Pillars of Character Progression

In order for our characters to be "varied and interesting," we need to add texture to them, ideally over the course of the game so that the player is invested in that story. Right now I envision five major pillars of character progression: Age, Training, Relationships, Consequences, Gear.

One of the next steps is for me to model these in a Lab, to prototype the way that they all play together to create the stats and aspects that drive combat, and the way they create interesting stories, explicitly or implicitly.

Age - our concept here is still that Warriors peak early, Hunters peak in middle age, and Mystics peak in old age. So we need age to affect stats and, ideally, art as well, in order to show that progression. Age also leads for many characters to an eventual retirement, which we'd like to feel like a well earned reward for the character. That means it likely needs to feel like a reward for the player as well.

Training - this is still a bit vague in the absence of a strong class design spec, but the general gist is that more experienced heroes are better at doing their jobs. This is intended to be most important for Mystics and Hunters, and less so for Warriors. Will we have class levels? Unclear.

Relationships - I think there's a lot of opportunity to break new ground here. Interesting characters are interested characters; they are interested in the world around them, in their fellow adventurers, in their foes, in art and music, architecture and family, and their ancestors. This stuff doesn't need to be terribly relevant to combat, where I see it integrated is in motivations, and the flavor around the character. A hobby becomes a family crest, a close friendship leads to a quest of vengeance, an obsession becomes a downfall, becomes a sidequest for redemption.

Consequences - We've been picking on this a bit with the recent stories. Your characters should change as a consequence of the missions they are on. This is thorny! It can't be too predictable, or it cries out for metagaming, and there needs to be a mix of good and bad. Maiming, blindness, etc. are excellent opportunities for research and quests. Curses, acquired powers, prosthetics, and animal companions become character-defining traits.

Lastly gear - I always found it interesting that games and stories handle gear very differently. In a story it's not uncommon to finish a quest with the same sword you started with. It's hard to name a game where this is true. It's likewise hard to name a work of fiction where the characters are constantly upgrading and swapping out equipment. I'd love for characters in Legacy to acquire character-defining pieces of gear that stick with them for the rest of their careers. We have a couple ideas for how to make that happen. At the core is the idea that their is only 1 "good" tier of gear. Once you have something at this level, it's to your advantage to keep it and upgrade it rather than swapping it out. That leads to two ideas, "training" bonuses with your favored gear, and upgrading the gear itself with various trophies* from missions. "That dragon skull would look GREAT on my pauldron!" And one other concept... characters should stop seeking new gear at a certain point in their career, and instead focus on optimizing what they have. This leaves the juicy, character-defining gear to the younger generation, who will have more time to be defined by it, and it prevents confusion about "is that Big Hammer Jim, or Dragon Armor Jim?" If he got the hammer first, that might just be enough for Jim. Let Lisa take the Dragon Armor.

So OK character progression. That's the next puzzle I think.. Can we generate a lot of characters that meet our "interesting" bar? We really, really want to get to a place where we have a ragtag troupe of unique professional adventurers, rather than a bunch of soldiers with standard issue chain mail.

*monsterparts.