveling? Would it be Oblivion style where every time your skills go up you get closer to a level or WoW (ugh) style where you turn in quests/ kill monsters for xp?

 

 

I was thinking of a hybrid system. General XP is gained by quests and killing monsters. Skills, like with swords or certain types of weaves, would get better with use.

 

The closest thing to this I can point to is the system from Star Wars Galaxies at its launch. Say you killed a womp rat with a blaster pistol. You'd get 50 general xp, and 50 blaster pistol xp. Say you then killed another rat with a knife; the same, but with 50 knife xp and so on and so forth.

 

 

Well what if your decisions in the game can decide if you are a nice person or a little more on the evil side.

 

 

I can't believe I hadn't thought of that, but that's really cool. And it has a lot of room for a lot of shades of gray that the series has in spades. Also, instead of doing the light-dark system, we could do something like the Paragon/Renegade system from Mass Effect. The two ratings are completely separate from each other- so if you do a renegade action, and then a paragon, the two actions won't cancel out, but remain there, and people will react to you based on the balance between the two ratings.

 

 

 

Why 20 years after?, why not as part of the story right now, you could sign up with one of the many factions out there

 

 

Again, I'll use SWG as an example. It takes place 1 year after A New Hope, and that is one of the things that has killed the game. When you put it in the time of whatever you're licensing, you become trapped by its canon. For Wheel of Time, this would mean having to roll the game along with the series, and limit the amout of choice the players have in shaping the world, which would be key for a Wheel of Time game- the feeling that you, your actions, your beliefs, are having an affect on the world around you. No idea exactly how to implement this, though- it would need something revolutionary.

 

 

The key would be to not fall into the Jedi trap of SWG

 

But that's just the thing- for Wheel of Time, it's impossible to avoid that trap. Look at SWG (I have a feeling we're going to be doing this a lot, heh)- in Star Wars, there is no balance between those who can use the Force and those who can't. How many smugglers and how many soldiers could really take on a Jedi Knight? Wheel of Time is the same way- your run-of-the-mill soldier has basically zero chance against a trained channeler. SWG fell in the Jedi Trap because in Star Wars, Jedi are they only ones who really do the cool stuff, and fans gravitate toward that. The same would be true for Wheel of Time. So to solve this, and keep it from having 3,000 channelers on a server and only 400 from every other class combined, we make everyone a channeler, and justify by that statistic that 3% of the population can channel.

[Dorsbane]

Here are a few things to think about:

 

How would you take care of the Wolfkin? and how would they interact with their packs? typical squad commands or something innovative and new?

 

How would you do something the Tel'aran'rhoid? How would players enter and exit the Dream World? What limits would there be upon it?

 

Some of the basic things from the novels would have to be carried over into the game- The White Tower is in decline, even with the knitting cirles added they Aes Sedi are growing weaker. The talent is leaving the world and older ones are coming back into it. Therefore there would have to be some way to limit the channelers because they are a minority in the world. I don't know how that would be done. Maybe a random counter that after you create your character might pick you and "give" the talent to channel- then people don't choose to be Aes Sedi or Asha'man but instead, the Wheel turns and weaves as it will who will be able to channel.

[Lews_Windu]

I'm not sure how to handle those things, I am completely drawing a blank.

 

 

As for the decline, I would have to disagree. It's clear in the books that Aes Sedai are growing weaker only because they refuse to change their ways. Their political power is in decline, and that gives them less opprotunity to search for those who can channel. The Two Rivers and the women found by the Salidar Aes Sedai proves this. As for old talents coming back, my theory is that in the Fourth Age there will be a balance between the One Power and the old talents. This may last into the Fifth Age, before going straight back to old talents in the Sixth. The Seventh, I think is the ancient world before the rise of Sumer.

[BKVMC]

there would have to be a resist  system  in place or channelers would totally dominate.  or  weaves would have to be limited  you couldnt have people trivializing content by balefiring everything :P.  if there was to  be  PVP  you would have  a resist  system or fizzles failures something  or everyone will  be a channler just to grief people.

[Tyrell]

Shrug, look at WoW. Big fireballs / lightnings / frostbolts would seriously injure the average person IRL and I'm sure they do in warcraft fiction... buut theres this little thing called class balance and suddenly caster classes can't 1-shot people. Ditto rogues can't insta kill people with a backstab or whatever although a good ambush ona clothie will probably do it before they come unstunned, or would when I used to play.

 

Not that I'm much of a fan of making a WoT MMO, I just don't think it'd do RJ's world justice.

