The underlying approach to BSv2.0 storytelling technique is that every player is his or her own captain in the world of Sios.
The concept works like this. Quests are designed such to be that they are jobs, missions and tasks that any mercenary captain in the world of Sios would normally be hired to do. You have a ship, you run cargo, escort merchants, maybe do a bit of patrol, aid the Knights in raiding bandits, explore new lands, etc. None of the players are given control of a specific character like the way we did in Mafia Empire, or the way other RPGs do it. You’re not a Grey Warden, nor are you a Spectre, Cloud Strife or Luke Skywalker. You’re not that special. If everyone was special, then no one really is. You are whoever you want to be, as long as whoever you want to be captains an airship and wants to fly around Sios. Why are you playing Battle Stations if otherwise?
But there’s a story going on in the world of Sios, and it’s going to happen whether the player participates in it or not.
The trick is that we’re building a world, not simply telling a story. There are going to be a multitude of plots going on, a few conspiracies being conspired, politicians realpoliticking, bandits banditing, nations on the brink of war. When a player first enters Sios, after the initial Tutorial area, he’ll be presented with a number of options for quests. They’re what could be expected of an Airship captain just getting started in life. As he progresses, he might get in touch with certain contacts, certain individuals who have need of mercenary aid. If the player helps that guy, he gets drawn in further into the ongoing stories. If he simply pursues the routine of merchant running, patrolling and bandit raiding, well…. more power to him. That’s the basics of your choice for now. You can certainly level to 100 delivering pies to the border guards, but you’re not really gaining a lot of experience are you?
So the quest system works like this. Each port is divided in several districts. You can freely travel between the districts without AP. The idea is that within a nation, all the trade routes are so easily mapped out that it’s mostly inconsequential flying around. (Also, gameplay wise, it’s less annoying to keep sucking your APs). Those district icons at the top of the Quest page, yeah, you don’t need to unlock them. Fly there, see what quests there are, do them if you like. Fly elsewhere if you get bored, or find a better paying job. That’s the life of a captain.
Quests all still have random outcomes. This means that just because you’re escorting a merchant through a peace trade province, it isn’t going to be plain sailing. Bandits might attack, the merchant might stiff you on payment, you’ll run into a thunderstorm. If you go squid hunting, you’ll occasionally get lucky and capture the squid without the need for battle, or you might run into something much worse than a simply flying squid. Who knows? Only you do when you go on the quests. Things happen, that’s life in the world of Sios.
Other quests get unlocked as you master others. You might, as a captain attract enough attention that some people think you’ll be useful for certain jobs. You certainly won’t be the only one. These jobs might appear once a day, they might always be available or they might appear only once. If you don’t do them, they’re gone. Maybe they’ll return, maybe they won’t. Who knows. Well, we do, but that entirely depends on our ability to design and code those quests in as much as we can during the course of the week. If opportunity knocks on your ship, you should take it. That’s the life of a mercenary.
The world is there for you to explore. Go on, explore, and eventually you discover things about Sios that will end up being a story in itself.
The comic ties directly into that. There’s an actual character driven story there. It takes place in Sios, and where the protagonists of the comic end up, players will have a chance of visiting themselves. Or even the other way around. Players do a quest that will have its repercussions in the comic down the line. Players who make a name for themselves in the clan wars, in the island bases, in the bounty hunts might appear in the comic (as their captain counterpart). Players might even have a chance to run into the protagonist in the game, based on some random encounters, or in their explorations. We don’t actually know. The possibility is coded in, but the random outcome generator doesn’t mean you will actually see them. But the comic, that’s where the story takes place. The game is where the players can poke around the world and discover the hidden stories that motivate, intersect and create the world around them.
Of course, this is all theory. It remains to be seen if we can pull it off.
Next Up: Instance Runs, Boss Hunts, and the Renaissance.
This is a work in progress version of BSv2.0’s quest page.
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