[Lews_Windu]

And those are the reasons why every player is a channeler- all other professions are those of npcs. Now, this doesn't mean that every player has to choose between the Two Towers; there will be plenty of room, and plenty of advantages, to remaining unaligned as a wilder. Being a wilder means that you have more freedom of movement and action wihtout having a Tower come down on you- but at the same time your skill in the One Power increases much more slowly. And then again on the flipside, wilders have more space within their characters to get better at other skills, such as martial weapons or crafting.

[Tyrell]

Not viable.

 

Youd have thousands of channellers running around and if it's set after AMOL no real enemy. There just isn't enough content for a MMO, without drastically messing with / extending the cannon, which, as a fan of the Wheel of Time, I've no wish to see, without messing with / extending the cannon, where is the standard MMO content - dungeons, quests, enemies and so fourth, how would leveling work, what would be the reward of PvP - why would people be prepared to pay around £8 a month to play it.

[PrinceOfRavens]

they could set one around the time of the breaking/trolloc wars

[Defuego]

they could set one around the time of the breaking/trolloc wars

 

I think this is the best idea. I would say they should put in the age of legends, but that really isn't possible due to the peaceful nature of that time. If it was during the time of LTT then you can still use the characters of the Forsaken and have a full on war to participate in.

 

I do think that having everyone be a channeler would limit the way the game played. I think that with shock lances and other such items that a combat system could be figured out to level out the playing field with channelers.

[Dorsbane]

See that is exactly what I said like a week ago. There would be tons of powerful  Ter'angrel all over the place, plenty of power made weapons. Men going mad with from the Taint. Instead of the White Cloaks we'd have their predecessors- wandering murderous bands of scared men who don't differentiate between male and  female Aes Sedi. I agree that this would be the best option...if such a game were ever produced

[Troilen]

I like the idea of it being random whether you can or cannot channel.  As in, you get to choose your nation and sex.  After you create your character, if you are a channeler, an Aes Sedai/Asha'man would approach you for recruitment.  If not, you meet several people who give you different options as to what class you wish to play, however, people would then probably just delete and make another toon until they got a channeler /shrug sounds good in theory tho =)

[Darth_Andrea]

Over all I think the WOT world could be turned into a MMO. I have yet to try the Lord Of The Rings Online, but if they can trasition Middle Earth into a MMO WOT should be able to be done as well.

 

 

 

 

[glow=green,1,500]Darth_Andrea[/glow]

[Xeonicus]

I always kind of hoped something like this would be created, but I doubt it will happen.  Anyway, in regard to the setting, we don't even know what the post-TG world will be like.

 

I always thought maybe something set in the Age of Legends would be cool.  That would allow for a lot of creative freedom.

 

Too bad after swearing off my World of Warcraft addiction, I've decided not to play MMOs anymore.  I guess its a good thing a WoT MMO is unlikely to happen.

[Guest leebarr]

Not a bad idea. work on a few things to make it better and give it a try

[OzzieAlThor]

Unfortuanetly, this series isn't popular enough to warrant it's own game. Oh yeah, I know, WE like it alot.

 

There isn't enough of "we" though. If you couldn't get 500,000 playing consistently for a few years then it would be a finacial failure. You'd never get a publisher to cough up the millions it would take to get everything up and running.

[BKVMC]

Unfortuanetly, this series isn't popular enough to warrant it's own game. Oh yeah, I know, WE like it alot.

 

There isn't enough of "we" though. If you couldn't get 500,000 playing consistently for a few years then it would be a finacial failure. You'd never get a publisher to cough up the millions it would take to get everything up and running.

 

well i dont know about that  SOE  took over vanguard even after it  proved to  be a complete and utter flop. LOTR online isnt  a popular game and the fan base for that book series was immense, you would lose  a  few subscribers  DT the fact that  alot of people who like  a certain book series might not necessarily  like to play  a computer game  based on the books, and also  in regards to  LOTR and class balance  magic is  underplayed  in the books and in the  game.  It would be totally different for WOT.

[Defuego]

Unfortuanetly, this series isn't popular enough to warrant it's own game. Oh yeah, I know, WE like it alot.

 

There isn't enough of "we" though. If you couldn't get 500,000 playing consistently for a few years then it would be a finacial failure. You'd never get a publisher to cough up the millions it would take to get everything up and running.

 

I really don't think it matters if there is a big fan base. MMORPG's do well based on their playability. The storyline behind WoW is quite honestly one of the weakest storylines of all the MMO's, but does well because it is video crack (I mean it plays well).